Family friendly areas to live near Cambridge MA (Boston, Somerville: rent, mortgages)

[carolineleaming]

Hi there. In 10 days my family and I will be relocating to the Cambridge MA area and need to buy a house fast. Could anyone recommend any good areas to live which have the following?
1. Commuter access to Cambridge (hubby will be working in Harvard Square specifically)
2. Safe and friendly area to raise kids (parks, groups etc)

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[semiurbanite]

Do you prefer urban or suburban? Our family loves Somerville and I commute to Cambridge in 10 minutes.

[Dm84]

What is your budget?

[robr2]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Do you prefer urban or suburban?

Originally Posted by Dm84

What is your budget?

I'll add:

how many bedrooms
how big of a lot
executive subdivision or diverse neighborhood
how old are the kids
want the absolute best schools/pressure cooker or more laid back
how long of a commute is acceptable
yada, yada, yada.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by Dm84

What is your budget?

Can't even begin to make any meaningful suggestions until we know this.

[carolineleaming]

Thanks so much and apologies for being so vague..
Our kids are 10 months and 2 years old and coming from, Britain, the idea of living in a place where I can walk to the stores, the libraries, community centres, the local parks really appeals. But as I want my husband to enjoy family time to the max too, I'd really like somewhere that's a close commute to Harvard Square. Perhaps a maximum of 40 mins. He says he'd love to bike to work, is that something people do in MA?
Ideally we'd like to buy a house. Seems like prices are quite high but I guess that's what mortgages are for.. our budget would be around 500,000 (omg did I just write half a million dollars?)

I'm so overwhelmed with looking at maps and trying to guess at good places. Any input would be so appreciated. Thanks so much.

[Dm84]

You will be hard pressed to find much that meets all those criteria for $500,000. You will have to make some compromises.

Are you US citizens? If you don't have an established credit and work history in the US you will find it difficult to qualify for a mortgage.

[FCMA]

Welcome to our obscenely expensive corner of the world. This is what low supply and high demand combined with restrictive zoning and the black magic of capitalism produces.

You may be able to find something out near the commuter rail lines in the western outer suburbs of Boston, perhaps Maynard, Littleton, or Acton, which are a fairly quick train ride to Cambridge. Waltham is about the closest to Cambridge barely in that budget, and a quickly gentrifying town that hasn't until recently been that way. I'll leave it to respectable six-figure breeders to describe how horrible the Waltham schools probably are (but they probably are actually fine).

Good luck! Hope you aren't working in an idealistic field! They're crushing those kinds of people like bugs in this state.

[timberline742]

Rent first.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by carolineleaming

Thanks so much and apologies for being so vague..
Our kids are 10 months and 2 years old and coming from, Britain, the idea of living in a place where I can walk to the stores, the libraries, community centres, the local parks really appeals. But as I want my husband to enjoy family time to the max too, I'd really like somewhere that's a close commute to Harvard Square. Perhaps a maximum of 40 mins. He says he'd love to bike to work, is that something people do in MA?
Ideally we'd like to buy a house. Seems like prices are quite high but I guess that's what mortgages are for.. our budget would be around 500,000 (omg did I just write half a million dollars?)

I'm so overwhelmed with looking at maps and trying to guess at good places. Any input would be so appreciated. Thanks so much.

Commuting by bike is very common in Cambridge, with Somerville and Cambridge often being ranked among the top cities for bike commuters in the country. You budget is low and even with a larger budget, Boston's suburbs are generally much less walkable than a typical suburb in UK/Europe so meeting all of your requirements would be tough.