Need advice on relocating from New Jersey to the Boston area.where are the nice areas? (Quincy: rental, how much)

[Russrachelhoney]

Hello everyone, i found this site by accident but it seems so helpful and everyone seems so nice and informative so I hope that you can give my wife an I some good advice. We are recently married and currently live in central New Jersey by the shore. We would like to relocate to an area within a good commuting distance to Boston. I am originally from NJ and my wife is from the U.K.

Basically we want and need a change, a new start in Massachusetts. To be honest, we have had it with we're are now due to the lack of public transport, the decline of our neighborhood and other things. We currently rent a house and have a beautiful yellow lab so we would probably rent a house up there until such time that we get settled and feel comfortable. We are scared but excited. I have a good job that will transfer me and my wife has her own company.

So, where would you suggest we look for houses to rent? What towns/areas /communities are safe commutable and mid to upper middle class? Will this move be difficult? What should we do?

Thank you all so much in advance!

[ogre]

Some additional details about what you're looking for would help people here narrow the possibilities:

What's your likely housing budget?

What do you consider a good commuting distance/time?

It sounds as if you'd prefer to be near public transit, but would you want to commute by public transit or use it more for generally getting around? Also, would you be okay with living close to commuter rail but no other public transit, or would you really very much prefer to have subway and/or bus service nearby?

Where approximately would your job here be located? That can be significant in determining where you can live while having a convenient commute.

What general character would you want in the local area where you would live, aside from clean, safe, etc.? More yard space even if you had to drive to a lot of places? Local shopping within an easy walk even if you'd have to have a somewhat small yard? Kind of out in the country, more classically suburban, or kind of urban?

[Ashleywoodfin]

Welcome to the prospect of moving here!!

If you're living by the Jersey shore right now, you likely enjoy living near the beach. You would love the North Shore, particularly the Salem/Swampscott/Marblehead area. I live and work in Marblehead and it is a wonderful location for young couples, as well as young families. We have great access to public transportation via the commuter rail, but the town(s) also feel removed enough from an urban center to feel "safe". One aspect to know would indeed be budget, as ogre mentioned above.

If you're looking for a rental soon, and looking to buy in the future I could definitely give you some information on the north shore area. Message me if you have any questions - I look forward to seeing more details added about your search!

Take care!

[Russrachelhoney]

Hello Ogre and Ashley! Thank you so much for the replies.. So basic answers to your questions Ogre.

My Job would basically be in different locations in the Boston area.. I would travel as a district manager for a retail chain and would work out of my car and house. I am originally from Montclair NJ a very diverse and upscale community that had many options for transport into NYC. A bus stopped a block away from where I lived a train was right down the street and the path train and light rail were all relatively close as well as local taxis.

My wife and I would like to be able to hop on and off local transit IE Train or bus in different areas and communities in and near Boston. My wife would especially need this to get around as we only have one car and I’ll be on the road working in my stores. Our problem now is that she is basically stuck at home and her wings are basically clipped due to the lack of frequent transit options.

Our housing budget it depends on if we really like the place. We are looking at around $2k to 2.3 k for rent. We need to find a single family in a nice, diverse area with character. Quiet, easily accessible to public transport to Boston. Not big fans of houses on top of each other. We like space but not like farm land haha. We like Parks, farmers markets and town centers that are interesting. Ya know? Like those “wake up on Saturday morning and walk to get a good cup of coffee” type places. We also have a beautiful pedigree Yellow Lab named Honey and she would need an enclosed back yard. The place that we live in now, I built a fence.

We don’t need to be in the heart of it all but would like to be able to get there. Suburban atmosphere much like the Montclair NJ type of feel. Montclair Township

As far as good commuting distance time.. I have to be honest I have no idea…As I find out more about moving through my company, I’ll be able to mark out my store locations and then go from there.

Thank you again so much for your input! This is all so new to us and your help is appreciatedJ

[brightdoglover]

What is your eventual budget for buying? I'd suggest a corporate relocate agency for a rental. "Upper middle class" doesn't really say what kind of community. There are plenty of towns that are "nice" that have commuter rail to Boston, but not much for public around and about towns and suburbs themselves- it just isn't there.
Good on ya for thinking of your dog, too.

[missionhill]

I'm guessing you won't find a single-family house rental for that amount in an "upper middle class" community. I suggest looking at communities that may have some upper middle class streets but on balance are middle class. One is Melrose--("Melrose, you're no Montclair!") --but seriously, Melrose, if not as distinctive as Montclair, is nice and close-in with a walkable center, many transit options, and nestled next to the Fells reservation (not unlike Eagle Rock) for some serious dogwalking and off-leash running. West Medford might be good too, also Arlington, but I'm guessing Arlington is more expensive. On the south side, Roslindale and West Roxbury could be good choices. Rozzie is lower middle to middle and West Rox is middle to upper-middle. These are neighborhoods of Boston and in the not-so-hot Boston school district, if that's a concern.

[ogre]

Good suggestions by Missionhill. I agree that with the housing budget you're aiming for you'll increase your options if you think in terms of places that are broadly middle class rather than upper middle class. Having a pet may reduce the options for rental property, so you want to avoid limiting them further with your expectations about where your rental budget fits. Housing is expensive in the Boston area, so you may need to do some research to turn up a good number of options to choose from, and you'll increase your chances of finding a place that works if you think middle class rather than upper middle.

Missionhill's advice about the need to consider the quality of Boston city schools if you lived in Roslindale or W. Roxbury brings up another key piece of information from you which would help narrow the possibilities. That would be whether schools are an issue.

With the information we have from you at this point, to the suggestions others have made above, I'll add a few more ideas:

Watertown: mix of urban and suburban; downtown area where you could have that Sat. morning cup of coffee, and neighborhoods nearby where you could have a yard that would not likely be wide open but would still be a real yard, not a decorative little strip of grass; bus from downtown (known as Watertown Square) into various places in and very close to Boston; from neighborhoods a bit north of Watertown Sq. you could have access to commuter rail service in the neighboring town of Belmont.

Quincy: another spot with a mix of urban and suburban character, increasing the options for finding a house with a yard and still being within walking distance of local shopping, stop-off for a cuppa jo, etc.; subway/light rail service into downtown Boston, with something like four stops (I think it's four) right in Quincy.

Hyde Park: add this to Missionhill's suggestions of Roslindale and W. Rox. within Boston's city limits, if living within the city of Boston would work for you (school issues and such); another outlying district of Boston with enough suburban character so many houses have yards, but still enough on the urban fringe to have some local commercial districts; I don't know Hyde Park well enough to recommend the best streets or neighborhoods, but get some info on these, as it's my understanding that the cleanliness/safety/character of local spots in Hyde Park varies.

Maybe Dedham: more of a last-choice suggestion so you have enough locations to have a good starting list to work with, because Dedham is more suburban, has less in the way of walk-to kinds of commercial districts and more mall development than other suggestions on this thread so far; still, Dedham is a clean, safe suburban town, with relatively modest housing costs (by the standards of the Boston area), houses with yards, and some public transit access via commuter rail (though only one station, and commuter rail is more expensive and runs less frequently than the subway or bus service . . . other reasons that I mention Dedham only as an outside possibility).

[missionhill]

Thank you, Ogre! One of the Watertown buses is no ordinary bus but a trackless trolley right into Harvard Square; the other is the replacement of the Green Line's "A" division with very frequent bus service through Newton Corner and Brighton into Kenmore. So Watertown is very well connected, only I wondered whether the commercial area had enough to offer as compared to places like Melrose or Roslindale, but maybe so. I would never recommend Hyde Park to an out of towner. I don't know why-- it just seems so far from anywhere, so local, and kind of down-at-heel. Maybe that's unfair. Dedham has a great center and the "precinct one" area beyond the center along Route 109 is lovely (and very upper-middle). But Dedham has uneven transit connections-- no train and hardly any buses in the center of town. The main railroad connection is the Rte 128 station in a completely unwalkable location on the opposite side of town.

[ogre]

Right about Dedham. It's really a last choice just to fill out a long list of possibilities, partly because public transit and a nice commercial district aren't really accessible from the same areas.

As for Watertown, it kind of depends on how much upscale city living the OP would like to have right around the corner. Watertown has long been more of a lowbrow town, with basic local mom-and-pop shopping and dining. Watertown Sq. is certainly a place where you can do basic shopping and grab some coffee or some plain and simple eats. And, public transit makes access to city attractions convenient, even though you won't find much of that locally right in W'town.

Keep in mind also that Watertown seems to be attracting a young professionals crowd these days. I wouldn't necessarily expect W'town Sq. to have the collection of restaurants in downtown Waltham by six months from now, but maybe in the future, and at least W'town may have some places close to the OP's housing budget, with yards that may be on the small side but are large enough to be real yards, and within walking distance of some basic shopping and a bite to eat, and public transit access to urban attractions.

[konfetka]

Salem is 30 minutes from Boston by train, and is has a large downtown, which is very walkable, with one pedestrian-only main street. It has a lot of restaurants, stores, and museums, one of which, Peabody Essex Museum is a major art museum, one of the best in Northeast (free for residents). Plus parks, waterfront, beaches, a free trolley for residents, a ferry to Boston (May through October). Also happens to be a Halloween capital of the world, due to it's witch hunt history. It's a mix of working, middle and some upper middle class, and a lot of old historic architecture (the biggest selection of pre-1900 federal architecture in the country).