Moving to MA

East Arlington.

Or Somerville perhaps.

Newton or Brookline as well.

I hear Boston is nice.

Agree with Somerville or Newton.

Thanks guys...

I'd go with Brookline most likely. Arlington or Somerville maybe as well. Why not just in the city? If that's an option it would be my first choice.

JP, baby!

cyhawk wrote:

I'd go with Brookline most likely. Arlington or Somerville maybe as well. Why not just in the city? If that's an option it would be my first choice.

I thought many of those spots would be out of my price range, but I am finding that there are places to be had.

My townhouse here will go for $425-$450 based on recent sales. That probably puts JP/Newton/Arlington out of my range. However, West Roxbury/Somerville/Milton might be options.

Was just finding it difficult to square my desires above with 3 bedrooms/townhouse.

Appreciate all the local input.

Where They Know My Name wrote:

cyhawk wrote:

I'd go with Brookline most likely. Arlington or Somerville maybe as well. Why not just in the city? If that's an option it would be my first choice.

I thought many of those spots would be out of my price range, but I am finding that there are places to be had.

My townhouse here will go for $425-$450 based on recent sales. That probably puts JP/Newton/Arlington out of my range. However, West Roxbury/Somerville/Milton might be options.

Was just finding it difficult to square my desires above with 3 bedrooms/townhouse.

Appreciate all the local input.

Somerville >> Milton/West Roxbury - transportation is way easier and Davis/Porter/Union Sq are all pretty hip places now.

Medford isn't too bad, either - especially with the green line extension into Somerville there are parts of Medford that will be pretty close. Also lots of nice trails and places to run in Medford and a few OK areas with restaurants/shops (not so many bars).

West Rox is very suburban - no center, all single-family houses, not convenient to urban parts of Boston. I've lived in Boston for 20 years and I'm not sure I've ever been to Milton so that might tell you something. Roslindale fits your criteria better than either of those - has a nice little center that's thriving and has bus and rail service (no subway though) to get into town.

Somerville generally has pretty old housing stock and it's tough to find off-street parking. It has lively neighborhoods with restaurants, shopping, etc. Try to get close to a T stop. But as I said, the housing stock is a big detraction. Newer rentals are pricey.

Lots of good suggestions, but just wanted to say that I live in Melrose and I like it very much. I live right near the downtown, which is lovely, dense, walk-able. The town has a friendly vibe.

Downtown is a mile and a half north of the Oak Grove T stop (orange line) and we have 3-4 bus lines down to Oak Grove from Melrose. We also have 3 commuter rail stops which go into North Station.

The neighborhoods here are very beautiful and there are lots of good spots for running, big trees, parks. The rent here is much lower than the nice parts of Somerville, Cambridge, and it is more accessible to downtown than areas with comparable rent in Medford.

That said if I had more $$ and didn't need to live on the north side of the city for work, I would consider JP. Lots of interesting cultural things going on down there. The rent is much higher though.

Good luck.

Somerville, Arlington, Lexington all have shops and restaurants and string along Mass Ave after Cambridge. They're all pretty accessible to each other and all are connected along the Minuteman Bikeway if you bike or run. Some competitive 50's runners to train with in the Cambridge Sports Union and Somerville Road Runners. Weekly Saturday morning races at Fresh Pond in Cambridge which is a good place to break in.

If you're buying and don't have kids you'll get a lot more bang for your buck in a town that has some nice neighborhoods but shitty schools. This describes Boston, so a neighborhood like JP, South Boston or even Dorchester might be a good bet. The Brighton neighborhood along Commonwealth Ave is also decent, it's lined with pretty old brick apartments and is indistinguishable from Brookline but has much shittier schools.

Somerville is actually much more expensive than Arlington for the same size condo, at least in the nicer neighborhoods around Davis and Porter Square. There are still some cheaper neighborhoods around Winter Hill and East Somerville.

One other comment: do you absolutely need the third bedroom? I assume you need one for your office and one for your bed, but if you can figure out a way to manage with just those two it's going to open up a lot more stuff in your price range. Otherwise you're looking at being farther out in the suburbs or in a rough neighborhood. One of the trade offs of city life, but a worthy one in my opinion.

Somerville real estate is red hot right now, so bargains are becoming very hard to find. Better value can be found in Arlington, Watertown, and Waltham. The latter two options are linked by the wonderful Blue Heron Trail. There's a lot of new residential options to be found along the Charles River in Watertown (and in the Fresh Pond / Concord Ave area of Cambridge too).

I wish I were moving back to the northeast. I really miss it, especially when fall comes. Enjoy living in MA, and let us know where you end up and what you think of the running there.

50? Single?

South Boston. Or Arlington near Alewife.

Why not just go for it and take a shot at a place in the Back Bay? Sell your car (use rental service when you need it, take public transit for most everything else) and downsize as much as you can (you will probably only be able to afford a small 2 bed condo). In return, you will be right in the middle of everything (museums, symphony, theater, esplanade, Boston commons, restaurants, nightlife and so on). The close-in burbs are certainly very nice in Boston, but nothing beats being able to walk out the door and be steps from everything.