Best Location for Couple with Lowell and North Station Commutes? (Boston: wood floors, apartment)

[arr]

My husband and I are moving to the Boston area this fall and want to buy a house somewhere commutable to both North Station (I will work nearby) and Lowell (husband will be at UMass Lowell). Us: we are a young couple, no children, progressive, like outdoors (so cycling/jogging/parks/etc all desired). House: interested in buying a custom, charming, fixer-upper with lots of potential; equity builder; space for apartment or rental unit a plus; yard or land a plus; or walkable to public transport/downtown/shops/city a plus. The location: good schools not needed; prefer either gritty/diverse/urban/artsy/progressive/walk-to-downtown or city environment OR rural/woodsy/country environment to suburbs; good public transport either to Lowell or North Station. Any ideas? I am originally from Watertown, and like the current feel of Wateetown, if that helps. I was thinking Salem, Lynn, Somerville, Dorchester, Waltham, Lowell, JP---but each of these seems to pose either a communting problem or it gets to "suburban" for us. Also considering something way out, like Ayer. Any suggestions are welcome.

[susanewood]

wish I could help, but not familiar with that area. You'll get some great information here, though.

[Valerie C]

Have you considered Haverhill? It sounds (in theory) to fit perfectly with what you are looking for:
Good public transportation: MVRTA has bus service throughout the city of Haverhill, plus to/from other nearby towns of Andover, Amesbury, Lawrence, Merrimac, Methuen, Newburyport and North Andover. Plus two "T" (MBTA) stations, one on each side of the river to get into pounts south to Boston, or points north to Maine.

Haverhill does have it's gritty/urban areas, and a good mix of multi-family, duplex, and single-family areas. Everything from tree-lined streets with antique style lamp posts to neighborhood/inner-city grocery stores. Tewksbury based Market Basket (Demoulas) has 4 or 5 large stores in town, and there are specialty food stores downtown as well.

The city, especially the downtown/in-town area has quite a variety of restaurants, with various ethnicity & costs. Some hole-in-the-wall joints, others more upscale such as Georges on Washington St, a former bank with amazing marble interior, with an upstairs lounge with live music. The downtown area runs along the Merrimack River, and SOMEDAY Haverhill will get it's act together and really do something with the waterfront...

Haverhill is home to many previous "shoe shops" (growing up, I hurried past the boarded-up/empty brick buildings) that are currently undergoing a transformation to storefronts with lofts/condo living on the upper floors. My brother ran a Kung Fu studio out of one building for a few years, and to this day, the former students talk about the wood floors, the exposed ductwork, and all the 'cool' stuff about being in such an old building with so much history.

Many on this forum dismiss Haverhill because of the challenged schools, but it doesn't sound like that's an issue for your situation. There are also a couple of places in town for your jogging/running activities. Haverhill Stadium has paved trailways for biking, etc. If paved trails aren't your thing, there are natural trails for bikers, walkers, runners around Kenoza Lake (Winnikinni Castle).

Overall, I think Haverhill is a great little city with alot to offer. It's not for everybody, but for those who can accept some blue collar grit (and the crime and grime that goes along with living in the city) it's a great mix. I grew up and lived in Haverhill for 30+ years, and if I hadn't moved away and been 'softened' by midwest living, I'd probably still be there

[lrfox]

I think the Haverhill suggestion is a great one for all the reasons listed. It has a nice downtown area that's shown a bunch of recent improvement.

[brightdoglover]

Location and grit-wise, I think Haverhill sounds good. However, I'm not sure there's much equity-building going on anywhere, especially in "grittier" areas. Housing hasn't collapsed like other places, but seems to have stabilized quite high, and the more marginal areas have been hit the hardest. If your husband is in school, how many years is that, and were you assuming you'd make a profit on a fixer house by the time he finished school?
I doubt there's be much, if anything, closer in, like Waltham and Somerville. Lynn is certainly NOT an equity builder. It seems you should buy based on convenient location for both of you with an environment that you like.
Something like Ayer is completely inconvenient to North Station, as is the whole Purple Line commuter line. Convienient to Lowell by car, and I think some nice biking/walking trails. No artsy downtown. Metro Northwest is pretty much a wasteland for that- Haverhill and Lowell are your best bets.

[bmak57]

What's wrong with Lowell? Great downtown, arts, easy commute to North Station....

[arr]

I am not sure I understand the poster who said it would be inconvenient to use the Purple Line (Commuter Rail). The Communter Rail seems ideal - one train, no traffic, goes directly to North Station. I'd love to have at least one of us - my husband or myself - avoid a messy drive commute. As for Ayer, I think I specified in my initial post that I am look for either really rural/country/nature or more urban/gritty/up-and-coming kind of places, and trying to avoid sleepy suburbs where families are going to stick their kids into public schools and stay for the long haul. I am intrigued by the Haverhill suggestion. I'd like to learn more about why Haverhill would or would not be a place to build equity, as that is a major concern. To answer another poster - we are thinking of buying this home for an estimated 3-5 years. More like 5. Plenty of time to do some good work on a house. Regarding Lynn, why is that not a good investment? I recently went there to poke around and thought the Diamond District (sorry if I am botching the name) looked like a great neighborhood, and also noticed that many young people are moving in to avoid the more expensive areas of the North Shore. I'd like to learn more about Lowell, because it seems very controversial --- many seem to think it is a wasteland while others say it has tons of great old colonials and an arty, interesting downtown.

[arr]

What about Beverly, Salem, Malden, Medford? Thanks!

[ogre]

Along with the suggestion of Haverhill which several people have supported, I second the suggestion of Lowell itself. The word out is that Lowell is starting to gentrify, so it's likely to be good for fixer-upper equity building, yet it's got the old gritty feel you're looking for as one of your preferences on type of community.

Lynn might seem to be similar in that regard at first glance. I'm guessing that the reason Brightdog said Lynn is not a likely equity-building town is that there have been a couple of times in recent years when the word out was that Lynn showed some signs of gentrifying but then this never happened. If this were to happen for real in the near future, Lynn too would be a place that currently has the gritty feel but where a house you bought now could have some increase in value in a few years, but maybe the false starts on past rumors of gentrification make it so you want to be cautious about assuming Lynn is really headed in this direction.

As for places I might suggest, Somerville could be a good possibility depending on the particulars of your commuting preferences, and on which neighborhood would put you in proximity to which branch of public transit. I'm thinking in particular that living near Davis Sq. would make for an easy commute via the red line, with a transfer to the green line to get to the North Station vicinity, or depending on the location in relation to North Stn., a walk from the Charles St. stop on the red line. This would work out if the one commuting to Lowell would be all right with a driving commute. I'm unfamiliar with the parking situation at the commuter rail stop in Medford, but a possibility worth looking into would be living in a section of Somerville near Medford, then taking a quick trip to the commuter rail stop in Medford, which puts you on the line to both commuting destinations.

Since you say you like the current feel of Watertown, I wonder whether you might not want to look at that town more closely, especially, again, if a driving commute to Lowell would work. The area of Watertown near Belmont is close to the Waverly Sq. stop on a commuter rail line into North Stn.

Another area I'd suggest checking out is Charlestown. It depends how gritty you mean by gritty, but I'm thinking that an area that is very, very gritty won't have so much possibility of the equity-building properties you're looking for, so a solid, but rough around the edges, place like much of C'town might work. Parts of C'town are literally within walking distance of North Stn., or from other areas you could get to North Stn. with a quick ride on the orange line, which would then be convenient to both workplaces.

A big maybe is Gloucester. It's kind of rough around the edges, but is home to a community of artists. I'm not sure what you want in the way of localy artsy atmosphere like galleries and such, and I'm not sure whether they have this right in Gloucester, but you could find some of this in nearby Rockport. Gloucester has a lot of what you're seeking. Only problem is that it's out of the way relative to your workplaces. Both the drive to Lowell and the train ride to Boston would be long commutes, so it would depend on how long a commute you each could tolerate.

Regarding your question about Beverly, Salem, Malden and Medford, I think Beverly may not be as gritty as you're looking for. Depending on what you mean by "suburban," it may be too suburban. I haven't been to Salem in years, but it used to have a somewhat rough appearance. This is based largely on hearsay, but what I hear is that Salem may be a bit too much of a regular blue-collar town for you, not so gritty in an urban, artsy way. Not sure, though. Salem might be worth a closer look. Medford seems like largely a mix of blue-collar and middle class, a fairly regular kind of town, though it too might be worth a look if you say you like the current feel of Watertown. It depends on the details of what you like about Watertown, but Medford seems to me to have a somewhat similar feel, except for maybe having some more densely built neighborhoods. I don't know Malden very well. Based on hearsay, I get the impression that it might have the grit you're seeking, but maybe not the artsy feel.

[arr]

What a super-helpful, thoughtful post. Also - after having sat down with my parents (visiting from Watertown!) - we came up with much of the same list: Charlestown, Watertown, Somerville (also near Lechemere), Medford, Gloucester (similar concerns about commute), Salem, and Lowell. We also thought maybe somewhere downtown, East Boston or something, would be doable.

It would be great to find something in Medford so we could potentially BOTH commute by train, though I worry it might feel a bit too suburban for us. I really appreciate your thoughts, though, and am more confident knowing that my own research is in harmony with your suggestions. Thanks again!