Relocating from Toronto to Boston (Newton, Arlington: best town, for sale, low crime)

[mattry]

Hello All,

I am mulling over a transfer (which comes with a promotion) with my company that would take me from Toronto to Boston. I have visited Boston on many occasions and I must say it is probably my favorite North American city to visit. With that being said I know that vacation/Business trips are completely different from actually living there.

So what towns could any of you suggest for us to search in?

We are looking for:

1. Good School system as my wife and I have two young children ages 6 and 4.
2. Access to commuter rail with no more than a 1hr-1 1/2 commute by rail to South Station.
3. Safe with low crime rate
4. Able to find Prefereably New Construction in the 350k-450k price range.
5. Close to local shops and amentities so that we do not have to travel too far to run our daily errands.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[smarty]

There are many good school systems. Basically, 1-1.5 hours put you a little outside of Rt495. Since you need to go into South Station, that means you have to look at towns West and South.

Check the mbta commuter stops.
[url]http://www.mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/rail/ [url]

For new construction, the price range you wanted you may want to look at Grafton, and Franklin, possibly Canton. You have to understand build able lot cost easily $300-400K in a good school system town like Newton, Wellesley. That is just for the land. The median house prices for those towns are $600-800K.

You can check
house prices in realtor.com
School scores in MA department of education for MCAS results.

For an easier list, you can look at Bostonmagazine.com 's best town to live where they list median house price, test scores, crime rate, taxes, ... etc.

[DreamworksSKG]

Try Wakefield and Arlington into NORTH STATION
I like the North Shore better than the south shore, closer towns and still a suburban to country feel depending on the town with commuter rail access and close to highways into Boston. -
Both good school systems and great areas lots of recreational activities and a lot closer to the city than the south shore.

Check out the North Shore. We have commuter rail as well and its only a 20-30 min ride into the city. Bus lines to Subway as well.

-jeff

[DreamworksSKG]

Also you're prolly not going to find much new construction at that price range./
I would suggest going on zillow.com and researching Wakefield and Arlington and checking out the for sale map....to see the different houses.
and any other towns you like.

most of the homes in new england for sale will be older homes..but they can still be great homes to live in. Leave all options open on the table and you will find the right home for you whether it be a newly constructed house or an older classic new england home.

-jeff

[holden125]

Wakefield is somewhat more affordable but I can't imagine you'd find any new construction large enough to house a family of 4 in Arlington in that price range. Maybe a townhome but even those are pretty expensive there.

Most close-in towns, particularly with good schools, are expensive and have less in the way of new construction. Since you're willing to go over an hour and want South Station, Smarty's suggestions of Franklin and Grafton are good and about an hour to Boston by train, give or take. Perhaps Walpole or Bridgewater. I note that Franklin has gotten good reviews on here for being a friendly, good-neighbor town but my own experience there is limited to passing through.