Relo to Lowell, MA area...Help!! (Worcester, Lawrence: new home, neighborhoods, private schools)

[tbmars]

I am considering relocating to the Lowell area with my family from South Jersey. Can anyone recomend a town within a 45 minute commute to Lowell with a good school system. I can propbably afford a home between $300k-$350 pending the taxes? Could I commute from NH? Thanks for the help.

[CityGirl52]

YES it's an easy commute. It's a piece of cake, I commute to Andover, MA from Hampton, NH all the time. I think you probably might want to check out Londonderry, NH or Derry, NH for Lowell though, maybe even Nashua? I think Lowell might be a little further than what I'm doing going to Andover down 495Go to the I sold my house dot com site for starters to check out the property in those towns maybe? You could check out Salem, NH too, I have a friend living there in a sub-division, it's pretty nice too . I'm sure you'll get other suggestions here, I just know the people in Andover were telling me that as far as working in Lowell, it's easier to get there from the Salem, Nashua, Londonderry, Derry area? Other people will help us out here I'm sure. I know that the school systems are very good in Londonderry area for a fact. So that's a good thing to know up front. Look over that way, you'll have the Rockingham Mall too over by that way. ONE thing that the Seacoast of NH doesn't have is a nice Mall like that. I mean we have the Fox Run Mall up in Newington, NH but it's nothing to write home about. We buzz down to Peabody, MA to the North Shore Mall all the time. It's much cooler!

I'm on the seacoast in NH it's 35 minutes to Andover, MA I take I-95 to I-495 to get there. I know Lowell is beyond that whole area, a further drive. It's Lawrence that I pass on 495 all the time. I always used to get the two of those places mixed up. So definitely check out the above towns I mentioned. Unless you want to check the seacoast out near where I live. It's possible, but remember...just a little more of a commute for you. You could check out the Atrio Properties dot com site out and see what they have available, I always liked that site. Masiello dot com is another good one to use. GOOD LUCK!

[mommy3RD]

Do you have children/school concerns? You would probably want private schools, although I have friends who send their kids through Lowell public and had no complaints. I lived in Lowell and really liked it there. You can find reasonably priced homes too, but you do have to be careful of the neighborhoods. We looked for a while for the right house to come up and never found it. We ended up building a new home in Methuen which wouldn't be a bad choice for you either. Good schools, resonable taxes and right on 495/93 near the NH border. Even though the home prices have gone up about 100K in the last 4-5 years, not much is selling so you're likely to get a deal!

Also, if you are going to try to live in NH keep in mind that not all parts of Lowell are easy to commute to depending on where you're coming from/going to. Example, Pawtuckettville is a really nice area along the river and bordering Tyngsboro. It would be easy to get to from Nashua, NH but a long ride from Salem, NH or Derry, NH. On the other hand if you were going to South Lowell on the Tewksbury side it would be no problem to get there from Salem or Derry. Also, beware that the property taxes in NH are out of sight!! And if you work in MA, you will be paying state income tax to MA even though NH technically has no income tax.

I guess it also depends on what type of town/city you're looking for too. There are some nice small towns to the west of lowell along rt 2 as well.

Good luck!

[bishgup]

I am interested in relocation to Lowell as well.
I currently live in Maine (mixed family), but work in MA (Natick). I hear people talk about crime, heavy latin/asian populations, but do not get a sense of what that means for a raciacially mixed family with young kids. We are looking for a good commute and affordable first home. What say you ??

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by bishgup

I am interested in relocation to Lowell as well.
I currently live in Maine (mixed family), but work in MA (Natick). I hear people talk about crime, heavy latin/asian populations, but do not get a sense of what that means for a raciacially mixed family with young kids. We are looking for a good commute and affordable first home. What say you ??

If you work in Natick, you don't want to live in Lowell, way too far. Try looking in the area from Framingham to Worcester.