Hi all,

I will be traveling to Boston over Halloween to visit and interview with Raytheon. They are sending my wife and I out from the Friday to the Monday(over the extended weekend). What areas do you suggest we look at to see if we would enjoy living in Boston/surrounding areas?

Thanks in advance,
Tony

 

Where will your offices be? I would assume you would want as convenient a commute as possible. Good luck with the interview.

 

Not too concerned with the commute. Their corporate headquarters is located in Waltham but I will be doing engineering for their Integrated Defense Systems in Tewksbury.

 

Tewksbury huh. Well, let's see...

Tewksbury is right off of 495 and close to 93 and rt3. I am down 495 probably 20 mins in a town called Littleton so I can give my 2c on this.

To start, 495 will be too small for commuting in probably 10 years. It should be widened, as the amount of traffic has probably doubled in the last 10 years. But aside from that some of the surrounding towns I can think of:

Billerica- Also known as "Brica" to the local folks. Nice town that used to be affordable, but is out of control as far as housing goes. Great access to 495 and rt3 and now that 3 has been widened, traffic is not too bad. But you would probably be heading back roads to Tewksbury anyways.

Lowell- Getting ALOT better, and fast. Still quite affordable, and the downtown area is gaining alot of nice shops and restaurants. For an investment, if you buy into Lowell, you could probably sell in about 2 years (minimum requirement to turnover without Capital gains penalty) and make quite a healthy profit. But, there are still some sketchy neighborhoods, and having an S in Lowell would be risky IMO.

Andover/N. Andover- Kind of like Lowell, N. Andover being a little nicer than Andover. Decent investment. Good access to 495 and there is a HD right in town.

Dracut- I know a few people who have bought into Dracut. Nice town, and still affordable. Access to 495 and 93.

Chelmsford- Great town, very crowded though. Housing prices are high and I think the taxes are some of the highest in the area. Excellent access to 495, and rt3. Drum Hill rotary is a disaster though...

Westford- Stay away from Westford unless you want utter sticker shock. Both from housing prices and especially taxes. You'd think you were buying into Beverly hills...

Methuen- Great access to 93 and 495. Kind of a back quaint town, and I think real estate is affordable.

As I mentioned, I am in Littleton, which is like a Westford "lite". Our housing prices are average to above average, but we are still a small town. We have a brand new Taj ma School which is supposed to raise the taxes a bit, but even still they are a little below the norm. I have access to 495, go up 3 exits, I am at rt3, down and exit I am at rt2, straight through town, 3A. All of which will get me to Boston in about a half hour - 1 hour.

I know there are more places that I haven't thought of yet, but I may be able to give some info on them.

P.S. I am not a realtor or trying to be one. I have lived in Mass for 32 years from Waltham to Leominster and places in between. And I used to work on the N.shore in Amesbury. So I can give some impressions of towns in the area.

Welcome BTW.

 

where are you coming from?

housing prices here are INSANE

 

If you stick to the 495 belt, there are still some reasonable bargains. But I agree, housing prices are high. Without knowing how much he wants to spend, I can't really make any recommendations.

 

Thanks! Lots of good info. I would be coming from Utah, but I grew up and moved out of Chicago about 2 years ago, so I understand the insane housing markets. I would prob look at townhouses or condos for a starter and then move up in a year or two. It all depends on what Raytheon has to offer. I live a rather comfortable life in Utah as is with my current employer (ATK Thiokol, just got the new contract for the solid rocket boosters for the next generation Crew Exploration Vehicle(See Avatar)), so they will need to put together a pretty nice package to convince me to come and move out there.

A little about me, I have a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue with 3 years experience under my belt. My wife also has her BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Purdue. Anyone know what kind of salaries to expect/shoot for in that market?

We expect, once both of us find employment, to be able to afford something in the $300k - $500k range depending on how far we want to stretch, maybe even $600k.

-Tony

 

Tony, you willcare about the commute. Traffic around Rte 128 is tough. 495 isn't too bad in the scheme of metropolitan highways. For 500k you will be limited. In the better towns you will easily pay 500K for a nice condo or a small single family. The "middle" towns will get you a large condo or a 3 to 4 bedroom single for 500. The less desireable towns will offer some larger homes for that money, but the trade off will be too much in my opinion.

Do you prefer the city, suburbs or country? Some folks live up in New Hampshire and commute down to the northern edge of 495 and even all the way into Boston.

 

Yes, you WILL/SHOULD care about the commute.

Since you don't know where your wife will be working, try to find something south-east of Tewksbury. I would recommend Wilmington/Reading/North Reading/Wakefield, all on the commuter line with easy access to 128/93.

Have a look at isoldmyhouse.com to get an idea of housing prices. Calculate price difference between comparable houses in your area. This will give you a rough idea about how to adjust your asking salary. There are better calculators online to do the same.

Best of luck at the interview!

 

We do prefer the city, that's why we are considering the Boston area. The commute is not that big of an issue, in Chicago I drove 17 miles and it took a little over an hour, in Utah I drive 70 miles (EACH WAY) and it takes about an hour, so I'm flexible with that. Anything less than 1.5 hrs will do me just fine. I know a few of the guys in the group I am interviewing for own homes in Boston and a few are in New Hampshire. So I'm pretty sure I will be compensated enough to have that choice. But we'll see, my wife and I just want to get back to the city really bad.

I can already tell I will be very happy with the local S2000 club. You guys are great, thanks for all the info!