Waltham, Watertown, or...? (Boston, Cambridge, Newton: rentals, violent crime, buying a house)

[newgradstudent]

I'm going to Brandeis for grad school this Fall (will be 5 years) and my significant other works in Bedford (on Middlesex Turnpike). I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion re: the best place for us to rent (we're thinking about renting for 2 years until he pays off his undergrad debt, then maybe buy something), knowing that:
- I don't drive and most likely will not drive in the near future, for various reasons. I hope to be able to walk to school or take a bus or bike or be dropped off by sig.other on his way to work.
- My sig.other has a car and of course drives to work. He's been doing one-hour commute (in rush hour; during normal hours its about 45) and would like to reduce that by half.
I lived in Newton one summer and liked it a lot, although it can be too...hmm...Stepford-like (I don't know how to describe it...it all looks too much of a perfect upscale suburban American town, I guess?), and is generally too expensive for us (unless we find something affordable). I've never lived in Watertown but we LOVE Russo's and wouldn't mind living close by. Is it easy to commute to Brandeis and Bedford from Watertown? I have also heard Waltham is cheaper than Watertown but Watertown is nicer. But there must be nice parts in Waltham too, no? I've been to Moody St. shortly and liked it, but it was at night and we just went to a restaurant and didn't get to tour around or anything. Is there a part in Waltham that is nice, but also easy to get to Brandeis and the busier part of town (aka Moody St.)?
I really appreciate all of your input! Many thanks in advance

[ogre]

The area around Moody Street is fine, especially if you stay within a block or two west of Moody in the stretch that's right downtown, or look anywhere east of Moody along this stretch, or look a number of blocks to either side of Moody south of downtown. The houses all around that area are on the old side, so some residential streets might look a bit faded, but it's a safe area.

An area that should get a close look from a Brandeis student is the blocks either side of Main St. out to the west, out about as far as the intersection between South St. and Rt. 20. In the blocks immediately north of Main St. out that far west you'd be close enough to walk to Brandeis in maybe twenty minutes or so (longer the farther east you live), and, although you'd be a couple of miles from the prime downtown restaurant turf, you'd be close to everyday shopping and small low-brow eateries. In that same general area, the residential streets north of the Brandeis campus, between the campus and rt. 20, would put you really close to campus but a little farther from the small stores around the west end of Main St., though you could still walk to everyday shopping if you didn't mind doing some hoofing.

[newgradstudent]

ogre: thanks so much for your detailed suggestion; I will definitely keep these in mind while looking for places.
Any other suggestion is welcome as well!

[holden125]

I second Ogre's comments about the various areas in Waltham. Since you won't be driving you may want to stick fairly closely to the area near the Waltham common. From there you can get the 553 bus, the only MBTA bus that really goes to Brandeis, or the commuter rail (one quick stop from Waltham Center to Brandeis/Roberts). You can also get express bus to Boston and commuter rail to Boston or Cambridge.

The 553 bus goes down Main Street, then down South Street, so there may well be stops on Main Street near those blocks west of downtown that Ogre mentioned. You'll have to work with the schedules, but between the bus and train line there's pretty good coverage.

Here's the bus schedule heading toward Brandeis:
MBTA > Schedules & Maps > Bus > 553 - Roberts - Downtown Boston via Newton Corner & Central Sq., Waltham

And away from Brandeis:
MBTA > Schedules & Maps > Bus > 553 - Roberts - Downtown Boston via Newton Corner & Central Sq., Waltham

Waltham's common is the "Moody St and Carter St" listing; Brandeis is nearest the "South St & Angelside St" stop. Note that the bus makes stops not listed on this schedule; this is just to give a rough idea. And it's a commuter bus to Boston, so if you live in Waltham, but east of Brandeis, you'd be riding against the tide as it were (away from Boston in the AM, toward it in PM).

Here's the train from Waltham to Brandeis:
MBTA Commuter Rail > Fitchburg / South Acton Lines Schedules and Maps

And Brandeis to Waltham:
MBTA Commuter Rail > Fitchburg / South Acton Lines Schedules and Maps

The 553 bus also goes through Newton. Though I'm definitely familiar with the parts of Newton you've described, I live in a part of Newton that's not particularly Stepford at all. Newton's interesting because unlike some other affluent towns, it does have a significant local blue collar population. I don't recommend that you live here since it would be a longer bus ride for no good reason, but if you're at Brandeis for 5 years you'll be able to check out Newton north of the Mass Pike and see it's not that different from Waltham.

You asked about "nice parts" in Waltham. Waltham has a lot of different areas, including some that are very suburban in the nothern part of town. It's also nice, in a suburban way, in the Cedarwood area just north of Brandeis. You'll need to be in a more densely populated part of town, though, to access transit to Brandeis. I don't think there's anything wrong with the more urban parts of Waltham, except you might want to avoid Felton St, which has been a bit of a problem area for a long time. Not really dangerous as much as unpleasant.

Watertown does have some nice parts and some ugly parts as well. I'm not sure I'd say it's "nicer" than Waltham overall, but I suppose the grittiest parts of Watertown are marginally less ugly than the grittiest parts of Waltham. Of the two, only Waltham has the woodsy suburban areas. Waltham is simultaneously more urban and more suburban than Watertown. The only transit coming from Watertown to Waltham is the 70 bus, but that only goes as far as Waltham common. You'd have to switch to the train or 553 there and it may be tough to line up the schedules.

One other possibility, if the train schedule alone works for you, is the Waverley area on the Belmont-Watertown line. There are a lot of affordable rentals and it has a train station on the same commuter rail line. It would be 2 stops to Brandeis instead of 1, but still only a 15 minute ride. In addition to the train, there's a bus line (the 73) that goes to Harvard Square in about 25 mins, so that's a connection to Cambridge and, via the Red Line, to Boston. An upside is that it's a quick drive up Mill St and Winter St to Route 2, which would be helpful for your boyfriend's commute. A possible downside is that the trains may bypass Waverley on some midday runs-check the schedule.

[newgradstudent]

Sorry if I didn't clarify what I meant by "nice" - I guess I'd be wary to live in dangerous or gritty areas, since I'll be walking a lot (school-home), and most likely late at night. All the information you provided is extremely detailed and helpful! Thanks so much

[ogre]

Lots of good info there, Holden. Would like to rep that post, but gotta spread the rep.

Newgrad, regarding safe areas, that area Holden mentioned, Felton St. (and I'd add the blocks right around there) is about as close as Waltham gets to a dangerous neighborhood. I don't actually know any crime stats for the area, but personally I'd walk through there without worry. However, I can see how it's possible someone might not feel very safe around there, and feeling safe is important. I had that area in mind when I recommended that you don't live more than a few blocks west of Moody St., unless you go well west and look at those areas closer to the Brandeis campus.

Depending on how late at night you're likely to be heading home, you might want to check those train and bus timetables closely. The Boston transit system does not run really late at night. A little before or a little after midnight is likely to be the last run through Waltham, depending on the route and the mode of transit. It would be a good idea to take that into account when planning where to live, because it's a bit of a hike between Brandeis and the Moody St. area, and the shortest route happens to go right throught the vicinity of Felton St., so you'd most likely want to make sure you can get back and forth via transit at any time you'd need to if you lived close to Moody St.

[holden125]

I don't think Felton St's that bad either but for someone alone at night who doesn't know the area, it might give pause. I'd draw a distinction between "dangerous" areas and "gritty" areas. There are parts of both towns I'd not consider dangerous, but they're ugly. Maybe I should have said "ugly."

For example, in Watertown, Arsenal St. or Arlington St. near the malls. Or Pleasant Street, which is one of the more inaptly named streets around. In Waltham, I'm not nuts about the look of River St (which is just the continuation of Watertown's Pleasant St) and some of the blocks near Moody Street look run-down, though they're not bad blocks in terms of safety.

[mmyk72]

I was considering buying a house in Waltham (near Cedar St). Ended up not buying since that area looked too gritty for me after all. I called the town Police Station and spoke to an officer who could give very good info on the exact vicinity of where I was considering.... # of larceny (?), disturbance calls, etc. He said some of the area east of Moody have a lot of calls (domestic disturbance - ie. crazy people, party houses, boyfriend/girlfriend yelling at each other, etc.). It didn't sound like there were a lot of break in's or violent crimes, but some area have more 'troublesome' people living there.

[IDASpaceman]

Recommend Watertown and Belmont

[newgradstudent]

thanks for all your input!
the Cedarwoods area has had no listing so far (for June 1st - or any period of time, actually). I wonder if I'm just looking too early or maybe it's not a rental area. Most of the few listings I found so far are in Watertown or Newton (the parts nearer Waltham). I was hoping to look early to avoid competition but it doesn't seem like landlords are as eager as we are o_O