Would moving to Melrose be a mistake? (Boston, Cambridge: appointed, real estate)

[zsd]

Contemplating a move to Melrose with three young kids. I like the proximity to Boston but with the small-town feel, and the price seems reasonable compared to other suburban communities around Boston. We would love to live in Brookline or Newton but cannot afford to. We also like Arlington, but we may not be able to afford that either. Don't want anything more urban than those places. The critical factor is the public schools. Can anyone comment on Melrose schools?

Other things that are important to us are walk-ability to some shops and restaurants, and a reasonable amount of family-friendly community vibe. Melrose may not be a dream, but it seems like a decent compromise given our financial limits (looking to rent for a few years at around $1600/mo., then hopefully buy something under 400k).

Basically, I have gleaned as much information as I can about Melrose from impersonal statistical sources, so I am hoping someone can offer personal insight on what life is like in Melrose.

Thank you!

[brianbeach85]

I have been going up to MA every month for the past 3 years and I stay with a friend who lives in Melrose. He lives in the Oak Grove Village Apartments. I love staying there since it is a quick walk from the T station, and it is a quick walk to Main St. It is very charming in Melrose. Lot's of shops, food, and scenery. The lake with the ducks is beautiful. It is a perfect balance of urban and suburban- safe, great air, relaxing, yet tons of amenities in walking distance.

As for schools- I have no clue.

[zsd]

Thanks! That's what I was hoping to hear about the urban/suburban balance. I have one other question about the area that maybe you can answer. Are you aware of any areas or neighborhoods in Melrose that you would consider not-so-desirable, particularly in terms of safety?

[verbcrunch]

I think you can read the police log online through the Melrose Free Press, Boston Globe/Melrose, or Melrose Patch. I always see incidents near Swains Pond Road. In general, the closer to Malden you get, the more urban it feels. While there's no part of Melrose that I find "unsafe", I wouldn't want to live too close to Oak Grove unless it was at the new Oak Grove Village development there. The northern side of Melrose, especially the Highlands, is very nice. It's a quick ride into Boston from there on the commuter rail. Melrose has many new restaurants and shops; and the Bohemian Coffeehouse on W Emerson Ave makes the world's best muffins and brews amazing coffee. It's a great little town. The schools so far seem fine, they're ranked slightly above state average.

[wivenhoe]

I think Melrose has a lot going for it. The schools are decent. Your kids can actually walk to school. There seems to be tons of families in the town. The town center is attractive and has a Starbucks, CVS, Shaw's, restaurants, YMCA, and many other ordinary shops. It's got great access to Boston with three commuter rail train stations and buses. The city seems to be managed well or at least not in a budget crisis like some other towns or cities.

In order to get the cheaper housing, ie. below $400K or $300K, you need to move away from Boston, Cambridge, and Rt 9/MA Pike. There is usually a correlation between public school systems and the cost of housing. Weston, for one, has the most expensive housing in MA and is considered the top school system as well. The problem, for some of us, is that you cannot buy anything under $400K in Weston, even if you wanted to live there.

Other places like Concord and Lexington have top public school systems with the high cost for housing as well. Yet, there are condos on the market in Concord, Lexington, or even Belmont for under $300-400K. So the question becomes - do you want the condo in the more affluent town or the single-family house in the less expensive town in Melrose or elsewhere?

So your question is two-fold - housing and schools. Where can you get your children in the best school system within your budget. Melrose may be an option and something to consider. I'd suggest looking at Reading, Wakefield, Stoneham, Danvers, Swampscott, Marblehead, Sharon, Dedham, Norwood, Walpole, Milton, Wayland, Sudbury, Natick, and other places if you're not restricted to an area or stuck on the Melrose per se? Sometimes, it helps to pin down an area by what you don't like or what you're not willing to compromise on.

I guess I'm asking what your priority is? Do you have flexibility with the area and commuting? Do you prefer the more urban environment like Melrose to a more suburban town like Stoneham, for instance?

Additionally, I'd say to consider looking beyond public school systems and rankings. It's easy to obsess and fret over a town's scores. I've done it myself and I've only got one child who just recently turned 5! MCAS scores are not the be and end all, except possibly in terms of real estate it seems. I could write a book about the problems with MCAS scores; of course other people actually have.

Private schools (and I'm not talking Belmont Hill School or BBN), charter schools, or others may be viable and even preferable options to the public school systems. I think if you're a resident in Melrose, your children are eligible to attend the Mystic Valley Regional Charter School, but you'll have to verify this information. It would require some research and legwork, but it may payoff for you. Likewise, some private schools offer substantial discounts for siblings (i.e. 40-50% off).

To be honest, we had Melrose high on our list for possible places to move. We're temporarily renting in Waltham until our co-op in NYC sells but will be moving within a month to Salem as we were able to get a slot for our son in private school and we'll be able to get housing within our budget. Still, we were very tempted by Melrose and debated about moving there as well.

So I'd say keep looking until you are content with finding the right school or school system and housing within your budget.

[zsd]

I really appreciate your input. All those fancy towns you mention are pretty much out of the question. Even I could afford a tiny little spot, I don't think I'd want to raise my family in an environment where we constantly feel deprived. Melrose originally made my list because of several factors - easy to get to Boston (where I currently work), not too far from Brookline (where my mother lives) and Billerica (where I have other family), and because it seems to have to a pretty decent level of culture and activities while still retaining a small-town feel. I have lived in major cities and no longer want to deal with the noise, crowds, and crime. However, I am used to easy accessibility to restaurants, shops, movies, etc., and I don't really want to have to give all that up. Melrose seems like a good balance.

I hear you loud and clear about obsessing over MCAS scores. That's why I was hoping to get some insight from people who may have experiences with Melrose schools. I realize the district ranks a bit above average based on test scores alone. But is there more to the story? Would I be wrong to dismiss the school system based on these statistics, or do they pretty much sum up the schools' performance?

[wivenhoe]

I completely understand about the housing. That's one of the reasons why we looked at Melrose too and will be soon moving to Salem. The housing is significantly lower and you don't feel like a pauper or destitute. We started off looking at Wayland, Sudbury, Lexington, Arlington, and nearby swanky towns before looking at Melrose and the North Shore.

I can't answer your question about Melrose's MCAS scores or about the school system, except to say I heard they've got a gifted and talented program if it's any consolation to you or makes a difference since you're in Brookline now. Hopefully, someone with more knowledge on Melrose can answer your question about the school system.

I think Melrose does have a lot going for it and agree that it seems like a good balance. It sounds like we had similar lists for why we liked Melrose.

[zsd]

Thank you very much for the info - and you're right, your criteria sounds very similar, which is reassuring. I was starting to think that I was the only one who was searching for such a specific group of attributes in a single town that what I was looking for might not even exist! Best of luck in Salem!

[Beantown_mama]

I've lived in Melrose for 10 years and I have young kids in the elementary schools. Before we had kids, we loved living in Melrose - it was a great commute to Boston/Cambridge where we worked, a very walkable town, nice restaurants, 3 commuter rail stops and a T stop, a symphony, a running club - you name it, it was there for us. When we had kids we were worried that we weren't in a top notch school district but by then we had friends that had been sending their kids to the schools and we thought we might as well try - we could always move to a more expensive district (due to money saved by living in Melrose, we actually, 10 years later, can afford to live in Winchester or Lexington). I have to say, so far, I have had nothing but good things to say about the schools too. Our kids can walk to school (there are no busses), the schools are safe, a few are new, they have great afterschool programs, caring teachers. And Melrose is just a wonderful town for families - from the Melrose Family Room and the North Suburban Children's network for really young kids, to the sports leagues, the town socials (they have parties in all the parks over the summer where they give slushies out), to the movies in the Middle School, the many parks (I think there are something like a dozen parks at least), and access to the Stone Zoo and the Middlesex Fells reservation, it has just been a wonderful town to raise a family.

[zsd]

Thank you for sharing your experience. From what I have seen in Melrose, I feel fairly confident that I would enjoy living there, but it's the school system that still concerned me. It's hard not to get sucked in (or suckered) by test score rankings. Since Melrose seems to rank decently, but not great, my fear is that I will be disappointed and dissatisfied with the schools. I want my kids to have a fairly rigorous education, good enough so that they can reasonably compete in the world, but I don't want them to turn into neurotic grade-obsessed over-achievers either. Sounds like you and your kids have so far been satisfied. Do you find that the Melrose schools encourages art and other "extras" that tend to get cut back in budget crises?

Has anyone else out there had similar positive experiences with the Melrose schools - or conversely, negative experiences?