Tia's opens Thursday. Just F Everyone's I.

Bumping this because I love advice!

that means i got to start polishing my ball chain necklace asap

what? Italian people aren't allowed in Tias.

Just gonna bump this because its <1 month until I move now... and could still use any advice people have

I've basically decided that I want to live in Cambridge/Somerville area. Is there anywhere in these areas that I SHOULDN'T live??

Any other advice is also appreciated

Starting to get excited now!

Usually, if you look for places that are just outside the most desirable name areas, you will get the best value. So, an apartment in Somerville close to the Cambridge line will be a better value than one on the Cambridge side. A 15 minute walk to Davis Square may be a better value than a 5 minute walk. I lived in apartments in the Boston area for about 15 years, and always had roommates or girlfriend/wife to share the rent. When I was making your salary, I was only paying about $400/month in rent, and I highly recommend that you try to reduce your rent payment, so that you have some money left over for fun/savings/nice restaurants/whatever. Your budget for housing is 37% of salary, which is too high, imo. It may depend on your tax situation -- has it been confirmed that you don't have to pay any taxes (in the U.S. or Australia?) You could surely find some other Tufts people in Somerville.

I would stay away from the Union Square Somerville area and East Cambridge, but that's just me -- I'm more of a suburbanite now. The Rindge Ave./Alewife area of Cambridge seems a little sketchy to me, so if you end up there, keep your wits about you.

I would agree if he's getting a car, but if he's going to use public transport, I think it's OK. It depends on the tax situation.

Re places to live: I moved to the area in late April (Quincy) and spent the last few weeks looking for someplace else. My apartment is fine, but it's a one-hour commute each way by the Red Line. Just a few days ago I got hooked up with a basement apartment in Cambridge, a ten-minute walk from work. Score!

I suspect Klavs might wind up the same way, having to take something less desirable at first and then finding something better. With occupancy rates so high, it will be difficult to find something good.

Anyway, the Cambridge/Somerville idea is definitely a good one, given that you'll be at Tufts. Somerville is probably a bit cheaper and also closer, so focus there. The Porter Square and Davis Square areas are both nice, relevant to your search (Davis is the closest T station to Tufts) but a little more expensive than parts of Somerville that lie further east. Things near Interstate 93 are cheap, but less nice. I looked at a place near the Sullivan T station which would have had me walk under the highway to and from the T station every day...do not want.

Now, Tufts is in the northern, western part of Somerville. Medford is to the north and Arlington is to the west. I wonder if something in southern Medford, or eastern Arlington, might be best in terms of budget and distance? I was looking for places near MIT so I never really looked there. Those places will, however, be further from Boston.

FWIW I've seen Central Square in Cambridge too...didn't think it was bad at all. Certainly not as close as Porter or Davis to Tufts but (as others have mentioned) closer to Boston.

But yeah, to sum things up: Porter/Davis are both nice and if you can find something there you can afford, go for it.

Also, if you can't find some place that you're satisfied with, don't forget about sublets, which might give you a temporary place to crash while you find something more permanent.

The correct warmup move for Tia's is to practice saying "I mean, the pay is good, but the bonus is what keeps me in investment banking" at a volume such that everyone can hear you but it sounds like you're just talking to a friend. Note: This works much better if you work in accounting and make around $50k. Though with $9 bud lights you might need to be balling.







Areas in red, I wouldn't live in.

Areas/Code Words to Avoid in Craiglist Listings:

Rindge Ave.
East Cambridge
East Somerville
Cambridgeport
Sullivan Square
Mt. Auburn
Fresh Pond


If I were you I'd find the best apartment you can in your price range that is within a ten minute walk of Davis, Harvard or Porter. Central Sq. has some shadier areas, but as a single dude nothing you'll need worry about and plenty of bars and restaurants. Pretty much anywhere along Mass Ave., even if not right by one of the squares, will have tons of buses running every 5 minutes to take you in either direction.

I agree with everything Noah said.

Yeah, great stuff from Noah there. A+ with the maps, I should've included them into my own post. Also, I totally forgot you're doing your research in downtown Boston instead of at the main Tufts campus, so disregard my babbling about Arlington/Medford...and Cambridge would be closer to where you need to be than Somerville (instead of the other way around).

stick to those guidelines and you'll be ok, yes. of course 5 minute walk is ever better than 10, but 10 is reasonable and won't really take you anywhere bad, with the 1 possible exception of due west of Davis, in the "West Cambridge" circle Noah drew. it can get legit sketch down there, particularly as you move closer to Route 2.

Why do you want to live in Cambridge/Somerville? Orange line is the line you want to be on AFAIK.

When it comes to the Orange Line, I think anything north of Downtown Crossing would be too expensive, too far or too skeezy (the area around Sullivan Square just got wrecked by I-93 imo). However, I really haven't looked in those sorts of areas to the south. I can tell you that I think I had about the same budget as OP, and when it came to things within the Boston city limits, mostly that brought up things in Kenmore (which typically varied wildly in quality) and Jamaica Plain, which is a non-trivial distance from the T. Roxbury is closer to the train, but I don't know much about it.

I was thinking around mass ave station (south end/symphony/etc).

You know, I had an opportunity to look at an apartment there, but I scheduled it for right after a doctor's appointment than ran long, so I never got to see it. That could be an option; it's right near Northeastern U iirc.

Bay village too for that matter

His rent budget is 1200. That's a closet in those areas.

Bay Village I have no idea about, I just have heard it's cheaper than Back Bay. Though it's worth noting for OP's sake that it's a very pleasant neighborhood, convenient to a lot of stuff that young people like, that is literally blocks away from Tufts Medical vs a looong commute from Davis/Porter etc.

I can't believe that the area south and west of the intersection of Mass/Huntington is expensive... that area is packed with students who are somehow affording it.

Basically I think it's ******ed for this guy to live in Cambridge/Somerville when there's similar areas in Boston that give him an extra 10 hours+ a week in free time from not commuting.

Well they aren't exactly equivalent. You'll get a bit more space for your money in say porter, and it's a cool place to live as well. It's not objectively worse

The orange line, especially in that price range is universally terrible.



Oak Grove - Too far

Malden - Too far

Wellington- Isolated, some nice apartments (SL75, Station Landing) but all well out of OP's price range

Sullivan Square - Heroine addicts

Community College - Still heroine addicts

North Station - OP can't afford anything

Haymarket - N/A

State - Like two apartment buildings in area w/ avg. rent of $3k/month

Downtown Crossing- Heroine addicts

Chinatown- Opium addicts

Rest of Orange line is a mixed bag of too far, immediately next to housing projects, etc.

10+ hours implies 2+ hours per day, or 1+ hour per trip. No way does it take much longer to get to Harrison Ave. living on red line.

According to Google, if he lived in Harvard (for example) it'd be like 30 minutes door to door.

Also, having not met OP I can't say which area he'd prefer, but nowhere along the orange line or downtown is even remotely similar to the squares of Cambridge/Somerville.

There's plenty of stuff he could afford in the North End (Haymarket, North Station) and that's certainly a fun young area to live in (not my cup of tea, but whatever).

More importantly, the "rest of the orange line" that you're dismissing is exactly what I was suggesting. I think the Symphony area is a fun area to live in, has plenty of places to eat, bars (Wally's), is convenient to everything, etc etc. I don't really see what's better about Davis relative to Symphony/South End (I'd argue the opposite is true for just about everybody), and that area is so much more convenient.

Yeah you can do Harvard Square to Tufts Medical in 24 if you don't wait for trains, and the red line goes faster than I've ever seen it. That's a 40 minute commute door to door in real life and from what it sounds like OP is not going to be able to afford to live on top of Harvard Square station in the first place, meaning it would likely be closer to 50 mins he'd have to budget every day (hence over an hour from Davis).

I guess you can get a $1200 studio in North End, and its definitely a fun place to live (notwithstanding the fact that the North End isn't really near North Station. From most places in the North End to either of those T stops is like a 10 minute walk before you even get to the Station.

Symphony area can be nice (I greatly prefer the feel of C/S, Wally's is a cool spot) the rest of the way out towards JP can get real sketchy especially right around the T stations and if you're going to be coming home at night a lot.

I think if I was him, for $1200 I'd get a place in Central. Closer to the city and cheaper than any of the other squares. Not too sketchy as long as you're not near one of the housing projects (and again if you're a single dude you're threshold should be pretty high. I mean, sure there will be homeless people talking to themselves in Central, but its not like people are getting mugged and shot there). Plenty of bars and restaurants.