Moving into Off Campus housing in Boston

Parent Cafe
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<p>OK… let me preface this by saying I am asking these questions more from a curiosity perspective, as opposed to looking for advice to give my daughter. She will not look kindly upon my trying to tell her what to do, given I’ve now only been to Boston twice. </p>

<p>So, she will be moving into an apartment with two other friends, one of which she lives with right now. Both her roommate and the other friend grew up in Boston suburbs, so they know the area, although this is the first time any of them have had to do the apartment switch thing on 9/1. The new roommate’s parents still live in the area, and she has access to a flatbed truck for moving. They also can stay with them for a few nights, if needed. The new apartment is only two blocks from her current apartment (moving from Brighton to Allston); she is currently on a third floor, and is moving to a place on a second floor. She also has some rather heavy furniture (a new dresser/bookcase, full-sized bed, a futon (it’s a nice one, so made sturdy and heavy), a 26" TV, small kitchen table/chairs, etc. Her roommate really only has a bed and dresser. When they moved in, my husband went out to help her (joined by a family friend who lives out there), and I hear it was quite the ordeal, as we’re talking two men in their late 40s trying to haul this heavy stuff up three flights of winding/uneven staircases. </p>

<p>D wants husband to come back and help again, but he says he won’t do it. However, we’ve offered to pay for someone to help her move, but she wasn’t very receptive of it. Both her roommates have brothers still in the area that the girls think are willing to help for some free pizza and beer. I’m concerned that these guys will help their own sisters move (who don’t have as much stuff as my D), but might not feel as obligated to help D with her stuff, which is why we suggested hiring movers. The guy at the realtor’s office said if she didn’t line up her movers by last week, they were all going to be booked. So, again I talked to her about it, and she’s just upset that her dad isn’t coming out to help her this time. She doesn’t have a car, although her current roommate does, and is pretty generous in letting her borrow it. </p>

<p>She currently lives on a narrow, one-way street, but at least the new place is set in a sort of terrace/courtyard where they can pull up (although no long-term parking is allowed). </p>

<p>Also, I’m pretty sure she will not go for renting a U-Haul and driving it herself. I think the girls are going to have to all work together and help each other getting out of one place and into the next.</p>

<p>What I’m curious about is, how are these people expected to move out on one day, but not be able to move into their new place on the next day? What do they do with all their stuff in the meantime, and where do they stay if they don’t have family in the area?</p>

<p>She’s already stressed about how it’s all going to happen.</p>

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<p>You could use temporary storage if it’s for a short period of time or borrow someone’s garage. I’ve moved furniture when I was in my 20s and those winding staircases in old buildings are a big pain in the neck to move bulky items up. I’m actually stronger today than I was in my 20s but I still wouldn’t consider it a pleasant task. Moving stuff into our son’s apartment was comparatively easy as it came unassembled or it was stuff that could be torn down and put back together so that things could be carried in pieces.</p>

<p>One thing that you learn about going to college: logistics. Lack of preparation can make for a nightmare.</p>

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<p>you can reserve parking for a moving truck in front of the building for a relatively small fee. It also prevents other people from parking there (this is true for cambridge atleast)</p>

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<p>Since your D’s roommates have family in the area, I would suggest not moving on 9/1. Give the former tenants (and all their neighbors) time to move out; give the roommates time to thoroughly clean the apartment, then move a day or so later. Less traffic congestion, less hassle trying to clean around boxes, etc… As they clean, they can decide what will go where, taking into account windows, doorways, outlets, and other features.</p>

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<p>More tips: </p>

<p>When budgeting time for moving, budget an amount of time that you think is much too high.</p>

<p>Get as many friends as possible to help.</p>

<p>Make sure that your tools are somewhere easily accessible, rather than packed in the bottom of one of half a dozen large identical boxes. Also make sure that other things you might need quickly (e.g. your checkbook, your passport) are somewhere easily accessible and that you remember where it is.</p>

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<p>Wow. I really started something here. Thanks for all the suggestions. My kid is going to travel light. Buying some stuff at Ikea, bringing the boxes into the new place then assembling. I’m going to have them pack a cordless screwdriver in their luggage.</p>

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<p>As far as furniture, 9/1 is the big movein day for apartments in Boston. Therefore all those moving out, unload their unneeded furnishings on the sidewalk for gargage collection. That being sad, there’s actually some great finds that can be had. Certain neighborhoods that have big concentration of students can have quite a lot of useful items.</p>

<p>My daughter, an off-campus Boston student, found an end table, chair and book case on the sidewalk near her apartment. We had bought her a new bed, and also picked up some basic furniture at a local thrift shop (which also was a great deal).</p>

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<p>We’re going the IKEA route, too, in a different city. Also craigslist and used furniture stores. :wink: IKEA in MA is in Stoughton, which is closer to the CT border than Boston.</p>

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<p>Thought I would bring up this old thread, now that we are done. So how did it go?<br>
*Thanks for asking! *</p>

<p>Drove from NC to Boston with son and his stuff. He has an unfurnished apt, 2br, one roommate, small but expensive so not much budget for furniture. Got him an air mattress for $39.99. My cousin very generously donated an old TV and a few small items. We hit Craigs List hard for 2 days in Boston. It’s a buyers market! Tons of people have to empty their apartments by midnight, August 31. If we don’t buy it we can come by Monday night and it probably will be on the street. Tracked down a dresser for $35. A little rough, but mostly wood. Next day he found a bigger better dresser for $50 (overpaid). His closet is outside the br, so 2 dressers is a good thing. Walking around Allston we found a serviceable TV stand and a very interesting wood shelf/coffee table type thing, all at the curb. Yes, trash picking! On the way back to my cousin’s house, next day we spied a couch at the curb in very good condition. I was a bit leery - we have been warned about bedbugs, but what the hay - this is a good neighborhood… free couch! We removed about 85 cents in change during our inspection and left the money on the porch. Sept 1 was a total mess on Westland Ave. We helped my son’s roommate unload his truck and we came back much later that evening with our truck and had a relaxed unload. If I ever do this again I will move in on September 2. The street was nearly empty the next day. So with truck rental, maybe spent $300 ? not too shabby.</p>

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<p>“On the way back to my cousin’s house, next day we spied a couch at the curb in very good condition”</p>

<p>^^That reminded me of my favorite car commerical of the nineties (does anyone remember the “Da da da” Volkswagen TV ad? If you’ve never seen it, google “Da da da Sunday Afternoon” on YouTube) </p>

<p>Congrats on surviving the move in day!</p>

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<p>Our situation was a bit different because D1 is out of college and has a substantial amount of stuff. As fate would have it, after I wrote #21, the one future roommate’s mother told the girls, just hire movers… we’ll pay for your part of it, so I called the moving company that the realtor had referred us to, and they were nothing but professional. They charge by the hour. If they were keeping your stuff on their truck until move in, they charged a flat fee by the day. If they ‘warehoused’ it, they charged their hourly fee for each time they had to load/unload/load/unload again. The girls agreed to move out on Saturday (the 30th), and move into their new place on the 2nd, so the movers had absolutely no problem waiting for other trucks/cars/vans to get out of the way… it was easy out and easy in. They even complimented my daughter on what a good job of packing and organizing she’d done, that the job was much easier than they had anticipated.</p>

<p>The total for moving two girls, living in two different apartments, storing their stuff, was $1300, so each girl paid $650. She didn’t (and more importantly - we didn’t) have to move a thing down from a third story apartment, into a truck, unload it or store it in the truck, then move it to a second story apartment. The third girl, whose parents were not willing to help her out financially had her boyfriend help her, but I’m not sure what she did with her stuff in between places. All in all, it went very well.</p>

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<p>Dh and DS survived just fine too. Lots of traffic. DH told me at one point he was so frustrated he was near tears. Ikea was crowded on 9/2 and they were out of some things but they were able to get other items and got it all done. DS’s gf was a huge help as she lives nearby and has a car. The third person was definiely useful as the car was double parked.<br>
A friend’s granddaughter moved from CA to Boston. She had a problem as she has BofA in CA but BofA in MA held her check for 7 days. She survived her first week on $20. in a card her gma had mailed her :)</p>