tamadrumr88

iTrader: (2)

Last summer I stayed with relatives just north of West Palm Beach, FL area from May-Sept just to try the area out. It was fun but it just wasn't for me; pace was a little too laid back, not too many people my age and not a whole lot of entertainment (aside from heading down to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami occasionally)

I'm looking for a sublet/rental/lease near Boston/Cambridge/Somerville area from April/May through August/September. College students leave for home over the summer so short-term housing shouldn't be scarce. My friend in Cambridge has to renew his lease come September so if I like the area enough I may consider staying longer and renting with him once his lease is up. I like the faster pace of city life but NYC is a little overwhelming and Philadelphia is just dirty

A little background:
- Graduated Penn State Univ in Spring '10
- No student loans, credit card debt, car payment, etc
- I've been running an online business from home for the past three years so I don't need to secure a job in the area before moving. All I need is electricity and an internet connection and I'm set
- I'm responsible, creative and hard-working; I make shit happen. This isn't the first time living on my own so I'm aware of the costs of rent, food, utilities, entertainment, incidentals, etc

Looking for advice on the parking situation (off-street parking can run $200-300+/month if I get a place closer to the city). I have a 2005 TL and a Honda CBR600RR but I'm willing to bet I won't be able to park much less use either of these on a regular basis. If it means I'll have parking and/or save a few bucks on rent I'm willing to move away from the city a bit. The mass transit infrastructure certainly helps, but I'd like to have a few "toys" as well

Keep in mind too that I'm about a 6.5hr drive from Boston (I live about an hour north of Philadelphia currently) so I'm limited to checking out rentals on Realtor.com/Craigslist/etc when I'm not up visiting my friends in Boston. Any info/advice/suggestions/leads/etc are greatly appreciated, thanks!

thephantom

1. Welcome to MA - potentially.
2. MA public transit is not the greatest as it doesn't run 24 hours a day.
3. Street parking sucks when it snows as some cities have snow bans on parking.
4. Stay away from Dorchester, Mattapan (aka murder-pan) and Roxbury and you should be fine.
5. I'd check out Brookline.

booma1218

Why don't you try somewhere a little north of the city like Medford,Stoneham,Woburn,Wakefield or something like that...One you have no worries with parking seeing all these towns are more suburban living than city living and nice neighbor hoods where you find no problems and plus what you pay for rent in cambridge or Boston you could rent a nice apartment/even 1 family with a yard a driveway for the price of a studio in the city..Oh and if you're worrying about being far from the city all these places are at most a 10 min drive down 93 right into Boston

tamadrumr88

iTrader: (2)

1. Thank you
2. It's certainly better than where I'm from, but I've never had to use it in my area as I drive my car/sportbike everywhere and there is ample parking everywhere I go. I think they stop running around 12:30pm and start up again around 7 or 8am... this has only been a problem when we're out on the town or partying. The issue can be trying to park when I do drive into the city
3. I had first hand experience with the (lack of) parking as I just came back from a three day weekend in Cambridge.
4. Noted
5. Will do

Any advice on places to look locally besides Craigslist (sketchy) and Realtor.com?

thephantom

www.boston.com

Check out the classified section.

cleptosis

iTrader: (1)

hydepark area is best roslindale dedham close to city and you can get an apartment with a garage for cheap

huludicidal

I've lived in Cambridge for 4 years now and think it has the best to offer if you want to live in the city. Depending on what neighborhood you're looking at, parking can really be a non-issue. In the winter, it can be a lot tougher and extremely annoying. I have lived in the Inman square area as well as East Cambridge and parking is not really that huge of a problem during the non-snow months. For the winter, I buy a parking spot in a parking ramp just a block from my place for $150/month. Not too bad at all. A warning though, if you park on the street, expect your front and rear bumpers to get chocked up from others attempting to park.

Kendreth

i lived in the malden medford everett area for 28 years. if you dont need to worry about getting to boston for work you can get a better setup for less money in that area (offstreet parking is included in lots of places). lot of the stuff is not advertised but see if you can get recent copys of papers like the malden observer the'll have a bunch of stuff that wouldnt be on the net.

real easy to get to boston on the train but like its been said before no trains after 1am but is only about 20$ to take a cab from the bars around copley to malden.

and theres great spots in the saugus revere malden melrose area to enjoy the higher range of your spedometer. did it for years and never got a SR-21, only an illegal op for slidin sideways around an island on the pkway in everett but the cop was even cool about it(knock on wood)

i like the area better than in boston proper but you really should give it a weekend to check out the area,

Good luck

tamadrumr88

iTrader: (2)

I've been up to the area three weekends over the past two months checking out places. I ended up getting a sublet in Medford from May 1 -August 31 based on some of the advice in this thread If I like the area enough I'll consider staying longer. Since I work from home and not in the city, and because I'm no longer a college student, it wasn't as important for me to be right in downtown Boston. I'll only be venturing into the city on the weekends so the lower costs and ample parking/space are worth it to me

I'm sure I'll be hitting up some of you for detailing or minor work. I'd prefer to not have to bring many tools and detailing supplies with me. Thanks again!

vmodi89

hey tamadrumr- welcome to Boston. My girlfriend actually goes to Tufts university right in Somerville, so I am around the Medford/Somerville area quite often. Maybe ill see you around..

tamadrumr88

iTrader: (2)

Thanks to everyone for their help! The time has come to look for another place to call "home" (potentially for the next year though). I've been looking at some places just a few blocks east of Northeastern Univ (and equidistant from Boston Medical Center) just off of Mass Ave.

Having lived just north of Boston for the past three months, I'm much more knowledgeable about Somerville, Cambridge, Brookline, etc, but I'm not as familiar with the area surrounding Northeastern. Is this a safe and decent area? The people I've met so far are mostly from Somerville/Cambridge area and really didn't know much about the area

vmodi89

most of it is pretty safe because obviously its mostly college students. it can be loud at times, parking can be a pain, and you will have homeless people walking around sometimes at night loll. But overall its not bad.

eneffex

I was in kind of the same boat as you, I lived in Conshohocken, PA and moved to MA. I had a CBR600RR too in fact but, I sold it before moving haha.

Right now I'm in Malden, its off the orange line about 15-20 min ride on the T. I like it cause its a suburb and quiet but not too far out. Plenty of off street parking depending what part you're in. Medford/Everett/Malden is about the same and affordable.

Good luck with your search, Craigslist can be your best friend as well!

gibjer

The northeastern/back bay area isn't bad at all (I went to Wentworth just west of Northeastern), most trouble in that area (because of it's proximity to Roxbury) is inter-gang related, if you mind your own business you'll be fine.

If anything it's a bit overpriced because of the colleges around it.

Just keep mind of the police station on Ruggles and fire station on Huntington, they are both VERY active places (full sirens etc etc) .... but you get used to that after about 3 weeks.