Commute to Bedford?? Where to live? (Boston, Lowell: apartments, rental, safe neighborhood)
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I have a job prospect in Bedford. I'd be moving from Pennsylvania and am not very familiar with the area. Any suggestions on which cities would be more affordable than Bedford, with an easy commute (half-hour or so)?? I'd be looking to rent and don't really care about being near to the city. Any suggestions are helpful! Thanks!
Just myself and fiance. Looking to downsize and save some money. A studio or one bedroom apartment in a safe neighborhood is really all we need right now. Any info on Bedford and surrounding areas would be helpful. (Kind of neighborhoods, safety, population density, etc.)
Info on your approx. housing budget and any preference or not for access to public transit would help narrow the possibilities.
When you say you "don't care" about being near the city, does this mean you'd prefer to avoid more urban settings, or just that you're okay about living without city amenities nearby, but you'd be okay with them as well?
Lowell is out a good distance from Boston, but has an urban feel. Good suggestion if you're okay with an urban locale, not so much if you really want to avoid a city feel. For a mix of urban and suburban, I'd suggest checking out Arlington. Waltham could be a good possibility, because you could have a variety of options in either a suburban or somewhat urban setting. In Waltham you have both a fairly dense and urban feel around downtown and suburban neighborhoods elsewhere, and there are some small apartment buildings in some of the more suburban neighborhoods.
I'm not sure what these towns have in the way of apartments, but if you can find apartments there, and if you're basically just looking for a relatively less expensive place to live, and don't need lots of amenities such as small local businesses for shopping, you might want to check out Burlington or Billerica for towns with a suburban feel.
Ogre, I'd have a budget of about $1,000 per month and I'd prefer to drive to Bedford by car. When I say I don't care about being close to Boston, I just mean that the "city life" isn't that important to me. It's not that I don't like an urban feel, but if living away from all the action means a cheaper apartment, that is my priority right now. We are pretty active and enjoy the outdoors (hiking, biking, etc.) and like a small town feel. However, this will be a relatively temporary move, so most important for now: price, safety, and I would really like to avoid being stuck in the rush hour commute headed to Boston. :-) I will check out the cities you recommended. Thanks!
I've lived in Waltham now for about 6 months (moved here also not knowing the area, for work) and I enjoy it. The traffic can be a little bit much sometimes, in the part that I'm in (near-ish to Moody St.) but I've driven through a lot of Waltham and I like it.
When you say your budget is $1k/mo., do you mean just rent, or do you mean rent, and everything added in? I think if you look and are patient, you can find good places renting for $1k or less a month. Keep your options open, especially when it comes to the size of the place. It may be a shoebox but it could be in a decent area with a good landlord and those are keepers.
Just be ready to jump when you see someplace you like. Rental properties vanish fast once they're advertised.
Also I haven't had the chance to drive around and look at much of north of Boston, but west and southwest of Bedford is a nice area. Same with east toward Burlington, Wilmington, Reading/N. Reading. Very nice, and small town feel.
I have lived in a few other big cities/areas before Boston and Boston to me feels different. You will probably not be assaulted with that big city feel even just a few miles out of the city. Yes there are lots of people and cars and traffic, but that's highly dependent on where you are and when you are. The feeling that you are in a small town isn't lost. Each of the towns around Boston has preserved their own character and feel even being in such a populous area. I have even been shopping around for places to move to out near Bedford, myself. Bedford or the towns around it are pretty nice places to be.
Some good suggestions in the last two posts, but I have some doubts about a couple of areas suggested, and whether they'd suit the OP's needs especially well. Fitchburg is getting pretty far from Bedford. The towns close to the south and west of Bedord are nice, as LocalType says they are, but are not the best places to be looking for the less expensive properties in the area. The other suggestions look like potentially good fits.
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