Galilite

Continuing the subject started in another thread.

My wife and I (no kids) are moving to Massachusetts for a couple of years (or so is the plan - a non-immigrant visa). My work is in the north in Chelmsford, so Boston proper will be a bit too far for the daily commute.

I don't mind paying around $2,500 for a 2 bed apartment. Size is not as important, although over 1,000 sq ft would be nice.

Looking for:

* closer to Boston and amenities (half an hour is fine)
* around 15 miles from Chelmsford
* suburban trains / buses at least a couple of times an hour
* low crime

Bonus points:

* Asian community (or at least the food options)

We were looking at Woburn (some people say not good, some say depends), Bedford (they say good but boring), Lincoln.

joto

There is a lot of choice in towns there, but I don't know the prices around there any longer as we moved a few years ago. Try Westford, Littleton, Tewkesbury, Acton, Andover, last 2 can be pricy. We used to live up near the NH border and property is cheaper up there, but likely too far from Chelmsford for your purposes.

hungryhorace

Absolute shit hole. Avoid.

Corrupt Police force, and the residents there are a combination of idiot people with Boston accents, combined with some who have money. Some of it is a slum, some of it is nice.

Beautiful and well mannered area. This would be my choice. Income levels are high, and people are not hicks. Always a bonus.

Bob

I was saying how shit Woburn was in the other thread....basically I was slightly politer about Bedford.

The issue with distance to Boston, how realistic are you going to bother with it? When we lived in Natick, it was only 13 miles, so a 20 min drive at lunch time, but an hour in the morning and we still never went on a regular basis mostly because it's a bit crap after a while and parking sucks.

Give up on buses, they're shit. Give up on the commuter rail, it'll be a bonus if you live in a town that's on the northern line, but it's shit and it's even shitter than the southern line.

As I mentioned in the other thread, chuck a pin into Burlington and look outwards from there. You'll want to avoid a place ideally on I-95 and Rt 3 as the commuter traffic will be shit, especially if you're got to go over I-93.

Andover, Arlington, Concord, Lexington, Lincoln. The W's, to the south are getting a bit far for your want list, but none of these towns are particularly cheap.

15 miles isn't far, but can add a good chunk of time to travel during the winter.

Westford, is also really lovely, but quite a dull little town and you'll have to travel 20 mins in any direction to do anything, especially grocery shop.

Asian stuff, head to Burlington, they have H-Mart, which is a pretty decent Korean grocery chain and they have a fab selection of all Asian goods as well as Brit goods. Also a lot of smaller mini marts, as well as Indian stores. That said, there are decent Chinese restaurants every where. Indians, a couple decent options in Burlington, Waltham, Sudbury, Maynard areas.

Galilite

Great summary, thanks again.

Arlington seems a bit on the cheap side. Any (bad) reason for that?

Otherwise, Concord seems great.

What's wrong with the commuter rail anyway? They seem to be running a few times every hour, maybe not Europe but not too bad by the Aussie standards.

robin1234

Arlington is a lovely town. I know it well, having lived in Somerville many years ago, and also lived in Belmont. Arlington is pretty mixed; there are some modern apartment developments where you'll find a two bed apartment in your price range, but also plenty of older double deckers and such (where you'd get a back yard with your apartment.) Arlington is the home of Uncle Sam, so you can't get more American than that. It also has the most beautiful and resource rich public library for a town of that size. Also a very good bike path, goes all the way out to Bedford.

Arlington is well placed for getting in to Boston. Fast and frequent bus no. 77 to Harvard Square, and Alewife station on the red line is handy (has parking and bus connections.)

As for driving to Chelmsford, probably not too bad .... Rt. 2 or Rt. 3, (Cambridge Street) to 128.

nun

If you live inside Rt 128 and work in Chelmsford your commute is going to be up Rt3 and will probably involve Rt 128. Even doing the reverse commute its a nightmare. I drove up to Lowell on Rt3 the other morning and the traffic was awful.

I'd go with Concord or Acton. They are both fairly posh commuter towns on the commuter rail so you can get into Boston without driving. You are also basically equidistant from Boston and Chelmsford.

nun

Arlington is dry....no bars. But it's a nice enough place. Lots of two family homes and good bus connections into Cambridge and Boston. I'd hate the commute to Chelmsford though.

Bob

Because it's crap in winter. Parking also sucks. It's okay if you're getting dropped off at the station and going in during commuter hours, but you want to hang around for drinks with friends and then you'll potentially have hours of wait for one, plus they don't go very late and weekend use is pretty dire.

Northern line is even less reliable than the Southern line. Fair bit of work being done on the red line from Alewife, Davis, Porter and a bunch of the blue line stops are closed for however long. This adds to the travel time as they use buses to ferry you around and it's horrid traffic.

sparkleandglitter

For Asian food - worth mentioning is the awesome Japanese grocery store (Ebisuya) in Medford