Braintree, your opinion? (Boston, Quincy, Newton: middle-class, home, good schools)

[alidost]

Would you recommend someone new to Boston area (from Midwest) to settle in Braintree area?
What are the pros and cons?

[pjscdn]

A typical south of Boston suburb. Convenient to the highways and subway to downtown, safe, good schools, home to a large shopping mall. It's not upscale or wealthy, if that is what you were looking for -predominately middle-class.

[Beachcomber4]

PROS: decent schools, kid friendly community, convenience to Boston, the T, many dining and retail options, shopping, town run electric and internet services make those services inexpensive

CONS: overbuilt and congested retail mecca, traffic (especially around South Shore Plaza at Christmas , T station parking lot too small

[alidost]

thank you, you guys rock!

[RLCMA]

I think Braintree is a great place to live if you want to live near the city without paying city rents. A good friend of mine lives in Braintree and commutes to Boston for work everyday and loves it. It's a great place for young professionals who work in the city. Having worked in Braintree for a couple of years I really enjoyed it since there are plenty of shopping and dining destinations within a 20 mile radius. Plus, if you want to hit up Cape Cod you're less than an hour from the Sagamore Bridge with no traffic. Quincy is also a great choice. If you look west (Newton, Framingham, Wellesley, Natick) you may pay slightly higher rents than in Braintree but I'm not 100% sure about this. They are more upscale but you'll have to look at rents in the area and compare.