Final three suburbs Acton, Andover, Westborough, help us pick one - south asian family with kids (Chelmsford: real estate, homes)

[tamilgirl07]

https://pub.needlebase.com/actions/v...ank+Comparison

This is the website I used to compare the results.

We visited Shrewsbury and Westborough today. We really liked the town a lot. I think we will visiting acton in couple of weeks. Basically it boils down to north of boston or metro west. Is there a strong reason to favor Andover over Acton or westborough. Anyone familiar with either of the town your comments please??

[kmann-sherborn]

re: school rankings, Westboro is a top 20 school according to Boston Magazine last year. They didn't include it this year because they only included school systems within Rt 495.

I grew up in Westboro & am quite fond of it, although I could do without the traffic at the town center. Personally I think Andover & Westborough have more to offer than Acton but Acton is also close to Concord, which has lots of great things to do & a lovely town center. Many of my clients who have checked out those towns end up in Westboro or Andover simply because they didn't feel so far away or "sleepy". At least that's the feedback I've gotten. Andover & Westboro taxes are quite high though.

Acton tax rate 18.08
Andover tax rate 14.12
Westborough 18.24

Feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions.

[tamilgirl07]

Originally Posted by kmann-sherborn

re: school rankings, Westboro is a top 20 school according to Boston Magazine last year. They didn't include it this year because they only included school systems within Rt 495.

I grew up in Westboro & am quite fond of it, although I could do without the traffic at the town center. Personally I think Andover & Westborough have more to offer than Acton but Acton is also close to Concord, which has lots of great things to do & a lovely town center. Many of my clients who have checked out those towns end up in Westboro or Andover simply because they didn't feel so far away or "sleepy". At least that's the feedback I've gotten. Andover & Westboro taxes are quite high though.

Acton tax rate 18.08
Andover tax rate 14.12
Westborough 18.24

Feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions.

Town center is not a big thing in our list now. Just basically family oriented town with kids activities, multicultural, friendly people and excellent schools. Also we want to rent a townhouse or single family for this year with a budget around $1700-$2000 including utilities.

We cannot afford lexington, then what I think is if we cannot afford the best the second best in schools is Acton, then why not choose that??

[sblumberg]

It sounds like you are using one year of test result data at the high school level (your children are 5 and 2), summarized by a source that is questionable - given that it is scrubbing data from the Boston Magazine study which is also questionable. They are removing Boston Magazines weighting and doing a ranking based strictly on MCAS results. MCAS results vary from year to year depending on how the students test so the ranking that you are basing your decision on changes from year to year.

I think it is hard to make a decision and these lists sometimes give validation that you are making a good choice. Honestly, I think the best choice will be to focus on the top tier schools and not get too hung up on 1 vs. 2, and find a town that you and your family can afford and will feel the happiest in. But that is just my opinion.

[MA2NC2012]

I completely agree with sblumberg. This rankings are of this present/past year and are no way guaranteed to be the same for next 10 years It does not mean that Acton will end up in top 10 from the bottom but who knows how it will be in next 10 years...

Also, I am not sure what is reasonable commute for you and your husband. But i have guys working for me & with me who commute from Acton to downtown Boston (financial district). They are always stressed out about the long commute ( 1 hour minimum one way!!) and most of them have to sacrifice a lot of quality time just in commute.

Originally Posted by sblumberg

It sounds like you are using one year of test result data at the high school level (your children are 5 and 2), summarized by a source that is questionable - given that it is scrubbing data from the Boston Magazine study which is also questionable. They are removing Boston Magazines weighting and doing a ranking based strictly on MCAS results. MCAS results vary from year to year depending on how the students test so the ranking that you are basing your decision on changes from year to year.

I think it is hard to make a decision and these lists sometimes give validation that you are making a good choice. Honestly, I think the best choice will be to focus on the top tier schools and not get too hung up on 1 vs. 2, and find a town that you and your family can afford and will feel the happiest in. But that is just my opinion.

[gf2020]

sblumberg hit the nail on the head. You're putting too much stock in Internet rankings. You're looking to rent so I would just find the nicest rental you can in any of your short list towns, you can't go wrong with any of them.

With children at age 5 and 2 you have several years to decide where you really want to be. For what it's worth, I grew up in Westborough in the 70s and 80s. It was a great town to grow up in then, but I do not and would not live there now. Too much traffic and the property taxes are astronomical. There are plenty of other so called "top 20 or top 30" towns that offer commensurate services at a lower cost of ownership.

[tamilgirl07]

Thank you all for the replies. I am going to schedule visits to schools to finalize our place. On the other note when I look at he single family houses in mls why is it that more than half of them have active offers on them in 350000 to 500000 range in andover and none or very less in acton or westborough. Is it andover considered hot market for houses?? Just curious,

thanks

[Celtic44]

I grew up in Andover (moved there in early 70's) with parents still there and have been living in Acton for 4 years. Here's my take: Both are great towns. Andover is a little more upscale, feels bigger, better downtown. Phillips Academy is a great attraction and adds to the overall cache of the town...PA kids and Andover kids don't really interact much...Acton is 'on the rise' in my point of view...1/3 less people than Andover..less dense/smaller overall town. Very nice, family friendly feel here although I do feel like its more 'suburban' than Andover. Having attended Andover schools, definitely can be clique (sp) and I've heard nothing but rave reviews about Acton..some of my friends from Andover moved to Acton and say it is 'andover 25 years ago.' My take is this area will continue to get better (more amenities, improved shopping, etc.) over time. However, I like it the way it is...not a ton of traffic..easy to get places...if you need to go to Boston..driving wise Andover is a bit more direct and probably total of 10 - 15 min closer...looked at Westborough when we were looking and thought it was cute but too far for us..

[495neighbor]

I live in Acton. Acton has a well established Indian population. Most of Acton's Indian residents live in North Acton. There are many townhouses and condominiums in this area of town. There is even a popular Indian restaurant (American style) Monsoon and an Indian grocery on route 2A, the main road in this area of town. With your budget, you will have your pick of what's available for rent. The school system allows you to choose from five different elementary schools. The schools have different teaching methods. You can find out from other parents and the teachers themselves which school may be perfect for your children.

Westborough/Southborough also has many residents from India. I've heard Westborough has a very good Y for family recreation. Westborough would be the better commute to the financial district/South Station. The proximity of the Sri Lakshmi temple in nearby Ashland makes this a popular destination as well.

Both Westborough and Acton have many professionals American-born and newcomers. Westborough tends to be more engineers and businesspeople. Acton leans a bit more academic (think Harvard and MIT).

Another area to consider would be North Waltham, which also has an established Indian population. North Waltham is part of the Lexington High School system. You can ask realtors and the school for more details on which streets this would cover. North Waltham houses Bentley College and is very residential, not anywhere as urban as the other parts of Waltham. It would cost much less to live in Waltham than Lexington. This would also be centrally localized, with no more than a 30 minute ride, to all of those locations you are teaching languages classes at. For your husband's Boston commute, he could easily drive to either the Riverside green line stop (large outdoor lot) or Woodland (large garaged lot).

Andover, I think not much diversity, worst commute to South Station.

[tamilgirl07]

Thank you all for the replies. After considering all the factors right now we are almost 90% towards sharon based on commute to boston. IF we don't get rental property in our budget we are keeping westborough as our back up plan.