From Dallas to Massachusetts...plenty of dilemmas (Boston, Worcester: rentals, houses)

[rooch]

I'm fairly close to accepting an offer to work near Athol, MA. I had doubted I would really take this job due to location but have had a change of heart I guess somewhat.

Just to give some perspective...I have a family of 4. (Wife and myself both 30 years old, Daughter 9, Son, 3.) We're from Detroit, lived in Milwaukee, Marietta, GA, Wichita, KS, now suburban Dallas.

We're looking to rent a 3 or 4 Bedroom house but I have no clue where to live. Schools of course will be important with children. We'd also like for them to not be an extreme minority (i.e. the only black kids in their schools for example) if possible (this may or may not even be achievable) People from work mention Amherst, but I shudder at the thought to live in a college town. I looked at Springfield but that looked pretty dumpy and the schools seemed bad there. Plus we need to be semi-close to an actual city. So now I've started looking towards Boston.

Hopkinton, Framingham, Marlborough, I guess these places seem fine. I am trying to 'split the baby' here in case my wife has to work somewhere towards the city of Boston. I don't mind driving, plus I have family in Lynn, so this would get me closer to them than staying in Western Mass. I'm even open to Nashua, NH potentially for the lesser taxes.

I'd like to pay maybe $2200 tops for rent. Bad thing is, searching rentals seems fairly tough out there--craigslist and realtor.com I've been using, but they've been sparse on good homes.

We would like something like this that we found in Ashby...but NOT in Ashby.

136 Turnpike Rd Ashby MA - Home for Rent - MLS #71354099 - Realtor.com®

[thenewtexan]

Athol is nothing like the rest of MA, and is a very economically depressed area. You will be in for a co mmute. NH has less taxes, but like Texas, you will get hit hard with property taxes. You definitely want to avoid Springfield. Keep in mind that in MA, "diversity" combined with "great schools" is hard to come by. In a desirable school district, your kids might not be the only black kids, but will be among the very few, and rentals might not be available. You mentioned Marlboro, which might fit the bill. Hopkinton has outstanding schools but is NOT diverse. Framingham schools are not great. Some rentals might be available in Westboro. Believe me, the fact that you are willing to drive a distance, opens up a lot of opportunities. Based on ths potential situation situation with your wife, I would start with Marlboro or Westboro. Marlboro is more diverse, but Westboro is smaller, and schools are better.

[brightdoglover]

Nashua to near-Athol isn't a commute, it's a marathon. I think whatever improvement in taxes would be well offset by the impossible drive, plus, what taxes? If you make income in Mass., you have to pay Mass. taxes, as far as I know.
Concur that there aren't many diverse school settings, never mind good ones. The black population of Massachusetts, percentage-wise, is much lower than the other places OP has lived (I believe the Boston percentage is about 12 percent black, and that's more than the rest of the state, whereas the places OP has lived have a much higher percentage of black residents).
That said, I don't think there would be a lot of racism in most Mass. towns- I don't think it's a big issue, although I can't say from experience.
Is the commute from Northhampton to near- Athol OK? I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss a college area, given the possibility of diversity and general liberalism out in the middle of the state. It's not like tens of thousands of undergrads, Northhampton is a place in and of itself.
Best wishes to OP. Keep us posted.

[massnative71]

Ayer, MA at least had a small black population and OK schools (this could have changed due to the closing down of Fort Devens). Look at Leominster as well. Again, mostly white but it's not like they will be the only minorities around. Marlboro and Westboro are way too far, Nashua same thing. Forget about NH haing lower taxes. If you work in MA you pay income taxes to MA, and property taxes in NH are considerably higher. It will be a lose lose.

And also like Brightdoglover said don't completely brush off Amherst and Northhampton, they aren't like the midwest/southern college towns (at least if you can stand the crunchy liberalism lol).

[ogre]

To follow up on Thenewtexan's thoughts on the tax tradeoff in New Hampshire--high property taxes in exchange for little income tax--you really don't want to live in NH for tax advantages since you'll be working in MA. With that arrangement you'd have to pay MA income tax. Combine that with NH property taxes (and even if you're renting, this can affect the rent the landlord has to charge to make a profit), and you get the worst of both worlds.

However, you may not want to completely drop NH as a possibility. It depends on the property. Even though most towns in NH have high property tax rates, the actual tax may be on a par with what you'd pay in many towns in MA, especially closer to Boston, because the property valuations in many MA towns are so high that a lower millage rate on a higher valuation may add up to a similar net tax. Beyond that, I don't know how the schools are in Nashua, and in NH you will also run into the same situation as in MA, with most towns' populations being nearly all white. In much of New England you'll find that significant non-white populations will be found mostly in a number of cities, as well as some suburbs of Boston here and there. This means you may have to decide what tradeoff to make, because many of the cities don't have the greatest schools, and as you get close to Boston the housing costs get high, plus of course you'd have a long commute.

It's not splitting the difference if you're wife ends up working closer to Boston, but if you still might consider the vicinity of Amherst in the right town, you might take a look at Northampton. Northampton is a college town, but not in the way that Amherst is. It depends on what you dislike about college towns. You'll find college-town left-wing politics in Northampton, but not nearly the kind of rowdy-drunken-students-everywhere atmosphere there is in Amherst, so if it's more the general college atmosphere you don't like about college towns, maybe N'hampton could be a possibility. Downtown N'hampton can get a presence of students at night, because the town is a center of social life for students in the local area, but there is only one small college actually present in the town, so you don't have local neighborhoods filled with partying students as you'll find in Amherst, and the general sense in N'hampton is that there actually is a real town that does not exist solely to serve the needs of college students.

Closer to Boston, I wouldn't totally write off Framingham. While the schools there may not have a sterling reputation, they are not known for being really bad either. I don't have personal experience with their schools, but based on reputation I would not ordinarily recommend F'ham to someone who had top-tier schools as the highest priority. Given your criteria, and the way some of them are tough to meet all in one town in MA, I would at least recommend that you consider Framingham as a town where there's not a huge black population but where your children would also not be the only black kids in school.

[missionhill]

I would think Framingham a great town for people seeking a diverse community--it has the whole spectrum income-wise, and is definitely not all white. However, you'd have a killer commute from Framingham, even from Marlborough. I would consider Amherst, Pelham, Belchertown, Leverett, Wendell. Pretty white, but much more affordable than in eastern Mass. Amherst and Belchertown are bigger, more suburban, with Amherst being a college town but a very nice one with great schools. Leverett, Wendell, Sunderland, and thereabouts are much more rural but have lots of well-meaning, liberal, craftsy, granola-ish people. From some of those towns it's an easy (and very scenic) drive up 202 through the Quabbin reservation to Athol.

[Boston_Burbs]

Originally Posted by rooch

I'm fairly close to accepting an offer to work near Athol, MA. I had doubted I would really take this job due to location but have had a change of heart I guess somewhat.

Just to give some perspective...I have a family of 4. (Wife and myself both 30 years old, Daughter 9, Son, 3.) We're from Detroit, lived in Milwaukee, Marietta, GA, Wichita, KS, now suburban Dallas.

We're looking to rent a 3 or 4 Bedroom house but I have no clue where to live. Schools of course will be important with children. We'd also like for them to not be an extreme minority (i.e. the only black kids in their schools for example) if possible (this may or may not even be achievable) People from work mention Amherst, but I shudder at the thought to live in a college town. I looked at Springfield but that looked pretty dumpy and the schools seemed bad there. Plus we need to be semi-close to an actual city. So now I've started looking towards Boston.

Hopkinton, Framingham, Marlborough, I guess these places seem fine. I am trying to 'split the baby' here in case my wife has to work somewhere towards the city of Boston. I don't mind driving, plus I have family in Lynn, so this would get me closer to them than staying in Western Mass. I'm even open to Nashua, NH potentially for the lesser taxes.

I'd like to pay maybe $2200 tops for rent. Bad thing is, searching rentals seems fairly tough out there--craigslist and realtor.com I've been using, but they've been sparse on good homes.

We would like something like this that we found in Ashby...but NOT in Ashby.

136 Turnpike Rd Ashby MA - Home for Rent - MLS #71354099 - Realtor.com®

Yea I wouldn't live in Athol, MA. Very depressed and a bit sketchy.

I would look at Leominster. The schools a decent but also diverse. You are decently close to your job but your wife has options for work on the 495, 95 and in Worcester.

[brightdoglover]

Remember the diversity in central Mass, like Leominster, is likely Brazilian and Hispanic. Leominster borders Fitchburg, which has a large Hispanic population (but no one would want their kids in those schools).

[thenewtexan]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Remember the diversity in central Mass, like Leominster, is likely Brazilian and Hispanic. Leominster borders Fitchburg, which has a large Hispanic population (but no one would want their kids in those schools).

Exactly, and the real diversity is in small pockets in the area. Worcester, Fitchburg, Southbridge, Leominster (to a lesser degree), Clinton (slightly), and Gardner (also slightly). None of those towns have schools to write home about. Almost all of the other towns in Worcester County/Central MA are vanilla white.

[rooch]

Thanks for the responses...I came back here and couldn't find my thread a week ago and thought it was deleted or I violated some rule or something! Then I got an email stating it had replies.

So yes, more specifically, the job is in Orange, MA. Great 6 figure opportunity and I'm excited about it.

The area? Still so so on it but trying to come around. My wife and I took a visit last weekend and stopped and looked at houses. The neighborhoods are markedly different from Texas to Mass. I didn't see a ton of new development like there is here. You can pretty much find rentals here built in the past 5 years that are sparkling new. There, the homes are not only older but the exterior often LOOKS older and weathered.

We've driven around and I think Worcester/Lunenberg/Holden/Leominster will likely be where we land. Those places seem okay...well okay enough. Worcester seems to have plenty of things to do and isn't too far from Boston to drive or take the train in for events and to see family.

I'm still not quite 100% sold but I think it'll grow on me. Can't be that bad. Ironically I was reading slate.com and they rated Mass the best state in the union in terms of wealth, mortality, health and a variety of other factors.