I don't have advice. I can tell you we have moved many times and "the town" didn't matter too much to us. Schools did matter so, if you have kids in public school, that will be a part of your decision. I feel your pain regarding renting. Good luck with your decision.

Take a vacation for a week in the area.

Excellent schools were the most important consideration for us when moving. We didn't care about the commuting time to work. You can also check the town's police website for crimes that happen in the area you are looking at. Take a drive during the morning and an other during the afternoon to see what the work traffic is like if possible (is this area a shortcut for commuters). The funniest thing I can recommend is to go to a small "locals" restaurant and strike up a conversation with some of the people. We did before we bought the house we are presently living in. My Gosh! The stuff you find out about the town and some of the people (including the sellers of our house) when you are talking over a great bowl of chowder! You can find many things about the area you are looking in over the computer, but talking with the people that actually live there was most valuable to my husband and I. NancyLouise

I laughed when I read the above recommendation to talk to locals in a restaurant. That is exactly what I did when we were thinking about moving. My town sounds bigger, and I was looking for land, but I talked to a group of elderly gentlemen at a fast food joint one day. It gave me some good insights.

We like to drive around the local area and get a feel for stores available. We shop the grocery stores to see what prices are. Sometimes that will give you a feel for the locals particularly if they are different from you. Eating at the local restaurants is a good idea. We do on-line searches to see if we can find out any gossip type facebook pages or blogs or whatever where the locals say things they wouldn't say to you before they lived there. Also fun to check out the local paper and see what makes the news. Look at Google maps for the ariel views and see what is out there that you might not want for a neighbor.

Check out the town's website, look for FaceBook pages for that area, look for local newspaper sites.

And if you go looking at houses ... drive through the neighborhoods you are thinking of between 10PM and midnight, and on a weekend day. What is the street activity like?

The article linked might have some useful info for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hacking for Real Estate

A local realtor and if the town has a local paper would be helpful. These were the things we used to get a lot of our info. We're in a small town so we could read the local police's reports in the twice weekly newspaper.

I would also figure out what are things that will be important to you about where you live. Easy access to doctors, groceries, other shopping, outdoor activities, etc. Then check those things out. Visiting the area often during different times of the week/day is also a good idea. If it is really far you could always see about staying a B&B a few times. This is often a good way to get local insight as well.

Talk to people in restaurants and stores - most don't mind. I texted back and forth several times with somebody we met in a restaurant doing just that as they were considering moving to our area from a large city and hearing that is what we had done gave her a different perspective as well.

There is also web sites for sex offinders. Local newspapers are good, as the notices stuck up in stores and other community buildings. Senior centers? Medical centers? Parks? Community Centers? Library? You can even go to the building dept and find out codes? Section 8 housing? Community Events? Also how long have the officials been in office? Even talk to some of them in their office?

It depends what you like. I am interested in neighbors being involved and caring about their neighborhood. (but not being in my business all the time). I watch to see how many people are walking their dogs, how many kids are at the park with their parents, if lots of unsupervised young teenagers are running around.

I look at the maintenance on the exteriors of the houses and the yards, and the amount of garbage sitting around. Do they care enough to maintain, paint, and clean?

As far as neighborhoods go, a veteran RE agent once told me that if the homeowners are keeping up with their gutters, have nice landscaping and no broken down cars in the driveway, then all is probably pretty sound.

Anyone looking for a handicap accessible home in Mass? Someone on another forum I am on has one for rent, possible sale. If so I can put them in touch with you.