Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts > Boston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
 
Old 08-25-2012, 05:28 AM
 
2 posts, read 2,804 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

So, we're coming from a Canadian small town with a low cost of living, five minute commute times and good schools. Moving to Cambridge/GBA is exciting, but we have a long list of decisions to work out in advance of the move. Housing is one of them.

Our priorities: good schools, low commute time, reasonable real estate costs.

Areas like Arlington, Lexington, Belmont all seem to come up. We don't want to break the bank on housing, and because of the newness of the area, are also looking at renting for a year while we get a feel for the neighborhoods. We are a family of five, so the house has to be a reasonable size, and ideally the house value would be under 500K. Work is in the MIT area near the Kendall/MIT station.

Any suggestions for areas that we should focus in on?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-25-2012, 07:01 AM
 
6,527 posts, read 6,679,323 times
Reputation: 8688
Yikes.....forget Lexington or Belmont for under 500K. No chance of any thing there. And for under 500K even Arlington is not going to offer much for a house with 5 people. You might want to look at Melrose & Stoneham. I'll mention Medford, but the schools are below average.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2012, 04:10 PM
 
2 posts, read 2,804 times
Reputation: 10
I'm still calibrating with the prices I was browsing on homes.com and came across some in that range but it is hard to get a feel without being down there.

Stoneham seems to run into more traffic - is the traffic manageable from that direction?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2012, 07:19 PM
 
Location: Cape Coral , Florida
295 posts, read 525,137 times
Reputation: 259
You WILL hit traffic no matter where you live in the boston area. It is a part of life here. Unfortunatly the closer you are to the city the more housing will cost.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-25-2012, 07:23 PM
 
1 posts, read 1,374 times
Reputation: 10
If you look in the East Arlington area you might be able to find something. Lot's of 2 bedrooms in that area but there should still be something to suit your needs. The area is short walk to the Alewife Station on the Red Line, but also close to Mass Ave if you're commuting via car.

Arlington can be an exciting area but the further in you get, the more suburban it is. East Arlington is the right mix of suburb and excitement, being so close to Cambridge.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-26-2012, 06:00 PM
 
6,527 posts, read 6,679,323 times
Reputation: 8688
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelingjack View Post
I'm still calibrating with the prices I was browsing on homes.com and came across some in that range but it is hard to get a feel without being down there.

Stoneham seems to run into more traffic - is the traffic manageable from that direction?
Real estate prices in the greater Boston area are off the charts. You might find something in Arlington for under 500k, but it's not going to be easy. Arlington is a a great town, and also a good town to rent in as you get used to the area. Woburn is somewhat afforable & not a bad drive. As for Belmont & lexington.....anything under 500k is going to be a shack or a tear-down Like was mentioned.....traffic is terrible everywhere in greater Boston.

Last edited by Brave Stranger; 08-26-2012 at 06:09 PM..
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-31-2012, 07:24 AM
 
404 posts, read 823,548 times
Reputation: 465
Must you move? Many people are leaving Boston to find what you already have.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-03-2012, 11:49 AM
 
8 posts, read 19,292 times
Reputation: 11
Quote:
Originally Posted by travelingjack View Post
So, we're coming from a Canadian small town with a low cost of living, five minute commute times and good schools. Moving to Cambridge/GBA is exciting, but we have a long list of decisions to work out in advance of the move. Housing is one of them.

Our priorities: good schools, low commute time, reasonable real estate costs.

Areas like Arlington, Lexington, Belmont all seem to come up. We don't want to break the bank on housing, and because of the newness of the area, are also looking at renting for a year while we get a feel for the neighborhoods. We are a family of five, so the house has to be a reasonable size, and ideally the house value would be under 500K. Work is in the MIT area near the Kendall/MIT station.

Any suggestions for areas that we should focus in on?
You could look into the Quincy or Braintree area. Housings are reasonable, you can take MBTA (red line to MIT Kendall in 30 mintues). There are condoes or houses near Quincy center in 300K-500K ranges, within walking distances of everying (elementary, middle-school, high-school, quincy junior college, quincy center MBTA to go to Boston areas's universities such as BU, BC, NU, Tufts, MIT, Harvard,...)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 09-10-2012, 09:36 AM
 
72 posts, read 183,523 times
Reputation: 167
This site (about schools) may help. Don't go by the overall rating - it's very deceiving - instead, click on the town to see how schools rate individually.

Massachusetts Schools - Public & Private Schools
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts > Boston

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top