u/jyck12

M28, F34, Cat3 (engaged, planning to marry in the next year or two)

Six years ago I moved to Boston for a girl right out of college. She's gone, I'm still here, and somehow I ended up engaged to the most perfect person in the world, so the city did right by me in that department. Landed here right as COVID shut everything down, worked my way through restaurants and bars, pivoted into hotels, and I'm now the Assistant Hotel Manager at a pretty busy property in the city right next to TD Garden. I'm on track for a promotion to HM at a new property here within the next year or so and the company I'm with will take care of me. Boston has been good.

Here's the thing. My landlord is selling my building. It's a beautiful 100-year-old multifamily walkup right off the main drag through arguably the best neighborhood in the city. The rent is grossly underpriced, it has everything we need, and I love it, but I can't stay. And with the way rents have moved in this city, staying in Boston means Somerville or, god forbid, Rat City (love you Allston). The other issue is my job. We have 3 properties in Boston but only 1 in Chicago and 0 in Indianapolis and 0 in Detroit. There will be more opportunity for me to move with my company in the future but I'd have to wait it out.

I've been here long enough that I know this feeling. The universe is kicking me in the ass. I've gotten too comfortable and it's time to figure out what's next.

I'm originally from Indy, spent my first 22 years there before Boston. Always told myself I'd move back to the Midwest after three years out here. That was six years ago. Life, work, and comfort have a way of keeping you put. Now with some members of my immediate family getting up there in age, being closer to home for a while actually matters to me in a way it didn't before.

I'm open to staying in Boston but I've been looking at three Midwest cities: Indianapolis, Chicago, and Detroit. I will not be entertaining any Ohio discourse, don't even try me.

Quick thoughts on each:

Indy — It's home, which is both the appeal and the problem. Feels a little too easy? Not sure I'm ready to just go back.

Chicago — Amazing city, checks most of our boxes on paper. The access, the culture, the food scene. Hard to argue with it.

Detroit — This one surprised me. Started as a dark horse but when I actually dug into hotel industry opportunities there I found some genuinely exciting projects that would pay me more than I make in Boston. Hard to ignore that.

What we're looking for: We love city access, sports, events, bars, restaurants. But we also love being able to decompress. A neighborhood you can actually walk around, a park nearby, somewhere to go fish in a pond. We want the balance.

I've got applications out in all three cities so nothing is decided. Just wanted to hear from real people who know these places. What are we missing? What should we be thinking about? Anywhere else?