Recent comments in /f/boston

leeann0923 t1_j579075 wrote

Reply to What kind of salary to make this [AL to MA] move equal? by thehuntforrednov

If you’re in your early 30s and don’t plan on having kids (or even not having kids right now), I wouldn’t live directly in Lexington. It’s extremely expensive and unless you are moving for the school district, isn’t worth it. If you want more amenities/city life, I’d consider Waltham. You can live comfortably there and have train access to Boston proper and have a ton of bars/restaurants/other people without kids to keep yourself busy. The commute to Lexington from there would not be bad.

9

singalong37 t1_j577dzx wrote

Reply to What kind of salary to make this [AL to MA] move equal? by thehuntforrednov

Lexington, Lincoln, Weston, Concord, Carlisle, Bedford are all very expensive, mainly single-family house communities. Nice to visit— lots of open space, beautiful country roads—but no need to live in any of those. Burlington, just across Rte 3 from Bedford, is much less rarified and has apartments. Similarly, Wilmington, Billerica and Woburn. Waltham, south of Lex, has apartments too and a bigger, more walkable center than any of those other towns. Closer to/in Boston you pay for the access and walkability which you don’t need for the job, but might be worth it for other reasons.

11

thehuntforrednov OP t1_j574rtf wrote

Reply to comment by OutlawCozyJails in What kind of salary to make this [AL to MA] move equal? by thehuntforrednov

>The Boston College Eagles are the biggest D1 football program and let’s just say that…they’re different than you’re used to

I thought you were implying that Boston College was a competitive team for a second and I couldn't process it. haha I'm, surprisingly, not a big college football fan. I won't name names but I am pretty big fans of certain sports teams near Boston so that's cool.

>And did you say $900 mortgage?? That’s you and each of your 3 roommates’ portions, right?

Ha! It's really $860, but I didn't want to come across SUPER poor. ;)

2

[deleted] t1_j573jam wrote

Reply to comment by bobby_j_canada in What kind of salary to make this [AL to MA] move equal? by thehuntforrednov

Summer AC use in New England is no joke - and electricity rates won't be going down next summer either.

Alabama's standard rate is ~$0.13/kWh (source), & they have time of use plans which ISO-NE doesn't allow so the OP may be paying even less. The best you'll find in MA is around $0.20/kWh. And if they wind up with gas or oil heat...yikes. Usage may well be a wash, but the total bill won't.

5

bobby_j_canada t1_j5727ii wrote

Reply to comment by thehuntforrednov in What kind of salary to make this [AL to MA] move equal? by thehuntforrednov

For a couple it kind of goes like this around here:

$50K - hope you like rice and beans

$75K - you're stable. . . ish

$100K - you have some breathing room but don't get careless

$150K - you're comfortable enough and can even afford some luxuries (like off-street parking and an in-unit washer/dryer. . . luxuries!)

$200K+ - you don't really need to worry about much but you might not be saving as much as you'd assume you should be given your income

So yeah, for you two the main impact isn't going to be on your quality of living so much as how much you'll be able to save.

Also note that if you plan on having a kid anytime soon, $2000/month for a private childcare is pretty common. MA has the highest childcare costs in the country because we have strict regulations about the caregiver:child ratio and square footage:child ratio. These aren't bad things in and of themselves -- it means you don't get cramped, small daycares crammed with too many kids -- but it does drive up the cost per kid.

5

purplepineapple21 t1_j5726mq wrote

Reply to comment by Budget-Celebration-1 in How far outside of the city do you have to be for rental broker fees become less prevalent? by typicalfanofsports

Craigslist isn't even full of fee-free listings if you can get past all the scams. Plenty of listings on there still have brokers fees--in fact most of the legitimate listings for a whole apartment do, at least for places in the city proper and Cambridge/Somerville. The no fee options that arent scams are mostly people renting out single rooms in shared apartments. Since some other sites don't allow that type of listing, it can seem like Craigslist has more no fee options, but that's not the case if you're looking at only whole apartments.

I've found great places on Craigslist and I think it's a fine site to use, but it's absolutely not the fee-free haven I see some people on here make it out to be. If you know the area and the market imo it's pretty easy to weed out the scams, but then what you're left with still have brokers fees as much as any other site.

15

RoaminRonin13 t1_j5726br wrote

Reply to comment by 88stardestroyer in Five-building residential and life-sciences complex with a museum could rise on long vacant parcel on Tremont Street across from police headquarters by rabblebowser

Sure, but some others are still looking for space.

The developers don’t want to spend money in 2023 unless there’s a tenant, and plenty of companies are tightening their belts or seeing investment streams dry up. But others, like some institutional tenants, are planning for 2024 and beyond in terms of their space needs.

I don’t disagree with you that the book may be over, but you’re right that it isn’t crashing either. Life-science has dramatically cooled in just the last 4-6 months. We’ll probably not have a good sense of how things look until 6+ months from now.

4

RoaminRonin13 t1_j5715e9 wrote

Reply to comment by 3720-To-One in Five-building residential and life-sciences complex with a museum could rise on long vacant parcel on Tremont Street across from police headquarters by rabblebowser

As much as private equity will finance.

We’ve had companies leasing and fitting out lab space they don’t have the staff to fill for years. They lease space in a new building based on the investment money they’ve received and their hopeful projection of “maybe someday” growth. Then some amount of their space is either empty or gets sublet to a smaller start-up.

At this point labs aren’t really coming out of the ground without an anchor tenant - things are going on hold or dying outright, as the developers tighten up and wait to see what 2023 brings. There are still tenants looking for space, tho - life science is a thriving industry in Boston, and you can’t do lab work at home.

3