Since it seems that you're open to areas north of the city, I'll throw out Swampscott as an option. It's a charming seaside town, good schools and you can definitely find SF houses for under $500k. The commute is a bit annoying because the commuter rail parking lot is tiny but some neighborhoods are within walking distance of the station and many people drive to Wonderland and take the T in.
What school problems? Just curious because I live here and I have a 9th grader and the teachers/school are amazing, and I have preschoolers, so i have a long way to go with the schools!
Wakefield is cheaper but I don't know about the schools. And the lake is nice to walk.
Eta: Medford is nice too, I lived there from 13-24. My family is still there.
Wow I didn't realize we were neighbors! I love Melrose. I work with someone from there and he told me there is a drug problem at the high school. It's probably like that everywhere though. We stalk open houses in Melrose all the time.
I work in a neighboring town HS and can tell you all of the "nice towns", such as Melrose, Stoneham, Reading and North Reading have serious drug problems. The police are constantly coming in talking about how drugs are really hurting the area. But like you said, they are everywhere and in every high school. In the 90's and early 2000's when Melrose had those OD's from heroine it was certainly worse so hopefully they can stop the trend. The drugs are coming in from Medford and Malden and are very hard to stop as you can imagine.
OP, I live in Burlington and from the Woburn commuter stop it is like 20 minutes door to door although house prices in Middlesex county are probably more than they are south shore where you are looking.
Since it seems that you're open to areas north of the city, I'll throw out Swampscott as an option. It's a charming seaside town, good schools and you can definitely find SF houses for under $500k. The commute is a bit annoying because the commuter rail parking lot is tiny but some neighborhoods are within walking distance of the station and many people drive to Wonderland and take the T in.
Or....you could just move back to the city ;-)
IMO the only problem with Swampscott is that the train is often pretty full by the time it even gets there...I used to board in Salem and people would trample each other to get on the train.
Since it seems that you're open to areas north of the city, I'll throw out Swampscott as an option. It's a charming seaside town, good schools and you can definitely find SF houses for under $500k. The commute is a bit annoying because the commuter rail parking lot is tiny but some neighborhoods are within walking distance of the station and many people drive to Wonderland and take the T in.
Or....you could just move back to the city ;-)
IMO the only problem with Swampscott is that the train is often pretty full by the time it even gets there...I used to board in Salem and people would trample each other to get on the train.
IMO the only problem with Swampscott is that the train is often pretty full by the time it even gets there...I used to board in Salem and people would trample each other to get on the train.
But you're first on the train at Wonderland
Excellent point - if you are willing to drive to Wonderland.
When I lived in Salem my work actually had free parking in Boston. It was tempting to drive - but only if I would leave no later than 6:15 AM because otherwise I couldn't stand the traffic. But I could be seated at my desk in like 35 minutes if I left that early!
Lol. Driving is not even on the table. Only crazy people drive into Boston for work.
I currently take the commuter rail from Forge Park. Its an hour and a half door to door. H is interviewing for jobs in the Financial District, so it will be the same.
The commuter rail trip from Norwood is half the time, and many neighborhoods in Norwood are walkable/bikable to the station. So as I said, Norwood would be a dream commute for us.
H took the rail from Forge Park to Boston for a couple years. It suuuuucked for him. Have you considered Sharon? The school district is better and it is about a 50 min. train ride.
Disregard. I see that Sharon won't work budget wise. Sorry!