Quiet town for empty nesters (Boston, Lynn: oceanfront, condo, houses)

[jlcdc01]

Hi everybody, we (I and my wife) are empty nesters looking for a quiet town. I still work in Boston so we need to stay not very far from Boston. About 30 - 45 min. drive should be OK. Since my work schedule is flexible rush hour traffic is not of concern. Of course schools are not important to us either. We are looking for an affordable (200K to 300K), small house. We have a dog so it will be very difficult to live in a condo or similar housing type. Any suggestion on which towns to look around? Thank you for reading my posting. Have a nice day!

[goyguy]

In the current buyer's market, you should have no trouble finding a small house within that price range right in the city. There are a lot of sections of Boston which are every bit as tranquil and secure as suburbia. High on the list would be Dorchester's Savin Hill (especially the section east of 93, popularly known as "OTB" [Over the Bridge.] ) Also in Dorchester, check out the eastern and southeastern enclaves of Lower Mills + Clam Point +Neponset + Cedar Grove + Ashmont Hill. Parts of Roslindale, particularly west of Roslindale Square aka Roslindale Village, are seeing renewed popularity. Another nice section of "Rozzy" is the northern part near the Arnold Arboretum. Then of course there's Boston's quintessential suburban area known as West Roxbury.
There's a slim but not completely non-existent chance that you could find an affordable dwelling - perhaps a fixer-upper - in the desirable inner-ring communities of Belmont, Melrose, Norwood, Watertown, Dedham, or Arlington. West Quincy might offer some possibilities as well.
Best o' luck!

[bgrasser]

Check the Realtor. site, look at the houses in the N. Weymouth area; there are a couple just steps from Wessagussett Beach, with
water views. This area is a hidden gem.

[jlcdc01]

Thank you for your suggestions! I will do some research on those areas.

[goyguy]

Add to that list the Merrymount, Squantum, Adams Shore, and Houghs Neck neighborhoods in Quincy. The second and fourth of the four are peninsulas unto themselves; the other two are "tucked away" east of Quincy Center. Wollaston is a viable possibility as well.
Definitely worth a look also is the Point of Pines section of northern Revere, "worlds apart" from Revere Beach and other notorious-in-a-bad-way parts of that city. Two more peninsulas unto themselves are the towns of Winthrop and Nahant, lacking in supermarkets and big-box stores but not in quiet and close-knit community feeling. Word to the wise, though: sections of Winthrop are on Logan flight paths so are subject to the noise which goes along with that.
With concerns about schools not an issue, I heartily recommend "Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin." The oceanfront Diamond District bordering Swampscott has been on a quiet comeback for some 10-15 years. Although the city was rotting at the core from the '60s well into the '90s, Central Square (downtown) is vigorously reviving as a "loft district" and seeing hip coffeehouses settling in among the shot-and-beer watering holes. That can only help the northern and western sections of town which had remained stable and appealing but in the shadow of the bad press the rest of Lynn got. Zero in on Boston St and Western Ave when exploring around there.
Saugus, Peabody, and Danvers - most renowned for the mall sprawl within them - are also very pleasant and small-towny once you've left Route 1 behind. My first drives along 114 in Peabody and 35 in Danvers were real eye-openers.
And, finally, on the North Shore you'd be well advised to take a long look around Beverly. Just about every single income level has a portion of the city to call its own, between the flophouses around the train station and the "farms" of Prides Crossing. (They're "farms" in the way that there are "cottages" on Bellevue Ave in Newport, RI.) North Beverly and Montserrat are chock full of sweet little homes, including some of the "Arts and Crafts bungalows" from the 1920's that fire my house-buying lust like no other.
Conspicuous in its absence is Metro West, where a great deal of the housing is out of price reach in towns that invest heavily in their schools. But even here there are "finds" waiting to be found. With Route 2 and the Mass. Pike a drive into the city can clock in at under an hour, especially outside of peak times. Visit northern Framingham, as well as the area south of Route 9 that's sandwiched between Union Ave and Old Connecticut Path + Concord St. Acton has some smaller and less expensive dwellings scattered among its family-targeted split-levels and Colonials. AND...the affordable "hidden gem" thereabouts is Maynard, an old mill town reinvented and rejuvenated when high tech in the form of the now-long-departed Digital Equipment Corporation took over. Maynard has its own movie theater, situated near a bustling town center, and unpretentious tree-lined side streets galore. Hudson to the south is similar in nature, on the map as the home of politician Paul Cellucci and clinging more tightly to its blue-collar origins.
OK, I'm done!