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Hey everyone, my wife and I are moving to the Bedford/Concord/Lexington area soon and have already seen many amazing properties online. We think we have settled on Bedford because of the proximity to our new jobs, the semi-rural feel, and school systems.
Our search, however is far from over.
It seems that Bedford has quite a few neighborhoods or subdivisions but I cannot find information on which is more desirable. Is the neighborhood from Davis Road to Concord Rd one neighborhood or two? Does the neighborhood near Evans and McMahon Rd have a name?
since no one else has answered... :-) I'm familiar with the general area having lived all my life in neighboring towns. route 62 is a little busy but basically rural - years ago I used to commute on it between Lincoln and Bedford.
I'm familiar with some side streets off it like Evans Road - in my experience these dead-end roads tend to be self-contained neighborhoods. a local real estate agent should be able to clue you in to which parts of Bedford are more desirable than others. I think it's probably a pretty good place to live because they have some industrial tax base, but it's still a pretty nice town.
traditionally Bedford would be be considered very much a middle-class or lower-middle-class place to live, not as prestigious as Concord or Lincoln or Lexington or Winchester but more desirable than Wilmington or Billerica or Woburn - probably on a par with Chelmsford. probably a place to get good value today, I think (although also probably really expensive).
since no one else has answered... :-) I'm familiar with the general area having lived all my life in neighboring towns. route 62 is a little busy but basically rural - years ago I used to commute on it between Lincoln and Bedford.
I'm familiar with some side streets off it like Evans Road - in my experience these dead-end roads tend to be self-contained neighborhoods. a local real estate agent should be able to clue you in to which parts of Bedford are more desirable than others. I think it's probably a pretty good place to live because they have some industrial tax base, but it's still a pretty nice town.
traditionally Bedford would be be considered very much a middle-class or lower-middle-class place to live, not as prestigious as Concord or Lincoln or Lexington or Winchester but more desirable than Wilmington or Billerica or Woburn - probably on a par with Chelmsford. probably a place to get good value today, I think (although also probably really expensive).
Thanks for your input. We aren't too concerned about middle class or otherwise - the school district is probably the biggest issue for us. We are considering Concord, Bedford, and Lexington and looking for a good deal. To me it seems that some of the sub-divisions have a lot of different types of homes: center entrance Colonials, Contemporary, and McMansions - all in the same neighborhood. We just aren't sure if we want to get into a mixed neighborhood or one where all the homes are aesthetically the same. One neighborhood in particular is Revolutionary Ridge which has this particular mix of home styles. When we drove through, though anyone that was outside at the time waved and seemed really pleasant.
Concord and Lexington are among the top public school systems in MA. Bedford is good, but not usually in the same category.
A recent Boston Globe bit noted that Carlisle has had significant price deflation since the real estate bubble. At the High School level, Carlisle feeds in Concord-Carlisle HS.
Carlisle would be a presumably more cost effective means of getting into that school system.
That being said, Bedford's a great little town, as are the others you've mentioned.
We moved to Bedford 8 years ago....bought a starter house on Glenridge Drive - near the Davis School area -- we looked for over 3 years for our next bigger house and moved to another house in Bedford -
We considered Lexington/Concord/Carlisle and decided to stay in Bedford due to it's excellent school system and smaller sized town cameraderie - I have to disagree with the Chelmsford comparison - Bedford schools have been ranked in the top ten for the past few years - it is also a fiscally responsible town...no million dollar high school re-do - - just good teaching and good efforts by all in the community
We love the town and I am happy to answer any questions you have about neighborhoods....The Revolutionary Ridge area is beautiful - but beware - many of the homes have not been updated since their original build date - and you would want to check on the age of the kitchens and baths...
The thing you will find about Bedford is that there is a great mix of backgrounds of the people - white collar, blue collar, working moms, stay at home moms etc.....it is a great community.
I have to disagree with the Chelmsford comparison - Bedford schools have been ranked in the top ten for the past few years.
Chelmsford High School is rated 9/10 at GreatSchools.org and Bedford High School is rated only 8/10. I know that those scores are based only on MCAS, so what qualities make Bedford schools better than Chelmsford schools?
I am working in bedford but currently living in the south, over 70 miles commuting daily. So tired of it. We are looking to move closer to my work place. But the housing market is picking up, it's such a tough process.
Just found a new listing on your street (Glenridge st). Any comments? I have two preschool kids. and my wife work in boston. She probally can take train from Concord to north station. and this home is just a couple miles away from my company. Other than that, I also see it's close to open arm preschool and Davis elementary.
I like the school system of bedford, which is among top 10 now (based on Boston Globe's new rankings).
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlcapo
We moved to Bedford 8 years ago....bought a starter house on Glenridge Drive - near the Davis School area -- we looked for over 3 years for our next bigger house and moved to another house in Bedford -
We considered Lexington/Concord/Carlisle and decided to stay in Bedford due to it's excellent school system and smaller sized town cameraderie - I have to disagree with the Chelmsford comparison - Bedford schools have been ranked in the top ten for the past few years - it is also a fiscally responsible town...no million dollar high school re-do - - just good teaching and good efforts by all in the community
We love the town and I am happy to answer any questions you have about neighborhoods....The Revolutionary Ridge area is beautiful - but beware - many of the homes have not been updated since their original build date - and you would want to check on the age of the kitchens and baths...
The thing you will find about Bedford is that there is a great mix of backgrounds of the people - white collar, blue collar, working moms, stay at home moms etc.....it is a great community.
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Glenridge st. in Bedford
