A Reasonable Commute to Cambridge? (Boston, Medford: house, buying, living in)

[AnnieCt]

My husband recently took a new position in Cambridge, and has been commuting from Ct. I am happy to move however, I would like to have the same type and size home there, that we have here in Connecticut; approx 3500 square feet, 9 rooms, etc. The homes that are in a suburban area, close to Rte 128 costs twice as much and are half as big as what we have, so I am looking in the areas closer to Rte 495. Is it a difficult commute from the south into Cambridge?, Hopkinton, Holliston, Foxboro, etc? What about towns to the west; Wayland, Sudbury, etc or even north to New Hampshire? 45 minutes seems like a do-able trek? Any thoughts?

[brightdoglover]

I'm afraid you are looking for the holy grail. Depending on what part of Cambridge your hub works in, it can take almost 45 minutes to get from one side of Cambridge to the other (guessing he likely is working in East Cambridge, which is next to Boston across the river, and is a major pileup commute area. All of the towns you mention are well over 45 minutes in terms of traffic, not distance, during the day, and during rush hour, forget it.
That said, I think the best way into Cambridge would be from the West/Northwest- Mass Pike or Rt. 2 (again, depending on where he wants to go in Cambridge).
Driving down from southern NH, you might as well walk across the stop-and-go roofs of the cars- too many people have the same idea of buying more house in NH and driving to Boston/Cambridge. Coming from the South, I can't think of any advantage except that the real mob on Rt. 128 is stacked up going south, not north, at rush hour (all those New Hampshire refugees!)
I'd suggest a much smaller house closer in (and likely a lot older) unless you have serious money for a house in, say, Lexington or Concord. Do consider something on the commuter rail, again depending on whether the job in Cambridge is close to the train stops.
Best wishes. Working in Cambridge is likely to be real cutting edge. Living in a larger suburb and driving forever gets old fast.

[DreamworksSKG]

Look into Winchester or Arlington Heights (Arlington).

Both are good towns -

Arlington has easy access to the "T" via bus routes (and you can park for free on the side streets near Broadway-Mass Ave.) and even on Broadway. and get the "T" to Davis Square Red line station or Porter Square Red Line Station depending on which route you take. The busses run late as well.
There's also the Alewife Parking garage for the Red Line.

Winchester has 2 commuter rail stations in town with access to North Sation - where you can get the green-orange lines
From Winchester Cambridge is probably a 15 minutes drive away maybe 20 if you get stuck at traffic lights (Via back roads)

From Arlington Heights it'd be about the same---, from Arlington Center-points east, a little less. about 10-15 minutes

Medford Might be another possibility for you -

Watertown Might work as well

Hope this helps

[capecodcathy]

Define "reasonable". ;-) I used to commute from Salem to Kendall Square. I loved the extra sleep on the train. And if I couldn't sleep, I'd read. I loved every minute of it. And everyone on the train became another sort of family.

[Concepts]

The cheapest 3000 sq ft home on the market right now in Winchester, for instance, is $699,000 (and it probably needs work)....Medford and Arlington start at $500,000. Is that your price range?

If not, I think you're right - you need to look around the 495 belt - maybe even West of 495. Take a look at Littleton - still relatively affordable. Probably more like an hour commute to Cambridge but I'm not sure you can get away with less than that anyway.

What price range do you think you are in and we can narrow it down further for you.