Boston rent

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afroman123

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afroman123
Apr 13, 2021 14 Comments

Looking at renting in the city. Currently on outskirts. Cambridge / Boston ( Back Bay-ish ), feel like the options are too much $$$ and being unrealistic.

With long-term gf already living together. Current rent $2600 a month. She's about 65k / year, I'm about 200k TC ( E3 )

Nothing is really grabbing our interest except in the 3-3.5k range. I pay 67% she pays 33%. I want us to enjoy the city, but I have no one close to me that has ever made this type of money and subsequently spent this much on rent. Lol.

FWIW I'm currently hitting a savings rate of about 40% of gross cash ( salary and base ) with 30% going into 401k. Save my entire stock vest. After a year out of graduation have a NW of 70k ish.

So basically, Blind am I being insane? Should I be looking at 2600 and below? Maybe stay the current place?

#housing #boston #rent

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TOP 14 Comments
  • Financial Service Company / Finance
    tritter

    Go to company page Financial Service Company Finance

    PRE
    Goldman Sachs, Bank of America
    BIO
    Hedge fund trader
    tritter
    With $265k combined TC, you can comfortably afford apartments in the $3-3.5k/mo range. You should be able to find 1-bedroom apartments in managed buildings all across Boston (e.g. Fenway, Back Bay, Chinatown, North End) close to $3k/mo--and that's ignoring the 1-2 months free that many buildings are offering. $3k won't get you >800sqft with a stellar view, but that doesn't seem to be and shouldn't be the priority right now. You'll be in a nice building in a central location.

    You're also an E3 with presumably 1-2y of experience, so your TC will only grow from here.
    Apr 13, 2021 1
    • Just left 800 sq foot with a great view for 3100 in the north station area. Pandemic was great for rent. Look at the new buildings and negotiate 2 months free with parking. You’ll be surprised what you can get your net effective rent to. I moved to a building offering 3.5 months free. Ball out for a year you deserve it
      Apr 13, 2021
  • DM if you want building and neighborhood referrals in Boston.
    Apr 13, 2021 1
    • New
      aleve

      New

      aleve
      Dm’ed you
      Apr 24, 2021
  • Amazon
    ipED28

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    ipED28
    Why back bay? Why not Consider Somerville or alewife. I'd still budget 3k. I'm alone in a studio for 2.5k.
    Apr 13, 2021 2
    • Financial Service Company / Finance
      tritter

      Go to company page Financial Service Company Finance

      PRE
      Goldman Sachs, Bank of America
      BIO
      Hedge fund trader
      tritter
      OP said he's on the outskirts of Boston and is looking at renting in the city / enjoying the city. Moving to Somerville or Alewife would be antithetical to that objective. Nothing wrong with those places per se, but if you want to be in the city, you can be in a 1bed for $3k/mo.
      Apr 13, 2021
    • Facebook
      afroman123

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      afroman123
      OP
      Me and my gf grew up in a place where the cows outnumbered the people by minimum 10x, and my family's lot was small fish at 10 acres. We moved during the pandemic, having never really lived in a metropolitan area before, and even in the midst of a pandemic found out we love being in the thick of it all.

      We like the bar / restaurant density, the ease of all the T stations, etc. I think we've shifted to really wanting to being able to host our friends, meet up with them adhoc, and basically dip down whenever we felt like it. The saver in me definitely thinks being close to the red line in alewife is a good compromise and value spot, but I have a feeling at least a year in a place like back bay will scratch an itch me and her didn't even know we had.

      Obviously I don't want to give up saving for a year or worse, not afford it at all, so I made this post as a sanity check of sorts
      Apr 13, 2021
  • Amazon / Eng
    figaro4

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    figaro4
    I think 3-3.5k is fine for a good 1Br with great views downtown. Anything less than that and you’ll find yourself not really in the city.
    For reference I live in a studio in JP and pay about $2k with okay-ish views. 1Br go here for about 2.4k and the building is next to the orange line. It takes about 15 minutes to get downtown. DM me if you want more info.
    Apr 13, 2021 1
    • New
      goodJuJuSh

      New

      goodJuJuSh
      2k for a studio in JP? Wow
      Apr 13, 2021
  • Amphenol TCS
    konnector

    Amphenol TCS

    konnector
    How do you work out the 30% of your gross pay going into the 401k? Thats like $60k.. Isn't the yearly limit like $19.5k?... Sorry not really answering your question.. Just curious
    Apr 17, 2021 3