Location central to Fitchburg & Boston (Cambridge, Belmont: real estate, apartments, to rent)

[kelwalk]

Hi all--

I'm a grad student at BU's School of Public Health in the South End.

My significant other is about to start a three-year medical residency in July in Fitchburg.

We're looking for a place to live that would be a reasonable commute for both of us to our respective places of work/school. I realize that I'll get the short end of the stick because I'm the one heading into Boston--and that's OK. I'm also willing to drive/take the commuter rail.

We've been looking around the Concord/Acton area because it seems like a logical midpoint--but it's probably too expensive for us in reality.

Any ideas?

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

[DiJay]

Acton isn't too bad really. But Littleton and Ayer are small towns on the commuter rail line as well. It's a very nice area...

[ogre]

Yep, Littleton came to mind immediately when I was thinking of nice towns in that area, along the rail line, and generally less expensive than Concord. One point to note is that you'd have to be okay with some real small-town living in Littleton, but that's true of many towns in that area, which has a semi-rural character in general.

If you'd like a more active town, another possibility in that area would be Maynard. It's an old mill town which has been discovered by young professionals, so that it now has an interesting mix of professional and blue-collar populations. Generally the housing stock in Maynard is on the older side, with most neighborhoods being fairly densely populated. Maynard is kind of a little dot of somewhat urban residential character in the middle of exurbia. It's a small town, but has quite a bit more going on downtown than most other small towns in that area, and it's still less expensive than the pricier towns in the area. If you need commuter rail, there is a station just north of Maynard in South Acton. You might have to drive to this station, so I don't know whether that's an issue, but if you could swing either a driving commute or a short drive to the South Acton train station, Maynard would be a good option for a bit more of an active town than you find in much of that area, at a relatively modest price.

[brightdoglover]

Are you looking to rent or buy? Apartment or condo or house?
I live in Littleton and highly recommend it as a mid-point, and a quiet, rural-like town very near major highways and a short drive to several good restaurants (Indian, Asian, Thai, Mexican). Not many apartments. I suggest you look at the Littleton Independent, which is the local paper of the Community Newsgroup (has real estate listing for Littleton, Maynard, Westford, surrounding towns). For some reason, it's under

wickedlocallittleton.com

I suspect if you enter another town name, you'd get its local listings.

And Littleton is a short drive to Maynard for those restaurants and the little movie theater (not a "plex.") Good farmer's markets and a large organic store near Maynard, Idlewyld Farm.
I mean, it's not rock n' roll around the clock, but nothing between the two cities is.

Best wishes.

[kelwalk]

Thank you all so much! Really really helpful. We'll probably be driving out on our holiday on Monday to check out some of the towns you just mentioned. I really like the sound of Littleton from the way you are all describing it--both of us are really like rural communities (I've lived in NYC & Boston for the last few years and I need a break.)

brightdoglover--we'll be living in whatever location we choose for 3 to 4 years, so ideally we were planning on buying. I think we'd like a house, in order to have our own private outdoor space, but weren't really sure we'd be able to afford it.

Would the drive from Littleton into Boston be brutal if I'm doing it five days a week? Ideally I'm looking to avoid using 93 if I drive. The commuter rail is fine too, I just assume it would be a shorter, more direct route to drive. (This coming from someone who has never had the pleasure of driving in morning rush hour traffic in Boston. Ha.)

[brightdoglover]

You wouldn't be anywhere near to using 93 from Littleton to Boston. You'd be on Rt.2, or you might take I-495 to the Pike if that made sense.
If you leave Littleton by 6:30a, you sail into Belmont/Cambridge by 7a. Now, getting to the South End (I also went to B.U. for my MPH) is a mess of traffic. In fact, driving, it might be better to take the longer miles on i-495 to the Pike, as the Pike will leave you off close to the South End. I don't know how the driving traffic would be if you left at 6:30a and got to Cambridge byt seven, as you still have to wend your way to the South End. You do NOT want to be driving at 8:30a anywhere into town, especially Cambridge cross-town to South End.
If you took the train, that should be fine. Know that there is very little parking at the Littleton station (a stop in the middle of a field) and there is a lot of parking at South Acton, but it does fill up very quickly.
Forget about 93. You haven't mentioned a town that you've noticed that involves it. If you drive south on 93 at morning rush hour, you'd make faster time walking across the roofs of the cars.
Please feel free to DM me about Littleton or your visit.