Big move...where to go? (Boston, Quincy: school, to live, housing)

[onken1234]

I'm relocating to the Boston from Los Angeles in a couple of months and am just trying to narrow down the areas to live. It is me, my husband (who will be in grad school) and our baby. I would like a family friendly area with parks etc. but we are on a pretty tight budget. I've been looking at Quincy, Arlington and Newton (just to name a few) Any suggestions???

[ogre]

Specific numbers on your housing budget would help narrow the choices. Also, info on whether you want more of an urban, suburban, or rural setting, length of coummute, desire for access to public transit. Judging by the places you've already said you're considering, it sounds as if you want something fairly close to the city, with maybe moderate density, and a cross between urban and suburban character, maybe leaning a bit toward suburban.

If you want suggestions for other places somewhat similar to the places you've listed, I would add Brookline to the list, and maybe Belmont, which might be a bit shorter on the open space than the others, but is still not really quite like being right in the city. You might also think about the West Roxbury section of the city of Boston itself. West Rox. may be a little bit in its own world, maybe kind of insular, not quite as welcoming to newcomers as some of the more urban sections of Boston, but it is the one section of the city that has a truly suburban character, while still having the advantage of being moderately close to downtown.