Advice needed: Where to move central to Burlington and Natick (Boston: condos, townhouse)

[KeepingNHTies]

Hello,

I am originally from Manchester, NH and currently live in Leominster, commuting to Natick. My fiance commutes to Burlington. Next spring we are looking to sell our townhouse since we are both tired of the near 40 mile, hour long commutes (on a good day). We both will likely be at our positions for quite some time and are therefore trying to find something more centrally located.

We would like to find a place that has a nice downtown with lots of restaurants, and is also close (less than 15 minutes or so) to a grocery store or mall. We'd like a yard that is large enough that we can't touch our neighbors house from our side of the fence, but we realistically know it can't be huge either, two small dogs need some room to run, and hopefully enough space for a patio or deck.

The other important thing to note is we frequent Manchester a lot, so we'd prefer it to be no more than an hour away. I believe this leaves us no farther west than Natick, and I don't think we could afford much farther east until we start heading north. We like the properties we see available currently in Maynard, Westford, Acton, Littleton, but Westford is going to give me about the same commute I have now.

So any tips on location for the following must haves are very much appreciated!
-3-4BR
-1/1.5/2 bath
-Less than an hour to Manchester, NH
-30 min or less to Natick and Burlington
-1,400 sq ft+ preferred

Budget is approx $325k. Any pointers on taxes will be helpful.
Looking for nice, safe neighborhoods as having kids may be in the future. Sorry it was so long, trying to be as thorough as possible .

[KeepingNHTies]

Anyone?

[professeurpablo]

This is a little tricky given the cost parameter, but I would recommend Waltham in your situation. You probably would only get two or maybe three bedrooms, but you could always move into a larger place after a few years. There are condos near the downtown area and small single families in North Waltham off Lexington Street and Trapelo Road. The Moody Street area in particular has great restaurants, a cinema, pubs and shops. You are also close to Boston via road or the commuter rail. Your commutes to and from work would be probably 25-30 minutes in traffic, maybe a bit more if 128 is in bad shape. Depending on where exactly in Waltham you lived and where you work in Natick, you could also cut through Weston and Waltham on back roads if the traffic on 128 were bad (or through Lincoln and Wayland if you lived in North Waltham.) Similarly, the back roads across Lexington offer an alternative for the trek to Burlington for your fiancé. I think you'd be just under an hour from Manchester via car, but I'm not too familiar with that trip. Check out the Watch City - might not be an exact fit, but it's a cool place worthy of consideration! Oh, and I think there's a residential tax exemption there, so that would relieve things for you a bit in the financial department. Good luck!