Living 1 hour from BOS

[LandGreen]

Looking for folks who live or have lived 1 hour from Logan...good schools, safe neighborhoods...you know the drill...no more than 550K for a house...NH vs. MA...

thanks a ton!

 

[bigboeings]

I live one hour west. Prices are nowhere near that much.

 

[dashboy]

I live 20 mins north. you can buy for 375-450 be very happy in the north shore but close to BOS and town and maybe on commuter rail line.
PM me for details.

 

[K. Marx]

NH is definitely cheaper. Plus no state income tax and no sales tax. You can do an hour commute as far north as Portsmouth most of the day.

 

[PositiveRate]

Check out a variety of towns about 20-30 miles NW of the city. Westford, Chelmsford, Acton, Littleton, etc...all quaint sleeper towns with a variety of services and good living conditions. All are close to the commuter rail and highways. Demographic in most of these places would be majority Catholic/Protestant, middle & upper middle class, good schools, very safe (rarely anything worse than a burglery)...high taxes, though.

I lived in Westford for 7 yrs. Excellent schools, right off 495, very family friendly. Houses are getting more expensive there from what I hear...I would guess 400-500k for an average house. www.westford.com

Right accross the border is Nashua...that seems to be a pretty popular place as well. At least in the past, it was more affordable. No sales tax or income tax either. Nashua is certainly within an hr's drive (light traffic) to Logan. It is a bigger town, though...not sure if it has the bucolic charm most of the small towns posess...very colonial, historic roots, quiet...town commons, etc...

I'll never ever go back, though. People there are provincial and markedly less friendly than other parts of the country, but the hardest part about living in MA is the weather. It generally sucks from about October to May followed by a couple tolerable mosquito filled months. August till whenever it starts sucking is generally beautiful, though. Good luck with your search.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

Mass sucks. Its practicaly communist. I mean c'mon...they LIKE Ted Kennedy.

Go north to NH. Live tax free or die.

Winter - rough
Summer - awesome, lakes region is a lot of fun.

 

[Diesel]

Roxbury is an excellent place to live. Just off of blue hill ave. Excellent schools and very nice parks.

Look at portsmouth or nashua if you don't like roxbury. I'd recomend portsmouth because going up Rt3 every day would cause me to drink.

Sturbridge is nice too but I don't know why you want to stay in Mass with the taxes.

 

[cessnaxdriver]

I live on the Cape, about an hour to Boston could be longer on route 3 with rush hour traffic. Yep, Mass sucks for taxes but New Hampshire can suck with property taxes. They are very high in some communities.

 

[greasy8driver]

I spent 21yrs of my life in Nashua. Almost all on the north side of town. It's a nice town with good schools. Descent amount of things to do. About an hour to the mountains as well as to the beach. There is no state or sales tax however they will get you on property taxes. It's fairly expensive but I believe it's cheaper than mass. Hope this helps.

 

[FurloughedTwice]

Disregard Diesel's post about Roxbury being a nice town. He's joking!! I hope!

There are a lot of people that will bash MA because of the politics but the fact is, it's a great place to raise a family. It's expensive for a reason.

Nashu, NH area is a great place to live too but the property tax is really high so you won't save that much money with no state income tax. It has a great school system too.

If the school system is important than do a lot of research if you are interested in NH. They don't rate the schools the same way MA does and their public schools aren't as good. I lived in NH so I can say that. LOL

Burlington, MA is a great town with good schools and it's only about 20 minutes outside of the city. The property tax is really low because they have big business and a large mall that reduces the taxes. You can find a nice home in your price range.

Good luck!!

 

[Cardinal]

The Kittery, Maine area is quite pleasant, but I lived much farther north so can't offer many details.

 

[cessnaxdriver]

Disregard Diesel's post about Roxbury being a nice town. He's joking!! I hope!

There are a lot of people that will bash MA because of the politics but the fact is, it's a great place to raise a family. It's expensive for a reason.

Nashu, NH area is a great place to live too but the property tax is really high so you won't save that much money with no state income tax. It has a great school system too.

If the school system is important than do a lot of research if you are interested in NH. They don't rate the schools the same way MA does and their public schools aren't as good. I lived in NH so I can say that. LOL

Burlington, MA is a great town with good schools and it's only about 20 minutes outside of the city. The property tax is really low because they have big business and a large mall that reduces the taxes. You can find a nice home in your price range.

Good luck!!

Furloughed Twice is right, Burlington, MA is a great town. I used to live in Concord, next town over and I really liked it. Great schools and lots to do. You have the White Mountains 2 hours to the North or the costline 45 minutes away.

I live in Yarmouth, MA now. Great town but it's on the cape and that could take as much as 1.5 to Boston with rush hour. Great schools and lots of great fishing, but the tourist come in May and don't leave until September.


I lived in Portsmouth, NH about 6 years ago and the property taxes were very high. Great town and ok schools. Housing prices were high for the area. After living in both states, I would definitely choose Mass. My income taxes and property taxes combined still are less than the property taxes paid in NH.

Hope this helps..

 

[U2FDX]

Rye or North Hampton NH are excellent choices as the property tax is only around $9/ thousand and the schools are very good. (Portsmouth is around $20)

Most will say that the area is too expensive, but if you look hard enough there are deals to be found in this market.

I live in Rye and love it. We are 1 hour to skiing, 2 minutes to the beach, 1 hour to logan, and lots of tax free shopping all around.

Good luck,

 

[LandGreen]

this is AWESOME stuff...thanks a ton for all the info! some questions about recreational activities...fly fishing? or salt water fishing? skiing: too cold in Jan/Feb? do most locals ski Mar? can you swim in ocean in the summer? snow mobiling? i know hockey is huge up there...does it cost an arm and a leg to play hockey like it does in warm weather climates where it is not so popular?

from what i can tell from the posters....NH has some good and some bad school districts (relative to MA): MA typically will have a better school district, but the no income tax and the no sales tax makes up for it. MA has the better school districts, higher taxes but less property tax. could MA really make up for the high taxes with lower property taxes when comparing the two states?

thanks again everyone!

 

[Diesel]

I snowmobile a couple of thousand miles a year from maine to canada. Winter sports are huge up there.

 

[cessnaxdriver]

this is AWESOME stuff...thanks a ton for all the info! some questions about recreational activities...fly fishing? or salt water fishing? skiing: too cold in Jan/Feb? do most locals ski Mar? can you swim in ocean in the summer? snow mobiling? i know hockey is huge up there...does it cost an arm and a leg to play hockey like it does in warm weather climates where it is not so popular?

from what i can tell from the posters....NH has some good and some bad school districts (relative to MA): MA typically will have a better school district, but the no income tax and the no sales tax makes up for it. MA has the better school districts, higher taxes but less property tax. could MA really make up for the high taxes with lower property taxes when comparing the two states?

thanks again everyone![/quo

I flyfish alot during the spring, sumer and fall. Go to the Berkshires, about 2 hours west of Boston. The Deerfield river, the Miller river and the Swift rivers are great for Rainbow, Browns and Brookies. Here on Yarmouth, Strippers in the spring, summer and Blues in the Fall. Great fishing!!

Enjoy!

 

[IslandDriver]

North eastern Rhode Island is considered a commute to BOS. The car drive to Logan is about 45 minutes with modeate traffic and about 1:15 in the ruch hours. If your show time is like 5AM the drive would be real easy.

Property Taxes are less in RI. But there is a state income tax.

If you are flying and based out of BOS there are a lot of options....commuter rail 10 minutes away...connect to the subway and you are at Logan. The cheapest way but would take you about 2-3 hours.

Drive to a park and ride lot....

Cumberland RI is the most North Eastern Town....house prices range from the 275 mark and up...good schools with a lot of "affordable" private schools.

 

[Mr. Irrelevant]

I'm with the guys here that recommend north of the city to south of the city. Even though the traffic can suck regardless of where you live, the north area has far less and also has more appealing towns to live in as far as I'm concerned. I'm lived both north and south of the city and it's a no-brainer decision. Portsmouth although pricey as mentioned earlier is a great area. If you can be near there you are far enough away from Boston but still close enough to swing in for a Sox game, Bruins game, take the wife to the theatre if that's what she likes, all within an hour.

As for hockey costs, alot of towns have open ice time. Usually however it's on Friday or Saturday nights at 9pm. Usually $10 for an hour. You never know who will show up. Sometimes there will be 3-4 former D1 players on the ice and a bunch of beer leaguers.

As far as the home prices are concerned, if you want a nice town to live in MA, within a half hour of the city and want a 4 bedroom, I'd expect to pay more like 750k. If a 3 bedroom, 550k. There are some decent places about 40 minutes north, that might be in that price range. You may find some bargains too. The housing market is extremely shaky right now with homes sitting on the market for months before selling. If you do make an offer, lowball big time. It's an overpriced market.

Mr. I.

 

[Suke996]

I would look in NH rather then MA. We live in Raymond, NH. The school system is not the greatest on earth, but they are planning to improve them in the near furture. When our two rug rats are ready for school, we plan on sending them to the Chester area school system.
My wife works for Delta in BOS and has to do the drive down about twice a week. She has three routes to take and with out traffic it is 50-60 mins to the employee lot in Chelsea, MA. The rush hour kicks in hard around the 7am time frame so plan ahead.
We paid $350K (MAY of 05) for a 4bedroom 2 1/2 bath 3000 sq Ft home on 2.5 acres, the price has gone up to $390 now. Our taxes are in the $7k a year range!! We are 18 mins to MHT and 25 mins to Portsmouth. We both ski and snowmobile in the winter and have no problem hitting the slopes in 1 hour and off to the 52 degree water at the beach in 25 mins(thats the summer water temp).
I'm a transplant from VA and NH has really grown on me. The winters aren't that bad, and they know how to handle the weather and snowy roads better then the south. The only thing I miss is "Sweet Tea and good BBQ".

PM me if you want some house info around our area!

SUKE