N. Attleboro or Natick? (Boston, Framingham: house prices, safe neighborhood, middle school)

[nomadlifestyle]

My husband is likely to be commuting to Westwood. We would like a good elementary school, safe neighborhood and to be closer to shopping

Seems like the commute from either cities to Westwood is just about 30 mins. I like that there is Rt 1 and 95 to get to Westood coming from N. Attleboro. And how about Wrentham?

What do you guys think?

[ogre]

I'm not familar with N. Attleboro or Wrentham. Not being familiar with that area, I can't be sure of this, but I think the traffic may be worse from these towns than from Natick. During the morning commute from Wrentham or N. Attleboro, the entire drive would be in the direction of inbound toward Boston. After maybe the first third of the trip from Natick you'd be going more or less outbound, opposite the flow of what is most likely going to be the heaviest traffic, so traffic may make for an easier commute from Natick.

Again, I can't tell you about N. Attleboro or Wrentham, but you specifically mentioned elementary schools. The reputation I've heard of Natick's schools is that the elementary schools are good. However, if you're looking at the possibility of being there for enough years that your children would be out of elementary school, keep in mind that I've heard (strictly hearsay, but I've heard it from more than one person) that the middle school in Natick isn't as good as the elementary schools, and that the high school is an improvement over the middle school, but still not quite up to the level of the elementary schools. Keep in mind, though, that this is all relative, and the rating of some Natick schools as less than excellent is by the standards of the Boston suburbs, where generally the schools are really good.

Natick itself is suburban in character, with neighborhoods ranging from classic suburban subdivisions to older tree-shaded streets with Victorian houses. Downtown is nice and clean, with some basic stores and some quirky specialty businesses, but downtown does close up by early evening for the most part. There are also big malls and chain restaurants close by on the north side of town.

Hope this gets things started. Best of luck with finding the right place.

[findingmesomeday]

Why not just live in Westwood? The town is very nice and the schools are excellent.

[jln69]

Originally Posted by NChomesomeday

Why not just live in Westwood? The town is very nice and the schools are excellent.

I second. You also have Route 128 there at Westwood and you can be on Route 9 in a less than 10 minutes and have access to Chestnut Hill shopping and the Natick Framingham shopping. 128 the other way will take you to Braintree with all the shopping there. You will be closer to Boston as well from Westwood.

You will still have Route 1 and 95. You can get to Attleboro and Wrentham as well.

I think living in Westwood would provide you with the best of both worlds. You have a central location with access to everything and your husbands job is right there and the schools are excellent.

[ogre]

Living right in Westwood could be a really good idea, except for one catch: Median house prices there run 250k-300k higher than in the towns the OP asked about. If this fits the OP's budget, or if a bargain can be found, well, yeah, Westwood itself would be a fine place to live.