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Old 03-13-2015, 11:38 PM
 
7 posts, read 8,952 times
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We are planning a move from the west coast to Massachusetts within the year, but have no clue where to start looking. We are a family of 5, looking for a town with decent housing prices and cost of living, that also has quality special education programs-public or private for our oldest, and preferably some sort of alternative (Montessori/Waldorf/coop, something in that vein- or a charter school with project/developmental approach) for our typically developing kiddos.


Wherever we go, we need lots of trees, walking trails or paths, stuff for kids to do, safe, and preferably within reasonable driving distance to a city big enough to have stuff to do. We will also need to travel to Boston Children's Hospital once every 2-3 months.

Housing wise, somewhere in the $250-275k range for a decent family home would be ideal. We are looking at a household income in the $80,000 range initially (that's kind of a conservative guesstimate), but when my husband finishes his next round of school, we will probably be more in the $100,000-125,000 range.


Does such a place exist?
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Old 03-14-2015, 05:51 AM
 
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If you define "reasonable driving distance to a city big enough to have stuff to do" if may help with guidance. If that city is Worcester or Providence, RI, you may be in luck. If it's Boston, perhaps not so much. And, if the reasonable driving distance is less than a hour, all the better. Less than 30 minutes, not so much. Prepare to live small.
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Old 03-14-2015, 05:52 AM
 
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It sounds like you need to concentrate on central/western MA with that particular budget. I'm saying this because RE is nuts in the Metro Boston area with the average home price around $400K. Anything less than that is usually either too small or needs extensive rehab/repair.

The other issue is the "quality" education you mention. There are a number of towns in north-central MA which would fit your criteria minus the education -- AFAIK most of the school systems up that way aren't terrific but I don't know them well enough to say that they're downright horrible. We have friends who ended up in Orange, for example (tiny town near the MA/VT border) on a budget similar to yours. They drive down to Worcester for their "city" fix and occasionally drive to Boston every few months. They work from home, and that's the other thing -- the job situation out there is horrible.

Hopefully somebody who knows that part of the state better can shed more light.
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Old 03-14-2015, 06:59 AM
 
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With that budget you will be forced to look pretty far outside Boston. Where will you be working?
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Old 03-14-2015, 07:56 AM
 
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Default re

I'm saying this because RE is nuts in the Metro Boston area with the average home price around $400K

Are u sure 400k is the average for boston metro? 400k seems to be the cheapest I've seen, not the average. Where is boston metro can u find a house for say 300k? Mattapan?
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Old 03-14-2015, 04:04 PM
 
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I could tell right away that Boston metro was out of the question, unless we win the lottery in the mean time!

Within an hour of a city would be just fine, and we are even willing to consider other neighboring states as long as we can drive to Boston in 2-3 hours for our son's occasional medical appointments.

I just need to be able to drive to decent shopping, some cultural activities, etc. Within an hour.

Is the job situation rough in the whole western mass area? My husband is in the restaurant industry now (general/op manager level) but will be transitioning into computers/network arch, etc. within the next 2 years, and if I don't find work in my field locally I'll teach online community college classes from home. (I have connections).
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Old 03-14-2015, 04:50 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
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You might get lucky and find something in WMass towns like Amherst, Northampton--that general area. It's a college area and there are alternative schools, such as the ones you mention. Shopping is good--Northampton is full of boutique-type shops but lately there are other stores in surrounding towns, like whole Foods, Trader Joes. There is a good mall just to the south in Holyoke. Cultural events are abundant, although they are not the upscale, high end events you would get in a place like Boston. You will get locally produced plays, operettas, concerts. Some of it takes place at the colleges and some takes place in venues such as The Academy of Music. You wouldn't have to drive far to get to anything but beware of winter. In winter if you didn't live close in, you wouldn't be able to get to much of anything due to the driving conditions.

Housing is less expensive there and it's set up for walking, hiking, and all sorts of outdoor activities. Yes, the job situation is terrible. That's because people graduate from the colleges and want to stay there and kids who attend the colleges take most of the part time jobs. Northampton is known for its restaurants so your husband's experience could come in handy but I don't know about his computer type jobs.

From WMass the time to Boston is 2.5 hours using rte 91 and the Mass Pike.
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Old 03-14-2015, 06:58 PM
 
Location: Massachusetts & Hilton Head, SC
9,895 posts, read 15,461,978 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rgmel5 View Post
I could tell right away that Boston metro was out of the question, unless we win the lottery in the mean time!

Within an hour of a city would be just fine, and we are even willing to consider other neighboring states as long as we can drive to Boston in 2-3 hours for our son's occasional medical appointments.

I just need to be able to drive to decent shopping, some cultural activities, etc. Within an hour.
Possibly southern New Hampshire. It's family friendly and the schools are generally good. Plus there is no personal income tax nor sales tax so that would help.
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Old 03-15-2015, 12:22 AM
 
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Any opinions on Pittsfield? Looks like a short drive to Albany, NY..... Google says 2.5 hours to Boston (I'm guessing that's not factoring in traffic).
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Old 03-15-2015, 01:51 AM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,633 posts, read 28,419,191 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rgmel5 View Post
Any opinions on Pittsfield? Looks like a short drive to Albany, NY..... Google says 2.5 hours to Boston (I'm guessing that's not factoring in traffic).
I've lived in Mass my entire life and have only been to Pittsfield once or twice. It's way out in the Berkshires. From WMass (Connecticut River Valley area) it takes over two hours to get to Boston so I think it would take much longer from Pittsfield. To me, there isn't much out there. Maybe it is convenient to Albany, I'm not sure.

But it is in the hills, mountains to us, so driving in winter would be difficult and I don't think you could easily get to Albany in winter at all. You might not be able to get to Boston in winter. A lot of things just stop in winter, especially travel.
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