Is there a "Cheaper" Hingham around? (Cambridge, Quincy: for sale, real estate)

[dem3456]

Furthermore, I would like to ask what is wrong with all of the towns that kaioak36 mentions. Responses that encourage blatant snobbery against certain towns because they are not the most expensive or wealthy communities are very unproductive to discussion.

[smarty]

Because all those towns are not Hingham...

I recall getting a cheaper car because I cannot afford an expensive one. Looking back... whenever there is any thing wrong I always blame myself why I did not get that more expensive one... it would not have that problem. But, in reality... there is no way to know.

[dem3456]

I like that way of looking at it. Because if there was ever anything wrong with the more expensive car, you would blame yourself in that situation as well if there was anything wrong with it and for not buying a cheaper one. But again, there is no way to know what would have happened if you had made a different choice.

[northsouthnorthsouth]

Originally Posted by kaioak36

I'm sorry but Braintree and Weymouth aren't "nice" towns. You need to go further down route 3 to find the nicer towns - i.e. Hanover, Norwell, Hingham, Duxbury, Scituate, Cohasset.

Ouch! We live in North Weymouth. I would love to live in Hingham, but when we bought our house 4 years ago there is no way we could have afforded it and not be in debt like the rest of America- bought when the market almost peaked. Though, prices in Hingham haven't really gone down.

For me it totally hinges on if you have kids or not and what schools you want to send them to. Although, people in MA are so snobby about the public schools. MA has it good when you compare it to many other states. I think the schools in Weymouth are decent from what I can tell. I would send my kids to one of the elementary schools, but I don't like the fact that "middle school" starts at 5th grade.

We will probably be making some kind of move in the next couple of years or so, and if we decided to ultimately stay in MA then hopefully we will buy in Hingham so our kids, who will then be school aged, can attend there. But I would send my child to a Weymouth elementary school.

I've loved living where we are because we can access public transportation so my husband can get to his job in the city and we only have one car (by choice). We can walk to everything- playground, ice cream shop, library, post office, elementary school if need be in the future, beach. And our neighbors are wonderful.

If you have an "almost Hingham" budget, I bet you could find some nice waterfront property in Weymouth if something becomes available. We need to be near the ocean

However, if you're looking for something more high-end than Weymouth and you need good schools, my husband grew up in Norwell and the schools are supposedly fantastic there. At least they were when he went! It's a little too rural for me, though.

[RemiJP]

There's always a lot of talk around here about elementary schools, but I think attending a quality high school is so much more important in the long run! I can say without hesitation that I received an excellent education at WHS. I graduated in 2004, received a great scholarship from my two top choice universities, and I'm now enrolled in a PhD program at a reputable program in my field. I had many friends who went to Hingham High as well and think we received equally strong educations. I really can't imagine things being any different in my life right now had I attended Hingham High. Though, if I went to Hingham, I might have felt pressured to beg my parents for a brand new Range Rover for my 17th birthday instead of feeling content riding the bus to school!

[kaioak36]

I have a lot of friends in Hanover who are white collar professionals. Not sure where you get that there are a lot of teachers and police living there?

[kaioak36]

A lot of people who want to downsize from Hingham move to Norwell or Hanover. Both are nice towns and a little less $$ than Hingham.

[clevedark]

Oy, are we still talking about "nice" versus "not nice" towns? That's so suburban.... One of the reasons I'm allergic to it! you're bringing me back to the bad old days when I lived in Cohasset.

[mdovell]

I've lived in weymouth in the past. It's not a bad place. The major issue is really what they are going to do with the airbase. As for middle schools starting at grade 5 well the thing is when the base closed you had less kids. Less kids ment less room needed but it's like how do you maximize the space you have. I've seen where I live some buildings flip around as to what they are used for but it's more gradual.

Norwell I've worked in for awhile. sections of it have very bad traffic down rt 53. Dont bother going to a place to eat around noon because it would take forever to get in and out. Norwell seems to be mostly a place where people work but not where they live.

Hingham is overrated as is duxbury. You don't get anything "extra" for a price. Keep in mind that housing is really set by the market...not by the tax assessor. Chances are you can easily take 10-30% off at the way the market is going. Supposedly duxbury won't allow a mcdonalds...which is why you see them eat at the one in kingston! Education for children is somewhat of a paradox because we get told different things but yet it is and it isn't. Some people assume a private school might be better but there's no real study showing this (see the book Freakonomics) More funding for a public school doesn't exactly make it better because there's other factors at play...if money is diverted to other things it can be a problem..if classroom sizes are bigger for example.

The south shore of mass is the fastest growing section of mass. Just please keep in mind a few things here and there.

1) some places don't have sidewalks on both sides of the street...some don't even have streetlights. You can get lost in your own town because of these two things.

2) tourism can slow down traffic in the summer (mostly in plymoth but still)

3) some of these towns are really dependent on a handful of things for revenue...and if they close then taxes can go up. I've heard Kingston gets a fair amount of money from the mall. But I know the superwalmart in plymouth and surrounding stores there took a significan chunk of traffic away.

4)kingston, halifax and plympton are in a regional school district. The state provides more funding but it comes at the expensive of not having nearly the same amount of local control

5) In all honestly there really isn't that much to do. If you factor out shopping it just reduces the area to mostly seasonal things.

[tripmama]

Milton's a nice town. Great schools, low crime and a much faster commute (via MBTA or commuter rail) than some of the other towns you mentioned. You won't get perfection in your price range, but you can find something here.