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Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Sun May 06, 2007 4:23 pm
by chaps
Hi Folks,
I have an offer from a company located in Danvers, MA, about 20 miles north
on Boston. Any information you can share about places to live in an around
Danvers, quality of life for Desis etc. will be much appreciated. I'm currently
looking at North Andover as a possible area for relocation.
thanks for your help!
Q
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon May 07, 2007 10:41 pm
by The-Q
Hi thanks for your response. We have a 3yr old and my wife will start
looking for a job so things will be uncertain wrt a location more
commutable for my wife. Initially we are thinking of living in Newton or
North Andover and then decide on a more permanent location.
What's your opinion on Newton?
thanks,
Q
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:37 am
by RRS
You have 3 year old kid, so no need to bother about MCAS ratings yet :)
North Andover's school district is not as good as Andover but you need to bother only if your kid is going to middle school or higher.
The Desi concentration is in Westford, Andover,Acton,Lexington and Burlington. Burlington's school rating is not as high as rest of them but advantage is you can find good apartments in Burlington and it's near mall
and shopping areas and has good connectivity to most of the highways.
Acton has good apartments too but connectivity to Rt3/Rt128/Rt93 is little bit of problem in Acton but if you take Rt2/2A, Rt495 and I-90, it's not a problem.
Good suburbs (other than downtown Boston)with decent job opportunities in IT are Chelmsford,Billerica,Cambridge etc
Financial jobs are concentrated near Boston,Waltham and Burlington.
If you have specific questions, I can try to answer them as we lived in the area for a while.MNR2I has provided good info. as well.
My 2c
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 3:54 pm
by chaps
Thanks again guys. That's what I was looking for. As my wife is a software
engineer we want to put up temp residence in a neighborhood that has
good job prospects and take it from there. I will check out the neighborhoods
you have mentioned.
Chaps
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:31 am
by harsha25
What are the good areas to live in Boston if I work in Downtown and plan on driving. How is the commute? and generally can you all Bostonites throw some light on apartment living, the quality of life for desis, people otherwise and all other things that one may need to know.
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:24 am
by RRS
harsha25,
Depends on your situation. If you are single , you can choose to be in places close to downtown Boston like Somerville,Milton,Quincy,Westborough etc.
If you are married and have school kids, quality of school district comes in the equation. Norwood, Sudbury,Winchester, Lexington etc have connection to T and have good public school system.
If you come upwards North of Boston, the good school districts are Andover(connected to T and commute time to Boston will be close to an hour,Westford (nearest T will be either Lowell or Acton), Acton etc.
There are many apartments in all of these areas. People usually buy houses if they have more than 5 years plan to stay in the area.
Princeton Properties, Royal Crest etc are apartment chains and you should be able to get prevailing market rate by calling their toll free number.
HTH
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:42 am
by RRS
harsha25;55386What are the good areas to live in Boston if I work in Downtown and plan on driving. How is the commute? and generally can you all Bostonites throw some light on apartment living, the quality of life for desis, people otherwise and all other things that one may need to know.[/quote]
I covered areas to live in my prev. post.
Morning commute to Boston is as unpredictable as 93-S traffic jams plus the city parking is premium.If you work in downtown, predictable commute time is through T-s or subway trains.
In the snow months(from early Dec to early March), it's dangerous to have long commute through cars. Plus Boston downtown is known for unruly drivers.
Desis are there everywhere but are more concentrated in suburbs where the school districts are better than Boston and its nearby towns.There are lot of Desis in southern NH(new hampshire) towns like Nashua,Hudson etc.NH has no state tax if you work and reside in NH. Fidelity has offices in NH.But if you work in MA, then staying in NH has no tax benefits except that housing is cheaper than in MA.
You might want to read the earlier posts in this thread which discussed other aspects of NE living.
If you are Kannadiga, New England Kannada Koota has a sizeable presence for all cultural activities. Same is true for other linguistic associations and all assimilate in IAGB(Indian Association of Greater Boston) or IANH.
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:14 pm
by harsha25
RaRe...
Thanks, I'd bug you and other folks here as I need. We don't have kids and am a kannadiga. If I relocate that would be sometime later next year, There was something that made me think and collect info regarding this. I would have to work at downtown Boston, so if this whole thing happens MA Tax is unavoidable. I'd check the apartment chains that you mentioned. BTW I hate long commutes for work so checking.
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 12:25 pm
by harsha25
Rare... Ok one more sensitive question. Greater Boston area has Desis from all age groups, regions and levels of wealth. I also believe they are also significantly less in number than the New York and New Jersey area, I kinda feel NY & NJ to be very Territorial as I have visited NY and NJ area very often. Is NE area culturally different from NY & NJ or more or less the same? These are purely my funny thoughts
Relo to Boston Area
Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:35 pm
by RRS
Harsha25,
I do not live in that area anymore but I can give few more insider info :-)
1. NE area(MA,NH,Maine,RI,Vermont etc) has higher concentration of Caucasians than NY/NJ area. Less number of African Americans also than other areas of US. The ethnic population is also mostly white collar than blue collar unlike in NY/NJ area.
2. Overall Community is not as vibrant as NY/NJ area. But it's not dull either. Lot of options for eatout but not as much in North Cal Bay area.
3. You need to learn to love RedSox as it's more than sports and almost a religion. But with 2 WS rings in 4 years, the fanaticism might be cooling. You need to love the change of seasons otherwise it may get depressing.
4. People are not racists and are really nice to get along with but many may mistake their nature as snobbery.
5. Indian Associations have good presence but you may get bored with monotonous cultural celebrations if you regularly participate in them :-) with same themes all over again.
6. Education is better than west coast and lot of good college options for kids if you think really that long term :-)