May be moving to Boston area from NW NJ - looking for good schools and 400K house (Lynn: safe area)

[leaving northwest nj]

Hi! My husband may be looking a job in Boston and just wanted to do some preliminary searching. Coming from NJ (Morris County) where even the mediocre schools are good schools, we are looking for a good district that is not crazy $$$$. We currently live in a 40 yr old 4 br 2.5 bath raised ranch on .5 acre lot. Yes, I know Brookline, Wellesley etc are great - but we are not in that $$$ bracket. But we both have Masters degrees and want to educate our kids well. We are not looking for snob appeal, but don't have time for a fixer upper either. We are open to living in Boston itself if in a safe area. (oh and we are Jets fans, but please don't hold that against us Any thoughts?

[scarletfire]

Home prices in Boston proper are quite expensive but there are lots of suburbs that would work for you. It depends a lot on where your husband ends up working and if he plans to drive or take public transportation. For ex, if he's taking the train and works near South Station it would make the most sense to choose a suburb to the west (Hopkinton, Holliston, Westboro for good schools in your price range) or south of the city where if he works near North Station it would make more sense to choose someplace along the north shore (Hamilton, Wenham, possibly Lynnfield & Manchester by the Sea but the latter might be a bit high priced..and close to the ocean!)

The issue is commute time. I suspect you'll end up with about an hour train ride or longer drive time into the city to find a comparable home. The good news is there are lots of nice options to choose from, and Boston's a terrific city (albeit not a terrific public transportation system).

[leaving northwest nj]

I think he would be working in the south part of the city (very early in the process, so I don't want to drop employer names). Have read the threads regarding Dorchester (shame since I saw a GREAT listing posted there...), so not sure if that would work. Would love to be able to take mass transit into work - not an option where we are now. I will look into the places you mentioned. Thanks! (closer to ocean would be lovely - although the water I am sure will be a bit chillier than we are used to! Not a necessity by any means!)

[holden125]

Originally Posted by leaving northwest nj

I think he would be working in the south part of the city (very early in the process, so I don't want to drop employer names).

Not sure I follow what you mean by "south part of the city." Does that actually mean the southern part of the whole city, as in Dorchester, Hyde Park, Mattapan, etc. or the southern part of downtown Boston, as in near South Station.

If South Station or Back Bay Station are options, you should look at places along the train lines that go there, which you can figure out from the T website: MBTA.com > Commuter Rail Maps and Schedules