My husband and I may eventually buy property in the Boston area, with the caveat that said decision won't be made for several years, we'll be comparing costs of renting vs buying, and will try to be rational about things (including whether it makes sense to buy at all). I have preferences that are similar to what I expect some others on this forum value as well: walk-ability to parks/grocery story/library, good resale/rental value potential, schools with opportunities (AP classes, extracurricular activities), diversity (don't want the town to be 92% white like the Boston suburb where I grew up), sufficient public transportation (to use for commute), not bigger than our needs dictate.
For those who own homes (or who don't but have done research), can you point me in the direction of resources you used to pull data on the areas you were considering? I'm sure there are nationally-collected statistics as well as data sources focused on specific geographic areas (ie, Boston area for me). I'll admit I'm a bit shocked looking at places on RedFin, plus I just read over Money Magazine's annual 'Best Places to Live' survey, which notably had nothing in New England (most likely due to above-average property costs among other things).
How did you decide whether (or not) to buy? For those that made a logical (rather than mainly emotional) decision, what data sources did you find useful? What did you consider as key criteria and factors?