Family/budget friendly home <$550K, good public schools <1hr commute to Somerville - recommendations? (Boston: sales, real estate)

[Jskim]

Thanks in advance. Would welcome recommendations/advice on a single family home <$550K with the best bang for your buck, good public schools, and within an hour commute to Somerville?

I work 4 days/week in the Somerville office and one day from home. Would love in the next year or two to decrease in office to 1-2 days/week. I need a <1 hr commute to Somerville. My husband's work will be flexible (in transition) and will likely be north or west of Boston (against the commute).

We have two young kids and want to balance a decent commute with a place where we can get the most bang for our buck and good public schools. Other wishes include green space, pedestrian friendly, with town center and restaurants/grocery stores.

Our preliminary list includes Wakefield, Lynnfield, Reading/North Reading, Danvers, Beverly. Appreciate advice/recommendations/pros/cons.

[Bruins3445]

Best bang for your buck IMO would be Windham NH. Right off 93, has excellent schools, you can get more house for your money (newer too), and can enjoy tax free shopping in NH. 93 South to Somerville would be an easy commute. If your husband's commute is North of Boston then being in NH wouldn't be an issue. Windham has abundant green space, top notch schools, close to stores/shopping, nice parks, beautiful town. It doesn't have much of a downtown though. However you aren't far from cities or places to go shopping. It's a great location.

Have you considered Andover or North Andover? You wouldn't get nearly as much house for your money as you would in Windham but the schools are great and may have more of the downtown/town center feel you're looking for. Andover is significantly more expensive than North Andover.

[Peabody99]

I would check out Acton. Great family friendly area.

[johngolf]

I would suggest commuting to Somerville would be easier from the north of Somerville as there would be options like I95, I93, Rte 28, etc. I would look at Winchester, Lynnfield, North Andover, and Andover to start with.

[tysmith95]

The commute from New Hampshire to Somerville would be well over an hour during rush hour. Also the real estate is much cheaper but higher real estate taxes in the nice towns offset some of the savings. Melrose would probably be a great option although you wouldn't get much bang for your buck. Wilmington would be a good option though it lacks a walkable town center. You could always drive over to Reading or Andover for that. Places on the North Shore like Danvers or Beverly will probally have a commute of over an hour during rush hour traffic. There is a way in google maps to estimate your commute time during certain hours which should help you plan. I93 and Route 1 both back up starting at 6AM in the morning and the traffic lasts until 10AM. It's not a pleasant commute no matter where you live. The places with the best bang for your buck have worse schools/no town center/or are over an hour away. You'll probably have to compromise and find what is the most important to you.

[rethcir]

Lunenberg. Or maybe some of the other Route 2 areas. Fitchburg Commuter Rail drops off at Porter Sq right outside Davis, fwiw.

Wakefield is a pretty great place if you don't mind the commute. Getting into the train by commuter rail would be easier than driving to Somerville though.

[Bruins3445]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

The commute from New Hampshire to Somerville would be well over an hour during rush hour. Also the real estate is much cheaper but higher real estate taxes in the nice towns offset some of the savings. Melrose would probably be a great option although you wouldn't get much bang for your buck. Wilmington would be a good option though it lacks a walkable town center. You could always drive over to Reading or Andover for that. Places on the North Shore like Danvers or Beverly will probally have a commute of over an hour during rush hour traffic. There is a way in google maps to estimate your commute time during certain hours which should help you plan. I93 and Route 1 both back up starting at 6AM in the morning and the traffic lasts until 10AM. It's not a pleasant commute no matter where you live. The places with the best bang for your buck have worse schools/no town center/or are over an hour away. You'll probably have to compromise and find what is the most important to you.

RE taxes can be comparable depending on the town. We almost bought in NH and the taxes were high on a particular house, but when you compared it to what we could get for the same amount in say Sharon then it really would be a no brainer to pick the NH house because you get more for your money and taxes are the same. In my experience I found that the MA towns that have very good schools have high RE taxes. Not all, but most.

Also, living in NH there wouldn't be sales tax. I can't tell you how many trips I've made to Home Depot or Target and thought to myself how much I could've saved had I opted for the NH house. Not to mention even Amazon and other similar websites don't charge tax when shipped to NH. So there can certainly be savings or it could wind up being a wash (where the RE taxes on a MA house may be less the overall taxes on everything else makes it comparable to what you'd pay on RE taxes in NH).

There is a commuter bus stop in Windham and in Salem too I believe that goes from NH to a train station, or perhaps directly to Boston? Can anyone chime in? I do know I saw it and looked into it a while ago but can't remember the specifics.

[Bruins3445]

Originally Posted by rethcir

Lunenberg. Or maybe some of the other Route 2 areas. Fitchburg Commuter Rail drops off at Porter Sq right outside Davis, fwiw.

Wakefield is a pretty great place if you don't mind the commute. Getting into the train by commuter rail would be easier than driving to Somerville though.

This was another area I explored when looking to buy. Pepperell and Townsend had OK schools and a lot of house for the money. Or the cost savings on a house could allow enough room in the budget for private schools. Most people advised against the commute to Boston though, said it gets tough come winter

[gf2020]

$550K won't go very far in Lynnfield, Reading or North Reading. Wakefield, Woburn, Wilmington, Peabody & Danvers are good options.

[SalamanderSmile]

where in somerville do youhave to be? and when? it can take 30min just to drive from East Arlington to Union Square. If you work in West Somerville you want to take rt.2 in and live somewhere rt.2/rt. 60 ish. If you work in East Somerville you'd be better off northish/eastish and using 93/16/99. If you commute off-hours you can go further afield, but frankly you will only get middling schools for <$550 <1 hour. What other lifestyle things are important? greenspace? more dense/less dense? house bigger than 1500sq ft? tiny lot? by the ocean?