Moving to Boston, MA area. Tips, tricks, advice?

[tacatcon]

Actually, neither of the two main candidates for governor wants to roll back the sales tax to 3%, but it will be on the ballot in November.

Massachusetts Sales Tax: Do the Candidates' Views Matter?

Really I was under the impression that he said he would support the roll back.

I confess to not caring much what he has to say though.

[bali1228]

Thanks all!

We will be renting a home. I'm not sure how long we will be in the MA area. I'm hoping for awhile, but we are also going to go where the money is, kwim? The job that DH is taking has had 4 replacements, so it definitely leads to bigger and better things. Like I said, it's more of a "stepping stone." They give us a 25% wage increase for cost of living, but that still only brings the salary to $42k for him. He will get a raise in a year and I work from home full time (medical transcription) so that will help a little.

As far as where to live, we are still deciding. Brockton is OUT. I've looked at the schools there and it is not going to work for us. DD is almost 4, but she has a language delay, so she will be in the schools. The program out here has been awesome, so I'm hoping to find something comparable there. She is in early intervention for her speech.

DH is being pretty picky about housing, which I understand, but is almost making me NUTS. We need rent around $1500 (less it better, lol) and he wants it be within 45 mins of Brockton and an hour of Boston. Let me tell you, that does NOT make for cheap housing!! We have already agreed that we are 99% sure to end up in an apartment. We have some bills to pay down, but after 12 months, we should be able to afford more for rent and move onto at least a townhouse or if we're lucky a single family home. Our credit right now, even if we wanted, would probably not allow for us to purchase a home.

That's a good tip about NH and sales tax. Thanks! :-)

I know this is an older post, but I wanted to add to it. I'm right over the border in Rhode Island, I worked for an early intervention program in Ma. The state of Massachusetts mandates EI coverage, so they have some pretty good programs in place. You might look into this agency when planning your move Kennedy-Donovan Center, Inc.
Housing in the northeast is considerably more expensive, I want to warn you, it's much older housing stock so you may be in for a bit of a shock.
Good luck with your move