Need advice on apartment search in North Boston! (Salem, Beverly: apartment complexes, how much)

[mugal]

My husband has accepted a position in Burlington. We're moving from the midwest and need some advice on our apartment search. We're looking at 5 places next week but hopefully aren't leaving any good apartments out. Our "musts" include washer/dryer in unit, covered parking and pets allowed. We'd like to have a nice place with either 1 or 2 bedrooms and no more than $1800/month. We're looking at Kimball Towers, Regency Place, Reading Commons, Washington Crossing and Village at Taylor Pond. Anyone have any thoughts or ideas about these complexes? We don't have kids but we want to be somewhere that's safe and easy to commute to downtown (train or drive). Thanks in advance!

[litlux]

I think you mean "North of Boston" as nobody refers to North Boston. There is an East Boston and a South Boston but no West Boston or North Boston.

Picky stuff aside, I think Burlington and Reading are not an "easy" commute by car though some South Shore towns are far worse. There is commuter rail that takes you to North Station and then you will have to deal with the MBTA. How easy the trip will depend on your final destination.

[holden125]

I second the lack of a "North Boston." Reading and Burlington are north of Boston. There is a North Shore, but that expression's more for the towns along the coast like Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, etc. East Boston and South Boston are neighborhoods in the city of Boston.

Personally I don't know much of anything about apartment complexes. I've always stuck way closer to the city and lived in multi-family houses or small independent apartment buildings. I will say that Reading and Burlington, at least at peak time, can be a tough commute downtown by car since 93 is jammed. Reading is somewhat better since you don't lose all the time just getting to 93.

There's a train from Reading but not from Burlington. A friend in Burlington takes the train from Anderson/Woburn which has the advantages of a massive parking facility (many commuter rail stations have quite limited parking, which seems to defeat the purpose to me) and 20-30 minute ride to North Station, which I think is a little faster than the ride from Reading, which is on a different line. Maybe they're about the same. As litlux says, how much longer you add on after that depends on where you need to go (and which T lines you need to take to get there). As a side note, my friend hates 128 so he has a very circuitous route through residential streets to get to Anderson station, which I don't think is any faster than just dealing with 128 for two miles.