It was suggested to me that I start a thread here since my husband and I will be relocating to the Boston area next month (we currently live in California). He will be working in the Brockton area, but I have heard nothing good about the place, so we will be living elsewhere.
We are planning on buying a home to live in for a few years and eventually turn into a rental property. Any recommendations for a good realtor would be wonderful.
I will also be looking for a job, so if any of you know of companies that are hiring, I would really appreciate it. I have military experience, a bachelor's degree, and I currently work as an Engineering Technician. I would like to find work in accounting or finance, if possible.
Anyway, I know very little about the area so I would love to hear anything you have to say. We are in our mid-twenties with no children and would like to explore Boston/Massachusetts and meet people.
Here is my thread on Money Matters in case I forgot to mention anything here: http://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/45551344.aspx
Thank you!
Re: Moving to Boston
Welcome to our local board! As I said on MM I don't know a ton about the south shore....but hopefully some of these girls can help!
Welcome! My DH and I just moved from Southern California a few months ago, are you from there originally? We live in Hingham and really like it (great family community, on the water, great public transit...we're currently pregnant with our first baby though so something that is a bit more suburban is more our style right now), I'm not sure that it would be a great place to buy a home you want to transition to renting though. Would your DH be willing to live in the city and reverse commute?
Winter is always a tough time to move to Boston if you're a newbie but I really hope you like it...great city with great people! GL!
I'd look to live in Braintree or Quincy. There are tons of renters there, it is somewhat suburban but there is still a lot of transit to get into Boston. It would be good for you too so you can find a job in the city while your husband does a reverse commute out to Brockton. The girls on MM made it sound like Brockton is a black hole of bullets and despair. It's not somewhere I would want to live but your husband will be fine working there.
In general, I love living in MA. You are arriving at just the wrong time, unless you love to ski or snowboard. Winter is my least favorite time of year but I just don't like the cold. Boston is a great city with tons to offer for history, museums (the Museum of Science is one of my favorites), restaurants, and shopping. If you want to get out of the city, there are so many cute towns on the shore which are great for day trips. Cape Cod is beautiful and New Hampshire/Maine/Vermont are just a short drive away too if you are looking for mountains or a more rocky coastline.
Let us know if you have any more specific questions! And welcome
There's so much to tell you about the area (things to do, places to eat, surrounding areas, etc.) that it's impossible to cover it all in one post. So I'll just link to a bunch of old posts
What do you like about Boston?
What to do/see/eat in Boston
Favorite snowboarding slopes in the area
Day trips from Boston
That should get you started at least. As you come up with more specific questions, please feel free to ask. We've had a lot of new people moving to the area recently so I think they'd all find the info helpful.
Sorry, no realtor recs from me in that area.
I grew up in canton which is a couple of towns away from brockton. Canton is a great family town with a couple of commuter rail stops to boston and is a 25 min. drive to brockton. But if you are new to the state I ditto pp about quincy and braintree. There will be more for you to do within walking distance and easy access to the T. They are great places for a couple or a young family to live. Brockton is good for a rox baseball game, fuller art hall, cont. ed. classes at m.c.c. or to eat at Christo's but I would not live there.
I really liked the realtor I used. She sold my townhouse in 2 weeks in 2008. We are now living in a SFH that was a short sale with 5 other bids on it. This lady is SMART.
Aimee Siers 508 971 7790 aimee.siers@commonmoves.com www.ReadyaimSold.net
Thanks! I am originally from Southern California (I grew up in LA). We have been living in San Diego for the last few years. What part are you from?
I think my husband would be open to living in the city and I would definitely be open to that.
Hopefully I can acclimatize quickly! My biggest worry is driving in the snow.
I'm glad to hear that Brockton is not quite as frightening as I was thinking. Braintree and Quincy sound like nice places. I will look into both of those areas for buying a home.
I am definitely looking forward to the history and culture of Boston. It's great that it is so close to other states as well, since I love taking small trips. I haven't been able to do as much of that in California because everything is so spread out.
Oy, I wish we could have chosen another season to move, but that's unfortunately not an option (military orders). I do like skiing, although I have little experience with it.
I'll take a look at those links. I know it's impossible to describe a city in just a few words, so it's helpful to have more resources at my disposal.
Thank you for the referral!
Brockton is not nearly as bad as it sounds! It can be a little rough in some areas, but there are actually other areas that are quite nice.
Easton is right next door to Brockton and is a nice little town, as is Canton, like someone else said. Mansfield is also not a bad drive to Brockton (depending on where in Brockton your DH will be working, probably only 15-20 minutes).