More rural areas still commutable to Boston? (Framingham, Haverhill: home, buy)

[mdovell]

Rural by the train? One word

Halifax

Welcome to Halifax, MA
MBTA > Schedules & Maps > Commuter Rail > Kingston/Plymouth Line <br/>(Old Colony)

the school is regional and weekend rail service is being restored. It can be on the cheap as well.

[kingeorge]

You could probably do well in Hopkinton or Holliston area. Very good school districts, great parks and family atmosphere, and still commutable to Boston.
Good luck.

[Boston_Burbs]

Rowley, Georgetown, ipswich, or byfield/newbury could work

[traffic_lover]

And boxford & n. Andover.

[traffic_lover]

Originally Posted by missionhill

I think what the OP seeks is all around Boston-- Along the 495 belt and beyond so many towns have rural-seeming areas of houses on large lots with big tracts of conservation land to keep the density even lower. There's even quite a lot of that between the I-95/Route 128 belt and I-495 in towns like Lincoln, Carlisle, Sherborn, Medfield and Dover, but the cost is very high that close to Boston. Yes, Medway and Millis are rural-residential and less expensive than other areas. I've heard Upton described as attractive to people who'd prefer New Hampshire but need access to Boston. Littleton is another more affordable place and other rural-residential towns around there include Stow, Berlin, Harvard (pricey) and Lancaster.

It's time to stop calling littleton more affordable & "good value". Ship has sailed. Pricewise it's acton-north (or west westford)

[FCMA]

Farther out in Central Mass - Ashburnham, Ashby, Westminster, Lunenburg, Shirley, on the far end (drive 15-20 min to a train that takes 70+ min into Boston area) are actually pretty rural with lots of space and still some socioeconomic diversity.

Closer in yet slightly west of 495 you have Groton, Pepperell, Bolton, Harvard, with woodsy almost-rural atmosphere yet not horribly far from a train.

It's kind of a choice. Do you want actual rural, with socioeconomic diversity, deep woods and maybe a moose, a few generational dirt farmers, and some townies huffing glue, or post-rural areas that are woodsyish but full of affluent people in McMansions next to historic mostly nonworking apple orchards? The former towns I list are pretty rural. The latter are post-rural (or becoming so), while anywhere on the 495 belt is also post-rural. It sounds like you could afford either.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by traffic_lover

It's time to stop calling littleton more affordable & "good value". Ship has sailed. Pricewise it's acton-north (or west westford)

This. This. This.

It was a good value in 2009 up to maybe mid-2010. Then I suspect the metro-west price surge forced buyers westward. Harvard the same; however, Harvard's baseline never truly flatlined due to its general "prestige". I am concerned, being a buyer focused on Groton/Dunstable, that continued cheap lending and the veneer of a robust economy will continue to drive up prices in west of 495.

I frankly can't understand why buyers considering Littleton at this point in the game wouldn't opt Acton or one of the many other neighboring towns which are comparably priced yet have superior housing stock (e.g., Stow). Is it the Commuter Rail? If so, somebody let Ayer know!

... But back the primary subject. Rural with Boston access? I think the best values are in the south shore, and to a lesser degree north and south west of the city (such as Andover or Hopkington). Directly west of the city has become a bloated market fueled not only by Boston, but also Worcester, the 495 belt, and to a lesser degree the Burlington/95 belt.

[missionhill]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

... Rural with Boston access? I think the best values are in the south shore, and to a lesser degree north and south west of the city (such as Andover or Hopkington). Directly west of the city has become a bloated market fueled not only by Boston, but also Worcester, the 495 belt, and to a lesser degree the Burlington/95 belt.

The sector directly west has been more built up than areas to the north and south for many decades. Infrastructure like the Boston & Albany Railroad in the 19th Century and the Boston & Worcester Turnpike in the early 1930s helped develop an urbanized corridor between Brookline and Framingham much earlier than the postwar office park-fueled development attributed to Routes 128 and 495.

Originally Posted by FCMA

Do you want actual rural, with socioeconomic diversity, deep woods and maybe a moose, a few generational dirt farmers, and some townies huffing glue, or post-rural areas that are woodsyish but full of affluent people in McMansions next to historic mostly nonworking apple orchards? The former towns I list are pretty rural. The latter are post-rural (or becoming so), while anywhere on the 495 belt is also post-rural. It sounds like you could afford either.

"Post-rural"-- You've coined the perfect phrase! There's a big post-rural sector south-southeast of Natick and Framingham and another one north-northeast. Then another more urbanized corridor in the Boston to Lowell stretch. To be completely fair, people in some of these post-rural places have been working hard to preserve and adapt agriculture to make it viable as well as to maintain historic character. Weston and other towns have community farming projects, Lincoln and others keep land not just undeveloped but in agricultural use. Brian Donahue at Brandeis has worked on ways to make town forests and other public land in affluent towns productive resources as well as nice places to walk.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by missionhill

The sector directly west has been more built up than areas to the north and south for many decades. Infrastructure like the Boston & Albany Railroad in the 19th Century and the Boston & Worcester Turnpike in the early 1930s helped develop an urbanized corridor between Brookline and Framingham much earlier than the postwar office park-fueled development attributed to Routes 128 and 495.
.

Agreed. I was speaking to towns a bit further west such as Bolton, Stow, Westford, Littleton, etc. which have seen significant appreciation/growth since the '80s.

[sparklingforest]

Hamilton/Wenham