I mean, the west end has RATS. Like, funneling through your garden at noon and avoiding them on your bike level rats. I have not seen this level of rodent ambivalence to this degree in every neighborhood (but it exists in some and North Providence loves to discuss its rat problem).

I mean, I'll take the bait. I think luxury housing can free up other housing and that can be true and other nuances can exist at the same time.

Building more luxury housing would absolutely free up housing supply, assuming that there is no/low er....gene flow between populations(geographic flow, if you will, but I like science analogies). Lets say a luxury high rise gets built and it's 60% people who didn't live here already-- that means only 40% of the capacity actually freed up current housing. But, that is assuming 100% capacity, which is often not the case with luxury builds who may be able to write off vacant units or people doing rental arbitrage. None of these factors are accounted for because even the best models have to be simplified (again, science).

So there are a few hiccups here:

• Are some people going to move who were deterred before by the lack of high rise living?
• Are some higher income earners staying put because they don't like wasting money?
• Are the new builds actually being filled to 100% capacity? (this one is easily measured)
• Are there vacancy write offs or airbnbs operating?

Is the model still true? Yes, but with confounders.

It's like the egg analogy, but also eggs are now the new superfood and now twice as many customers are buying eggs as before avian flu. Oh, and eggs were just advertised as "2023's best breakfast food" while nearby breakfast foods like Bacon and cereal are getting terrible PR. So yes, maybe some lifelong egg eaters are a bit worried about their eggs because every time a truckload comes in a swarm of new shopper clears the shelves.

Dismissive stuff like this really divides people here and makes current residents feel even less heard. This type of stuff is not the community that I know and love here who should be open to acknowledging people are scared of the unknown.

I would make sure to know your stuff and research a purchase. Skis tend to have a shelf life to the bindings and are only idemnified for 10ish years for safety and fb marketplace (and some secondhand stores) have some very old skis. Someone who knows how to do bindings will have the knowledge/skills to repurpose older stuff and avoid injury.

It sounds like you're looking to purchase like new, so this is less likely to be an issue, but there might be really old bindings or barely used skis so check the info.

All of these people admitted that this commute funded their large house, stay at home parent, sailboat. So it wasn't an issue of necessity, but maximizing the situation for splurges. One person I know did the commute to live close to their (local) extended family but could have afforded to move close to work.

ESL is offered much the same way that the ADA is offered-- its a legal mandate at the national level. The Department of Justice has sued both Boston and Providence regarding compliance. If Barrington got an influx of non native speakers tomorrow, they'd need to revamp their courses as well. You wouldn't get mad at kids with learning disabilities for having resources allocated to them, so have the same empathy for multilingual students.

One thing to think about is that chicken feed/coops brings the rats/mice which some neighborhoods in the city have an abundance of.

Providence has a teacher problem because it has a morale problem.

Imagine you are fresh out of college and one job has good pay and benefits, fixed hours, no negative press, and supportive upper management. Another job has the same pay and benefits, fixed hours, very negative press about its employees (soon yourself), and upper management that is openly antagonistic about its workers. Your wife is probably very aware of this kind of dynamic district to district.

Overall, a state takeover means a lot of control. So a district like Johnston (which I hear mixed reviews from grads) is going to have a lot more flexibility with curriculum and testing (whether it is flexible all depends on the district culture). Providence is going to have less room to bend.

I think whatever happens your kid will be fine with a two very involved parents, one of which is a teacher.

edit: you should sit on a school board meeting for both. I believed Providence has one tonight that can be accessed remotely.

Absolutely, but pre covid, housing limitations hadn't really spiked prices post 2008. Rental rates were pretty stagnant. There are highs, but the prolonged historically low interest rates already lead to a runaway price increase especially when coupled with people showing up with remote work with salaries that are unheard of locally. Rhode Island had vacancy issues, but it was more manageable when examining the population that actually works in Rhode Island or somewhat locally pre covid. The city was never conceptualized to support random pockets of West coast workers or a disproportionate swath of Boston and thousands from NYC and it has never had the economy to do so either. So these issues aren't mutually exclusive, but covid was undeniably the major force acting on it (interest rates + remote work) making a situation no one could predict. It's not like RI is unique given that every mid sized city in the country experienced a crunch when demographically pushed to their limits. I had friends with escalation clauses buying homes in rural midwestern towns on cash offers. So building is going to help us get out of this, but as long as remote workers with insane salaries keep piling into this state it isn't going to fix the problem that covid primarily created (this has been documented in academia). Even the most resilient and building friendly states (obv not this one) aren't prepared to double their population overnight, especially when lockdowns and supply chain shutdowns halted construction projects during the peak.

It's like if you cooked for 10 people, but has 15 RSVP- you were always going to be stretched. But then 50 show up and complain that you only had the oversight to cook for 10, knowing 15 would come, but lacking any introspection about their own completely unexpected presence.

It's a lot more than that. I've lived here for about a decade, and things were pretty stable for the first several or so years. Stuff would go up $100 or $200, but you could just shift neighborhoods a bit and be fine and that is how it was for friends who lived here long before me. My rent only ever went up $50 in 7 or so years over several moves into larger places, which is not what I would expect if this was mostly due to supply.

The biggest factors seem to be low interest and a fluid economy. For the first 7 years here, there wasn't so much near interest free money to drive up prices and people generally worked locally apart from areas like sales. If you worked in software engineering, you made a local salary that was market adjusted-- you didn't make a salary for Cupertino. People did commute to Boston, but it took major commitment. I personally know multiple people who commuted 60 miles each direction to their careers for over a decade-- it takes a certain type.

If remote work vanished tomorrow, a lot of people would stay or super commute, but a lot of people would leave rather than commute 3 hours a day or cut their career options and salary in half. Most career professionals in the 2010s I met here left if they wanted to climb the corporate ladder and many found a lot of success in major cities.

Doyle used to have some issues, but I think it has mellowed out a bit since my experiences in 2016ish. A few years back most issues on the East side seemed to cluster on Camp and Doyle/University Heights area. Fewer issues the closer you are to Hope.

I know someone who had their car door broken open with rocks back then (the door--not the window. it was crazy expensive). They said it happened down the whole street overnight. That was the most expensive issue, but also some first floor break ins. Just secure windows in your place and don't wander around late at night, type of stuff, but it's worth mentioning if you're new to the area that it used to have a bit of a reputation in its own right (but this may very well have shifted since then).

Absolutely. Increase the budget to 2k, halve the space and make it a studio. Focus on new builds: should be dog friendly, but that might even be even more fees. If you're waiting 7 months, maybe increase rent 100-200. Budget more than you'd expect for utilities and car insurance.

If OP is from Austin, overpriced and below expectations should be second nature and feel very Austin-esque.

The west end has all of these within a few blocks of extremely expensive rents, tbf. Those have been anchor stores over there for a decade at least.

The real question is if this post is complaining about cost or saying its low because it could read either way.

Yeah, but I've driven cross country several times and lived in other states/cities with cameras and have never experienced this either. Admittedly, NYC has its own issues with people obscuring plates, but not covers.

Personally, I actually find the cameras to be less of a hindrance then constant toll roads I've had to deal with in other areas. I'd expect more people to try and avoid ez pass more than the possibility of a ticket which can be avoided if you don't blow red lights.

Driven all over the country and I don't think I've even seen one outside of an hour radius of the state (and even then, they pretty much drop to 0 in MA and CT after 20 minutes).

Completely made up. I have actually no idea why it exists other than maybe to balance out a very late spring break. It actually makes this a very cheap time to distance travel for families other than maybe local flights, if you are willing to risk the snow, because no one else is on break.

I'm being vague. I tend not to paint the area with a broad brush especially as I have a lot of friends who live all over, but again a similar crime profile to Boston and greater Boston probably. We have low crime, but there are areas that have experienced shootings, car theft, muggings, and property crime happens to some degree all over. I've had multiple friends have their homes broken into multiple times, but at the same time it's not super common. It really is a mixture of location and luck. I would suggest you look at the post around the same day as this one as this poor man who wants to move immediately due to some very unfortunate circumstances of being a victim of violent crime because I feel like it gives more of a range of experiences.

Also to balance it out, I would say that $3000 would be insane here as there really isn't a lot of economic or social opportunity here with median incomes at like 60k. It seems like maybe you're looking to make the jump from Boston? Boston or NYC seems to be near the only examples where people don't feel swindled, even coming from other large cities. I have heard of people here moving to even LA or Seattle because the costs are getting similar but they get much more value in their salaries and social life.

So that's what I'd say. Rent has mostly doubled from where it was even three years ago and with that in mind, I'd wager how much you're willing to go above if it continues to increase each year (also budgeting some of the highest utilities and insurance in the country). I did a major move ages ago that I would have never done financially if I was going to be at the top of my budget. I would also consider whether you would need to switch jobs any time soon away from your WFH job and make sure that your field is very much wfh because salaries here are low and jobs infrequent.

So it's legit in many ways yes, but the networking, 20 something social scene (im older now but it used to be lonely), and job opportunities are nowhere near the cost of rents if those are factors you need to consider.

edit: you will also probably do several apartment applications before actually getting offered a place. It's just that competitive

edit 2: the post was actually on Rhode Island. I dont know if I can link it but the guy also describes how hard it has been to lock down something in that range so ymmv

Level up in value and go to half priced happy hour between 3-5pm for an early bird dinner.

Feb is snow month, if we get snow. Every year all the snowfall for that year comes in feb/some late Jan. The biggest thing is that I plan any flights in Feb with flexibility for cancellation. Don't get yourself a 9pm flight the day before you have to be back at work. I've been at TF green in feb with every flight grounded and you don't want to be stuck like that.

Also, New England has this made up thing called Feb break, so some of the schools might be on a vacation in both MA/RI if you come that week. It might also increase flights/hotels/etc. Locals might not know that this bizarre observance isn't a thing in MI (or like 45 other states) and might fail to mention it.

That's awesome that you went but insane that it was scheduled that way. Stay active. Lots more BS to attend at state and local meetings! Providence is lucky to have people like you willing to go the extra mile to attend such meetings.

Wasn't the meeting held at like 10am on a Thursday? My dude, I was at work.

Based on everything I've heard on here and from friends, you should be thrilled your utilities are that low. I'm over here with $200 feeling like I won the apartment lottery.

Yeah I had it a long time ago and I can't recall what was wrong with it (like cane sugar or vinegary or what) but it was intense and pungent.

A year later I can't remember the burgers, but I remember the terrible ketchup and it really encourages me to go elsewhere.

Few ideas:

max 1 bed means many of these might be studios (but im unfamiliar with this app)

Areas like South Providence, Broad street/south of Broad, Olneyville, and parts of Smith Hill can be hit or miss and some areas are super loud/bustling. These zipcodes sometimes also have astronomically high car insurance to account for and some other costs associated with risk assessment. I've never lived in Boston, but I guess similar risk assessment to like a Roxbury or Dorchester.

I would never recommend someone live downtown unless they needed to be steps from the commuter rail or worked next door. It's extremely inconvenient to host friends there since parking sucks, most of the businesses close by 5, and a lot of it is just underutilized relative to the other neighborhoods everyone lives in.

Finally, what is listed and what you can actually rent has a valley between it. A lot of listings out there that need to be taken down, have 50 emails already, or a 30 person open house. So a lot of these affordable units have steep competition and are more like a raffle. Eventually, the price peaks and the competition filters out, but you'd need to get closer to 2k to see units that have vacancy for more than a weekend.

Daily. This question gets asked daily between PVD and RI subreddits. It's like those workplace accident signs but "0 days since a relocating post."