South Shore retiree? (Boston, Marshfield, Hull: houses, neighborhoods, buy)

[Newdaawn]

How about Hull? It is closer to Boston than Hingham but I think quite a bit less expensive and right on the water. I spent my growing up years summers in Cohasset at my grandparents and just loved that town. Definetly couldn't afford to live there now. They had a small house within a 5 minute walk to the center but it had been in the family since the 1920s. I was sad when it had to be sold. I continued to visit relatives in Scituate for many years. A cousin that lives in Scituate comutes for work to Boston. I think recently she moved to Bridgwater and I'm wondering if she is still making that commute.

[frazil]

Hull is great, more affordable than many surrounding coastal towns, with fairly easy access to Boston via train and ferry, and it is a truly wonderful community (including with a lot of retirees) but... not at all a town of 'pines and ponds' as the OP was interested in. Still probably worth a look.

[tribechamy]

Have you considered Marshfield? They have the GATRA bus for local travel(Marshfield/Duxbury/Kingston), commuter rail stops to Boston are nearby in Scituate and Kingston, and I've heard that Marshfield has an excellent senior center and a lot of other resources for retirees. It also has quite a few single family homes in your budget. Welcome back to the south shore!

[bgrasser]

Check out the four br on Massasoit Rd in N. Weymouth for $199K on Realtor.com; it's steps from Wessagusset Beach
and walking distance to the bus to Quincy center. This is a great neighborhood.

[ladyalicemore]

Thanks so much for the tips; much appreciated! I've already learned a lot from the answers. I don't mind driving to a bus stop so I will definitely look into Mashpee. I had wondered about the affordability of houses in the east of Sandwich and had heard nothing about cancer cluster. I had not heard about a number of things I learned from reading here, so thanks all, very much! If I don't have enough money to live in Mass I will go to ME instead, because my sister is there, so there is still family.

Macalan (sorry if I am misspelling, my browser will not allow me to go back) it is useful to hear of your difficulties in my price range and I appreciate your feedback. I might suggest, if it's not too far north, that you look in Brunswick or the Boothbays?

I like both very much, Bowdoin College being in Brunswick and my baby sister in the Boothbays. Both have prices in the $250,000 range and are good communities, with more inexpensive housing stock in Brunswick but also more areas where there are drugs or disorder.

I may just stay where I am, too. I hope it is OK to say I dislike the Tea Party atmo of parts of FL, though it doesn't prevail exactly where I live. It still affects storm relief (I have been through horrendous experiences with storms that I would not like to go through as a senior). It affects a lot, including storm coverage.

But I won't be house poor, it is just not going to happen. So I have to find something liveable in MA. The property taxes in NH (where my grandparents lived, and which I think is a beautiful state) are too unpredictable for someone on a fixed income. For someone like that, Mass, if a house can be found, is a better bet as having more of an investment in its citizens. Maine is a good bet too: terrifically strong local spirit and better house prices, but taxes are high.

I just don't want things to get worse if I move, but I literally yearn for Mass. I miss it. I hope I can find a way back.

I appreciate every post: thank you all.

PS: Hull isn't exactly what I have in mind, but the houses there and the prices are enticing. I have very fond memories of Hull from my childhood. I did hear that there is not longer any boat service to Boston? Is there bus service?

[macalan]

Yes, it is macalan, and thanks for the info!

Funny, we had looked at Brunswick because we have friends in Harpswell, and looked at Boothbay since it appears on a lot of "lists" but could not find anything over 1,600 sf @ $250K that was not either in really bad shape or in a not so desirable part of town. We will look again.

Just an FYI, and someone better able to talk about the Cape can tell you, I believe the problem with the cancer clusters was in the towns surrounding the air force base and I think that includes Mashpee. The extent of the problem I don't know.

One other place you might consider looking is Fairhaven. I've heard really good things about it, and the surrounding communities are supposed to be very nice - Marion, Mattapoisett, South Dartmouth - but albeit more expensive.

Good luck in your search, and please stay in touch. We can compare notes! We're always on the hunt....

[frazil]

Good luck with your search!

And just FYI, since you were wondering - there is still very regular ferry service from the north end of Hull to Boston (weekdays, with multiple runs in the AM and PM for commuters, and I think 1 or 2 midday) - my husband uses this to commute all year round and loves it. It's only ~ 20 min ferry ride to downtown. The ferry also makes stops at the airport a couple of times a day, which is super convenient.

And there is the "new" Greenbush commuter train, which has a stop ~ 1 mile from the south end Hull that goes right to South Station (~ 40 mins? I think). This is also only week days (they unfortunately stopped the weekend service a short while ago due to MBTA budget cuts.)

There is a little bus, I haven't used it in years, but it goes up and down the length of Hull (including stopping at the ferry, and maybe the train now? I'm not sure) and then turns around in Hingham center. From Hingham you could transfer to another MBTA bus that runs between Hingham Center and Quincy center (where the red line is to Boston, Cambridge, etc (I think it's the 220 line?)

I bet you can find the schedules for all these on the MBTA website.

[Beachcomber4]

Originally Posted by ladyalicemore

Thanks so much for the tips; much appreciated! I've already learned a lot from the answers. I don't mind driving to a bus stop so I will definitely look into Mashpee. I had wondered about the affordability of houses in the east of Sandwich and had heard nothing about cancer cluster. I had not heard about a number of things I learned from reading here, so thanks all, very much! If I don't have enough money to live in Mass I will go to ME instead, because my sister is there, so there is still family.

If you find anything in East Sandwich for that price, there is usually a reason. Right now there are about 20 listings in that price range in the area. Some are lots, others are seasonal cottages- I recognize a couple as being on a main road near power lines. Price YOY are up about 7% in East Sandwich. We have seen previously stagnant properties moving and a great deal of building taking place both custom and spec homes. Maybe it is just people panicking about interest rates and rising home prices and it will subside.

As someone mentioned or will eventually, taxes are high. Schools in Sandwich are very good- one of the top systems on Cape Cod. There are plans for a STEM Academy for grades 7&8 which is attractive to families but something you won't want to pay for. A new public safety building is needed. It was voted down at last town meeting because of the cost and lack of coverage for the entire community. That will require some type of debt exclusion or override so taxes will be higher. As a parent with kids in school, I have no issues with the taxes but I don't know that I would retire here and pay the taxes for that benefit. I have many retired neighbors who do. They just like the community. It's just food for thought.

Do a search here on City Data and you will read about the cancer concerns. The base is a superfund site and clean up is near complete. There are concerns about jet fuel plumes. There was a just a big meeting in Bourne about the plumes and their impact on residents' local wells. I don't have any information as I was out of town at the time. Good luck in your search.

[baystater]

Might want to look at pembroke or norwell. They are nice little towns.

[ladyalicemore]

Hi, all, I posted something yesterday but I am in the middle of having U-Verse installed and. . .there was some break in my connection so it didn't get posted. They shouldn't be so diligent about rechecking the connection!

I think I mentioned to macalan that I have looked at Harpswell--what I heard is that (there are all these peninsulas in mid-coast ME) it is a long drive back to Brunswick and it is not so good for black flies. I also heard that it is beautiful. There is a listing I think in harpswell area, Toad's Landing . . . simple but nice and right on the water and $50-000 more than I can afford, sigh.

Also affordable: Alna (sp?) and several towns north of the Boothbays (I like Rockland). Apparently there are drugs and consequently crimes in those places. The houses are beautiful and affordable.

Thanks so much, Beachcomber, for the preview of tax probabilities in Sandwich--I love that town but it's true I don't want to go (further) into debt as I retire. It's bad enough when I have a salary, though I get by somehow. Frazil, if there is still ferry service, I am looking seriously at Hull. I love the look of it there. I can always plant a pine tree, eh?

Macalan, this was in my deleted post: I am looking for a 1000 minimum for square feet, esp. in Maine, because the heating costs are awful there. But it's going to be hard for me. I am already downsized, 1200 sq ' of living area and 400 sf of garage, which I use for storage. And I have all the ancestral furniture and will not give it up. But space isn't everything, esp. if it is just one person. I think I could go down to where I was as a grad student in NYC: 400 square feet or so, as long as there were walls for my paintings. I don't know what it is about capes but they have these tiny, tiny windows that don't let any light in anyhow ... EVERYwhere. No place to put paintings. One of mine is 3 x 12 feet.

Like every buyer I have my little crochets but I will commit to cosmetic renos, big time, if I can keep my paintings.

I don't want a condo b.c I intend to keep my 2 cats, plus I don't intend to spend a fee that varies annually on maintenance ... and depend on an unknown quantity (how efficiently the condo is managed).

Baystater, I love Pembroke and am looking there. Norwell is out of my price range but I agree it is very pretty. I think the South Shore in and of itself is generally a very pretty place, now with some serious economic problems. My first job when I was a kid was at a fireworks factory in Hanover. That was not a nice place to work, either. (A worker had his hand blown off the first week I was there.) But at least there used to be jobs back when I lived there in the 1960s. These are bedroom communities now, a whole other animal.

To the person who recommended Whitman--yes, I think it is lovely there, but I have heard one has to know about the details of crime in separate neighborhoods. I am old enough to have been taken to the Toll House on special birthdays and such. Kings Castle, too, the tiny theme park in Whitman. I remember it fondly, and Whitman still has trees.

You have to live in Florida perhaps to properly appreciate the beauty of the profusion of shade trees in SE Mass. I miss it so much. One of my nieces calls it "dappled sunlight', that effect of New England's trees.