bostonasphalt2

NH sounds like a great place for renting.....

4Driver4

Dean College, T station, great little downtown begging for a facelift. I think in the next five years you'll see some upscale shops replacing some of the older shops. Good place to buy.

BroncoOne

I recently moved from RI to Shrewsbury, Mass. I go into Boston about once a month for business. It is an easy train ride (from Providence or South Attleboro, Mass before, from Worcester now). Though Worcester is closer than Prov, it takes longer on the train (shorter to drive).

If you will be a daily commuter into the city, I recommend the train. Traffic here sucks. As much as I enjoy driving my car, I really do't enjoy driving it 5 miles and hour for 40 miles.

Being on the "end" of the commuter rails helps, because you always get a seat (and a table if you want to work). As you get closer to Boston, the train gets more and more crowded (obviously)-obnoxiously so.

In RI or central Mass, as opposed to "Boston proper" you can be anywhere from 30 to 50 miles from the city and have an hour or less commute with housing prices about 1/2 the cost.

If you like to be close to the ocean and culture, anywhere around Providence is good (Lincoln, RI is a good choice--10 min drive to either of train stops above).

I do love living in Shrewsbury now--beautiful area, convenient, etc. It is a bit more rural/small town than anywhere in the Boston-Providence corridor, or even the Boston area north to NH, though there are many excellent communities in both corridors, some mentioned below.

What price range/type of house and area are you looking for?

BroncoOne

If you decide to look in central Mass (Shrewsbury, Southborough, Northboro, Westboro, etc), call Steve Levine (www.stevelevine.com) as a buyer's broker. He found us our home and he is very knowledgable, non-pushy, etc. His website has a lot of info on relocation and the area in general. Start there is the area is at all in your field of consideration.

Schools are very good in this neck of the woods with sane tax policies. Some smart local govts--e.g. my town owns its own internet and cable co. It wired the tiwn with fiber optics on its own dime and resells the highest level of service available (cable internet, digital HD cable, etc.) at a bit less than market and makes a profit (less need to tax us!)

TheWagon

I'm looking in the area of $600M, and as I have no aversion to a commute I hope that'll give me a good set of options. I'll take a look at Steve's site now...

Non-Audi Tom

I should be around this weekend, I'll try to give you a shout.

ArchitecTT

the edges for you. Depends on whether you're part of the Stonewall Golf Club gentrification of Bucks County or whether you're truly country folk. In the past 15 yrs I've lived in Back Bay (I thought I was all set at 27!) S.Boston (bohemian loft living), Reading (early, and ugly, flirt with the burbs), Hopedale (truly Norman Rockwell stuff), and Westwood (closer to the city with exceptional schools). All were nice communities for very different reasons.

The basic question is how connected you really want to be to Boston. Are you people that are likely to come spend any time in the city, or do you really want to live, eat, sleep, play in the burbs. Most of the suggestions offered so far are frankly anti-urban and pretty far detached from the life of the city.

I might suggest you spend a few weekends up here to get a feel for various communities. Your girls aren't quite school age yet, but it's not far off. Look at the MCAS scores and think hard about buying into a ****ty school system just because Toll Brothers are throwing up fake stucco crap that seems like a good buy. The theory in places like Bellingham and Milford was that the schools would improve when the McMansions came, but it hasn't happened.

The cool thing is you already have friends right here! If you visit and need a guide, give a shout.

saabSean

As Joe Morgan likes to say, "If you're not living in Walpole, you're just camping out."

Walpole is bordered by Foxboro, Sharon, Westwood, Norwood, and Norfolk.

Honestly, Walpole is not a rural town, but North Walpole is very wooded and is covered with farms. Norfolk is MUCH more rural.

Franklin, Norfolk, Walpole, Norwood, Readville and Boston all share the same commuter line.

Give Walpole a look. I love it here.

TheWagon

Thanks for your lucidity as I feel and see the same re: TB. I fall somewhere in between the two, but would have to call myself more country (well, rural) than gentrified. I'm a Colorado boy by birth, although dad quite well. I moved out here to be with a girl from Princeton, and worked in NYC, but bought as far away as a commute would allow, and then some. We like to spend time in and around major cosmopolitan centers, but have no desire to live in and around same. And most importantly, it's less about us and more about the girls (amazing what kids do to your outlook). So, rough around the edges is fine. When the culture starts to seep away, Boston and NYC await. Until then gimme an acre to mow!
The milages you see on the cars in the sig are the result of long commutes now...

TeddyBGame

..Plus...the real estate tax isn't that bad...because you have Garelick(sp) Farms and EMC (my employer) covering some of it.

I think the school systems need a bit of work....but we can wait .....or go private.

-ted