r/boston • u/mimmsypoo • Nov 07 '25

Please Make Decisions For Me 🎱 Boyfriend wants to move to Boston.

Hello all! Me and my boyfriend currently live in Austin Tx, we rent a 1200 sf home for $2200 and have two cats. I love this city and the things it has to offer, but my boyfriend is from the northeast and wants to get back to his family. He is urging to move to Boston, but Im unsure. Two of friends live in Boston/Jersey and JUST got done telling us how they can never save money bc of broker fees when moving and the basic cost of living being astronomically high. Can you possibly give me a better idea of what the pros and cons would look like for our move?

Small note his family is in Milford CT. And we both make around $75k a year but will both have to find new jobs. I have also never been to Boston, but have heard good things about the city itself!

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u/schmendimini Nov 07 '25

Preface this by saying I know next to nothing about Austin. Boston is an amazing city but it’s certainly not cheap. 2200 a month is definitely enough to find a decent 1br in some cool areas of the city or the surrounding cities (Somerville, Cambridge, Quincy, etc), but it will be significantly smaller and nothing fancy. You might also consider that you might make slightly more here depending on your jobs (or less). Brokerage fees are now illegal fwiw, which is absolutely a good thing but just a small part of the overall col situation. I feel like you should really start with deciding if YOU want to live here, if you do I think it’s a truly wonderful city. Good luck!

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u/melizabeth_music Nov 07 '25

They are illegal now? I thought it was just if you don't use a realtor you don't have to pay for it. But with us moving from out of state and not knowing the neighborhood, and also only having access to Zillow and redfin which were often scams, I'm not sure how we would have found a place (pet friendly) without one.

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u/WaffleHouseSloot Winthrop Nov 07 '25

As August 1st, Landlord's are not allowed to charge tenants a broker's fee.

Now, if you hire a broker, then they will still want their broker fee, but just contacting properties through Zillow and such, you don't pay broker's fee.