It’s worth my wife’s judgement and my own shame.

The special wrap with chicken and falafel was always the go to. Something about their super watery/kind of shitty packets of hot sauce will away hold a place in my heart.

That bread is unreal too. Sucks to hear prices went up, but it's still on par/a bit cheaper than other lunch options in the area.

A decently sized bowl at Grainmaker would run like $15-17 pre-pandemic.

Falafel King and his prices will continue to reign supreme.

Chacarero in Boston will be my answer forever. It's in downtown crossing, on Arch St.

Chilean beef/chicken sandwiches with avocado, hot sauce, tomato, and green beans. Top 5 bite in Boston. I would do disgusting things for their hot sauce recipe, especially the extra hot.

You can get it "BBQ" style, which just means they add grilled red peppers.

Pre-pandemic it was $11 for a small, $13 for a large.

Yeah, this is up there for sure.

I will hate on Tatte for some things as much as the next person (like mediocre sandwiches for $16), but their pastries are superb.

Their passion fruit Krembo is a top-3 dessert in Boston for me.

Yeah this is the crazy thing for me. I drove my wife's car with CT plates for 3-2 years because we were not sure if we would stay each year I had it. Kept feeling like a hassle for something that may only end up being necessary for ~6-8 months.

Eventually we bought a new car and had that registered in MA.

But when I lived in Quincy, there was a VT car that had lived across the street for at least the 4 years I was there.

Yup. We lost a bid in Norwell on a home that was pretty nice overall. Small, but only 25 years old, nice touches, a basement you could easily finish and turn into an in-law suite, and a decent sized yard.

Person that bought it paid $60K over asking and tore it down to build on the land.

When there is that much money in the market, you can sell anything.

We "lucked out" and bought as things stabilized a few months back, but no doubt that original Braintree home we saw went for $520K and was torn down, built into a much nicer property, and will be sold for $1M+.

It's funny you say that, because a year ago when my wife and I were looking for a house, we saw a listing in Braintree that was basically that.

It was this old, barn-style home in a heavily wooded area, clearly with a tiny bit of land around it. The house itself looked like a complete tear down. If I had to guess, it had not been lived in for 10+ years, and the previous owners did not do much to it when they were there. Exposed beams in the walls, all wooden kitchen that was dirty and literally falling apart.

The priced it awkwardly at $450K - as if it was a light fixer upper.

The first line in the description for the home was:

"As you enter, you are greeted by an abundance of natural sun shining through the skylight."

No, you are greeted by death and decay and maybe a touch of asbestos, but you do you, real estate agent with a creative writing background.

Of course! My wife and I literally looked with no luck for over a year. Cody helped us find something within 2 months. She truly is great to work with, knows how to stay in your limits, and can really get a deal done. Honest realtors are tough to come by, but she is one.

South Shore - Cody Rohland. She was amazing for us. She moved from Texas like 30 years ago, so you got the southern connection too.

That's really the big thing for me.

I didn't really want to leave Boston when my wife and I moved. But I hated paying $2,300 for a 1 bed, 4th floor walkup.

So we moved to Quincy Center, and eventually Wallaston, where it was kind of the best of both world for a while. Quieter than Boston, cheaper than Boston, but with bars, restaurants, and T access to Boston.

A few months back we finally bought a single family home further down the south shore. Car needed to get anywhere. And when you get there, you need it to go to the next place. It's rare that 2 things we need are close by.

So I welcome these mixed use places.

More young people, which helps drown out the older and more conservative crowd? Love it.

More housing close by, which is also good to have in case we ever fall on tough times and need to downsize? Great.

More things to do on weekends, places to eat, room for local stores? Perfect.

If we can just add more commuter rail stops/more frequent trains, id would really be perfect. But even without that, these projects are a great thing.

Unfortunately, NIMBYs are scared of EVERYTHING.

My town just got a community electric program. We will be paying .06 less per KWH than with Eversource alone (.16 vs .22). The local facebook group is littered with:

"I don't trust this program"

"I'm opting out - why are they forcing this on us?"

"This seems fishy to me."

Meanwhile, the pamphlet we got has all of the answers to their questions right there, and you can opt out at any time.

People are so afraid of change, it kills me.

As someone who moved to the south shore recently, this is a great thing, and we need more of it.

People keep freaking out and rallying against it, yet they all love shopping at Hanover Crossing and going to that Market Basket. Development of apartments means more stores, more restaurants, more choice, and lower taxes.

Not to mention, these are all fairly high prices - you're bringing working, white-collar couples and young families to the area. All of this is a good thing.

My guess is that she was the one leaving him after the fraud case. He likely did not want that/couldn't deal.

Horrible thing all around, and hopefully the kids will be well cared for moving forward by grandparents/extended family.

Certainly possible, it just seems like 2 people relocating from Arkansas and working in Longwood, simplest solution is that they are both MDs or researchers. Not a certainty, but definitely the likeliest.

And that median income is honestly a joke. Maybe if it’s per head in a household.

A family of 4 in Newton, owning a house, likely need $350K+/year minimum.

Since OP and his partner are both in Longwood, I imagine they are both in the medical field and will have sufficient income, but yeah, Newton is beautiful, close to Boston, with T access (that even goes directly to longwood), top notch schools, and a decent amount to do within the community, all of which make it wicked expensive.

For real - the stories of Market Basket being so much cheaper are very much legit. I thought it was just local hype, but no, MB is solidly 20-30% cheaper than everyone else, and the quality is great. Their meat and produce is much cheaper, and unlike Stop n Shop and Shaws, they have weekly deals on things people actually seem to buy, so you can toss in some extras and save on bulk items.

Overall this feels generally correct.

I lived in Boston proper for 7 years, Quincy for 4, and just moved down to the south shore into a single family home.

In Boston, stop n shop and star market had the "best" prices, which meant cheaper than Whole Foods and Roche, but definitely lacked in quality, especially when it came to meat, fish, and produce.

When I moved to Quincy, we started driving to Wegmans to see what it was all about and it became our go-to place for groceries. I personally found it cheaper than the Stop n Shop in Quincy, and the produce was WAY better. Their fish quality is honestly on par or better than Whole Foods most of the time, but the one draw back is they have a VERY small meat department. Both the Westwood and Natick locations had next to no fresh cut red meat if you wanted a nicer steak.

I had never been to a Market Basket until like 2 months ago when we moved, and I gave in and went. I thought I would hate it based off everything i'd heard about the quality, but honestly? I think it's on par or better than Stop n Shop/Shaws, and like a half step down from Wegmans. Their produce is perfectly fine. Plenty of fresh herbs to choose from, and the one in Hanover has a nice selection of Asian vegetables to choose from, which I appreciate. Their meat department is fantastic, and the only issue I have is their fish is pretty meh.

Having said that, I pay a good $20-40 less each week for the same cart at Market Basket than I did at Wegmans. It adds up quick and I get the love-fest with Market Basket at this point.