Pay less, get more

A Red Sox fan can get lonely in Charlotte, N.C., but Gavin Dowell has a lot to console him: a bigger house for less money, and a commute that's half as long.

Dowell is one of dozens of former FleetBoston Financial Corp. employees who are uprooting their families now that Bank of America Corp. has acquired Fleet. For those

like Dowell who are moving to the bank's Charlotte headquarters, housing got sweeter: He bought a 3,060-square-foot place that is a third cheaper but 35 percent bigger than the Boston-area home he has on the market.

For Bank of America workers moving to Boston, though, the transition is not so pleasant. The average price for a single-family home in Boston is more than double what it is in Charlotte, St. Louis, or Dallas, where some of the bank's employees are moving from. Yesterday, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors said prices in the state rose 12.8 percent in June, to a median of $360,000 for a single-family home.

That regional difference in prices is creating windfalls for those leaving Massachusetts for other parts of the country, but it has become a source of anxiety for those moving here.

For firms doing business in Massachusetts, the state's high cost of housing presents a financial obstacle, and they frequently have to subsidize apartments for workers or pay them extra money to induce them to move. Bank of America said it offers its executives ''cost of living adjustments" to their salaries and ''favorable relocation packages" that include help with moving expenses.

Mark Hogan, a Bank of America executive, said he thought St. Louis was a bit pricey when he moved there from Atlanta a few years ago. But when he bought a home near Boston in May, he quickly found out otherwise. His house in Sudbury cost him double the sale price of his St. Louis home.

''I went on the Internet, and the first thing that jumps out at you is the price of the homes" in the Bay State, he said.

Compounding his real estate woes, Hogan had trouble finding a house big enough for his four children, who range in age from 8 to 14. He wanted something like he had in the Midwest: in a quiet subdivision, with similar homes, friendly neighbors, and perhaps a pool and tennis court. In Massachusetts, he toured mostly older homes that were smaller than he and his wife wanted. He finally found what he was looking for: a six-bedroom Colonial in a Sudbury subdivision.

Because of the distance to Boston, though, he has to leave the house no later than 6:30 if he wants to avoid morning rush hour traffic. Luckily, he said, his job involves traveling outside of downtown, and he can work from the bank's Waltham office if he wants.

Bank of America declined to say how many executives are moving. But the number is probably lower than in previous mergers. As the bank has grown, it has adopted a national operating model in which members of the same division work in locations scattered across the country. They communicate largely via conference calls, with frequent plane flights back and forth.

Nonetheless, the Charlotte headquarters continues to exert some pull, at least for higher-ranking executives. For Dowell, a lawyer, the decision to move was easy. Rumors had been swirling for months that Fleet's attorneys would be among those most likely to lose their jobs during the merger, since they overlapped positions at Bank of America. He liked the new company, so Dowell told the bank he would move wherever they wanted him.

As his family began to assess their options in Charlotte, he said, they began to feel more excited.

''Everything we saw in a six- to seven-mile radius was in our price range," he said. ''We realized we couldn't go wrong."

He and his wife, Karen Johnston, bought a new home in Charlotte with a walk-in closet, Jacuzzi tub, and two-story foyer for $320,000, and listed their old four-bedroom home in Easton for $459,000. Dowell plans to use the proceeds of the sale to pay off debt, including his student loans.

In Charlotte, he said, people love to complain about the traffic, which on a bad day can stretch Dowell's commute to 45 minutes. But in Boston, it used to take him more than an hour by commuter rail on most days.

For all the benefits of the South, he said, he is still sorry to leave the Northeast and his beloved Red Sox.

He also worries that his son will abandon the New England Patriots -- and fall under the spell of the Carolina Panthers.

''My poor 8-year-old," he said. ''I'm afraid he may convert."

Sasha Talcott can be reached at stalcott@globe.com.