thinking of moving to boston area do we do it?? (Cambridge: real estate, military)

[vanessaj]

hi there i am from uk but have been living in luxembourg for 5 years. we are thinking of a move to boston as feel it would be a great move for our family. i have 3 children under 7 who have a great life here as its very quiet and they can speak german, life is very laid back also. however my husband and i feel we need something more. so is boston the place??? we have been looking at maybe buying a house in the walpole area as they have a new development there. so not really many questions but would love to hear your views on wether we should go for it and some info on walpole ie commute shopping schools etc!! my husband could possibly be transfered with his company so should be no prob getting there!

[brightdoglover]

Dunno about Walpole. There are certainly new developments in many areas equally far from the main city of Boston. I don't think Walpole is much diverse for Europeans or anyone,and it is far from the city.

[haberstroh]

I agree with previous post somewhat although we just moved to Walpole (from NJ). We speak German at home and I do meet Europeans every once in a while but it is not like Cambridge or Newton. So we play with our American friends and that is just fine :-).
There is one big advantage....this area is much more affordable then the top notch school districts in Lexington or Wellesley, Hingham or Concord. (There is not much more diversity there either though).
The new built houses I have seen in Walpole would probably cost over a Million in Westwood. ( I am not saying it is cheap here, Real Estate is still very pricey). But it all depends what you want and what you can afford. I do like Walpole very much now and I am glad we moved here. The elementary school my 7 year old goes to seems on top of everything and she likes it there. The town offers a lot of activities, especially for children. So check out my screen name or do a search on Walpole in this forum...there are several posts with details. And yes the town has a commuter train....the driving commute can sometimes be a hassle, you have to leave kinda early to beat traffic . (But show me a suburb that has no traffic issue, a lot are much worse). And when you get here we set up a playdate. :-)

[vanessaj]

hi thanks for your reply haberstroh. diversity wise its not a problem as we are an english family so speak english at home. the children speak german as they are in the local lux schools!! its the price of the new builds that is attracting us as as you say else where they seem to be over a million! we would hope to have about 800 if we can sell our house in england. we would prob rent first.wlapole just sounds like a great community and thats what we are used to living here. good to hear there is loads for the kids. is there a big supermarket etc nearby in the town or do you need to travel for that?

[haberstroh]

2 supermarkets right in town....shopping opportunities in MA in general are not as dense as let's say Northern NJ where we moved from. But you find every kind of store in a 30 minute radius from here. I assume Luxembourg is not packed with big box retailers either, so it should feel familiar. Do you actually go shopping in another country??? Just kidding.
About renting first and buying later I have a mixed feeling. Of course it is great to get to know the area very well and pick the exact neighborhood you would like to live in. But it also involves moving twice!!! And here in the States the kids usually have to go to the school that your street is assigned to (unless you go to private school). So it could happen that the kids have to change schools although you move within the same town, sometimes just a street over. Most kids don't like that very much and will be unhappy for a while. We have moved a lot in the past (husband was in military) and we have done every scenario. I prefer now to rather spend more time up-front doing my research and or even be separated from spouse for a while - instead of renting first and having to move twice. It just costs so much time, money and nerves to move a whole family!!! Boy I hope we never move again! Keep us posted on your decision or if you have more questions.

[MarsMary]

Hi, we are also a UK family looking to move to Walpole (although from Virginia)! We are going up to have a look in a couple of weeks, but have been encouraged by what we've found out about so far. In regard to living in the US in general, I think that there are lots of opportunites for children here, especially in sports and dance etc. So far we are attracted to Walpole as it seems to have a strong sense of community, something that we have really valued here in Virginia! If you want to swap notes on your thoughts about Walpole please get in touch. Good luck!

[vanessaj]

we have slight problem with buying first as the houses we are looking at are new build and will not be ready for a year or even more, but saying that it could take that long to get the move sorted as we have to wait for the job!! funny about luxembourg shopping it is so true!!! getting better but i always buy everything when i go home to england as actually have a choice there and hubby and i try to have yearly trip to new york in january for the sales!!
wlapole only came up because of the houses but the more i read about it the more i like the sound of it and just generally living in boston. just have to keep fingers crossed for a job now!! thought it best to do all our research and know we are serious before putting out the feelers but we have made our minds up and just praying it will happen. england is not such a good option now as so much more expensive that it was and we would prob have to downgrade to go back there.