let's start off narrowing the location issues... is the job in the city itself, i.e. downtown? Or in the route-128 belt? How long a commute can you handle? is public transportation required?

Country quiet or city life and arts and entertainment?

The general answer is the further away from Boston, the more house/land for the money.

along the the coast 10-15 miles inland is a bit milder in the winter than further inland as well as less snow. solid zone 6. inland southwest is zone 6 too. inland north and northwest is solid z5.

In the summer being close to the ocean can help sometimes, but not always. inland is generally hotter in the summer.

Generally the lots are between a 1/4 acre to 2 acre lots, again depending on location and price.

In Money magazine,they just did a piece on 100 best small cities to live in US and Newton and Brookline and another one I don't recall landed on the list. They are both very pricey towns, but close to Boston.

The Boston area is soooo diverse that you can find most anything anywhere and it seems like you have a great budget there. You shouldn't have to spend that much unless you are extremely close to Boston itself and/or it's a big move in ready home.

What I'd do is go to Realtor.com, do an Advanced Search, type in what floats your boat (lakeside, acreage, size, age of home "etc" and start getting an idea of what's available. The market is certainly in your favor right now.

I bought in a small town just south of Newburyport, got 1 l/2 acres with a remodeled house/barn....about $300K less than around the Boston area. Train service is wonderful into town from most of the suburbs.

Most lots are large...particularly with older homes or those a bit more out of the city where we are. It's a 45 min drive into Boston from here....without traffic.

Just for fun I did a quick search within 10 miles of Newburyport which is a gorgeous area. I put in 800K as the max and 1 acre as the min. You really don't have to even spend that though. I spent a little more than half of that for mine.

There are many areas surrounding Boston though....just depends what your priorities are. You can live in a very "tony" town like Winchester, Wellesley and not get much for the $$ or get tons of options a bit further out or in more middleclass areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: house search

Thank you, this is helpful.

You've gotten some great suggestions, Michael.

Depending on how far out from Boston you want to go, you may also want to consider the Westford/Carisle/Acton/Littleton area. There's a commuter train that goes straight thru both Acton and Littleton. I personally live in Littleton and it takes me about 30-40 minutes to drive into the city, so not too bad of a commute either.

Carisle is the pricest. But has bigger lots (1 acre) on average. Its a BEAUTIFUL New England town. Westford and Acton are one step down from Carisle. But you can still get a decent lot size in that area as well. Littleton is the most affordable of all.

I mention these because I'm obviously familar w/ the area. What I like most about it is that I can be in the city in a reasonable amount of time. But when I'm home, I'm AWAY from the major traffic and congestion, in a low crime area, where I know all my neighbors and the school systems are great.

One thing to consider, the more suburban you go there are wildlife issues that you have to deal with. Many people on this forum can attest to the difficulting gardening with foraging deer, woodchucks, etc. that make gardening more a challenge. Also the more wooded areas have ticks carrying Lyme disease that you have to take precautions to prevent from getting. Not to scare you just to make you aware of some of the wildlife issues here in the more suburban/rural areas.

I would recommend you get a real estate buyer's broker. A buyer's broker unlike a regular broker that represents the seller's interests represents you only. My sister has used a buyer's broker and it helped her to relocate to a new community. The fee for the buyer's broker is usally paid from the selling broker's fee so it shouldn't cost you anymore than if you bought the house yourself. Of course this is why the selling brokers sometimes don't like to deal with buyer's brokers. In this market though I think they would be happy to get any sales. You have picked a good time to relocate as prices are down by 20% versus just a few years ago.

One more thing if you have school age children you should check out the school systems. MCAS is the standardized tests that all Massachusetts kids take in elementary (4th grade), middle and high school (10th grade) and must be passed to graduate high school. There are also magazines like Boston Magazine that rank towns school systems.

Here is a link that might be useful: MCAS scores

I've been reluctant to post since I don't live in the Boston area, but I have a daughter who spent several years in the Cambridge/Somerville area and then Brookline, and who is now in Oakland, California. She loves California, but is frustrated at the moment with the water restrictions (she has just put in a garden in their postage-sized lot). And while she hasn't mentioned it, she is somewhat asthmatic and definite allergic to smoke and I have to think the "drift" from the wildfires -- not usually an issue in the Bay area I gather but it is this year -- must be keeping her inside and out of the garden more than she'd like.

Me, I'll take the woodchucks and the deer ticks over wildfires, earthquakes and drought any day (not to bash California -- S.F. is my favorite place on earth ... to visit) I think you will get more house for your dollar (and more yard) in the Boston area but I am basing that only on what I've read here plus her recent experience in Oakland as a first-time buyer (1200 sq. ft bungalow and a postage stamp lot in a neighborhood she hopes is "moving up not down" for $650,000 -- same that we paid in admittedly rural Connecticut for 3,600 sq ft and a two-stall "pony" barn on 6.5 acres).

I also think you will find the nature of gardening on the East Coast closer to what you are familiar with in Chicago, which may be good, may not be -- depends on how adventurous you are. But the plants and the planting cycles (perhaps a slightly longer season, not sure of that), etc. will be closer to what you are used to than would the ones in the Bay area.

Many New Englanders love New England and wouldn't live anywhere else. Most Californians I know feel the same about their slice of paradise. I myself am awed by California's incredible horticultural diversity (we were in Berkeley last summer and the flowers, lemon trees, etc. were "to die for" as they say in New York :) It is beautiful and I can understand how people fall in love with it and never want to leave... but for me, I would miss the change in seasons and the wondrous cycles that those seasons create in our gardens: the incredible lush green of a New England spring that nothing quite matches, the "irrational exuberance" of our summer gardens, followed by the incredible fall foliage both in the trees above and in our gardens as they slow down and prepare for their winter "sleep," followed by an admittedly sometimes LONG winter of cold and snow -- which I happen to love but which might well be a deal-breaker for someone who loves the heat. (For heat, head to the hills outside San Francisco! But bring your own water tanker!)

Just a few thoughts from a diehard fan of New England gardening :) Good luck whichever coast you choose! (And how lovely to have such a quandry in this economy!)

I appreciate this additional input. I'm wondering if you (ctlady) or anyone else can compare the length of winter to Chicago's? Our winters start hard in Dec. and seem to linger well into June, meaning the springs are very cold, especially here at Lake Michigan. A day in the spring or early/mid summer with a North or Easterly wind blows off the lake and can lop off 10+ degrees, bringing spring averages too chilly for me.

Here's a barometer that might help... the "safe" date to plant tomatoes out my way (50 miles NW of Boston) is May 30. I think close to Boston it is the first week in May. Having said that, many of us plant earlier than the safe date and take our chances!!

The coastal communities tend to have a slower start to Spring with the sea breeze than inland does. That's when its nice to be inland! Here, March is fickle. April is mostly delightful. I think for the coastal area, they are about a month off from that.

As far as when winter starts, we often have snowless Christmas season. More so closer to the coast, less so the further inland. Very inconsistent.

We spent many years just north of New Haven, maybe 10 miles inland from Long Island Sound. Now we're about 30 miles north of the coast. I use Mother's Day as a planting guide for tomatoes and annuals (for both locations) but like others, frequently can't resist the balmy days of late April and early May and plant earlier. And I harvest tomatoes like the Sungolds -- which go on forever -- right through October. I've trudged through knee-high snow with my kids on Halloween (that's rare!) but more often, they'd go without even a jacket, sometime sweltering in the costumes. It just changes on a dime. Ditto for college graduations: my daughter graduated the last weekend in May in New Haven about 10 years ago and we were huddled with hot coffee to keep our hands warm. The next year, same graduation, same campus: people were in tank tops (well, not the graduates!) and sandals. The weather in New England is notoriously fickle. Just this summer, we've had 50 degree days (unusually cool) followed in less than 48 hours by 90 degree ones (not unusual but not the norm I would say, the norm being in the mid-80s much of the summer in Connecticut). We've just finished a week of 90+ up here in northwest Connecticut. I know it is always very humid in inland Connecticut -- don't know about the Boston area. And in the winter, with the cold air, it is bone dry. We DE-humidify all summer and humidify all winter!

I think what they say about New England weather is true: if you don't like the weather today, just wait a day, it'll change! :)