Looking for a place west of Boston (Newton, Brookline: middle-class, apartments)

[jwinter228]

Hey all,

I just moved to Boston for a Grad program at Northeastern. I'm living in the Back Bay/South End area and I'm considering moving outside the city so that I can have a car more easily and save money. I'm about 6 hours away from home so moving a bit west (or even north/south-ish) of the city would be preferred in case I want to make a weekend trip back once in a while.

I grew up on a farm so any areas that are pleasant, semi-rural (in a sense) and have a more natural setting are probably more along my lines. Any suggestions would be great or at least some hints.

Thanks!

[scarletfire]

jwinter, There are quite a few lovely places west of Boston where you could get a semi-rural feel. Specific recommendations would vary depending on your budget and how much tolerance you have for commute time. Parking expenses are something else to keep in mind.

[jwinter228]

You mean parking fees in Boston or in one of these areas? I was thinking along the lines of a place with a driveway or parking out front - wasn't really thinking there would be any parking fees. I'm really just looking to save a bit of money compared to living in the city. I would go in roughly 4 times/week so I'd understand about fees parking at school.

[scarletfire]

Oh, sorry, I meant parking in Boston. re: finding a place west of the city, are you looking to rent or buy? How long of a commute are you ok with? There are some lovely places like Berlin and Bolton that are still rural with some farms but I'd imagine it's about an hour from Boston. There are a few rentals out that way but mostly in multi-families or single-family homes, very few complexes that I know of.

[jwinter228]

About a half hour would be the best commute - could go a little longer - or even longer if it appears to be worth it. It doesn't have to be around farms necessarily, I'm just looking for a nice area that has reasonable rent, simple parking, and a more natural setting. Even an area like Newton seemed fine for me - but being close to Boston it still seemed a bit expensive. Thanks for the help!

[brightdoglover]

Not much "rural feel" 30 minutes to Boston.
There are lots of apartments in rural-feel Boxborough, out Rt. 2. Still more than 30 minutes, but most of your drive time is likely to be closer in to the city, not further out.
Newton is pricy and certainly not rural feeling, although there are plenty of neighborhoods with trees.
Maybe a rental in Brookline in the areas with trees? Not a rural feel, but an urbane town feel with some nature appeal. And if you lived in a treed urbane neighborhood, you could get public transport, not the miserable drive/park into Boston.

[CaseyB]

It's not really any different from someone who commutes to their job everyday is it? You'd be surprised how many college students who live in the suburbs commute to school. I see them getting off the train all the time. My daughter is doing an internship in Boston this summer and she takes the train from Walpole Center every day - it takes less than 40 minutes to South Station.

[ogre]

This gets tricky. As Brightdog points out, you have to go farther out than a half-hour commute to find much truly rural feel. Another snag here is that a lot of the towns fairly close in that are more suburban, rather than rural, but still low-density and woodsy, are very expensive. Not much rental property in these towns either, as many of them are more family-oriented, single-family-house places. Now, if you have lots of money to spend, would be interested in buying a house, and wouldn't mind being around families rather than other students, I'd suggest Weston, Wayland, Dover, or Sherborn. If you've got something closer to the typical student budget, however, those towns would be out of reach. Actually, they would be largely out of reach if you were professionally employed but not in the high echelons of a lucrative field.

I like Casey's suggestion of Walpole. Other towns south of Boston you might also look at:

Sharon: depending on your budget; pricey, but less so than the towns mentioned above; another family kind of town.

Norwood: more suburban than rural; pretty close to Boston; again, family-oriented.

Stoughton and Canton: Suburban, neighborhoods rather than open rural space in many sections, but definitely not urban.

Maybe Foxborough: but it's farther out from the city.

West of Boston, I suggest at least taking a look at Natick. Natick's general character is very suburban, so it depends on how tolerant you would be of a suburban-feeling kind of place along with the trees you're seeking. The first thing I'm guessing most people think of when they think of Natick is malls, but there is also a clean downtown with some basic small stores. There is also commuter rail, if you find you would prefer not to battle the driving traffic on some days. Much of Natick is pretty classic pleasant suburban residential territory, your basic middle-class town where the houses have yards around them, but not a lot of really large houses or especially large yards. The southern section of Natick is more low-density, woodsy, etc., with some larger lots, but it's also less likely to have much rental property, and is farther from downtown, malls, and the commuter rail than the rest of town.

Natick generally is a family kind of town, but its population of around 30-35k makes it large enough to have some hint of demographic variety. Basically, picture a fairly typical pleasant suburban town, with a lot of mall shopping, a bunch of restaurants (many chain eatieries but a few more homegrown places scattered around), some mom-and-pop stores downtown, and commuter rail, and somewhat reasonable rents for a solidly middle-class town. Many people these days seem to have disdain for towns like this, but it might be worth taking a look at Natick, based on the info you've provided.

[CaseyB]

Yup, Natick is a good suggestion. Westwood would be ideal (probably nothing to rent there, though), but parts of Dedham are woodsey, away from the Rte. 1 mess.

[molbio]

If you don't mind going a little north of Natick along Rt. 2, Acton has apartments and is relatively affordable. Concord also has apartments for rent but fewer. They're also along a Commuter Rail line so there's an option to take a train in instead of driving. There are plenty of roads in these towns that will evoke that "wow, BMW commercial" feel and there certainly are farms.

My suggestion, go to google maps and look at satellite view. That'll give you a very general idea of which towns are greener in profile. They also tend to be of the less affordable type but there are definitely exceptions. Good luck!