looking for special town 1-1.5 hrs from boston

[Valerie C]

Winchester is a BEAUTIFUL place to live... However if you know of a home under 300,000 in Winchester, even a for-sale-by-owner, please let me know!! There are 100 active listings in Winchester right now, 3 of them are between 329K and 399K (on the other hand, 39 are priced OVER $1,000,000

Single Family Listings: 100 Average List Price: $1,131,523

[smarty]

Originally Posted by Valerie C

Winchester is a BEAUTIFUL place to live... However if you know of a home under 300,000 in Winchester, even a for-sale-by-owner, please let me know!! There are 100 active listings in Winchester right now, 3 of them are between 329K and 399K (on the other hand, 39 are priced OVER $1,000,000

Single Family Listings: 100 Average List Price: $1,131,523

I agree with Valerie.. PM me if you know houses selling for ~$250K... I think a buildable lot cost $300K.

Moving from Jamaica Plain to 1.5hr suburb? Wow... It is night and day. I would think twice before moving... There is no suburb town that is even close to what Jamaica Plain offers.

[bostonaudi]

Originally Posted by photomom

We spent the afternoon at the common in Franklin yesterday and loved it. There was a farmer's market, with the neighboring towns' folk band from King Philips High School jamming, and everyone was quite friendly. I didn't get an impression of much diversity in terms of ethnicity, kind of a bummer. The homes are all very cute, and we're looking forward to spending a day there with our realtor. It is away from the water, which is kind of a downside in terms of enjoying the beach, but I think it might be well positioned to visit the cape, rhode island, as well as boston.

One person I spoke with told me that there is a lot of political conflict in the town over how to shape the downtown zone. A developer has purchased two full city blocks and razed everything in them to build high density condo units (almost 200 units). The city's main street did not have any boutiques or coffee shops, just a couple of hair salons, offices, a bodega, and a fitness center. They also told me that the downtown does not want to continue sponsoring the farmer's market on the common, because they feel the market does not bring any business to them.

Is anyone familiar with how this compares to current trends in other small massachusetts towns? I would hate to move to a town that I initially find attractive and very "town-like", then later have developers move in and destroy the downtown areas...

I have lived in Franklin 15 years. Not a bad place, but certainly no longer affordable for younger families. Cost of entry for a decent house now $425k or more.

The downtown is going through change, but it was needed. There was a rather neat little second run movie theater (Zeotrope) that was torn down for an office complex that I was sad to see go, on the other hand the run down old furniture building was finally demolished on the other side. The downtown coffee shop went out of business which was a bummer.

The areas roads are a complete mess, most are beat up and haven't been paved in 20+ years, if that sort of thing matters. School system pretty good overall, new school (Hellen Keller) on Lincoln St very good.

There is rail service in Franklin (3 stops) so if you work in downtown Boston, Franklin makes a good place to live. Train is about 40-50 minutes to South Station.

Franklin has had bad periods of mismangement and corruption, especically with repect to builder/inspector relationships. Several builders in the 90's got away with building houses that should never have passed inspection, so hire a good house inspector if you're coming here! Toll Brothers was one of the main offenders. The sheer number of issued building permits also got out of hand, almost no open space left in town. On weekends its not uncommon to sit in several miles of traffic trying to get to local shopping centers. Overall still a decent place to live and raise kids though.

[Valerie C]

If you would consider moving north of the city, there are some great smaller cities in the Amesbury area. Groveland, Georgetown, Amesbury, etc, easy access to Route 95. Let me know if I can help narrow towns in that area. Areas south and west of Boston I have no direct knowledge about (except that both Winchester and Weston are way out of my price range LOL)