Congrats Longmeadow (Boston, Worcester, Springfield: low income, for sale, apartments)

[Steephill2]

Named in yet another one of these ranking websites(the source is from a jobs/career website that supposedly used seven criterias to rank)as the "happiest" town in MA, whatever that means. But congrats nevertheless.

Rounding out top ten includes the likes of Winchester, Needham, Lynnfield, Reading, Sharon, Wellesley. Worst from the list of 115 include Boston, Malden, Bridgewater, Brockton, Chelsea, although something tells me the people occupying all these new condo developments in downtown Boston are pretty happy.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Steephill2

Named in yet another one of these ranking websites(the source is from a jobs/career website that supposedly used seven criterias to rank)as the "happiest" town in MA, whatever that means. But congrats nevertheless.

Rounding out top ten includes the likes of Winchester, Needham, Lynnfield, Reading, Sharon, Wellesley. Worst from the list of 115 include Boston, Malden, Bridgewater, Brockton, Chelsea, although something tells me the people occupying all these new condo developments in downtown Boston are pretty happy.

Happiest? Well, if that's true, then congrats are certainly in order. Longmeadow was always compared with Newton for test scores. It's sunk a bit but I can remember when it was always vying with Newton (was #1) on those achievement tests. The high school is more like a private school so I don't even know why people bother sending their kids to private schools instead of the excellent Longmeadow schools.

If money can buy happiness then that could be the reason Longmeadowites are so happy. But it is a picturesque town, quiet, hardly any crime that I can remember, has a gorgeous town green with the perfect white church--and supposedly the golden rooster on top was made by Paul Revere--but maybe that was only a rumor. Mostly residential, in fact, zoning prohibited much commercialism. The new high school has everything--it's a great town if you can afford to live there. Personally, I think it would be highly rated for having successful residents and East Longmeadow would be rated for just plain happiness, being more down to earth. But maybe Longmeadow people will be happy knowing that they are happy.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Happiest? Well, if that's true, then congrats are certainly in order. Longmeadow was always compared with Newton for test scores. It's sunk a bit but I can remember when it was always vying with Newton (was #1) on those achievement tests. The high school is more like a private school so I don't even know why people bother sending their kids to private schools instead of the excellent Longmeadow schools.

If money can buy happiness then that could be the reason Longmeadowites are so happy. But it is a picturesque town, quiet, hardly any crime that I can remember, has a gorgeous town green with the perfect white church--and supposedly the golden rooster on top was made by Paul Revere--but maybe that was only a rumor. Mostly residential, in fact, zoning prohibited much commercialism. The new high school has everything--it's a great town if you can afford to live there. Personally, I think it would be highly rated for having successful residents and East Longmeadow would be rated for just plain happiness, being more down to earth. But maybe Longmeadow people will be happy knowing that they are happy.

I was curious and looked at houses for sale - seems pretty cheap to me! The average price of a house there is about the same as the average down payment on a house in a top 10 suburb in the Boston area. I wonder if Boston area people ever move there and buy a house with cash. Then take a lower-paying job to pay the bills and enjoy a low stress happy life.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by Parsec

I was curious and looked at houses for sale - seems pretty cheap to me! The average price of a house there is about the same as the average down payment on a house in a top 10 suburb in the Boston area. I wonder if Boston area people ever move there and buy a house with cash. Then take a lower-paying job to pay the bills and enjoy a low stress happy life.

The problem is there aren't all that many jobs out there and if you happen to find one and then lose said job it could take a very long time to find a new one.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by Dm84

The problem is there aren't all that many jobs out there and if you happen to find one and then lose said job it could take a very long time to find a new one.

I was half joking because salaries in the Boston area are higher than in the Springfield area. Springfield doesn't have many jobs, but Longmeadow is within commuting distance to both Hartford and Worcester which opens up more job opportunities.

But my question still stands - there are many people in the Boston area who are mid-career and stressed out. Many decide to take a paycut and move South where housing costs are cheaper. I wonder why we don't hear of more people moving to Western Mass if they still have family in the area so they are still a quick drive away? This only applies to those who have been in their Boston-area homes for a while and have enough equity to buy a house with cash in a nice suburb in Western Mass.

[Boston_Burbs]

Originally Posted by Parsec

I was half joking because salaries in the Boston area are higher than in the Springfield area. Springfield doesn't have many jobs, but Longmeadow is within commuting distance to both Hartford and Worcester which opens up more job opportunities.

But my question still stands - there are many people in the Boston area who are mid-career and stressed out. Many decide to take a paycut and move South where housing costs are cheaper. I wonder why we don't hear of more people moving to Western Mass if they still have family in the area so they are still a quick drive away? This only applies to those who have been in their Boston-area homes for a while and have enough equity to buy a house with cash in a nice suburb in Western Mass.

Boston_Burbs dream is to wooo one of the 5 colleges in Amherst with my crazy Boston job market skills and buy a house for cash in Hadley, bike to work, and enjoy a $10/thousand tax rate on a $250-$300k house, and get tuition assistance for my kids to go to college.

If they are wicked smart they can get into Deerfield which would be subsidized by my wicked low income.

Now only to convince my wife!

Seriously though, jobs are hard to come by and the commute to Hartford is pretty underrated in how terrible it is. Most people I knew growing up worked at Mass Mutual, Baystate, Smith and Wesson, Monsanto, or in CT. And Hartford is not that is used to be.

[in_newengland]

Neither Hartford nor Springfield are what they used to be. Longmeadow people are often doctors, dentists, lawyers, CPAs and they used to be executive types. I don't know what companies they'd be president of these days now that Hartford and Springfield are just about gone.

I don't think it's so much that Longmeadow (or even Northampton) prices are low, it's more like Boston area prices are out of sight.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by in_newengland

Neither Hartford nor Springfield are what they used to be. Longmeadow people are often doctors, dentists, lawyers, CPAs and they used to be executive types. I don't know what companies they'd be president of these days now that Hartford and Springfield are just about gone.

I don't think it's so much that Longmeadow (or even Northampton) prices are low, it's more like Boston area prices are out of sight.

Don't count Hartford out quite yet. It is still the largest employment center in the state and one of the largest in New England with more than 112,000 jobs. It is still the Insurance Capital with many of the major employers like Aetna and Travelers bringing jobs back into the city. It still has by far the largest amount of Actuarial jobs in the country. Downtown Hartford is booming with new apartments that are renting about as quickly as they are being built. And with UConn and Trinity opening campuses downtown, along with the already added St. Joseph's campus, there will be more young people around than ever before. Add to it entertainment venues like Infinity Hall, the XL Center and the new Dunkin Donuts Baseball Park, and a new Hard Rock Hotel, Hartford is becoming a great place to live in and visit. Hardly at death's door as was noted by you and Boston_burbs. Jay

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Don't count Hartford out quite yet. It is still the largest employment center in the state and one of the largest in New England with more than 112,000 jobs. It is still the Insurance Capital with many of the major employers like Aetna and Travelers bringing jobs back into the city. It still has by far the largest amount of Actuarial jobs in the country. Downtown Hartford is booming with new apartments that are renting about as quickly as they are being built. And with UConn and Trinity opening campuses downtown, along with the already added St. Joseph's campus, there will be more young people around than ever before. Add to it entertainment venues like Infinity Hall, the XL Center and the new Dunkin Donuts Baseball Park, and a new Hard Rock Hotel, Hartford is becoming a great place to live in and visit. Hardly at death's door as was noted by you and Boston_burbs. Jay

That's what I thought. I was under the impression that Hartford was undergoing a renaissance of sorts. It may not be a nice place to live downtown, but it does have many nice suburbs.

[in_newengland]

Originally Posted by Parsec

That's what I thought. I was under the impression that Hartford was undergoing a renaissance of sorts. It may not be a nice place to live downtown, but it does have many nice suburbs.

He's talking about downtown Hartford making a comeback, as you said, a renaissance of sorts--I didn't know that and am happy to hear it.

Hartford does have gorgeous suburbs.