Please recommend neighborhoods in Boston not too far from Lakeville/Middleboro (New Bedford: apartments, rentals)

[smarties66]

I have been offered a position in Lakeville/Middleboro for a large beverage company. I currently live and have lived in Montreal all my life.

I'm single and in my mid 30s and I will get paid around 90K per year. From what I gathered so far on the forum, Lakeville is pretty dead for a single guy I'd like to live in Boston.

What area's should I be looking to live based on what I'm looking for:

1) I don't want a too lenghty commute; 40 min max.
2) I want to rent a house (at least 2BR) and ideally a yard (2500$-3000/month)
3) Looking for a place with a lot to do : museums, music clubs, sports (including water sports)
3) Place where they are other young professionals not noisy college crowds.

Thanks!

[ogre]

The reality is that there is not a lot to appeal to young professionals within a 40-minute drive of Lakeville. Lakeville is in the middle of an expanse of family-style suburbia that pretty much fills the space between Boston and Providence. In order to have the kind of neighborhood you're looking for as close as possible to Lakeville, you might consider a few options:

Live more toward the south side of Boston. Roslindale comes to mind as a section of Boston which is beginning to see some presence of young professionals, or so word has it. You'll need someone more familiar than I am with that part of Boston to fill you in on specific neighborhoods in Roslindale where you could find some of your fellow young professionals around nearby.

Consider living in Providence, and checking on the Rhode Island forum about where to find the kinds of neighborhoods you're looking for. I did a quick check on Mapquest, and it appears that the driving time from Providence to Lakeville is not a lot less than it would be from some areas in the southern end of Boston. While Providence is physically closer than any part of Boston to Lakeville, it appears that you'd be slowed down because the trip would not be on major roads. Still, Providence, which is a neat little city in its best areas, is a bit closer to Lakeville than Boston is in terms of driving time.

Consider Quincy. It's a small city just southeast of Boston's city limits. Quincy is a bit closer to Lakeville than almost any section of Boston is. Quincy is largely a mix of blue collar and middle class in terms of its populace, so you'd most likely find only pockets of young professionals here and there in your immediate neighborhood, but at least Quincy borders on offering the commuting time you prefer, and it's a pretty quick trip, by either driving or public transit, from Quincy into downtown Boston.

[brightdoglover]

Providence is a good idea. Certainly a young person with stated interests needs an urbanized area for action and life, period, and with that salary, could afford to kick up his heels nicely.

[lrfox]

All the suggestions so far are good ones. I'm fairly certain I know where you'll be working as there is only one large beverage company headquartered in Middleborough/Lakeville and its location certainly impacts your commute.

Downtown Boston and Downtown Providence are almost equidistant from your job. Boston is about 38 miles and Providence is about 37. That means that on a good day, you can expect to drive around 45 minutes to work. Traffic won't be as big a concern for you as you'll be commuting in the opposite direction of the morning rush regardless of which city you choose.

Since there is no public transit to/from either city to where you work, you'll need a place where you can park easily. Given the difficulty of finding off street parking (aside from garages which will be a big expense monthly) and meeting your other criteria, I'd rule out central Boston (thought the Lower Mills area of Boston/Milton might work very well). Quincy will probably work for you, although it's not really a fashionable area. It's largely working/middle class. The good news is that it's south of Boston which makes your commute Middleborough/Lakeville quite a bit easier. It's also great because you're within easy reach of central Boston for dining, nightlife, etc. There are a number of rentals you'll find in Quincy that will fit your description. I'd look specifically in the Marina Bay area. I know you're specifically looking for a house, but the Metro Marina Bay apartments may be worth looking into. They're luxury, on the water and have some decent bars, clubs and restaurants right there. It's a mostly young professional crowd in that area. For other rentals, try craigslist and search "Quincy"

Providence also works fairly well. Providence is smaller than Boston, but I think it might have a little more appeal for someone coming from Montreal. For starters, Boston is somewhat staid and conservative feeling in comparison to Montreal. Providence is a little edgier and creative. It doesn't offer the same level of amenities that Boston does, but it has a hipper vibe (in my opinion). For your criteria, I'd stick with the East Side of Providence (NOT to be confused with East Providence... a separate city). Within the East Side, the College Hill neighborhood is probably the most active. There are a lot of young professionals living in the College Hill area; but as the name would imply, it does have a good concentration of college students. Wayland Square on the East Side is more geared to young professionals. It has a nice concentration of restaurants and bars and is still close to College Hill and other areas of town. Fox Point is a little grittier (but not bad). It's close to the restaurants and bars along Wickendon Street. A lot of young professionals live here too. Federal Hill is also a very active and vibrant area, but it borders on some of Providence's tougher neighborhoods so be careful when looking there. I'd stay within a few blocks of Atwells Avenue. Craigslist is also good for Providence rentals.

If neither of those places work for you, Plymouth is a little closer to Middleborough/Lakeville (20 minute drive) and would fit some of your criteria. For starters, downtown Plymouth (make sure you look in that vicinity for rentals) is very attractive and quite active year-round. There are a number of good restaurants and bars there. It's obviously quite a bit smaller than Montreal, Boston or Providence, but it is an active town. It's a gorgeous seaside community. A lot of young professionals move to Plymouth because of its active downtown and relatively reasonable proximity to Boston (there's commuter rail to the city in the North part of the town). Plymouth covers such a large area geographically, that I'd recommend only looking at rentals near the center of town.

Finally, I want to throw in a wild card suggestion. I call it a wild card because I'd consider the above three to be much better suggestions and because most people on this forum would probably disagree with me. That being said, downtown New Bedford would probably work for you as well. New Bedford is an old seaport city about 30 minutes south of your office. It's gritty and rough around the edges. It has high unemployment and a lot of fairly uneducated residents. However, the downtown area and the surrounding residential neighborhoods are surprisingly nice. For starters, 13 blocks of downtown New Bedford are a National Historic Park complete with shops, galleries, restaurants, and a nice museum all along cobblestone streets lined with old gas lamps. Also in downtown but outside of the Whaling District, you have a College of Art, an Art Museum, an Ocean Explorium (small aquarium), a great theater that plays host to a good symphony a ballet, and a number of touring concerts and shows. and a number of shops, bars, restaurants and galleries. It's an active little city center. It's currently the biggest fishing port in the U.S. in terms of value of catch and that shows in the quality of seafood available. The downtown area is surrounded by gorgeous historic housing thanks to the city's heritage of being the wealthiest city on earth for some time back in the 1800s. Most of these amenities are part of New Bedford's recent (within the last decade) renaissance downtown so the city still carries a bad stigma with most people from outside of the area. Still, outside of the core, you'll easily be able to tell that NB is still rough around the edges that unemployment and poor educational attainment are big issues. And again, while I'd suggest Boston, Providence, Quincy or Plymouth over NB, it's worth a look given your criteria.

[smarties66]

Wow, thanks for the very thorough response Irfox; much appreciated!!! Thanks for potentially taking a bullet with your wild card suggestion;I like it. I like people who think outside of the box. I'll certainly take a look at New Bedford.