> preferably with no broker fee

So in other words, you're in search of a Unicorn.

Also, people will poo poo the "$2k" rent budget, but it's doable. You'll just have to take your expectations and knock them down a peg, and then another peg.

You're looking at older buildings resulting in higher utility bills, no laundry on site, constantly having to force your landlord to fix broken things, etc.

If you're serious with your budget and location requirements, you guys should just bite the bullet and share a 2-3 bedroom with two other people.

The glossy ones never worked through my wallet.. and I went through multiple wallets. I guess 'Big Wallet' has it out for me.

Depends on if you intend on getting out of the city to explore the surrounding area frequently. I bought a car, but lived in Brighton and didn't have to pay for parking.

But regarding getting out and exploring, my parents live in southern New Hampshire, so to get to see them it meant walking to and waiting for a 57 bus, to go to Kenmore, to wait for the T, to get to park street, to then transfer to another train (or walk, in similar time) to South Station, to then wait for a Boston express bus, that would then drive to Nashua, to then get picked up by a family member to then drive to their house.

door to door could be 2 1/2 - 3 hours easily.

After I bought a car, that became a 35-40 minute door to door time. So if you plan on getting out of the city and value your time, keep the car.

In my industry pre-covid, it was non existent unless you were a part time contract/freelancer. Everyone was expected to be in the office 100% of the time. Post pandemic, after we were forced to be remote and saw no dip in productivity, it's a mandatory 3 days in office, 2 days optional remote, as well as a pool of "remote hours" you can use over the year.

Some people like me negotiated a full-time remote situation moving forward, but that would have been unheard of pre pandemic.

Won't be a quick fix, but search for a Boston based Discord server (I'm sure there's plenty out there, bonus if it focuses on something you're interested in). Then just start talking with people without much effort and see if something clicks with someone.

I also lived there without a car for a year in my late 20's. Absolutely loved it. The grocery store, Moody St, even my Vet, were all within a 5-10 minute walk. But yeah, the one thing that killed it for me was commuting downtown and back everyday.

The express bus could easily be over an hour+ long and worse in the winter, and even though I lived by the commuter rail, I'd either have a pretty long walk or an extra leg on the Green line to get to my office.

This. Unless you're looking for something fancy, anyone can do it. Bite the bullet on the price of some painters tarps, tape, brushes, rollers, pans, etc.

You'll most likely use them again in the future, and next time around you'll have the knowledge gained from the first time.

If you don't mind a bit of a Hike, I used to go to one in Nashua when my brother lived there.

>pretty Jewish neighborhoods

The commute to southie will probably involve a hop from the Green Line to the Red Line, but Brighton would probably be a good choice for this requirement. I lived in multiple apartments in Brighton ranging from close to Cleveland Circle, Brighton Center, and Oak Sq. I constantly had Jewish neighbors and it was very normal to see families walking around in full garb.

Depending on how many roommates you want, your budget should be fine in Brighton (depending on quality of apartment). Before I moved away, I shared a 2bd 1 bath apartment with my wife for only $1800 in 2018. The place was problematic, but we wanted a cheap place so we could save for a home.

Brighton is also filled with people your age. It's quieter than Allston, but close enough to enjoy what Allston offers without the crazy college kid antics.

Honestly, if taking a bus is part of your commute, just add what seems right and keep a few $10 bills on you just in case. In the times where I didn't purchase a monthly pass, I just kept cash on me and would add value as needed.

I'll always prefer snow to heavy cold rain (Speaking as someone who had to shovel for years).

Bundle up, pop in some ear buds, listen to a podcast, and get some exercise in.

Busting out an umbrella (that the wind will probably break anyways) in 35º heavy rain while you're waiting outside for 30+ minutes for delayed busses is way worse than having to shovel some snow.

Looking at you 501 outbound during rush hour.

We were looking anywhere north, east or west, of Boston (family is scattered in the area). As far as Keene or southern Maine. Just wanted a modest home that had good internet (I work remotely in media and need the bandwidth).

We put in offer, after offer, over asking for a year, pretty much every weekend, and got nothing. So again, I don't know what to tell you.

We were putting offers on really shit houses listed at $200k, for $250k, knowing that we would bite the bullet in renovations. And still, Someone would either offer more, or just pay in cash. This was every weekend.

I don't know what to tell you.

We put in offers in the $300,000 price range, offering $40k over asking, and often got ghosted because someone else was willing to pay full in cash days after it was listed.

Not new homes. Old homes with small plots.

It's one thing to look on Redfin for shits and giggles, it's another thing to actually be going to open houses and making offers every weekend. Downvotes welcome.

Maybe the market has shifted in the past year, but these were just basic ass old homes.

Put multiple offers over asking price and waiving inspections, and couldn't snag one. They were very rural, no fluff.

The only positive factor I could imagine, is that they came with a small patch of land instead of being a small yarded suburban home.

Last year when I was looking at 100+ year old homes, over two hours away from Boston, that were 800 SQ ft. 2 bd 1 baths with crumbling foundations, the monthly mortgage payment would have been around $2,500 (Not counting all the maintenance and homeowning costs).

All to say, $5-6 k for a Boston adjacent neighborhood seems correct.

Seems to be a Halloween event tonight https://harpboston.com/calendar/

> Expand the daily use of downtown beyond work by bolstering downtown's cultural, art, retail, services, and hospitality ecosystems

I just don't see this happening. 15+ years ago, you could walk around Newbury and the Back Bay and find cool niche places that would incentivize foot traffic and provide a reason to be there outside of work hours.

I don't see that ever returning unless someone has a magic wand they can wave to get rid of greed. The groups that own these building and spaces will always rent them out to banks or restaurant chains over an art gallery or mom and pop shop.

If you don't mind a short walk, lots of Comm. Ave has free street parking, it's just a matter of finding parking. There are also some streets in Brighton that have free street parking, just make sure it's not marked as resident only.

This happened to me right before the pandemic. Fucking sucked because everything went remote and I could have relocated to somewhere cheaper and closer to family. Predatory as fuck.

Bless both of you, this is how it's done. I remember I was once getting off this exit, and there was a pickup truck trying to squeeze in last second. It took me probably 10 minutes to actually get off the exit, and that asshole was still waiting in the second lane because no one was letting him in.