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Old 12-20-2016, 04:40 PM
 
216 posts, read 751,128 times
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Yes, property tax in dollar amount is absolutely more meaningful. Does longmeadow tax $ only go to its own schools or has to subsidize other schools in the county?
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Old 12-20-2016, 05:03 PM
 
23,112 posts, read 18,253,423 times
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Longmeadow has its own school system, and property tax revenue is not shared with other communities. For the most part, in MA counties exist in name only. All local services are run by the local cities and towns, which explains the inefficiencies and super high taxes.
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Old 12-20-2016, 08:47 PM
 
7,912 posts, read 7,744,400 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by massnative71 View Post
Longmeadow has its own school system, and property tax revenue is not shared with other communities. For the most part, in MA counties exist in name only. All local services are run by the local cities and towns, which explains the inefficiencies and super high taxes.
Uh that depends. There's still sheriffs and county courthouses. There's no county commissioners. Regionalization still happens to a point. Hampshire Council of Governments is an example of it and quasi local planning organizations i.e. MAPC.

Springfield also runs the Franconia golf course which is actually in East Longmeadow.

You have to remember that Boston and Springfield ultimately did different things. Boston wasn't always as large as what it was. Neighborhoods used to be independent cities. Infact they almost annexed everything within 10 miles. Boston could have been nearly 3.5 the size it is today
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/20...jsL/story.html

Dorchester, West Roxbury, Brighton, Charlestown, Hyde Park were all independent entities.

Springfield on the other hand was much larger. Here's a breakdown of when what parts left.
Westfield 1669
Suffield (CT) (as Southfield) 1682
Enfield (CT) (as Freshwater) 1683
Stafford (CT) 1719
Somers (CT) (from Enfield) 1734
Wilbraham 1763
East Windsor (CT) (northern part) 1768
West Springfield 1774
Ludlow 1774
Southwick 1775 (from Westfield)
Montgomery 1780 (from Westfield)
Longmeadow 1783
Russell 1792 (from Westfield)
Chicopee 1848
Holyoke (southern part) 1850 (from W. Springfield)
Agawam 1855 (from W. Springfield)
Hampden 1878 (from Wilbraham)
East Longmeadow 1894 (from Longmeadow)

You have to remember sometimes there were trusts established long ago that might have mandated funding while this was going on.

It can also be said that school districts often times end up providing busing to charter schools which can be found all around the state. Regionalization can be controversial. I wouldn't say that things are better when rationalized but I would tie it more with population growth. Flat is ok, positive is great but declining is bad.
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Old 03-04-2017, 09:11 AM
 
37 posts, read 32,622 times
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Default Southwick, Ludlow, Easthampton?

My husband and I are moving to the area, working at Baystate. We don't have a family yet but are planning to in the future. I've put offers on homes in Wilbraham, Longmeadow, and Westfield, but they were grossly overpriced and either our best offer were rejected or we didn't make a counter offer (sellers often only came down $5-10K). These were the most expensive homes on their area or they overimproved.

Anyway, now we are looking at homes in Southwick, Ludlow, and Easthampton. The commutes of the homes we are looking at in those areas are acceptable but I'm not sure about the school systems, amenities, and other factors we may be missing (i.e. is living in Southwick and being close to the Tobacco Farm a problem? Hubby is allergic)
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Old 03-04-2017, 09:56 AM
 
24,510 posts, read 17,995,915 times
Reputation: 40204
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdovell View Post
Uh that depends. There's still sheriffs and county courthouses. There's no county commissioners. Regionalization still happens to a point. Hampshire Council of Governments is an example of it and quasi local planning organizations i.e. MAPC.

Springfield also runs the Franconia golf course which is actually in East Longmeadow.

You have to remember that Boston and Springfield ultimately did different things. Boston wasn't always as large as what it was. Neighborhoods used to be independent cities. Infact they almost annexed everything within 10 miles. Boston could have been nearly 3.5 the size it is today
https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/20...jsL/story.html

Dorchester, West Roxbury, Brighton, Charlestown, Hyde Park were all independent entities.

Springfield on the other hand was much larger. Here's a breakdown of when what parts left.
Westfield 1669
Suffield (CT) (as Southfield) 1682
Enfield (CT) (as Freshwater) 1683
Stafford (CT) 1719
Somers (CT) (from Enfield) 1734
Wilbraham 1763
East Windsor (CT) (northern part) 1768
West Springfield 1774
Ludlow 1774
Southwick 1775 (from Westfield)
Montgomery 1780 (from Westfield)
Longmeadow 1783
Russell 1792 (from Westfield)
Chicopee 1848
Holyoke (southern part) 1850 (from W. Springfield)
Agawam 1855 (from W. Springfield)
Hampden 1878 (from Wilbraham)
East Longmeadow 1894 (from Longmeadow)

You have to remember sometimes there were trusts established long ago that might have mandated funding while this was going on.

It can also be said that school districts often times end up providing busing to charter schools which can be found all around the state. Regionalization can be controversial. I wouldn't say that things are better when rationalized but I would tie it more with population growth. Flat is ok, positive is great but declining is bad.
That has nothing to do with the question.

Property tax dollars from Longmeadow are not spent on school systems in other cities and towns. All towns tuition out some students to the state run regional vocational-technical school and that's the only cash transfer most towns see. The low income cities and towns get money from the state to fund their school systems. That's coming from income taxes and sales tax. 25% of the state budget is spent on education and about half of that is used this way.

METCO buses some Springfield students to Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Hampden/Wilbraham, and Southwick-Tolland. The numbers are tiny. Longmeadow is taking 4 Springfield kindergarten kids per year and there are about 35 METCO students in the Longmeadow school system. METCO tends to be a pretty user of special needs programs but the towns get tuition money to offset some of the expense and it's not many students. It's not like Judge Garrity ordering school busing in Southie for a decade back in 1975.
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Old 03-04-2017, 02:46 PM
 
1,127 posts, read 1,247,352 times
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Many people looking for good schools also commute to Springfield from Northampton (as I do; about 30 min.) or Amherst (about 45 min.), though the lifestyle in those two places is probably seen to be different than that in, say, Longmeadow. What sort of town experience do you want?
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Old 03-04-2017, 03:19 PM
 
Location: near bears but at least no snakes
26,637 posts, read 28,452,188 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blueniteflower View Post
My husband and I are moving to the area, working at Baystate. We don't have a family yet but are planning to in the future. I've put offers on homes in Wilbraham, Longmeadow, and Westfield, but they were grossly overpriced and either our best offer were rejected or we didn't make a counter offer (sellers often only came down $5-10K). These were the most expensive homes on their area or they overimproved.

Anyway, now we are looking at homes in Southwick, Ludlow, and Easthampton. The commutes of the homes we are looking at in those areas are acceptable but I'm not sure about the school systems, amenities, and other factors we may be missing (i.e. is living in Southwick and being close to the Tobacco Farm a problem? Hubby is allergic)
Of those, I can say for certain AVOID Easthampton schools. Under no circumstances are they acceptable.

What's wrong with East Longmeadow? I think you can find affordable homes there and the school system can't be as bad as Easthampton. East Longmeadow is NOT Longmeadow, they are totally separate towns.
East Longmeadow is nice without being snobby and over-priced. It's very family oriented too.
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Old 03-04-2017, 04:24 PM
 
37 posts, read 32,622 times
Reputation: 23
Nothing wrong with East Longmeadow, although when we saw the homes there, they were in undesirable parts (right next to a halfway house AND run down industry buildings) or were overpriced and outdated. One of the homes looked beautiful but was a cat house AND on a busy street. We have our eye on another home in East Longmeadow, but again, it's potentially on a busy street so not sure (can't view it until end of the month when we're in town again). Our requirements are:

3 beds minimum, 2.5 baths minimum one of which has to be a master bath, 2100+ sqft, attached 2 car garage, good sized kitchen with open concept, not on a busy street, and no oil heated home (this is a big one since it's eliminated a lot of homes for us especially in Belchertown). My husband would ideally like to be within 10-15 minutes drive of Costco (either the W. Springfield one or the Enfield one). Good neighborhoods.

We're willing to go up $450K but we want to make it a good investment. The 3 homes we put in an offer for have been and off the market anywhere from 6 - 18 months, 2 of them were more expensive than their neighbors by 50-75K, but when we put in the offer, they were only coming down $5K from their listing price. I'm sorry you put in $100K in improvements but the comps just don't justify the price, and they bought them near the height of the last boom (2005-2007). So, we've had to start again.

I've looked at homes in Agawam/Feeding Hills (too busy), South Hadley (nothing literally on the market that we like), W. Springfield (beautiful house but schools not desirable), Longmeadow, Wilbraham, Westfield, Southwick (home was in a very nice neighborhood but layout was not for us), and East Longmeadow. Northampton just a little too expensive for all the things we are looking for in a home.
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Old 03-04-2017, 06:10 PM
 
24,510 posts, read 17,995,915 times
Reputation: 40204
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueniteflower View Post
<snip a bunch of stuff>
How long have you been shopping? It's only March. It's very limited inventory at this time of year.

Unfortunately, you can't make sellers price their homes at fair market value.

You're home shopping in a place with older housing stock. You're not likely to find exactly what you're looking for.

What's wrong with 82 Merriweather Drive in Longmeadow? $399,900 so in your price range. It looks like it sold in 2014 for $323,779 and has been on and off the market since. It meets your general criteria. It's a 1959 house so it will be 8' ceilings and not "open".
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Old 03-04-2017, 06:36 PM
 
37 posts, read 32,622 times
Reputation: 23
Quote:
Originally Posted by GeoffD View Post
How long have you been shopping? It's only March. It's very limited inventory at this time of year.

Unfortunately, you can't make sellers price their homes at fair market value.

You're home shopping in a place with older housing stock. You're not likely to find exactly what you're looking for.

What's wrong with 82 Merriweather Drive in Longmeadow? $399,900 so in your price range. It looks like it sold in 2014 for $323,779 and has been on and off the market since. It meets your general criteria. It's a 1959 house so it will be 8' ceilings and not "open".
it's a split level home. Husband refuses to live in a split level home. He's also pretty tall so older homes will be tough as they do have lower ceiling. I know it's early in the market; that's why we weren't willing to up our offer on the homes we made bids on as we're willing to wait; however, in the meantime, we're wanting to hear thoughts on different areas we haven't considered much such as easthampton and ludlow

Last edited by blueniteflower; 03-04-2017 at 06:45 PM..
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