Thinking of moving and wondering where in MA, VT, or NH we should go (Boston: house prices)

[serfmunke]

I would like to come visit MA and check out some possible places to relocate. Let me know which areas you think can fullfill some of our needs.

• Housing, townhouse even, under $250K
• Work for an electrician
• Downtown with independently owned businesses, a food coop, and has a variety of places to eat/go out
• Close to national/state parks and other places to be outdoors
• Environmentally friendly (not too crunchy) and pet friendly
• Not too far north. I am origionally from CA, eventually made it to PA 5 years ago and am not ready for heading too far north.
• I wanna be able to ride my bike again without feeling like people are seriously trying to run me off the road. I want to be able to cross a street without people speeding up and trying run me off the road.
• A town where people are nice to one another and trying to make their town/area a great place to live.
• We pretty much hate cities.

Any suggestions? We are, or atleast I am, going to take a camping trip up so I can drop in on some places and see if I can find a home again. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, the good and the bad.

[serfmunke]

Am I correct to think the Pioneer Valley is a suitable match??

[CoastalMaine]

Coastal Maine may be a good option for you. I'd give it a look if I were you. Everything you describe is what is here. To a T. Good luck!

[Acipenser]

Originally Posted by serfmunke

Am I correct to think the Pioneer Valley is a suitable match??

Yeah, I think you pretty much nailed it (not to say coastal Maine isn't good too...). You'll want to explore a bit and find which town is right for you, but you're in the right region. Northampton, MA, or the general vicinity is probably your best bet and hits almost of your criteria. Great restaurants, independent businesses are valued, lots of culture thanks to the five colleges, food coop, tons of outdoor activity within very, very easy striking distance. The downside is mostly that housing costs are high there -- it's a desirable place. Still, you should easily find housing in your range in a nearby town if not there. Head up into the hill towns if you want a little more breathing room (though at the cost of more snow). If you get up into Franklin county, you can get all you asked for (coop in Greenfield, lots of nice towns in the area... Shelburne, Deerfield, Gill, Montague...), but be aware that it's measurably colder there. The snow falls and usually sticks for the whole winter (but great for xcountry skiing, snowshoeing, or snowmobiling if that's your thing). In general, the whole area meets your criteria. Personally, I'd say go up to Brattleboro, VT, which is a great town, one of my favorites, but that may have crossed the 'too far north' line. I would say, however, that no matter where you end up, be sure you have the job lined up first. The economy isn't booming up here.

[SouthShoreDad]

I would suggest the South Shore of Mass. and onto the Cape as having all the things youre looking for. NH and Vt are great but you will have the winter weather to consider if thats the reason for not wanting to be to North.

Plymouth, Ma is great...has a lot culture, very friendly, lots of restaurants, art shows, small shops, farmers market, history, ocean/beaches, great waterfront, great golfing, festivals(art, cranberry, food, music) year round, parades...its really located well also. 45 minutes to Boston, 45 minutes to Providence RI, 10 minutes to the Cape(1hour to Provincetown).

As for outdoors there is Myles Standish State Forest(really need to check that out),there are hundreds of ponds and numerous parks for sports or walking or picnicing.

[bostoner]

Originally Posted by serfmunke

I would like to come visit MA and check out some possible places to relocate. Let me know which areas you think can fullfill some of our needs.

• Housing, townhouse even, under $250K
• Work for an electrician
• Downtown with independently owned businesses, a food coop, and has a variety of places to eat/go out
• Close to national/state parks and other places to be outdoors
• Environmentally friendly (not too crunchy) and pet friendly
• Not too far north. I am origionally from CA, eventually made it to PA 5 years ago and am not ready for heading too far north.
• I wanna be able to ride my bike again without feeling like people are seriously trying to run me off the road. I want to be able to cross a street without people speeding up and trying run me off the road.
• A town where people are nice to one another and trying to make their town/area a great place to live.
• We pretty much hate cities.

Any suggestions? We are, or atleast I am, going to take a camping trip up so I can drop in on some places and see if I can find a home again. Any feedback is greatly appreciated, the good and the bad.

I just moved to Massachusetts from Texas. New England is chock full of these towns. Main Street USA-type towns are still thriving here. Throw a dart at a map and you can't go wrong!

[ScituateAl]

Having grown up in rural western mass, then went to college in the pioneer valley, and am now here in eastern mass, I can easily say that the pioneer valley sounds like a far better match than anything out east here near the coast of MA.

Boston extends its reach both in terms of number of people and housing prices right out past 495...and yeah, there is most definately an edge to locals that's not quite as hard back in western mass.

Scan the thread for other folks who were looking to move to western mass...the general theme you'll see is that jobs, esp in the trades, may be much harder to come by in the pioneer valley than out here. That said, Springfield and the other cities just south of the pioneer valley could provide some job opportunites. Check out indeed.com for a super easy all-in-one job hunting site.

Southeastern MA is f-l-a-t. Your biking will certainly be more varied out west and with closer access to the Berkshires, VT, etc.

As for the weather, yeah, it is colder in the Pioneer valley than along the coast, but it's also all relative....it's even more colder in the Berkshires, lol.

$250K would just about buy you my friend's 2BR cape on .25 acre of land in 8yo development in Belchertown. House prices plummet if you're willing to drive the extra 20min and get outside the affects of profs and college students looking for housing.

Good luck!

[western mass and love it]

just a side note,but Springfield is part of the pioneer valley,and the weather is generally hotter in the summer and colder in the winter but not to the point where it is noticeable, summertime we might be 5 degrees warmer than the coast and winter time we might be 5 degrees cooler.