Relocating from CNY to a boston suburb (Worcester, Newton: house, neighborhood)

[lski15]

My husband, 1 yr old daughter, two dogs and I are moving from CNY to a Boston suburb for my husbands job in Boston. Anyone know both areas to compare some suburbs of each? We also know Rochester fairly well. I have been doing a lot of blog and forum reading to narrow things down a bit but thought it was worth a shot asking, even if a long shot. Thanks in advance!

[dravogadro]

Do you have any specific suburbs around Boston you are curious about? Or specific suburbs of Rochester you would like to find near Boston?

[CaseyB]

We would need to know what your housing budget is and what you are looking for. Also, what location in Boston will your husband be working?

[lski15]

My husband will be working near the back bay station so we've been limiting our search to the Providence/Stoughton, Needham and Worcester line areas so west and south west suburbs. Some areas in consideration are Sharon, Walpole, Framingham, Medfield, Holliston, Natick and Wellesley. He'll have a car so can drive to a station. Acton, Lincoln and Concord all seem to be great areas also though possibly a longer commute to first get to a station. We have 6-12 months to "look" which is good. Schools are important and we'd prefer a good public system. Our housing budget is quite the range and I'm still in sticker shock! I'd love to stay under 600k or 650 but we could go up to 800k. I'm all for a house that needs work in a great school district and great location. In a perfect world i'd love an acre or so of property in a nice neighborhood, great school district, running before the sun rises is safe, i'm not fighting traffic to run out to the grocery store, and a reasonable commute for my husband via the train. I keep hearing (of course only from people in CNY) that the traffic no matter where you are is unbearable...i can't imagine that is true once you get outside the 95 loop....?

For comparison purposes to the rochester area - Pittsford, Brighton, Fairport, Victor, Webster. OR for Syracuse Area - fayetteville manlius, Cazenovia, Jamesville Dewitt.

If limiting our search area by train lines doesnt make sense either feel free to let me know! Frankly I've found there to be quite a few good possibilities so limiting the suburbs by train line seemed like a nice first step.

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by lski15

My husband will be working near the back bay station so we've been limiting our search to the Providence/Stoughton, Needham and Worcester line areas so west and south west suburbs. Some areas in consideration are Sharon, Walpole, Framingham, Medfield, Holliston, Natick and Wellesley. He'll have a car so can drive to a station. Acton, Lincoln and Concord all seem to be great areas also though possibly a longer commute to first get to a station. We have 6-12 months to "look" which is good. Schools are important and we'd prefer a good public system. Our housing budget is quite the range and I'm still in sticker shock! I'd love to stay under 600k or 650 but we could go up to 800k. I'm all for a house that needs work in a great school district and great location. In a perfect world i'd love an acre or so of property in a nice neighborhood, great school district, running before the sun rises is safe, i'm not fighting traffic to run out to the grocery store, and a reasonable commute for my husband via the train. I keep hearing (of course only from people in CNY) that the traffic no matter where you are is unbearable...i can't imagine that is true once you get outside the 95 loop....?

For comparison purposes to the rochester area - Pittsford, Brighton, Fairport, Victor, Webster. OR for Syracuse Area - fayetteville manlius, Cazenovia, Jamesville Dewitt.

If limiting our search area by train lines doesnt make sense either feel free to let me know! Frankly I've found there to be quite a few good possibilities so limiting the suburbs by train line seemed like a nice first step.

Limiting your search by train like makes a ton of sense. I know locals notice big differences between different towns and different areas (i.e. North Shore vs. South Shore vs. MetroWest) but as a transplant it's all about the same. Maybe after a few years you'll notice some of the subtle differences but just as likely you won't. You will notice the huge difference in travel time to work, though. Don't even consider Acton, Lincoln, or Concord. Those are all great towns, to be sure, but you'll be adding a lot of time and stress to the commute.

You actually have four lines to choose from: Providence/Stoughton, Franklin, Needham, and Worcester. You've identified a few good towns but I think it would be helpful to understand what kind of house you're looking for in that price range. If you really want an acre+ you should cross out Wellsely right now. You should also consider Needham and Westwood if you're comfortable with the higher side of your budget and not really looking for an acre lot.

All of the areas you've mentioned are pretty safe. Running before sunrise in those areas can be dangerous because of cars, though. The traffic outside of 95 isn't unbearable once you get used to the aggressiveness of drivers here.

[495neighbor]

Are you looking for a relaxed pace of life or would you be fine living in a town where people are always busy going from one scheduled activity to the next? Do you want your child to grow up in a town where they can play ball in the street and ride their bicycle around town? Or are you all right driving your child around to organized activities and playdates?

[dravogadro]

This weak match-up is based on some of my limited knowledge of these suburbs in thinking about density. Hopefully people more in the know can help out as we get more details on what you want. The housing stock is going to be very different.

Pittsford - Wellesley
Sharon, Medfield - Victor

Brighton - most urban here, right? I would go with something not on the list like Brookline or Newton though the density you will find in Boston matches nothing in CNY

Walpole, Holliston - Fairport, Webster

Framingham - Greece

Natick - more like Irondequoit

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Limiting your search by train like makes a ton of sense. I know locals notice big differences between different towns and different areas (i.e. North Shore vs. South Shore vs. MetroWest) but as a transplant it's all about the same. Maybe after a few years you'll notice some of the subtle differences but just as likely you won't. You will notice the huge difference in travel time to work, though. Don't even consider Acton, Lincoln, or Concord. Those are all great towns, to be sure, but you'll be adding a lot of time and stress to the commute.

You actually have four lines to choose from: Providence/Stoughton, Franklin, Needham, and Worcester. You've identified a few good towns but I think it would be helpful to understand what kind of house you're looking for in that price range. If you really want an acre+ you should cross out Wellsely right now. You should also consider Needham and Westwood if you're comfortable with the higher side of your budget and not really looking for an acre lot.

All of the areas you've mentioned are pretty safe. Running before sunrise in those areas can be dangerous because of cars, though. The traffic outside of 95 isn't unbearable once you get used to the aggressiveness of drivers here.

Excellent question by Jay that I highlighted.

It was extremely helpful to know where you are commuting to and as several people have already mentioned it's a smart idea to narrow the list of towns based on what train lines service the area of the city you need to commute to. Plus, it was good to know your budget but if you can tell us what kind of house you expect to get in that price range it will certainly help to round out what we envision you're looking for. Offering some additional information about the type of town you're looking for would be helpful as well (do you want a town center, a more rural/urban/suburban feel, etc, etc, etc).

As for traffic . . . I can't imagine the drivers in Boston are any more aggressive than drivers in NYC. I've driven there a number of times and the drivers seem much more aggressive.

In the end, the best way to find out if a town is a great fit is to see it first hand.

[CaseyB]

Op's budget isn't going allow for them to touch anything in Wellesley, Brookline or Newton. Not much land there, anyway.

From the list, I'd say Holliston or Medfield are possibilities. Closer to the $600,000 range would be Walpole.

[lski15]

This is all great input and great questions! Thank you!! A relaxed lifestyle is definitely us, playing in the streets and riding bikes through the town. We are currently comfortable in a 1950s colonial 3100 sqft 5 bedrooms, one my office, 3 bath, attached 2 car garage, barn, partially finished basement for a treadmill and anticipated kid zone. What i'm thinking is if we end up with a newer house we would want a min 3 bedrooms plus an office, 2.5 bath could be closer to 2500 sqft with a finished and live-able basement. we also LOVE the older homes and all their character but would want to be 3000+ sqft because we'd lose the basement sqft. Definitely a garage but we don't necessarily need a barn.

A Town center is nice to have some sense of larger community other than the street we live on but we dont need to be walking distance to the town center. A few local restaurants and shops. Assuming we love our new neighbors like we do our current ones we are the types of people to enjoy a few adult beverages in someones back yard while kids play kickball. Looks like our current village is about 4300 people, we live about 1.5 miles from anything we'd walk to. Usually we just walk into the Village for a summer concert at the park once a month. If we go to dinner we usually drive the 15 minutes into Syracuse for a local restaurant.

We'll definitely be making a few trips out to visit some areas, I am hoping an intial trip in the next month or so. Thankfully we have a decent amount of time to do our search.