Best Places to Live 2009

    Median home price    $350,000
    One-year change    -10.83%
    Since market peak    -15.69%

Easton's imposing civic buildings designed by H. H. Richardson (of Trinity Church fame) come courtesy of the Ames family, whose iron-bladed shovel laid miles of Union Pacific rail. The appetite for historic preservation still runs high in Easton, which has long socked away land for conservation. All those attributes, plus strong schools and access to Routes 495 and 24, gave Easton a good run-up in home values during the first half of this decade, but today there's a fair amount of inventory. Still, buying here won't necessarily push you into jumbo-loan territory. A nice Colonial on 2 acres, for example, is being offered in the $400,000s.

    WENHAM
    Median home price    $453,500
    One-year change    -8.57%
    Since market peak    -13.11%

Along the sun-dappled, clam shack–speckled drive that is Route 1A, it's hard to tell where Wenham begins and Hamilton ends. For Wenham, that's a boon. The twin towns share a school system, library, and recreation department, as well as a commercial district along their border. But Wenham's median home price reflects a roughly $50,000 discount from tonier Hamilton's, making it a smart buy. The state has studied merging the towns into a single municipality (Wenhamilton?), and if it ever pursues such a move, Wenham's values will be the ones to benefit.

    WESTFORD
    Median home price    $420,000
    One-year change    -15.75%
    Since market peak    -18.45%

The longer commute to Boston, the fire sale going on in nearby Lowell, and a general oversupply of four-bedroom, recent-vintage Colonials have softened the market, but it's temporary: While generating some of the fastest growth rates in eastern Massachusetts, the town clamped down on residential permitting a little over a decade ago. Businesses love Westford because it charges them the same as the residential tax rate, and the jobs created by the likes of Puma and IBM can only spell good things for home values in the long term. Appealing traces of Westford's rural roots can be found in its farm stands, historic clapboard houses, and Apple Blossom Festival, held each spring. The Nabnasset Lake area is the best bet for finding starter homes under $400,000.

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