Having grown up in the outer burbs and now live in a much more urban area I really prefer the latter. Once home I can walk to the supermarket, shopping, great restaurants, cultural spots, and the T which takes me to the rest of Boston. My morning runs are along the Charles River racing with crew boats from the local colleges. I can bike 30+ miles of urban bike paths starting within a mile or so of the house and I can get to mountain biking in the Fells in 10 minutes. I wish I still worked walking distance from where I live, that was the best setup, but now I work on 128.
I do miss the quiet of the burbs from time to time, but one makes trade offs. Since you have a dog I understand the need for a yard and some space. Urban living is much harder with an active dog but I do see plenty of folks at the dog park near me with fairly large pups.
An hour each way and you could look further south where you’ll find much more home for much less money. There’s a T line to the Park and Ride in the Lakeville Middleboro area and we have daily commuter bus service via Dattco from Fairhaven to South Station. Fairhaven, approx 60 miles from Boston, is on the outer limit of your preferred commute time, but it’s a lovely seaside community and you can get some really nice houses in the $350,000 to $500,00.
My ex-wife was born and raised in Winchester. I know it well. It is certainly a nice town and one of the closest exclusive suburbs to Boston. Unfortunately, the kids that grew up there generally can’t afford to move back. It is generally extremely expensive but you never know these days. If you don’t have strict requirements, you may be able to find something good there in your price range. Certainly give that one a try. It is a prestigious address.
I don’t know your housing preferences perfectly. As a first pass, I would look at Winchester, Lexington, and Belmont. If you can find anything you like in those towns in your price range, you would be doing well. If those don’t come up with anything, we can tell you how to move out until there is a match.
About twenty years ago, my sister’s family moved into a house in Plymouth. A few days later, they were awakened by loud noise early in the morning. It turned out that they lived close to a cranberry farm, and it was harvest time. I don’t know how prevalent these things are, but check out the surrounding area of any place you’re looking at. (Of course, that’s true for anywhere.)
(My sister’s family moved a few years later, and now she and her husband are moving again. If they hadn’t just managed to sell her house, I’d be trying to get you to look at it. No cranberry farm nearby.)
South Station and North Station are only a mile apart, so depending on where your job is it might be feasible to walk from South Station. Personally, I always preferred walking 10-20 minutes rather than waiting for a train, especially if that meant dealing with transfers.
To the south, I lived in Stoughton for a year, and it has has absolutely nothing going for it besides being a halfway point between Boston and Providence. Canton and Sharon seemed pretty nice though. Brockton, OTOH, reminded me of some of the worst parts of Detroit.
I belive that due to an old treaty between the Massachusetts Bay Colony, local Indians, and the French, Brockton is actually a part of Detroit. I’ve found no contradictory evidence.
I lived in Canton for awhile* and thought it was one of the nicer and more reasonably-priced places in the Boston metro area (although Canton lies just outside the 128 loop, so maybe it’s not technically in the metro area). The adjoining towns of Milton and Randolph were fairly nice too. The OP mentioned an affinity for outdoor recreation…the Blue Hills Reservation where I worked is a remarkable place and lies in the three towns mentioned. A very nice 7000-acre forest preserve stuck right in the middle of suburbia.
*Bearing in mind that it’s been quite a few years ago and conditions might have changed.
Beverly is good for commuting (I grew up there), because the North Shore lines split after the Beverly Depot, so there are quite a few more trains on that line, compared to others. Plus, Bev is awesome. Lots of great restaurants, great arts scene (there is an art college downtown), beautiful parks and beaches.
I’m in Somerville now, but can’t afford to buy here. I wish I could.
Still undecided as to exactly what we are going to do, but at this particular moment I think moving to Boston is probably third on our list of 3 options, with either 1 or 2 certain to occur. Now 3-5 years from now, the ranking could be considerably different.
Coincidentally, the day after I posted this query - my first foray here in some time, a question I asked 5 years ago was chosen as the topic for Cecil’s column. Maybe this would be the perfect time to ride the crest of my celebrity to new environs!
I moved here in January although I’m a renter. If you’re looking northward, Melrose, Wakefield, and Stoneham are all pretty nice. I work in that area so I’ve gotten to know the town pretty well. I’m in Somerville myself, and I really enjoy Cambridge, Medford, and Arlington as well, but they are going to be much more expensive to buy in.
