Where to live in the NE? Relo from West (Boston: for sale, houses)

[boogs61]

My husband & I are originally from Portland, OR (we still love the northwest). We moved to LA 2.5 years ago for career. We are both big box retail store managers. We aren't truly happy living here and have always had a strong desire to live in the Northeast. The question is where to start looking?

We have no children, only our dog. We love to be near a big city (45min-1hr) for restaurants and entertainment. We would love to own an older historic home for no more than 300k-400k-ish (which rules out Boston subs right?). We want that classic New England feel. We don't want anything too rural. Living in LA and dealing with the traffic here makes commuting for the right place seem like no big deal. Any ideas? Even outside of MA?
Thanks so much...just looking for some places to start our search

[JDUBSX3]

Well I just moved to Raleigh, NC from right outside of Boston, MA... Melrose is the town I moved from. It's about 15 min from Boston (5 minutes if you take the T which is very easily accessible, there's a T station in Melrose called Oak Grove) & is a beautiful place to live. The houses are priced in your range & alot of them are old victorians tons of history. You are about 15 min also to the beach which is great & although Melrose is a town it is so close to everything that you have many many options when it comes to finding something to do. Downtown is lined with unique shops & restaurants you can find nowhere else. Melrose was voted Niceville USA a couple years back which is nice because Massachusetts tends to get a bad rep for having rude people. If you have any other questions feel free to ask, I hope this helps!!

[missionhill]

Well, there are no big cities in New England other than Boston, but for restaurants and enternainment you don't need a big city: plenty of those options in smaller cities and towns throughout the region. Some nice places to be near would include Providence, RI, Burlington and Brattleboro, Vt, Portland, Me; Hanover, Peterborough, and Portsmouth, NH; and Great Barrington, North Adams-Williamstown, and Northampton-Amherst MA. Hartford and New Haven have loads of restaurants and culture too. Many nice coastal towns too but they're more expensive than inland. In NH and Me you could afford to be at least near the coast.

[freckles888]

if you don't want rural you might want to stay away from most of VT and NH but they each have a few smaller cities that are very nice. portland, ME is awesome but it's not a big city (it does run a train to boston though). Lowell, MA has improved a lot in the past 10 years and has quite a bit to offer as well. Providence, RI is awesome but they don't have a good transportation system. CT is actually a suburb of NY so i just don't count it, you don't want to go there, a bunch of yankee fans out that way

[Valerie C]

As stated by others, Boston is the big city in New England, but certainly not the only one. There are some smaller cities in MA/NH that would give you some local points of interest, but still be within an hour of Boston, and are close to public transportation.

The areas that I know best are in the north-eastern parts of MA & New Hampshire AND have walkable downtown areas, with the New England feel that you're looking for. Shops, restaurants, etc, and all of these cities would have the older historic homes that you mention. Since it's after midnight, I'll skip the flowery descriptions and just post links to the towns that you might want to consider

Andover, MA
http://www.andovertownsman.com/

Newburyport, MA
(one of my favorite towns, 4 seasons a year!)
http://www.newburyportchamber.org/
http://mytownlive.com/Newburyport.MA
http://www.newburyportchamber.org/tour.shtml

Amesbury, MA
(beautiful established neighborhoods, great downtown, good all-around vibe)
http://www.mytownlive.com/Amesbury.MA

Haverhill, MA
(some urban areas, but downtown is on the upswing, "historic district" with arts, nightspots, and some beautiful older homes)
http://www.haverhillusa.com/whereishaverhill.html
http://members.mva.net/galaca/p1welcom.html


Exeter, NH
http://town.exeter.nh.us/

Portsmouth, NH
(be sure to check out the Market Square area, shopping, dining, etc)
http://www.portsmouthnh.com/
http://www.portsmouthchamber.org/

Have fun

Originally Posted by boogs61

We want that classic New England feel. We don't want anything too rural. Living in LA and dealing with the traffic here makes commuting for the right place seem like no big deal. Any ideas? Even outside of MA?
Thanks so much...just looking for some places to start our search

[brightdoglover]

Providence is a very neat city, has come up a lot in recent years. There's also a very good train to Boston, about 50 minutes to South Station.
Portland, Maine, is excellent, too, although somewhat pricey (not as much as Boston). There's also a good train from Portland to Boston, which takes about 90 minutes (about 110 miles).
Peterborough and inland towns are lovely, but are very small. Peterborough is great for music. A music teacher friend of mine moved there to start a music school, and there were opportunities abounding. The MacDowell Colony is there. However, the town is up over the mountain, and is a tough drive in the winter to Nashua or Boston.

[professorsenator]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Well, there are no big cities in New England other than Boston, but for restaurants and enternainment you don't need a big city: plenty of those options in smaller cities and towns throughout the region. Some nice places to be near would include Providence, RI, Burlington and Brattleboro, Vt, Portland, Me; Hanover, Peterborough, and Portsmouth, NH; and Great Barrington, North Adams-Williamstown, and Northampton-Amherst MA.

You might check out Providence. Prov. is a medium sized city, one hour south of Boston. It has a nice, rejuvenated historic downtown. The east side of Providemce has lots of pretty older homes. Prov. public schools, like most big city schools, are not good, but it sounds like school arent a concern at this point.

Beware that RI taxes are a little higher than Mass. And the economy in this region is stagnant, so you'd better line up a job before you move. But the scenery is nice and it can be a pleasant place to live.

[scarletfire]

There are some options within an hour of Boston. Newburyport is lovely & has beautiful historic homes as Valerie mentioned. I'm not sure of the drive time but I'm sure she can comment on that.

You can also sometimes find antique homes in downtown Southboro or Hopkinton in the mid to high 300s. There's a very pretty 3bd 2ba antique with an updated kitchen & baths for sale in Southboro for $395K, it's on a busy road though.

[Valerie C]

Newburyport/Amesbury is do-able in under an hour UNLESS you're talking about commute times (6-8 AM, 4-6 PM) and a big plus is that you've also got rail service into the city, if that's something you might use... For many events in Boston (first night, July 4, etc, they highly recommend using public transportation due to lack of parking...)

Originally Posted by scarletfire

There are some options within an hour of Boston. Newburyport is lovely & has beautiful historic homes as Valerie mentioned. I'm not sure of the drive time but I'm sure she can comment on that.

[stacyl]

I would check out Salem. Your about 15 minutes from Boston and the train station is right there. Danvers is also a nice city. Both places have beautiful homes for sale.