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You're asking for a lot in an area of older homes. It's hard to find 2.5 baths with one off the master bedroom. You might find such a house in Belchertown but then you're not near a Costco.
When I was house hunting I wanted a bath off the master bedroom but never did find one.
I settled for two full baths and it wasn't perfect but it was good.
You'd get Costco near Longmeadow and a great neighborhood and great schools (and a lot of keeping up with the Joneses if you want that.) If you didn't need the Costco, I'd say go for Belchertown. There's Suffield, CT too and even Enfield CT, both close to Costco. I don't know about Enfield schools but Suffield is upscale rural so it probably has good schools although maybe it's too rural for you.
You're asking for a lot in an area of older homes. It's hard to find 2.5 baths with one off the master bedroom. You might find such a house in Belchertown but then you're not near a Costco.
When I was house hunting I wanted a bath off the master bedroom but never did find one.
I settled for two full baths and it wasn't perfect but it was good.
You'd get Costco near Longmeadow and a great neighborhood and great schools (and a lot of keeping up with the Joneses if you want that.) If you didn't need the Costco, I'd say go for Belchertown. There's Suffield, CT too and even Enfield CT, both close to Costco. I don't know about Enfield schools but Suffield is upscale rural so it probably has good schools although maybe it's too rural for you.
That's the sense we're getting, hence, why we're asking about surrounding towns. We'll keep looking for sure. I really like Wilbraham (FYI some of the homes in Wilbraham that looked good online were not good when we visited because they were hoarders, smokers home, or the neighbor had a condemned house). Once we move into the area, we'll have a better chance at more desirable homes; they do seem to get snatched up too quickly for us.
Question about 437 Porter Rd in East Longmeadow...how busy is this street? We like this house a lot but worry about it being too noisy and busy. We probably won't have a chance at it though since we're not going to be in town to look at houses again until the end of the month.
Last edited by blueniteflower; 03-04-2017 at 06:06 PM..
That's the sense we're getting, hence, why we're asking about surrounding towns. We'll keep looking for sure. I really like Wilbraham (FYI some of the homes in Wilbraham that looked good online were not good when we visited because they were hoarders, smokers home, or the neighbor had a condemned house). Once we move into the area, we'll have a better chance at more desirable homes; they do seem to get snatched up too quickly for us.
Does it matter if they were hoarders or smokers? The house will be perfectly clean when you move in.
I don't think I've ever moved into a house that was perfect; you always have to make changes. I almost always changed the paint at least. I've had to tear up wall to wall carpeting to expose hardwood floors, needed to have a bathroom re-tiled.
I hope you can get up and look at places for yourself before too long. There will be more homes coming on the market in spring but of course, prices are higher when they first come on the market. By August you might get more of a bargain.
Does it matter if they were hoarders or smokers? The house will be perfectly clean when you move in.
I don't think I've ever moved into a house that was perfect; you always have to make changes. I almost always changed the paint at least. I've had to tear up wall to wall carpeting to expose hardwood floors, needed to have a bathroom re-tiled.
I hope you can get up and look at places for yourself before too long. There will be more homes coming on the market in spring but of course, prices are higher when they first come on the market. By August you might get more of a bargain.
We don't need a perfect house, but homes that we saw were not homes we wanted to live in due to various reasons...and other buyers felt the same hence why they have been on the market for a long time. We did find homes we like to make offers, price was the only issue. So, we're willing to wait for one that we can live in.
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.
Do you mean cat house as in they had cats or that it was a den of prostitution?
Could try 16 acres in springfield and send to the kid to private school. A two car garage? That's a bit of a harder sell these days as more gets app based and the PVTA runs the 2nd largest public transit service in the state. Oil heat is rare as much has moved to natural gas. Have you thought about BJ's or maybe Aldi? There's plenty of Aldi's in the region.
I'd hate to kinda say it but although time isn't running out interest rates are on their way up. Another quarter point or two and your payments will increase regardless of where you move. Have you thought about maybe a private school? I can certainly understand that you buy your way into a school district and in many cases that can be transferred to future generations. Paying 800K in Lexington as a path for kids to go to Harvard might sound odd but in the long run it might make sense.
When people say a school is good or bad frankly unless it is actual physical security the concept can be moot. There's so many resources online that it isn't even funny. Public schools do not have a monopoly on education and certainly do not monopolize a given subject. Standardized testing generally smoothed out differences from employers views and frankly many higher ed institutions might not really care. You can test out of the first two years of higher ed with CLEP and DSST tests. Not all schools in Springfield itself are bad. I've seen many of them outperform suburban ones. It's hard to marginalize the whole district. 2016 Accountability Data - Springfield (02810000) Middle school can be tough no argument there. But if you are willing to stick it out until middle school and then go to private you could save a considerable amount.
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.
Amazing history there! I recently read elsewhere that Hartford back in the day included Manchester, E. Hartford, W. Hartford and Farmington, which all broke away eventually. Never realized Springfield was originally so much bigger. At least Springfield was left with a viable territory whereas Hartford's territory is so small it's nearly all inner-city now. Boston I guess is unusual. I think it really was only the Shawmut peninsula until these 19th century annexations, but the only formerly independent town annexed in whole was Roxbury/West Roxbury. Everything else was a rump town left over after separations. Dorchester once had a big territory stretching southwest; Charlestown included land all the way to Woburn. Once Somerville split off--the last to go--there was nothing left but the tiny Charlestown peninsula so incorporation with Boston made sense at the time.
Do you mean cat house as in they had cats or that it was a den of prostitution?
Could try 16 acres in springfield and send to the kid to private school. A two car garage? That's a bit of a harder sell these days as more gets app based and the PVTA runs the 2nd largest public transit service in the state. Oil heat is rare as much has moved to natural gas. Have you thought about BJ's or maybe Aldi? There's plenty of Aldi's in the region.
I'd hate to kinda say it but although time isn't running out interest rates are on their way up. Another quarter point or two and your payments will increase regardless of where you move. Have you thought about maybe a private school? I can certainly understand that you buy your way into a school district and in many cases that can be transferred to future generations. Paying 800K in Lexington as a path for kids to go to Harvard might sound odd but in the long run it might make sense.
When people say a school is good or bad frankly unless it is actual physical security the concept can be moot. There's so many resources online that it isn't even funny. Public schools do not have a monopoly on education and certainly do not monopolize a given subject. Standardized testing generally smoothed out differences from employers views and frankly many higher ed institutions might not really care. You can test out of the first two years of higher ed with CLEP and DSST tests. Not all schools in Springfield itself are bad. I've seen many of them outperform suburban ones. It's hard to marginalize the whole district. 2016 Accountability Data - Springfield (02810000) Middle school can be tough no argument there. But if you are willing to stick it out until middle school and then go to private you could save a considerable amount.
Springfield is not an option. I know interest rates are going up, but we're not going to rush to buy a house. I would say half the houses we like in these areas are oil heated homes, and we do not want that for various reasons.
As for Costco, that is more my husband, and not that big of a deal for me since I would be working 5-10 minutes from Costco, so if we plan well, I could also go after work.
This question might have been missed but...how busy is Porter Rd in East Longmeadow?
Springfield is not an option. I know interest rates are going up, but we're not going to rush to buy a house. I would say half the houses we like in these areas are oil heated homes, and we do not want that for various reasons.
As for Costco, that is more my husband, and not that big of a deal for me since I would be working 5-10 minutes from Costco, so if we plan well, I could also go after work.
This question might have been missed but...how busy is Porter Rd in East Longmeadow?
My parents used to live on Porter Rd! It's very good unless it has changed. It depends upon what part of Porter Rd. though. My parents were at the busy end, a few houses in from the intersection of Porter and Mapleshade/Pleasant St.?? and there would be cars speeding and screeching the brakes in the middle of the night. Not on Porter--that was quiet, but down Mapleshade/Pleasant St. However, Porter Rd. is very long road and at the other end it used to be peaceful and quiet. Just check out the different parts of it before you buy there. My parents loved the location, loved the house and huge yard with its own brook, but they had no idea of the night traffic when they bought the house. The noisy area was near a little Episcopal church, not the main church in the center). Stay away from that intersection. Porter Rd becomes almost rural down by the Wilbraham end. It's beautiful, tree shaded, used to be quiet, probably still is.
I think Kibbe Rd was another nice one.
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