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[mulerooster]

Can anyone here tell me about finding affordable housing in the Boston area?  I'm thinking somewhere that would allow for easy (under 15 minute) commuting to both the Chinatown area and the Children's Hospital Boston.  Is it going to be possible to find a spacious 1 or 2 bedroom apartment (maybe 700-800 sq. ft.) in Boston near these places? 

I want to live in the city, not the suburbs.  But the Boston housing market just seems ridiculously expensive compared to what I'm used to right now and I'm not sure how to go about finding a place.  Is it common to use a realtor to find a place to rent in Boston?  Or how do most people not from the area find their first place and know which neighborhood to live in?

[zharkov]

About finding a community or neighborhood, ask your (future?) coworkers.  I've known grad students and people just starting out who lived in Charlestown, JP, Everett, Malden, and Brookline.  Technically, they are suburbs, but not suburban, if that makes any sense.  About commuting, you want to plan on a place close to the T or bus, and NOT plan on driving.  (Both New England Medical Center/Chinatown and the Longwood Medical area are on/near T stops.)

 

   

[archaeo42]

Zharkov's suggestions are spot on. You might want to see if there are any neighborhood listservs, groups or blogs that would be helpful for someone moving to the area.  One tool I found incredibly useful when trying to find a place in a new city was padmapper.com.  It combines apt. ads and google maps and other filter features to make searching really simple.

[irhack]

Cheaper will be dodgier. You might try JP (Jamaica Plain), someplace on the orange line could get you reasonably close to both Longwood and Chinatown. You may want to rethink the 15 minute thing if price, size, and safety are important to you. Even when I was commuting to the Longwood area from Brookline (I think I was 3 stops on the D line) took 15 minutes door to door.

Yes, you will probably get your apartment from a realtor. Expect to pay them one month's rent as a fee. You may also need to put up the first and last month's rent, and a month's rent security deposit, to move into a place.

We got an earlier edition of this book http://www.amazon.com/Newcomers-Handbook-Moving-Living-Boston/dp/0912301856/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325604222&sr=8-1 when we moved to the area ages ago and it was extremely helpful for learning about the characteristics of different neighborhoods.

[lohai0]

My twin lives in Somerville and loves it. I get sticker shock at the prices myself, but I live in a very low cost of living area.

[2clueless]

Can anyone here tell me about finding affordable housing in the Boston area?  I'm thinking somewhere that would allow for easy (under 15 minute) commuting to both the Chinatown area and the Children's Hospital Boston.  Is it going to be possible to find a spacious 1 or 2 bedroom apartment (maybe 700-800 sq. ft.) in Boston near these places?

Will it be possible? Sure. Will it be expensive? Extremely! Depending on your budget and move-in date, you shouldn't have a problem finding a place - but it sounds like budget is part of the concern. Back 'n tha dahy, Allston/Brighton was a common "first apartment" neighborhood, but I don't know if/how prices have risen there. The neighborhoods immediately adjacent to Longwood, Fenway-Kenmore and Mission Hill, tend to be quite pricey. Personally, I adore East Cambridge and Somerville; IMHO, they're a perfect combination of more-affordable, wickedly cool, peaceful (depending on neighborhood and in comparison to Boston), and decent access to useful public transportation. In addition, the ethos is a better fit for me compared to Boston.

I want to live in the city, not the suburbs.  But the Boston housing market just seems ridiculously expensive compared to what I'm used to right now and I'm not sure how to go about finding a place.

I understand the city versus suburbs, but keep in mind that the metro area is geographically constrained by this totally inconvenient body of water (although we keep trying to fill it in to gain more Boston) and these two totally inconvenient parking lots highways, so the boundaries of suburb/city and the atmosphere/density/etc. in some of the proximate suburbs may be different than you might expect.

I highly suggest using craigslist to find a place, especially if you'll be able to visit. At the very least, start reading the apartment listings to get a sense of prices/size/amenities in various neighborhoods. The listings are searchable by broker-listings and non-broker-listings. If you won't be able to visit, you might consider finding a sublet for even a few weeks when you first arrive, to serve as a base from which to look for apartments. If you can arrive before your appointment/start of commitments, it will greater ease your life to have the chance to figure out your commutes and backtrack to convenient neighborhoods. Your colleagues will probably be a great resource for you and I echo the suggestions made by previous posters to contact them; Boston, especially in terms of housing, is a unique and utterly baffling place for newcomers.

If you're willing to tell us, in what month do you anticipate moving? Boston has a very calendar-based rental market; if you're willing to share when you're moving, we'll probably be able to add some advice specific to that time of year. If possible - whatever you do - try very, very hard to not-move-in for September 2nd; if you are off-academic-cycle, your rent is likely to be SIGNIFICANTLY lower. (I don't know if the Longwood area has a similar July 1st effect, but your colleagues likely know.) OTOH, try very, very hard to be free on September 1st, because the free street shopping is something to behold. (I just checked the calendar: September 1st is a Saturday this year. If you don't already have a UHaul reserved, forget finding one!)

Commute: Depending on your definition of "commute" and "fifteen minutes," it might be challenging to find a larger apartment on a budget within 15 minutes of both Chinatown and Longwood, simply because it's not uncommon for buses to run 15 minutes late. MBTA time is somewhat relative, like "We'll get you there before the Red Sox win the World Series again": you'll get there eventually, but it might take a while.

zharkov is absolutely right about planning your commute/life around public transportation. Longwood is easily accessible from several T lines; moreover, there's a dedicated shuttle from a handful of other T stops for affiliated folk. The Red Line runs through the main Hahvahd and M-EH-T campuses and is generally the fastest line. The Green Lines are slooooooooooooooooow - and there's four of them. (If you want to know why there are four Green Lines designated by letters (B-E), but the two Red Line trains are only distinguished by an announcement of final destination, then you are not ready to live in Boston. The answer to all transportation-related "whys" is "cow paths" and further analysis will merely cause your brain to overheat and explode. While this will get you transported to Longwood, it will likely take five times as long to travel in an ambulance during rush hour traffic than to merely stop wondering and start complaining about the train being late.)

[irhack]

Commute: Depending on your definition of "commute" and "fifteen minutes," it might be challenging to find a larger apartment on a budget within 15 minutes of both Chinatown and Longwood, simply because it's not uncommon for buses to run 15 minutes late. MBTA time is somewhat relative, like "We'll get you there before the Red Sox win the World Series again": you'll get there eventually, but it might take a while.

This deserves to be repeated. The T can be so unreliable, the traffic so horrible, that the only way to guarantee a 15 minute commute is if you can walk or bike your commute in that time frame.

[aprilmay]

Can anyone here tell me about finding affordable housing in the Boston area?  I'm thinking somewhere that would allow for easy (under 15 minute) commuting to both the Chinatown area and the Children's Hospital Boston.  Is it going to be possible to find a spacious 1 or 2 bedroom apartment (maybe 700-800 sq. ft.) in Boston near these places? 

I want to live in the city, not the suburbs.  But the Boston housing market just seems ridiculously expensive compared to what I'm used to right now and I'm not sure how to go about finding a place.  Is it common to use a realtor to find a place to rent in Boston?  Or how do most people not from the area find their first place and know which neighborhood to live in?

So you want affordable, <15 minute commute to two areas, spacious, and in Boston. Sorry to say this is not going to work out. You will have to give something up. What is your definition of affordable? Boston is expensive. Get used to it.

[mulerooster]

I was hoping for $1950/month or less.  And yes a 15 minute bike/walk/public transport commute would be ideal but I understand if it's not possible and if the timing changes day to day.  I just don't want to rely on a car and I don't really want to be on public transport an hour each way. 

I probably have a different idea of suburbs.  When I think suburbs I think gray houses that all look the same and are in neighborhoods with associations that tell you what you can and can't do.  I think of places where you need a car to get anywhere (and even then it's only to chain stores), where you can't walk, and where you have to drive 30 minutes or more to get to the major metropolitan area.  Maybe in Boston the suburbs aren't like that?  If the suburbs of Boston are walking friendly and actually have some charm then I would probably consider them.  Is Somerville considered a suburb?  I have heard good things about Somerville and seems to be the area where a lot of my future coworkers live.

[miraceli]

Sommerville has access to many bus lines (I don't remember any subway station there, but I did not live there, just went sometimes to visit a friend). It is walkable, and depending on the exact location there are plenty of ethnic restaurants/cafés. It's not your idea of a suburb, I think. I would love to live there.

[irhack]

Okay, I would think $1950 would be reasonable, there were even less-nice 2 BR going for that in the neighborhood I lived in in Brookline when I was working in the Longwood area. I would not, personally pick Somerville if I were commuting to Longwood--even Cambridge is a bit far for that--so it depends, are you spending more time in Chinatown or at Children's? Because of course Chinatown is very central.

I would check out JP--it's very comparable to Somerville and personally I like it better.

[scampster]

I probably have a different idea of suburbs.  When I think suburbs I think gray houses that all look the same and are in neighborhoods with associations that tell you what you can and can't do.  I think of places where you need a car to get anywhere (and even then it's only to chain stores), where you can't walk, and where you have to drive 30 minutes or more to get to the major metropolitan area.  Maybe in Boston the suburbs aren't like that?  If the suburbs of Boston are walking friendly and actually have some charm then I would probably consider them.  Is Somerville considered a suburb?  I have heard good things about Somerville and seems to be the area where a lot of my future coworkers live.

"Suburb" means a lot of things in Boston. You have to remember that most of the "suburbs" are as old as the city itself and they all bump into each other because that's where the old city lines were. Walking down Comm Ave, you won't know that you have transitioned from Brookline to Boston proper. Somerville is technically a suburb in the sense that it isn't Boston, but it has access to good public transport, lots of good neighborhoods, etc. I grew up in Newton, which is much more suburb-y, but many of our houses are a 100 years old or more - there are no housing associations in my part of town. Not that the suburbs that you imagine aren't there, but parts of Brookline, Somerville, would be more consistent with what I would consider a neighborhood in the big city I live in now. If I were to move back to Boston, I would live in Brookline, Somerville, or Cambridge, but mostly I would make sure I was close to the appropriate T line.

You really need to go visit and get a sense of what towns are the suburbs you want to avoid and which ones are extensions of the city.

[macaroon]

I probably have a different idea of suburbs.  When I think suburbs I think gray houses that all look the same and are in neighborhoods with associations that tell you what you can and can't do.  I think of places where you need a car to get anywhere (and even then it's only to chain stores), where you can't walk, and where you have to drive 30 minutes or more to get to the major metropolitan area.  Maybe in Boston the suburbs aren't like that?  If the suburbs of Boston are walking friendly and actually have some charm then I would probably consider them.  Is Somerville considered a suburb?  I have heard good things about Somerville and seems to be the area where a lot of my future coworkers live.

"Suburb" means a lot of things in Boston. You have to remember that most of the "suburbs" are as old as the city itself and they all bump into each other because that's where the old city lines were.
extensions of the city.

Yes, the suburbs of Boston are very old, and were suburbs of Boston before people had cars.  So, pedestrian friendly is the rule rather than the exception. 

You really need to go visit and get a sense of what towns are the suburbs you want to avoid and which ones are extensions of the city.

.... or little cities in and of their own right.  As an extension of this, it would be a good idea to contact the people that you will be working with for housing tips.  Especially, you might get wind of sabbatical housing.  This is a GREAT way to start out, as there's only a short commitment.

[collegekidsmom]

The answer is yes. You can live in Boston and pay 1950. "Spacious" apartments might be harder to find in the city, but if you contact a real estate company while reading craigslist you can live where you want. You might have to sacrifice a little size in terms of the apartment square footage for a better location of course.

[commprof57]

With $1950 you should be able to find something in Cambridge, Somerville, or if you go south I would look to parts of Dorchester.  They are up and coming and nice.  Jamaica Plain is nice.  I love JP.  I lived in Quincy for a long time and didn't mind it. Lived right near the square and it took 20 minutes to get into Boston from the T.  You could live in North Quincy and be even closer (not bad walking around) or the Marina (which has a shuttle that goes from the T to Marina).  1950 will easily get you a 1, maybe 2 bedroom, that is very nice!