Is Worcester really that bad? (Shrewsbury, Webster: condo, crime rates, home search)

[eagles08]

I also meant to mention that there are a few good restaurants in the area - just to keep in mind when you live in the area. Shrewsbury Street has some good ones and the Northworks on Grove Street is great! Fun atmosphere and the menu has something for everyone, from salads to steaks and seafood. A little more upscale/pricier includes the Sole Proprietor and Chop House.

[Fearringtonflash]

Originally Posted by bingo08

I would not buy in Worcester, you need resale value and you won't get it there.

Check out the surronding towns, just work there, live elsewhere.

If you are going to live west of the Boston area, I would suggest Lincoln or Weston. Not too far from Worcester, but somewhat more pleasant.

[mytimenow]

---Went to school in Worcester in the 70's -- while working in Lexington! Lincoln and Weston are quite a distance from Worcester and access, if I remember correctly is from Rt 2 or Rt 290 - quite a roundabout way to get there -- not fun in the winter. Lincoln and Weston are very nice, very expensive towns, nothing against them, just a hike from Worcester.

[brightdoglover]

If you are going to live west of the Boston area, I would suggest Lincoln or Weston."

Heh- when I'm reborn as a princess heiress, maybe I'll live in Lincoln or Weston, too! There are all sorts of places in between Worcester and the most expensive area in the state- Weston. Namely, everything in between. Except for maybe Fitchburg, I can't think of any place less desirable to live between Worcester and "west of Boston."
Lotsa leeway.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

In the early 90s I lived in Worcester, just off Park Ave. I awoke one night to find a strange man standing over my husband and I, we were both completely naked because the area was having a heat wave at the time. He had broken through the screen door to come in. We found out later he had previously been in and taken my purse and my husband's wallet and taken them out to our car, broken into that and left the purse there.

When he came back in he woke me up, I started screaming, woke my husband up, he got up, totally naked and ran after him with a peice of firewood in his hand.

In spite of this confrontation, the man came back and broke in the apartment upstairs. We were later to find out he had broken into some cars sitting out front as well.

I am sure there are better parts of Worcester then where we were living, we didn't have much money but I would be VERY careful about where you choose to live.

[MammaLakn]

I would not buy property in Worcester either.

Depending on what you are looking for/how long you are willing to commute there are many areas around Worcester to live in.

Grafton and Oxford are nice.

I LOVE Sturbridge and The Brookfields. It still falls under Central MA, 20 - 30 mins from Worcester depending on your location. Houses are affordable, schools are excellent. We just sold our house in Brookfield -7 yr old 1800 sq feet colonial on nearly 2 acres for under $290K. We moved to North Carolina two wks ago and Im miserable.

[Greendale]

I guess I will be going against the grain here, but I have lived in Worcester for about 20 years after growing up in the suburbs & we love it. We live in a great neighborhood, paid a great price for a very nice house that would have cost 100k more in Holden or Shrewsbury. Sure there are some bad neighborhoods but it is a city. I go to the YMCA on Main st 3-4 time a week & have never had any problems. As far as the schools go my 2 children have been in public schools thier whole life & have done very well. My son is a senior in High School & has gotten some scholarship offers from some very good schools.

[MAtoNC!]

www.wbjournal.com - Housing Market Woes Hit Worcester County Hard

[Roadismyhome]

I am one of those people that has a love/hate relationship with the city of Worcester:

I love that I don't live there.
I hate that I spend so much time there.

Yes, the Shrewsbury street neighborhood is very nice. The west side is actually quite decent. Talking with people from the city, I get the impression that the "west" side folks aren't well liked by those in the rest of the city. Then again, I also get the impression that most of the folks in the city think that driving 10 miles away from their home is a difficult, catastrophic event.

Main south is the notorious neighborhood of the city. The irony there is that Clark University is essentially right in the heart of it, so what you have there is either your cast of unfortunates, or out of state college students.

Over the past few years, the big interest in the area has been creating condos out of nearly everything. The CitySquare project was supposed to bring new jobs into the area, but as far as I can tell, that project has been stalled for quite some time.

There are many colleges in the area: Clark, WPI, Assumption, Worcester State, UMass, MCPHS, Becker, Anna Maria, Holy Cross

The city is relatively easy to access from the surrounding communities, though route 9 can be a complete pita at times.

With so many options in nearby towns, I wouldn't consider buying in the city unless there was some truly great financial incentive to do so.

[GLPman]

I think there are definitely parts of Worcester that are quite nice but, at the same time, there are many areas that are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Sadly, I think the area is getting much worse than it used to be - it hasn't caught up to Springfield, though. Yet.