relocating for a good commute to both Worcester and Boston (Fitchburg: for sale, condo)

[Bos-Wor]

Hello,
My wife now works at a hospital in Worcester and I work in the financial district in Boston. We currently live in a condo with our one year old in Watertown but we want to move to a house.

I would take the train into Boston but my wife needs to drive because of her odd hours.

We have been looking at houses in Southborough and Hopkinton but have had trouble finding something we like that minimizes our commutes.

We are hoping to have a drive of <= 30 minutes for my wife and a short drive to the train for me.

Anyone have any good advice for us???

Thanks

[kmann-sherborn]

Southborough and Hopkinton really are the best bets for splitting the commute in half. If you want to get more for your money you could go a bit further west to Grafton but that would be a really not fun commute to the financial district. It's a little hard to make recommendations without knowing your budget but Natick might be an option. You'd have an easy train commute and the drive from Natick to Worcester won't be nearly as bad as driving from west to east. There are also some areas of Northboro where you can pretty quickly drive to the train and the prices are lower there than in Southboro.

[odinboy]

My husband catches the train to Boston (south station) he works in financial district-we are lucky because he actually walks to train station so no driving and no looking for a car park every morning-Natick has a nice d/town lots for kids to do and great schools-close to major shopping-rte 9 and mass pike are minutes away for commute to worcester - a houses are reasonable in price and property taxes....

[FCMA]

How about places on or near the Fitchburg MBTA Commuter Line?

Places like Acton, Boxborough, Shirley, Harvard, Littleton, Clinton, Bolton, Stow, Maynard, etc? Small towns with very good schools, but may be a little pricey these days if you're not making beaucoup bucks. On the highish range of tax rates though, except Shirley and Clinton, though those two may be a culture shock if you're not used to the smalltown Centralish MA lack of amenities, but bang for your buck. Of all these, Maynard probably has the nicest center.

All about 1/2 hour to Worcester, with easy access, ~15-20 min drive, to commuter trains to North Station, which may be a downside, though really the stations are only a short hop/skip/jump from each other.

[Bos-Wor]

Thanks for your input.

We have considered Natick, but it seems like you get a lot less for your money in the northern parts of Natick that are more convenient. We liked what we saw in South Natick, but the drive seemed like it would be on the longer side going to Worcester...

We really have not considered towns further to the west off the Fitchburg line. It seems like Acton would be the leading contender - very good schools and maybe the best train access, but I have never been there. I think that I think of those towns as being too far from Boston for commuting - but I might be wrong...

I don't think North Station vs. South Station is going to matter for me, so I'll have to look into this some more.

[odinboy]

tends to be more expensive than central/downtown or Nth Natick-there are usually some cute houses that come up for sale in the downtown area-they are older but then you can walk downtown rather than driving-downtown to say rte 9 or mass pike is literally a few minutes by car-also depending on what time of day your driving too....houses will start to come on the market again in the spring-as I said it is an easy commute to boston from natick Good luck!

[MikePRU]

Have you considered Holliston? Not sure what the drive would be like to Worcester from there, but there are commuter rail stops in neighboring towns for you. Also, great schools and a quaint town center.

If you could give us an idea of what you're looking for in your next home (size of home, amount of land, etc) and your price range I think that would help people guide you in the right direction.

[KellyCrash]

I would look at Shrewsbury and Westborough.

Closer for your wife of course, but you get more bang for your buck further west.

[Bos-Wor]

Ideally, we would like to spend <$700k, have 2800+ sq ft, public school system is very important to us, a nice yard (>0.5 usable acres) for our daughter and dog, … (plus gives our family room to grow)

I know Holliston well, but I think this will extend my wife’s commute a little more then we wanted (Hopkinton is closer).

Thanks again…

[kmann-sherborn]

Have you looked in Westboro? It's an easy commute to Worcester and you can pick up the train as well. Just an fyi, the town wasn't included in this year's Boston Magazine ranking of top public high schools because they excluded towns west of Rt 495.

Also, the inventory is a bit slim in Hopkinton & Southboro at that price range right now but there will surely be lots coming on the market once we hit Feb/Mar timeframe.