We loved the Boston area but had to leave; Life is happier more in the south

• We lived in Quincy, Massachusetts, for 12 years and enjoyed the neighboring city of Boston.
• We didn’t like our housing or school options there, so we moved to Norwell.
• Now, we are happy to have a more suburban home with access to good schools and more space.

I have had the privilege of living in and around Boston for at least 12 years.

After renting for years, my husband and I bought our first home in Quincy, a city in the greater Boston area, in 2018.

Buying in this town was difficult on our budget alone, so we split a two-unit, 800-square-foot two-family house with a friend for $598,000.

We loved having a home on the subway line and living in a city minutes away from Boston. Our front door was steps away from a nice harborside restaurant, a small beach, and lots of nearby activities in the historic downtown area.

I figured Quincy would be an ideal long-term home base for us. Unfortunately, this feeling did not last.

We began to find it difficult to imagine raising a family in this city

In 2020, we found out we were pregnant.

Although I couldn’t get enough of Quincy’s food scene, cultural events, parks, and waterfront, I began to wonder if this would be an affordable and practical place for us to raise a family.

At times, the city felt a bit overwhelming and crowded with tens of thousands of residents.

Our current house looked like it would be too small for us, our dog and our newborn – and we weren’t sure if we could afford a bigger one here on our own. Plus, we weren’t thrilled with the ratings of the nearby public schools.

So we took advantage of the seller-favored housing market at the time and sold our place for $715,000.

We moved an hour south to my parents’ house in Plymouth and spent the next few months saving and looking for our next home.

Eventually, we set our sights on a different part of Massachusetts

After some research, I set my sights on Norwell, which is about 20 minutes south of Quincy. It’s a small town adjacent to a coastal enclave of beautiful New England-style communities like Hingham and Cohasset.

It feels less trendy (and a little more affordable) than those because it’s landlocked and smaller, but it’s still minutes from beaches and ports.

We looked for about a year until we settled on a three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home with a gorgeous sunroom for $830,000. The opportunity to save for a year living with family made this purchase possible.

To be honest, Norwell isn’t much cheaper in Quincy. Homes generally sell for more money, although the average price per square footage of listings in Norwell is $87 less than listings in Quincy, according to data from Realtor.com.

Although this house was more expensive than our last place, we felt we were getting more space with our investment. Plus, we think we get more value for our money here.

Our property taxes are higher, for example, but we now live near some of the best public schools in Massachusetts. We no longer question whether we should spend thousands to send our children to private schools.

Norwell is quieter than Quincy, but we have access to everything we need

It felt so nice and peaceful to go from living in one of the largest cities in Massachusetts to Norwell, which has about 11,000 residents.

Although our town doesn’t have much going on, major shopping and dining spots are just a few minutes’ drive away.

Several grocery stores and other amenities are very close, and we found a great preschool down the road for our oldest daughter where she can be outside most of the day.

We are also only 15 to 20 minutes from a beach and five minutes from the highway that can easily take us to Boston.

Although I miss living in Quincy and the noises of a sprawling city, we are happy in our forest town of Norwell and have enjoyed two great years so far as residents.

The best part is that Boston is still less than an hour away by car or ferry whenever we feel like visiting a trendy restaurant or concert.