Boston/Cambridge area or Danbury/Ridgefield? (Quincy, Somerville: apartment, rent, condo)

[breezy1]

I am in the preliminary stages of considering two potential job prospects - one in Danbury/Ridgefield area; the other in the Boston/Cambridge area. I am open to thoughts from others regarding contrasting life in these areas - seems like it would be very different.

A little about me. Husband and I are in early 50s - no kids. Husband will be working from home - no advantage in this regard to either location. We are tending to be more homebodies than we were years ago, but still like to go out occasionally to restaurants, concerts, etc. We love the vibe in the Boston/Cambridge area and the cultural attractiions, but are also drawn to the beautiful area around CT.

We definitely want to but a house (and hope not to have to buy a fixer-upper) - will probably rent for awhile. We are coming from upstate NY - low housing costs/high taxes - so we would like to keep the housing budget 400-500. This seems like it would be easier in CT, and we may need to go higher in Boston area. How about meeting new people at our age in these locals?

Would like to get the pros and cons of each area. My concerns: !) As much as the Ridgefield/Danbury area is very pretty, would we be bored there after awhile? 2) As much as we love the vibe and atmosphere of Boston/Cambridge, would it just be too much after awhile?

Any thought or recommendations? I'm also going to post this on CT board ...

[goyguy]

Consider also that Danbury isn't all that terribly far from NYC for when you want to take in an art exhibit or play followed by dinner in a nice restaurant. Boston may be a major and definitely cosmopolitan city, but there's no question which of the two "rules" in that regard.
There's also no question where your housing dollar would go farther. Single-family houses in "good" or even "decent" parts of Cambridge haven't sold for as low as half a mil for some time. On the Boston side of the river, the pickings would be pretty slim as well. But you could probably turn up some possibilities in West Roxbury, Hyde Park, Dorchester, and Roslindale and perhaps even Jamaica Plain. WR is a very homogeneous and suburban-feeling community; the others are a patchwork of neighborhoods of varying quality so look very carefully before making any offers. Nice areas close to Boston would include Quincy, Milton, Waltham, Watertown, Belmont, Arlington, Burlington, parts of Medford, Malden, Melrose, some of Revere, and Winthrop (starting south of the city and moving counter-clockwise.) Then there are still more choices the farther out you go.
Even in midtown Manhattan, one can cocoon for an evening or weekend and let the energy of the city swirl around them. The "vibe" of an area gets to be too much only if it's allowed to. Using myself as an example: when I want to kick back and collect my thoughts or just unwind, I stay at home or visit neighbors on my quiet and tree-lined Cambridge street. But when it's time to meet people for drinks or a movie or whatever, Central and Harvard Squares are minutes' walk away. To me that's preferable to having to plan an excursion every time some "culture" or night life is called for. That's me, however.

[breezy1]

Thank you for your feedback. I know that for a budget of 400-500, we would have to look pretty far out to buy a house. I don't mind being a little ways out - maybe no more than 45 minutes into city - although my preference would be to live closer in (but not if that means a tiny place in a sketchy area). We may even consider a townhouse/condo for the Boston area, although I would still want to maintain some decent square footage, as I don't want to feel like I've gone back to apartment living. So, probably a 3bedroom so my husband can maintain his office and we have an extra room for a guest room/music room, and just extra stuff (we both play instruments - he has his guitars and I have a piano).

Can one get a nice townhouse/condo in that range?

[CityGirl52]

If I were in your shoes, I would want to be as close to Boston as you can get. You're in your 50's now, like me. What will be needed down the road more and more? Doctors and health care, right? The very very best health care in the country is right in downtown Boston, do you know that people come from all over the world and the United States for the hospitals in Boston? Well they do. We're very fortunate to have these wonderful hospitals and incredible Doctors right at our finger tips. I moved out of state and had pretty good health care, but when I was able to switch health care providers I soon discovered how much better it was, trust me, the very best in the country are right in Boston. Oh they're in NYC too, but if you were in Connecticut it wouldn't be the same.

See if you can get a condo not right in downtown Boston but north of Boston near the MBTA orange line. Yes, Medford, Melrose are really convenient and nice BUT Wakefield is even nicer. They have Lake Quannapowitt and there's even a couple of 3B 2B condo's near it. I saw one on the realtor site asking 324,900 and then you scroll further along and there it is again for 309,900! I would say a good deal could be worked out with that one, even lower! So go for it and also check out Melrose while you're at it, it's the next town over from Wakefield, they have the Oak Grove MBTA "T" stop right there. Wakefield would have the MBTA bus to get you to that Oak Grove "T" station to get you in to downtown Boston.

Also a little further north up thru Tewksbury, No. Andover area, there's 2B & 3B condo's, nice townhouse styles for under $250G's...so check that Realtor site and you'll see them. The commuter rail would get you right in to North Station in downtown Boston in no time, the further north you go from Boston.

Think about it. You would have the best of both worlds. Move to one of these areas right? Then just hop in your car and explore the Berkshires or Cape Cod OR go down to Connecticut some weekend, yet you can still head back to your beautiful condo in Wakefield or Melrose or Tewksbury area! Sounds like a plan to me...

[IDASpaceman]

Check out some Condo's in the Watertown area right off of Lexington Street. Best of luck!!

[breezy1]

Is the orange line convenient to get into Cambridge? That's where the job I'm looking into is.

[CityGirl52]

The MBTA subway and commuter rail would be used, possibly a bus to get you to the subway. For instance if you were in Wakefield or Melrose you could take the commuter rail to North Station then switch there for the Green line for Park St. Station where you'd take the red line for Harvard Square. There's a few different possibilities, but check the MBTA site to see the various ways of commuting. One thing about living thru there, you can get in to Boston as well as Cambridge in no time. I'm sure it sounds like it's this long haul the way I'm saying it here, but it really isn't! The subway connections are usually quite good. I never had any issues at all. I used to park at Oak Grove in Malden near Melrose Square and it was ideal when I worked in downtown Boston, in fact, I took the subway for years almost every day that way.

YES, definitely check Watertown out too as it's really convenient for getting to Cambridge thru there too!

Also, do not rule out Arlington. It's next to Cambridge and Medford's on the other side of it, it's more urban but if that's what you want, you go for it! I myself still like Wakefield/Melrose area but that's me, ya can't go by me, you just have to come here for a visit! I know that there's an area right on Mass. Ave in Arlington that's right across from the Stop & Shop, it's absolutely IDEAL to live there, one of my family members lives there and loves it, so make sure when you get here for a visit that you see these areas for yourself. Again check the MBTA site, just plug in your addresses and you'll see how you would get there via subway, bus or commuter rail. This site is great, it tells you step by step which bus and/or train or commuter rail to take for your various destinations:

MBTA.com > Official Website for Greater Boston's Public Transportation System

Good luck!

[goyguy]

Originally Posted by breezy1

Is the orange line convenient to get into Cambridge? That's where the job I'm looking into is.

You'd only need to transfer once - at South Station, to the Alewife-bound Red Line, whence the first station in Cambridge is a mere three stops away. There are also various bus routes to/from points in Cambridge which link to Orange Line stations in both directions from downtown. Depending upon where this job prospect is situated, one of these could work:

Route 66, serving Ruggles Station on the Orange Line and reaching its Harvard Square terminus by way of North Harvard St in Allston (JFK St in Cambridge.) A slow and meandering trip through Mission Hill, Brookline, and Allston, but very convenient for the Harvard Business School and the eventual science campus as well as the school of government.

Route 47, also serving Ruggles but terminating in Central Square, a fairly quick run through the Harvard/Longwood Medical area and the BU campus before crossing the river to traverse the Cambridgeport area. Most handy if you'll be employed along Memorial Drive between MIT and Harvard, or by the southern and western fringes of the MIT campus, or near Central.

Route CT (Crosstown) 2 is a stop-skipping express bus which begins its loop route at Ruggles and then runs down Memorial Dr and crisscrosses the MIT campus before cutting across East Cambridge into Somerville en route to the other end of its loop at Sullivan Station.

Route 1 (because it's the most used and most frequently operated!), connecting with the Orange Line at Mass. Ave Station and following that street through the heart of MIT and all the way to Harvard Yard. The "CT (Crosstown) 1" express bus goes by that station and follows the same route, skipping some stops, but only as far as Central Square.

Route 86, originating at Sullivan Station on the Charlestown (Boston)/Somerville boundary and arriving at Harvard Yard by way of Kirkland St, your best bet if working at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences or Cambridge Hospital as well as at Harvard. Sullivan is also served by the CT2 express loop (see above.)

All of these buses are a flight of stairs away from the respective Red Line stations at which their routes end or pass, so might be useful short cuts to avoid having to ride in to Downtown Crossing for the subway transfer.

Plus, if you're willing to pay a bit more monthly or by trip, you can even disembark from the Orange Line at North Station and then take the Fitchburg commuter rail one stop to Porter Square. Between the extra expense and the schedule limitations, not many opt for this, but it's there.