Affordable family friendly town btw Boston and Burlington? (Lynn, Reading: house, look for a job)

[sfkane]

Hi there. We are looking for an affordable (i.e., 3+ bedroom house 1500+ sqft, $350 or less-$400 would REALLY be pushing it for us) in a family friendly town. My husband will work from home mostly but need to commute to Burlington a couple of days per week. I won't have a job in MA at first- but anticipate that anything I find would be in the Boston area- so we'd like to be within 45 minutes of Boston as well. We have a preschooler and an infant, but good schools are important for the future! Would love a place that has a small town feel with lots of family activities. We lean more towards a rural than an urban feel but with shopping within 10-15 minutes. Recommendations?

[kmann-sherborn]

Hi, There isn't much that fits the bill that's between Boston and Burlington. If you could go a bit north of Burlington, Lynnfield would be my ideal for schools, commute distance, community & small town feel. I'd look there first because although there are lots of very pricey homes there, there are also some in the price range you're looking for.

Reading and North Reading might be worth a look and you can get more for your money there, though they don't really have that small town feel so much. And if you wanted to go further west there are several suburbs like Holliston where you could get a nice home for your money with highly rated school systems and a small town feel & be about 45-60 minutes outside of Boston, but would not be an easy commute to Burlington. The Mass Pike to 128 drive is a bear at rush hour. Most people try to either leave really early or late to miss it.

[beth98]

Maybe Stoneham, but I don't know enough about it to say for sure. If you won't have a job at first, maybe consider southern NH, you could get more for your money there, but I'm not sure how job prospects for you would be there. Maybe post on the NH board.

I would also suggest that you look for a job and see what area you might be likely to work in. While loads of people work in Boston there are also office parks scattered all around 128. Depending on your industry there might be plenty of job opportunities outside of the city and it would widen the area you could look for housing in. That price point in commuting distance of Boston can be tough.