Moving to Massachussets (Boston, Newton, Framingham: middle-class, apartment, to rent)

[kimosabe]

Hi,

I will be moving to Massachussets in Aug 10 along with my husband and kids. My youngest is 5 years old and my oldest is 17 years old and will be studying at the Babson college in Wellesley.
We would like to rent somewhere around Wellesley within 20-25 mins driving time . Places like Needham, Natick, Newton, Westwood etc. (not as expensive as Dover or Weston) What are your opinions and views on the places I have already mentioned? Any new suggestions?

Some of the factors we are looking at, as far as renting an apartment goes, are:
- Kids - Family oriented city
- Good School System
- clean, good and safe neighborhood
- reasonable rent

Thanks,

Susan


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[Newton126]

All the towns you have listed are nice choices. I've lived in both Needham and Newton and I prefer Newton. Great schools, shops, restaurants, great public library, and lots of things to do. Newton is made up of villages and each has its own feel. It's close to Boston, public transportation, and the major highways (128, Pike).

Needham was nice but a bit too quiet for me.

[ogre]

Some of this depends on what you mean by "reasonable rent."

Another factor may be your preferences on the feel of the community. The towns you've listed vary in this regard. Westwood is low-density leafy suburban, while Newton is generally more of a traditionally upscale inner-suburban kind of town. It's less dense and a bit woodsy in some neighborhoods, and has some small urban pockets in other areas, but the most typical neighborhood in Newton has nice well maintained older houses, with yards that are somewhat on the small side without being tiny, and usually a neighborhood commercial district with some restaurants and small local shops.

Needham and Natick are somewhere between Westwood and Newton in their general look and feel. Needham and Natick are fairly typically suburban middle- to upper-middle-class towns. Needham's commercial activity centers more on downtown, while Natick leans heavily toward malls, though it does have a pleasant downtown with some basic small stores, as well as a few neighborhoods with very small commercial zones.

All these towns have commuter rail access to Boston. For some reason, there is no commuter rail service from Newton inbound to Boston past early afternoon, other than the last train of the night which goes in after midnight, but in many of Newton's neighborhoods without commuter rail stations there is light rail service. If really nearby access to public transit is not a top priority, and if a leafy kind of suburb would work for you, then you might also consider Hopkinton and Holliston. Nice towns, but you do have to drive 15-20 minutes to the malls in Framingham and Natick for anything other than very local small-store shopping, and you have to drive to the commuter rail station in the next-door town of Ashland for public transit to Boston.

All these towns generally have the reputation for having good to top-notch schools, with Newton's schools generally viewed as being more really high-powered--as in turning out lots of high-achieving students who go to really top colleges--than the others. The possible downside to this is that, for what reputations are worth, Newton's schools have a reputation for putting some pressure on the kids to be super-achievers, fine perhaps for those who thrive on pressure, but often overwhelming for more typical kids.