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Moving to Boston -- Question about Kids & Condos
Good morning Boston Nesties!
I am new to this board and look forward to participating. My family (DH, and 2 DDs) will be relocating to the Boston area next year and I'm hoping that you ladies would be able to lend your advice. His job is being transferred to Cambridge, so we're looking at places both inside & outside 128. I see that for some of the inner suburbs (e.g. Arlington and the like) and frankly even some of the outer suburbs, that there are a lot of older two family homes that have been converted to 2-unit condos. Should we even consider living in one of those places with a 5 & 7 year old? A single family home would be our first choice, but at our price range a lot of those condos look really nice (e.g. completely updated) while many single family homes in the same range are completely out-of-date and would require a lot of work (not just cosmetic, but often times major work like roofs, electrical, etc.) Do you have experience, or do you know someone who has experience, living in one of these condos with kids? All advice is appreciated! Thanks!
P.S. -- A little background -- I went to college in Boston and lived there for many years after graduation so I'm not entirely unfamiliar with the area. I moved away in 1999 though, so it's been awhile. I didn't have children when I lived there, so I have a completely different mindset now.
Re: Moving to Boston -- Question about Kids & Condos
Welcome to the board!
I don't have kids so have no personal experience but our neighbors are basically in a two-family condo and they have one DD, about 3 years old I think. The only issue for them is that they want more space now, but noise and whatnot haven't been a problem (I assume that was at least one of your concerns?). I'm sure lots of people raise a family in condos so I'm not sure I understand what your concern is.
I think this is so much a matter of personal preference. I personally wouldn't make the choice to live in a condo because I like my privacy, and don't like the idea of sharing common space. I also don't mind doing the work on a fixer upper. DH and I are fairly handy.
The only experience I have with friend's with kids in a condo/townhouse is with a friend of mine who absolutely did not want to do any work to the place when she bought it. She was pregnant, and her H is not handy at all. She is now regretting the decision because they don't have a "real" yard, and her little one is 2 now.
This. What is your specific concern? We included multi-family homes as part of our home search, and DD is 17 months.
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Disclaimer: I am not an MD. Please don't PM me with pregnancy-related questions. Ask your doctor.
Thanks everyone for the input. As you noted, my two main concerns are noise (ours and the neighbors) and yard space. As cwbykitty said, kids are LOUD, and I would want to be respectful of any neighbor with whom we shared walls. That said, kids are just inherently going to be louder than adults and I wouldn't want to get into a nasty situation where a condo neighbor is always complaining that we are being too noisy.
A lot of these converted condos that I've seen online do have some yard space, but often it's a shared space (e.g. not a fence running down the middle to split into 2 yards). I just didn't know how that would work if we have kids who are wanting to play in the yard.
I really wish that my husband and I were more handy than we are, because a lot of single family homes in our range need a LOT of work. We didn't really think that the converted condo option would work, but then again there seem to be quite a few of them out there and I just wanted to toss the question out there to see if anyone was happily living with kids in one of them.
Thanks again for the advice.
There are lots of parks you can walk to around Cambridge.
I would live in a condo with kids. Several of my neighbors in Boston have 1-2 kids in 600 to 800 sq feet condos. It's really not a big deal and is a way of life in an urban setting, IMO.
We rent a SFH now and my next door neighbor can hear DS screaming if his windows are open at night. This is through the walls and glass because DS does not sleep with his window open.
With a 5 and 7 yo I would be looking at school districts first...
As far as condo go... I don't see a problem. SO and I live in a small, one bedroom condo in the South End. We love it. If we were going to adopt a little one, we would look for a two bedroom, or three bedroom condo, but would also consider staying in the city.
Like pp mentioned, city living is going to be different from suburbs. There are many great parks to walk to, but you might loose the opportunity to just "throw the kids in the backyard" while you are making dinner.
As far as the noise, I really don't think that should be to much of a concern. I would try for a first floor if possible, that way the pitter-patter of little feet are not going to bother the downstairs neighbors.
Good luck with your search!