Another "Where to live in Boston?" Question?

Question

Moving on June 1st, 2007. Both parents work, One in Framingham, one closer to Newton. We have 2 kids, one starting kindergarten this year the other is only 18mo. I've heard daycare is hell so will likely go the nanny route. Want to buy into a house/condo but only have 30K+ to put down. Our household income is about 160K/yr so we are neither rich or poor. Oh...and need to go to NYC almost weekly...I know there is a train but not sure where it takes out of?

Very excited about this move, but obviously have a lot of complex things to work thru and I'm just starting. I think I'm mostly concerned about location and good public schooling. I'll worry about private when the get to high school. :)

Appreciate anyone's help! :)

Answer 1

I have 3 suggestions....the popular Dedham choice (I believe this is going to be the next "hot" burb but you can still buy in with some careful shopping), Canton or maybe Norwood. There is a train stop at 128 to get to NY, which would be MUCH easlier both to park at and get to than dealing with Boston. All the Boston/NY trains stop there, not only the Acela but the cheaper, slightly slower ones too. So your choice! I've driven past it a gazillion times, but not sure if it's in Norwood or Westood, but it's right around there, and all of these are near there. I think these towns all provide you proximity to the train, nice towns/shopping, fairly easy trip to your parents, and they still have some semi-affordable homes in them.

And if you can't find anything I'd keep looking in the basic area, just expand it a bit...IE Stoughton next to Canton might work. And I haven't heard anything bad about any of their school systems (ruled out 2 towns for that reason). Good luck with it!

Answer 2

I was going to suggest Dedham but Hank beat me to it! Dedham has good schools and the town just built a brand new beautiful middle school - I know your kids are not that old but it gives you an idea of the family-friendliness of the town because they had to pass a prop 21/2 override to get the funding to build it. Dedham is close to Rte 128 and 93 and only 5 minutes from the Amtrak 128 Station where you can take the Acela (high speed) train to NY (have done it many times myself). Dedham is about 25 minutes from Framingham and 20 to Newton. Dedham has a great downtown area with a lot of great shops, restaurants and services. Dedham is also building a new mall area called Legacy Place on route 1 and there will be a movie theatre, restaurants (including Legal Sea Foods) upscale shopping and a huge new Whole Foods grocery store. I currently live in Hyde Park which is part of Boston and will be moving to Dedham this year. I have a 2 year old son and we are moving to Dedham because of the schools and convenient location. If you go onto Boston.com you can search the real estate listings for Dedham and your price range. Its spring and there are a lot of houses going on the market very soon. Good luck!

Answer 3

Belmont as someone said is good - they have excellent schools and it's quite pleasant. I don't know so much about Dedham but it's nice as well from what I hear. I'd also check out Newton itself. It also has among the best school systems in the country and the whole city is safe. It's also very easy to commute from there to Framingham - it's right off the Mass. Turnpike (aka I-90) which goes out to Framingham. Other towns I'd look at are Natick and Needham, both have good schools and easy access to both Newton and Framingham.

As far as the train to NYC - there are Amtrak trains at least hourly. They originate from South Station in downtown Boston, and they make two more stops in Boston as well - at Back Bay station, also pretty much downtown Boston, and at Route 128/University Park, which I believe is in Westwood (and probably the easiest and closest to where you're considering moving to - they've also got a huge, safe and relatively inexpensive parking garage). All Amtrak trains to NYC stop there. Amtrak's website (www.amtrak.com) has more info.

Answer 4

Check out parts of Dedham. Relative easy commute to Newton and to Framingham (thru Needham and Wellesley - Rte 135). Pick up New York train at nearby Rte 128 - University Park station. Housing prices not quiteas high; schools good if not the top.

Answer 5

Well, for the train to New York that probably runs out of South Station. You can take the commuter rail in from whatever suburb you choose, and then use the T to get to South Station (if that's not your commuter rail terminus). You'll find that the T and the commuter rail are excellent, excellent ways to get down into the city.

As for where to live.... you're going to find that housing is incredibly expensive and you might have to settle for something smaller than you were thinking. My best advice is to contact a realtor to get some realistic advice! For the first year, you can likely find a good complex to rent in, and work on finding your house/condo from that landing spot.

Answer 6

You should look into homes in Natick. It's right btween the towns you mentioned, but it has a more "suburban" quality about it.

A friend of mine grew up there and they have a great school system (he went to Cornell University), very nice neighborhoods (his parents still live there in a beautiful home not too far off of route 9), oodles of shopping areas, as well as being very convenient to Boston.

They have a huge range of living arrangements from the "almost city-like" condo set-up to gorgeous lavish homes on rolling acres of land.

Overall it's just a really nice town and well worth looking into.

Answer 7

Belmont- You can get some cheaper houses there, it's near Boston which has a train to new york, and it also has one of the best school systems in USA so this would be one of the best for your kids.
Arlington-Not a good choice. I know a lot of bad people there, and heard of them. I know that there are some bad kids in the schools.
Lexington-Another nice place like belmont, also near boston
Brookline-Really nice, but pricey
Ashby-Near New Hampshire, in the country, but nice.
Maynard-Not pricey at all and a nice town.
Woburn-A lot like Maynard

Belmont would probably be the best bet. It has very very good public schools (156th best in USA!)and if you ever want your kids to go to private school, there is belmont day, a k-8 private school, belmont hill, an all boys private school, and bb&n which is in cambridge but one of the best private schools in massachusetts (most kids there go to Harvard)

Answer 8

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Answer 9

I'd say Wellesley, Dedham, or even right in Newton. They all have some of the best schools in the state. Also, they all are easily accessed to the train. Nice houses as well.