Thinking of moving east (Boston, Franklin: crime rates, house, college)

[AK-Cathy]

Ny DH and I are just turning 60 this year. We are retired with good incomes. I am a small business owner (it can be moved) and we are in general busy friendly people, skilled in many disciplines, serious but artsy, foodies that love to garden. We love the outdoors and we would like to sail again.

We want to travel some before we get too old and favor a vibrant community with reasonable access to larger cities. We are looking at the Berkshire area of Massachusetts. We are also looking at the rest of Mass & New England.

We are looking at a 4 season climate without super scorching summers or bitter cold with wind for much of the winter. We are looking for drought resistant areas due to our gardening passions.

Having lived in Alaska for 35 years and E. Kansas now for 5, we understand that this would likely be our last move. Proximity to family is no consideration as we have almost none left.

I could use some insights to narrow our focus.

Please be kind and thanks in advance.

[timberline742]

Budget?

[in_newengland]

Bitter cold with wind in winter...I guess that's relative, but to me, that would rule out the Berkshires. Most of New England has long, cold, snowy winters. Summers are short but hot and muggy. We're not known for our great climate.

It's less hot and muggy if you live by the ocean. There could be places around here where the winters are less severe. I'll let the weather experts take it from here.

[AK-Cathy]

We'd like to keep it under $400K. Around $300K is ideal.

[Boston_Burbs]

I would look to the hill towns of Franklin County.

The Berkshires are more NY than MA.

[missionhill]

Look at the thread "Old Farm New Needs" by user "sombrueil"

Similar quest except that poster had very specific idea of house type. Lots of good suggestions, plus she found a site! The general area is farther east than Berkshires per se but still of interest.

Cold is relative. I don't see how anyone 60 or more could feel the winters are anything like what they used to be. Not when it reaches 60, even 70 degrees in February!

[AK-Cathy]

Originally Posted by missionhill

Look at the thread "Old Farm New Needs" by user "sombrueil"

Similar quest except that poster had very specific idea of house type. Lots of good suggestions, plus she found a site!

Thanks. I did search this forum but didn't find what we wanted. Most were young folks looking for a change of scene or work. I'll look that thread up.

[AK-Cathy]

As for the cold, we spent 35 years in Alaska. Here in KS we get constant cycling of deep freezes with remissions which I could take but it's accompanied by 20-30 mph winds. In fact the near constancy of the wind warm or cold gets to me and wears me down. Makes it hard to work or play outside.

I looked up the farm thread and it contains a lot of good info. We are not as specific with our home requirements. I don't mind stairs but we will want a place where we can age gracefully in place. I trend to liking older homes but we are not wanting another huge gut-remodel project. I think my main requirement is a good basement with sound exterior envelope as we've replaced too much neglected siding in our lives and I'm done.

Thanks.

[OutdoorLover]

Eastern MA (where I also live) is densely populated and expensive, but western MA is like another state - considerably less expensive and more rural. Mass winters are kind of cold and dark, but it's all relative. I spent 3 weeks outside in Alaska backpacking in your national parks, and I had an outstanding time, but that showed me that Alaska is just a completely different level of cold and dark than northern New England in winter, and even western Mass has higher population density than virtually all of Alaska.

You do need to do your research (as you are doing here here) because some of the rural towns in New England can tend more towards depressed and depressing rather than quaint and old-timey.

This page is kind of cool. It is an interactive geographic information system (GIS) that shows median home price in colors on a map, and you can hover with the mouse pointer over any location to see the town name and the actual median home price. You can pan and zoom to explore central and western MA and get some ideas to follow up on. Anything too expensive, you can't afford of course, and anything too cheap is usually not good either - that means few people want to live there and there is always a reason for that.


This is another GIS that shows crime rates mapped in blue, darker is better.
Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed

For what it's worth, if you like small village rural, the area around Becket, Washington and Middleton looks interesting, and if you want a little more going on, Northampton (which has a college) and Easthampton are worth investigating, and they are still just towns or real small cities if you like. The proximity of Northampton and Easthampton to Rte 91 would also make it real easy to day trip visits in Vermont, which is beautiful.

[inatizzy]

I’d definitely check out the Pioneer Valley. I find the Valley winters feel less severe than Boston winters because there’s rarely any wind. Hampshire and Franklin Counties both have towns that may fit your criteria. The Pioneer Valley signifantly better gardening/farming soil than most of Mass.

They also have good access to healthcare that you may need as you get older. Every town, except maybe Northampton, is in budget.