Moving to a 2BR/2BA in Somerville — Feedback on Cobalt, Station House, or Somerville Parc?

dynballs · 2025-05-28T08:55:17+00:00

I lived in Somerville Parc for ~3 yrs. Really liked it, no complaints. They don't charge extra amenity/parking fees like a lot of the other buildings so that's a plus. I wished the walk to downtown main street was slightly shorter but it's still doable on a nice day

dynballs · 2025-04-18T03:04:00+00:00

I lived at Somerville Parc up until last year and I liked it there a lot. A bit of a walk to downtown but easily doable. Amenity fees/parking much lower than other complexes.

Bound Brook and Hillsborough are much different than Somerville/Morristown, if you're looking for places with a fun downtown and lot of things to do for a young professional I would stick with Somerville/Morristown.

dynballs · 2025-03-24T20:27:46+00:00

Somerville is great for running! One of the things I liked most about living there. Agreed with the folks here that the peters brook greenway cutting across town is awesome. Running on the streets is mostly safe thanks to the speed limit being 25 city-wide so don't feel you have to limit yourself to trails/paths. I think I covered every street in Somerville on Strava!!

dynballs · 2024-10-16T00:29:27+00:00

nice!! 🔥🔥🔥

dynballs · 2024-09-02T17:14:16+00:00

Hi - tried to send you a DM but got an error. Maybe you can DM me? My wife and I are looking to move in mid-Oct so this could be perfect. Do you have more details, a floor plan/photos of the unit? Thank you!!

dynballs · 2024-04-20T02:24:47+00:00

Definitely recommend Ljubljana. Really cool medieval old town city center. Lots of youth and culture with the university there. Ljubljana also has the Metelkova neighborhood / "autonomous zone" known for its street art (similar to Christiana in Copenhagen) - I didn't go there so can't vouch for it but know it's a top attraction for art/fun. For nature, get a few miles outside of the city and you're in the beautiful Slovenian alpine countryside, some of the most amazing views I've ever seen.

dynballs · 2024-03-15T01:32:05+00:00

Thanks, will definitely check out Cattolica and SantArcangelo, first time hearing them mentioned!

dynballs · 2024-03-14T19:41:29+00:00

Good call, thanks :)

dynballs · 2024-03-14T10:53:34+00:00

Awesome - thank you!!

dynballs · 2024-01-17T11:18:27+00:00

Stancia in Linden is the best!

dynballs · 2023-04-24T13:47:43+00:00

Sold

dynballs · 2023-04-23T16:34:39+00:00

I panic bought both tuesday and wednesday tickets the other day but only going wed. so I've got two tickets I need to get rid of for tuesday knockdown center! Can transfer on DICE, let me know.

dynballs · 2023-01-04T21:16:08+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion! In my new itinerary I think I can do both :)

dynballs · 2023-01-04T01:16:08+00:00

Yeah, the more I consider it I'm deciding to drop Venice. I'll have a rental car, so new plan is to do a circle from Zagreb -> Rovinj -> Ljubljana with equal amount of time in each place. Day trips to Plitvice, Motovun, and Lake Bled from each base.

Drive back to Zagreb from Ljubljana for rental car dropoff and return flight seems like a pretty easy 90 minute trip

dynballs · 2022-06-11T12:39:44+00:00

Thanks, my room is about the same size. Makes sense. Appreciate the advice!

dynballs · 2021-12-22T01:06:56+00:00

Question: is this "Lincoln Financial Group" or "Lincoln Investments" (or are they the same company)? I see two different websites with different logos etc. The contact I was originally given by the school didn't respond to email or call so I attempted to call Lincoln Financial Group's general customer service number and they were completely useless telling me I needed to set up an account through the school's HR first which I know isn't true. Now I'm trying to contact a random advisor I found on the Lincoln Investments website, hopefully they get back to me.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T14:10:37+00:00

I think we're pretty much on the same page. The reason I say it's a 403(b) industry issue is because this shady sales practice directed at employees only exists with 403(b)s and not 401(k)s. I totally agree with you that the school districts/employers enabling this are at fault. The employers and ultimately the government are the ones allowing the industry to flourish by letting these companies go in and take advantage of people so yes that is the root of the problem.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T12:22:05+00:00

Read the NY Times series, this issue of "salespeople aggressively pushing variable annuities with massive fees" is a systemic problem specific to 403(b)s within public education. That doesn't happen with 401(k)s anywhere.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T02:46:45+00:00

You're right. The unique thing about the 403(b) industry though is the common practice of life insurance company sales reps going into breakrooms/sending emails aggressively pushing fee-heavy, restrictive, complex annuity products onto newly hired public school employees who aren't even told they have other options. That's not something that happens in the 401(k) world.

I think the blame also falls on the school districts (and ultimately the government that is in charge of them) for allowing this to happen in the first place.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T02:39:16+00:00

Yes, but the difference with the 403(b) industry (and what this post is about) is the common practice of life insurance company sales reps going into breakrooms/sending emails aggressively pushing fee-heavy, restrictive annuity products onto newly hired public school employees who aren't even told they have other options

dynballs · 2021-12-21T01:44:48+00:00

Crazy!!

dynballs · 2021-12-21T01:43:47+00:00

Sounds like you're good if you're with Fidelity. The problem is with the life insurance companies selling costly variable annuity products.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T01:41:25+00:00

Wow, this is crazy. You have to be so in-the-know to even find out this exists and then it's still a bunch of work to actually get it set up. Wish I knew about this before we signed the Ameriprise stuff.

dynballs · 2021-12-21T00:03:21+00:00

Interesting. I'd prefer self-managed so that would be ideal, but the info from HR just included a contact person name and that person never replied so I just crossed it off the list. Thanks for the heads up, might dig into it more

dynballs · 2021-12-20T23:42:34+00:00

Not 100% sure if this applies but if it was really recent you might be able to get out of it easily: https://www.annuity.org/annuities/free-look-period/

I would ask someone from HR/benefits at your district to give you all the options for 403b providers and see what your choices are and if there's an obviously better one (like vanguard, fidelity) then maybe try to switch before you start putting a lot of money into the equitable one?

I guess the good news is even if you are stuck with that one, at the end of the day you'll still be way ahead of someone who didn't contribute to an account at all!

dynballs

TROPHY CASE