Thinking of moving to Concord, MA can anyone help with info?

[lightblue]

Originally Posted by pjrichard

Hello, We currently live on the south shore, Plymouth and my husband's work has relocated from Boston to Andover. Right now he's making 4 hour commutes daily. Obviously this can't continue so I've started looking at different towns and was thinking of Concord or Georgetown. Concord has a lot going for it but Georgetown seem like we can get more for our money. Schools are the most important because we have a 7 and 9 year old. Please any help would be greatly appreciated. Also, worried about being able to sell our house to even think about moving. Thanks!

No no no...NOT Concord...The commute to Andover would be hellish.

Georgetown would be much closer. I have a sister with two kids in Lexington and they love it. Lexington would be a much better commute than Concord.

[sowema]

is the prison in concord a detraction as far as resale value of homes, or lifestye in general?

[trionetriathlon]

I'm a huge fan of Melrose. I commuted to Andover for two years; 25 minutes. Housing is affordable and schools are very good. In fact, the middle school was just voted one of the top middle schools in MA!! Everybody knows everybody and their kids which makes it very safe. Two great grocery stores, adorable down town with 'useful' stores; has a top rated music school, art school, bakeries, and of course Turner's seafood and a upscale bistro. Commuter rail runs through center of town to Andover. Town is in between 93 to the west and Route 1 to the east.

I would be looking closely at gas prices with commuting; there was a great article in the Globe a few weeks back on people trying to save money on housing by living further away from Boston... in your case, maybe Andover would be the best option to save gas?

[brightdoglover]

Never heard of the prison being an issue on housing. Houses within its sight are quite high-priced, and West Concord is a wonderful village center with commuter rail.
If Concord is snobby at all (as one poster suggested), it's in the "Old Money" way, which I find is very low-key.
I'm a blue-collar-at-heart person who works for an hourly wage from south Jersey, and I'd feel quite comfortable living in Concord, social wise. In fact, although my town has a Unitarian church, I'm thinking of trying the one in Concord, as I think it would be more my tempo.
I don't know as much about Andover, except that certainly schools in both towns are considered terrific. I just really love the Emerson/Alcott/Thoreau aspect of Concord along with the rest of its good things.

[Irena.M]

Originally Posted by sowema

is the prison in concord a detraction as far as resale value of homes, or lifestye in general?

[SIZE=2]The prison des not affect the Concord values by much. The Prison is between Rte. 2 and the West Concord Center, kind of outside of the town. The West Concord has the commuter rail station . Concord and West Concord relate like Andover and North Andover. West Concord is somewhat cheaper but not by much. The prices are influence mainly by the commuter rail track and the air base proximity.
Still nice burb. with nice schools, small pricey stores, and awful commute in the morning.
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[brightdoglover]

The commute from, say, West Concord, on Rt.2 to Hanscom, while crowded, is quite brief. The real jam-up is after Crosby's Corner (at least when I drive the other way on 2).
I wouldn't hesitate to live in Concord and work at Hanscom during normal business hours.

[puffle]

Takes me 15 minutes or less to go from W. Concord to Hanscom in the a.m. taking the 62 east to 2 A.