Moving to Boston!

I grew up in Rhode Island (ro-DI-lan) and my dad would commute into Boston every day on the train from Providence.

My name is actually pronounced Mahzmayn.

Goodness! How long was that commute?

I've noticed that there are actually reasonable commutes coming from other states, especially New Hampshire, since Concord is not all that far from Mass's north border. It's a bizarre thing to me. In Texas it takes 3 hours to get from Dallas to the north border, several to get to the east border (never been that way :p ) and 10 hours to get to El Paso. The only reason to think about another state is when considering a vacation, or cracking jokes about Oklahoma

He did it every day and was home for dinner (suppa). They are only about 50 miles apart.

So, we're starting to settle on 2 areas.

Option 1: Get an upper floor rental on one of those 2-3 family houses in the Waltham, Belmont, Watertown neighborhoods
Option 2: Get a place in one of those resort style communities in Burlington: Arborpoint or Stone Brook Farm

I think we can get a nicer, classier place with Option 1. We'd be proud to make that a home I think. They look like they tend to be bigger in general, and their placement is more ideally between Boston and Concord (like directly). It looks like more of these have the ridiculous 'throw your money in this here garbage can' fee.

Option 2 is pretty much still just an apartment like we're used to with all the benefits and drawbacks we're accustomed to dealing with. With 2 we'd have covered parking and snow removal would be handled by the management. We'd probably have to take a smaller unit than we'd want, but the amenities and the layouts and appliances and all look great.

Im pretty much just thinking out loud, but if anyone would like to chime in, feel free

In those old homes in Waltham, Belmont, Watertown, can the people below hear you breathe? Or did they know how to build em back then? Do they have sh*tty wiring that would make getting something like DSL problematic?

polypusher wrote:

Do they have sh*tty wiring that would make getting something like DSL problematic?

Dude, you're moving to Cable-Modem country -- the land of 20+ Mb/s broadband. As long as you're in a Comcast or RCN town (most are), just plan to fork over about $50/mo and enjoy all that the internet has to offer.

Providence to Boston on the train is an hour.

The commuter rail runs on a set schedule and depending on the line you probably only see a train every 45 to 90 minutes, if not less frequent in some places. Some trains may skip your stop, others will skip other stops, etc. You can catch a subway train every 20 minutes at the worst, more frequent depending on your stop. The subway is relatively safe, but there are some stops I wouldn't want to be at alone late at night. Our trains only run until midnight or 1am anyways, which sucks, as they stop before the bars close.

As for wiring and upkeep, it depends on which house you move into. Some are crap, some are great, most are in between. For the most part in the towns you are looking at I would except them to be in perfectly acceptable shape.

Somewhat random question:

Is there an equivalent store to Garden Ridge in MA? It would appear the chain does not exist in the eastern half of the US.

The store has a huge selection of things like rugs, furniture, mass produced art, decorations of every kind from fake suits of armor to treasure chests and old timey looking books that are actually boxes, etc. Generally pretty inexpensive, generally average quality. Its nothing all that special except that its all in one place and it is the only place I've seen that I can buy a treasure chest and a big area rug I actually like for under $100.

Ikea in stoughton, is the closest thing I can think of.

Check Out TJ Maxx Home Goods http://www.homegoods.com/index.asp

Pier 1 Imports has stuff kind of like that though I don't think I've ever seen a suit of armor there.

Oh and if you're looking for smaller apartment style furniture try Boston Interiors.

b slippy wrote:

Check Out TJ Maxx Home Goods http://www.homegoods.com/index.asp

Perfect! Thanks

The moving plans are starting to come together. We have centered on Watertown/Belmont/Waltham for a place to rent, hopefully the upper floor of one of those 2/3 family buildings. We have two realtors that have offered to show us around. One has helped place other people who've moved to join my new company.

My girlfriend has her movers set. She's using Upack which still seems expensive for a PODS clone, but their quote was 1/3rd the PODS quote. How on earth do they expect anyone to pay $3500 to deliver a cube and then drop it off?! There are cheaper full service moves that will even pack your stuff for you!

Anyway. The Bob's Discount Furniture site has some attractive sofas and tables we might grab. I couldn't find info on if they offer free delivery or what their delivery rates are. We'll check out Boston Interiors too.

Still trying to find a decent hotel/motel in the area. Haven't looked very hard but pretty much the cheaper the better down to the 'you'll probably die in your sleep, or at least have your car broken into' rates... we'd rather not have that happen

Just a nother couple weeks!

Maybe I had bad luck, but I picked up a bedroom set for my youngest at Bobs. Not impressed at all with the craftsmanship, drawer backs coming unglued, knobs pulled off. These are definately not abused either. I'd suggest Jordans over Bobs any day. You may pay a little bit more but I think they stand behind their quality more than BOBs.

I live in Central MA which is much cheaper than you're looking at, right off of Rt 2 in Shirley. From my house it would take about 50 minutes to get into Boston - with no traffic. In a morning commute, I'd expect 1:10 or so.

Check Ashley Furniture. Mass produced, just about nationwide, but decent delivery for pretty cheap. I bought a couch/loveseat/chair/ottoman from them not too long ago, reasonable price, very comfy.

We found that you get what you pay for with furniture. I've gotten cheap Ikea stuff that's fallen apart fairly quickly. We got a couch and chair that we got from a mom & pop furniture store that cost a fair amount, but five years later and they still look almost new and remain some of the most comfy pieces of furniture we or our friends have seen.

I'll second the Jordan's recommendation over Bob's. It's also worth mentioning that when buying furniture, you might have some room to haggle. We've gotten better deals on our couch and mattress by talking the sales guy down and being willing to walk away.

Poly, the choice for the area to live in is actually pretty good. Its a reverse commute (You can laugh at all the idiots backed up on Rt 2 as you drive the opposite way), and it avoids I-95/128. A word of advice.

Avoid 128/I-95 commutes at all cost.

I have it as part of my current commute. And its hell. Its unpredictable, there are no secondary routes from where I am going to where I live, and I never know if it will take me 30 minutes or 2 hours to drive down 128. Yes I said 2 hours. To go 20 miles.

I grew up on Long Island in the NY area, lived in upstate NY for 5 years, I lived in Wash DC for less than a year, and I have lived in the Boston area 9 years of my life. I have to say these Boston drivers are the worst drivers in the Northeastern US. They should really driving test these idiots more often, they would fail miserably. They all think they have the right of way no matter what the situation. Making a left out of a parking lot into the street, right of way. Making a left at a light, right of way. Merging into your lane from the right to left, right of way. Its kinda like knowing you are in Crazy Taxi but in real life.

I have heard that the driving is worse in China, I will have to move there for perspective.

There are some great restaurants in the area you are moving to, and you are very close to the PRC (People's republic of Cambridge) which has some great restaurants as well.

For furniture bargains, check the following:

In Natick, there is a Macy's Home Showroom where the prices are on par with Jordans. They deliver.

There is also a Crate and Barrel furniture showroom that has a bunch of deep discounts when you hit it right.

Just outside the main part of Wrentham Outlets, there is a Restoration Hardware outlet. Some of the stuff is in rough shape, but most of it is "antiqued" anyway-no one will notice.

With Bobs, you get what you pay for. It looks good in the showroom, but it's cheaply made. There's no way you get a full bedroom set for $1200 unless it's used or corners have been cut.

Jordan's is a better bet if you want to go the big chain route.

Mayfield wrote:

A word of advice.

Avoid 128/I-95 commutes at all cost.

The man speaks heap big wisdom.

I'll add to it by saying: the I93 commute sucks hard as well, particularly from the Quincy direction.

You want to get close to the T. Pretty much everything is accessible by T, and parking is a hassle if you have to go into Downtown or Back Bay on a daily basis. Do yourself a favor, and rent within walking distance to the T.

I'm in Brookline. Check to see if there are any rentals in your price range here. You give up space, but you get walking distance to great eats, and two different T lines to choose from.

I'm also in Brookline, and affordable rentals can be had. We're paying $1450/month with all utilities included, and it's a pretty big place. Ideally, look for a retired landlord for whom rent is just bonus income.

It really is a nice place to live.

Mayfield wrote:

I have to say these Boston drivers are the worst drivers in the Northeastern US.

This is actually a common misconception - Rhode Islanders are as a whole the worst drivers I have ever encountered anywhere. This is not to forgive the sins of Boston drivers, but driving along the Mass/RI border is truly terrifying.

Well we made it to Boston. Got a place a bit farther away than we originally thought, a pretty slick townhome in Marlborough. Just got Verizon FIOS! I cant wait to download the whole internet. We ended up getting a nice sleeper sofa from Jordan's and it wasn't cheap. I think the rest of our furniture will be Target or IKEA until I start getting paychecks.

The first place we looked at was a nice apartment with some brick walls in Framingham, but internet investigation uncovered a lot of bad reviews including muggings in the parking lot so we branched out our searches a bit more and found Marlborough.

I havent had any problems with the drivers here yet. Ive stayed away from downtown Boston but with heavy traffic in various places and some crazy toll booth exchanges, I havent noticed any exceptional craziness.

Welcome to Central Mass Goodjer buddy!

polypusher wrote:

Well we made it to Boston. Got a place a bit farther away than we originally thought, a pretty slick townhome in Marlborough. Just got Verizon FIOS!

Welcome to the neighborhood! I work right near there, drive through it every day. I'll buy you a beer at the Halfway Cafe (on Route 20) some day, just pick the day.

ARISE THREAD!

Quick question for the Bostonian's around here; what is the Woburn area like? I possibly have an interview for a start up in the area and, would like to know what that area is like.