LiberBEARian
[relationship bullshit] [the Find a House song] So Sergio and me spent most of today going through all my closets, creating a massive Donate pile, and bringing it all over to the thrift store. And when we came back, we decided to look for housing together.
LiberBEARian
And we're split between two towns; Lowell and Andover. So we agreed that I would look at all the Andover locations, and he'd look at all the Lowell ones.
LiberBEARian
So I'm laughing and telling him about how whenever I move somewhere, my mom and aunts decide to look up who's my neighbor on the national sex offender registry
LiberBEARian
Which was also how I found out that I lived a few blocks away from one of the Boston Strangler's victims back in the day
LiberBEARian
So Sergio gets a contemplative look on his face, and starts googling crime rates in Lowell
LiberBEARian
LiberBEARian
Guess which area is the "good" one
LiberBEARian
This is in the last six months, btw
CallMeShayna
Oh gods. |D
LiberBEARian
I'm gonna show this to my mom to freak her out
LiberBEARian
Meanwhile I'm playing the game of "find the worst house on Zillow"
Meanwhile I'm playing the game of "find the worst house on Zillow"
LiberBEARian
And I, too, want to be able to see out into my garage while pooping.
spooky queer
yeah lowell is kind of known for not having great crime rates
spooky queer
i looked at apartments there once and was like ....yeah maybe not
spooky queer
sadly that tends to be the case with neighborhoods around here that are relatively affordable
LiberBEARian
Yeaaaah. We're looking on the east side of the river purposely for traffic purposes but it was nice to see that confirmed via statistics
LiberBEARian
yeah. 
spooky queer
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
lives near lowell so she might be able to give you some pointers
LiberBEARian
Definitely. I reached out to about seven places, but we're not looking for a move-in date until June or July so not a ton of stuff is on the market yet
LiberBEARian
Sergio's gonna go look at a place on Monday just to get back in the habit of talking to realtors
spooky queer
yeah give it a month or two
LiberBEARian
Legit. The Lowell ones sometimes come up early because of the UMass Lowell campus being huge, and "fall semester housing" is starting to crop up
CricketMomJenn
Oh dear uhm
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
yeah if you want to know anything about Lowell I can give you the run down and also let you know which neighborhoods are the better spots
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
and for the recodr
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
record*
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
if you are looking for a realtor, my mum has 25 years of experience realtor-ing in the greater lowell area.
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
there are some lovely parts of Lowell. It's a great little city. There are also some spots I wouldn't be comfortable living
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
actually i know Andover pretty well too. Andover is going to be much pricier because Andover thinks it is special
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
(it's a lovely town)
LiberBEARian
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
: Definitely, thanks! I know if it's Lowell we need to stay south of the river because of traffic, and we were looking in the Belleveue area
LiberBEARian
We're searching along the 495 corridor because that's the best route to both our jobs
Bifrostbbsitter
whispers Move north, just a little north, the border isn't really that far...
LiberBEARian
new hampshire huh
Bifrostbbsitter
well, it was worth a shot
Ptriciadactyl
Living in NH but working in MA is the worst in terms of taxes, because NH has no income tax but makes up for it with higher property tax, so you get hit twice.
LiberBEARian
fun.
LiberBEARian
I've learned that if you want to buy stuff, go over the border, but don't live in NH
omnomivore
Yeah, uh, definitely don't live in a town on the NH side of the MA border. Soulless stretches of strip malls as far as the eye can see...
omnomivore
My parent's neighborhood isn't bad, but they also lucked out in getting a quite good deal on the house. And it also has its downsides.
LiberBEARian
Legit. I once helped my first boyfriend move his friend over the NH border and it was the saddest house on the saddest street in the saddest neighborhood
LiberBEARian
No offense to NH but the border towns are kinda depressing
omnomivore
So many liquor stores and tattoo parlors...
𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔠𝔥𝔠𝔯𝔞𝔣𝔱
The borderlands are no man's land. Tattoo parlors, liquor stores, and smoke shops as far as the eye can see.
omnomivore
On the other hand, they're the only place that has even a chance of access to public transport into boston.
Bifrostbbsitter
I'm roughly 15 min north of Townsend, and it's beautiful where I am. Though the town itself is small and slowly dying I think. It's little and not doing so great.
omnomivore
Yeah, I'm from the other side of Nashua.
omnomivore
Right north of Lawrence.
Bifrostbbsitter
I work in Nashua, live out near Mason.
omnomivore
I no longer live in the states but my parents are still there