Middle Grounds (Providence, Warwick, Cranston: apartments, living in, costs)

[digital12]

Hi,

My Fiance and I are looking to move to either RI or Eastern Ct.

She will be attending a masters program in CT (Norwich, I395) and I work out of Southern MA (Dedham, I95).

We are looking for place where we can live comfortably for a year where we can both commute to where we need to go.

We would like to try and keep costs down as much as possible but still live in a nice quiet nieghborhood.

Any Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[digital12]

We were thinking of Warwick, Scituate, Cumberland, Smithfield, North Providence or E. Greenwich.

or Thompson or Woodstock CT

Any suggestions / comments on any of these towns?

[Apple Annie]

Yes .... it's quite a distance from Dedham MA to Norwich CT. Do you want to be somewhere in the middle [from your question, middle ground] ? You will have to do a MapQuest search to find your middle ground, and then figure out the distance each way. It's going to depend on which one of you is willing to travel the furthest, simple as that. Northern RI is excellent and pricey, southern RI is excellent and pricey. The middle ground is so-so. CT is going to be less in housing costs, but further to drive to Dedham. I wouldn't drive to Dedham from CT even if gas was still $1.00 a gallon.

[skytrekker]

I know some people in eastern CT that do commute to the Boston area- but its a 2 or more hour commute a day round trip.

Towns in eastern Connecticut are very peaceful and scenic-
Putnam has low costs- as does Thompson for housing then all of Rhode Island- You would have to go up US 44 into RI Then I 295 and I 95 north- a long commute.

You might try Uxbridge Mass and the towns nearby like Northbridge and East Douglas- costs will be a bit higher for housing, but the commute time will be reduced greatly.

[digital12]

We are both willing to commute an hour to get our destinations.

Uxbridge and Northbridge sound like good alternatives to CT and RI but I dont know anything about these communties and if they are close to any major highways.

I think our best bet would be to live near a major rt 95, 295, 395 or the Mass Pike.

We initially were thinking that she could take rt 6 to 395 and I could drive up 95. But we have heard that rt 6 can be a parking lot. Is that true?

[Roadismyhome]

Many of the roads can be a parking lot at various times of the day - US-6 due to commuters going into Providence.
Looking at the map, Rhode Island puts you directly half-way, though I am willing to bet that even if you lived equidistant from both, the drive into Dedham would take longer than the ride into Norwich.

Your commute into Dedham, you could go part of the way and take the "T" (MBTA) into the area from - the Forge Park stop, I believe, off I-495. http://mbta.com/schedules_and_maps/r...route=FRANKLIN

HTH

[digital12]

So would you suggest living in Northern RI? Are areas of Pawtuck or Woonsocket nice?

[rockfisherman]

Originally Posted by digital12

We were thinking of Warwick, Scituate, Cumberland, Smithfield, North Providence or E. Greenwich.

or Thompson or Woodstock CT

Any suggestions / comments on any of these towns?

Going by Route 6 would be rough. I think you'd be better off staying near 95. The commute from say, Warwick (half way point), to Norwich wouldn't be bad, Dedham would have a lot more traffic.

Warwick was number 83 on Money Magazines best places to live last year. Cranston was number 78. Route 95 goes right thru Warwick and there's a variety of housing options. East Greenwich is very nice but it is spendier.

[digital12]

alright so driving by route 6 would be tough, but would the time or where(intersect 295 vs 95) that you hit rt 6 affect anything?

I think from this thread I am going to focus my search in Cranston, Warwick and Greenville.

Would it be helpful to enlist an agent to help look for apartments? Does anyone know any good agencies in RI?