Young Mixed Couple Moving to the Boston Area HELP (Newton: low income, apartment complexes)

[KozeMozeSoze]

I am relocating to the Boston area soon and will be working in Westborough. I've never been in Massachusetts and have no clue about Boston. I need to know where I can live to commute no more than a 1/2 hour to Westborough.

From what I understand Framingham has some racial tension at least according to urban dictionary etc.

To give you an idea of who we are, I and my wife both have college degrees. I think we can afford the Newton area if apartments.com has a good representation of the rental rates there. We are mixed-race. We will hopefully be starting a family soon. We would like to have some good shopping nearby, preferably within walking distance.

Where do I start?

[Bostonmania]

natick, framingham, or ashland would be good choices. I lived in framingham for a few months and my grandmother lives in hopkinton, i never experienced much racial tension, but i wasnt looking for any either. If you can afford newton, you can also afford almost anything except for maybe wellsley. I'd go further west into framingham or ashland just because the commute would be better, the commute from newton would be pretty bad if you were driving. Boston has bad traffic, most people try to live as close to work as possible, but you have a reverse commute so it wouldnt be as bad.

Craigslist is by far the best place to find a nice apartment in the boston area, you should look on there. Living in mass as a mixed race couple is not a problem. I've jumped around new england a lot my whole life, until 6 months ago i lived in ma with my girlfriend, (im american indian, she's black) we never experienced any racism from other people. Its not like down south.

[sm4269a]

Call up some realtors in the area, they're your best bet.

Hopkinton and Holliston are nice nearby towns too.

[Bostonmania]

Originally Posted by sm4269a

Call up some realtors in the area, they're your best bet.

Hopkinton and Holliston are nice nearby towns too.

They are nice but outrageously expensive and its harder to find rentals...

also i wouldnt rely on realtors, in the past most agents haven't given me very much help and i think its cheaper and easier to find a place on your own. At least if you're getting an apartment, if you're looking for a house than realtors can be more helpful...

[goyguy]

Marlborough could be the best yet out of the towns already mentioned. It's a patchwork of neighborhoods (older and smaller houses/apt's around the center, apartment/condo complexes along Route 20 on either fringe, post-WWII to 1990's subdivisions...) With its substantial number of Hispanic and Asian residents it's not "lily White" the way many MetroWest communities are. There are lots of small "ethnic" groceries and restaurants along 20 as well as your typical suburban big-box stores, fast-food and chain eateries, etc. On the northern edge of town you'll find the "regional" Solomon Pond Mall.
Best yet, you'd be a hop/skip/jump from Westborough.

[MikePRU]

If you could give everyone more information, I think we could be more helpful. For instace, what is your budget? What are some other places you've lived and liked and why? Are you looking for suburban? Rural? Urban? Are you planning on settling in Massachusetts? If eventually you want to put down roots and/or buy a place then the school system becomes a lot more important. Do you want to be close to Boston? A lot of relocation buyers like the idea of having easy access to the city (so do many local buyers).

One town you mentioned was Newton and it's a town (actually a city) that's at the top of many people's list. However, Newton is made up of many villages and each one has its own distinct character. West Newton for instance is more dense and has a little more urban feel with lots of restaurants and shopping. Newton Center is the exact opposite. Newton Center feels very suburban and most of the shopping/restaurants are concentrated in the village center. I have even talked yet about Oak Hill, Newton Highlands, Newton Upper Falls, Newton Lower Falls, Newton Highlands, and several more that I haven't named.

[evergrn]

If you guys are a young couple who wants to be in a more of urban environment closer to Boston, and are able to afford to rent in Newton, then there's really no place I'd recommend more highly than Newton. Ditto if you have kids and want to be in an area with best possible schools. With no traffic, Westboro is probably right about 30min commute from West Newton / Auburndale part of West Newton. In my experience, driving westbound on I-90 in the morning has never really been that bad. Newton has multiple villages within the municipality, and some of them can be quite a bit farther from Westboro. For example, Newton Centre (my favorite part of town with the biggest concentration of shops and restaurants) is an extra 10-15min commute as compared to if you were living in West Newton. West Newton is a cool area, a little bit less happening version of Newton Centre but still pleasant nonetheless with restaurants and Trader Joe's among other things.

If you're okay to live in a quiet suburb, then Westboro itself is fine. Another decent town to consider in that area is Hopkinton. I'm not sure if there're many apartment complexes in those towns though. I'm personally not too high on Marlboro. There are different areas within Framingham with varying degrees of niceness.

I would not think that being a mixed-race couple would pose issues in the general area that we're discussing.

[Ronnie555]

hahaha Framingham has racial tension?

Half of framingham is Brazilian. Then there are tons of blacks, and obviously a ton of white people.

Framingham is incredibly diverse.. from the low income areas near downtown to the very expensive farmland on the other side of route 9, toward southborough. And I never senses much racial tension.


I lived in Framingham for 7 years and I would say that I saw many inter-racial couples and never saw huge issues with it. One of my friends just married a Brazilian guy.


Anyway, I can think of few places that would be more accepting of a mixed race couple. I think about surrounding towns like Ashland, Natick, etc and you would stand out WAY more in those towns. Not sure if I've ever seen a non-white person in Ashland LMAO

[brightdoglover]

Another vote for Newton, any village of it if OP can afford a rent. However, I agree that there aren't particular "racial tensions" in Framingham- just that there are more downscale areas there than most suburban towns. Newton would be a perfect reverse commute.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Another vote for Newton, any village of it if OP can afford a rent. However, I agree that there aren't particular "racial tensions" in Framingham- just that there are more downscale areas there than most suburban towns. Newton would be a perfect reverse commute.

I once had a commute for a year that was Newton Center to Marlborough. It wasn't bad at all. I barely ever saw traffic.