Moving to Chelmsford (Boston, Lowell, Lawrence: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[arun_junta]

Hello,
I'm gonna start working for a company in chelmsford, around dec/jan. I want to know what are the school districts in & around chelmsford area, which are good - so that I can start looking for a house in those area? Also, I saw in a post on this site that there are waiting lists for schools. Is this true?

thanks,

Arun

[brightdoglover]

I want to know what are the school districts in & around chelmsford area, which are good

I don't think there are any schools in Chelmsford that aren't good. I live two towns away, and don't have kids, but people seem to favor the whole town there. It's not that big, so I don't think there are multiple "districts." Maybe more than one elementary school. I wouldn't worry about which one, as far as I know (I follow via real estate info).
Congratulations! It's very good living out here, for adults and kids alike.

[arun_junta]

Thanks for the reply. Gives me the boost up - as far as renting goes.

Can you let me know of other good residential areas, safe neighbhorhood being paramount, which are in about a radius of about 10miles of chelmsford. Also, info on other school districts is most welcome.

[brightdoglover]

Can you let me know of other good residential areas, safe neighbhorhood being paramount, which are in about a radius of about 10miles of chelmsford. Also, info on other school districts is most welcome.

There aren't really any *unsafe* neighborhoods, except for the actually urban areas, like parts of Lowell and a lot of Lawrence/Haverhill.
Westford (next to Chelmsford) has very highly regarded schools. Littleton (next to Westford) is an excellent small-town feel in the area, lots of rural stuff despite being next to 495. Modest houses (that is, maybe smallish 3-bedroom post-war houses) are under $300K, and nice yards. (Few rentals in Littleton- few apartments).
Acton is a great town/suburb- best schools anywhere. Lots of apartments along rt. 2A.
Really, all of these formerly rural/suburban towns are very very safe, and good schools, too. You really would have to hustle to go wrong.

[arun_junta]

I'm only looking @ renting intially, to get acclimitized to the area, & then think abt buying a home. I was looking in rent.com, and as u said, I couldn't find much rental apts in westford/littleton. What r the other neighborhoods with decent rental apts & good school districts?

[puffle]

Originally Posted by arun_junta

I'm only looking @ renting intially, to get acclimitized to the area, & then think abt buying a home. I was looking in rent.com, and as u said, I couldn't find much rental apts in westford/littleton. What r the other neighborhoods with decent rental apts & good school districts?

Rent.com will only list commercial apartment buildings that pay to be on their site. You also need to look on Craigslist.com for private apartment listings as well as listings by realtors. Other better choices than rent.com or apartmentfinders is Boston.com and realtor.com, to name a few. More suburban/rural towns have very few "apartment buildings" but instead have multi-family units to rent or condos and townhomes. Good luck with your search.

[brightdoglover]

[ I couldn't find much rental apts in westford/littleton. What r the other neighborhoods with decent rental apts & good school districts?[/quote]

Acton. Acton. Did I say Acton? Plenty of apartment buildings, and some apartments in houses. The best schools in the state, or certainly close. Very close to Westford, borders Littleton. I think Acton is about five miles from Westford. A fantastic town.

[arun_junta]

Now, I'm getting a list: Acton, Littleton, Westford. Any other area(s)? I don't mind travelling upto, like, 15-20mi from home<-> office. How r the schools chelmsford? I've seen couple of decent apartments in the area.

[Parsec]

The schools in Chelmsford are good for the money ... it's all relative to how much you are willing to spend on housing. Overall Chelmsford school district is probably in the top 25% in Eastern Mass, so the towns you listed are definitely better (they are in the top 10%). If you are willing to travel 15-20 miles and enjoy rural settings, you can look into Boxborough, Harvard, and Bolton to the south (Harvard and Bolton are very expensive). Going north on I-495 the better school districts are Andover and North Andover. Going south on Rt-3, you have Lexington and Carlisle. Burlington is also decent (comparable to Chelmsford). Going north on Rt-3, you have Hollis, NH and Merrimack, NH. Those are probably all the school districts (top 25% for the area) that you'll find within 20 miles of Chelmsford. You can go to GreatSchools.net to see test scores and other statistics for individual schools within each town.

What else are you looking for besides good schools though, and what is your price range for housing? Are you looking at townhouses or single family homes? Where does your spouse work? Also, I noticed your name's Arun Junta -- are you South Asian? Would you feel more comfortable living close to a specific ethnic community (i.e. Indian/Pakistani)? These would all be things to take into consideration.

[arun_junta]

I'm looking to spend upto $1200 - current budget. I'm going to look at some apts in acton, littleton & westford areas. I'll also include the other areas, you have mentioned, since i also noticed that the mcas scores of schools in these areas are quite high.

Since, I'm moving to the US, for the first time, I would appreciate inputs in terms of whether i should be moving to apts/town homes. My wife is planning to join a school here. Yup!! I'm a south asian - from India, but I'm not looking for a south asian apt community or anything of that sort. I need a apt, where my family would be safe & secure, and where I can put my kid in a good school. Btw, what is the age @ which kids start school here? 4.5/5.5?