Longmeadow vs. East Longmeadow?? (Springfield, West Springfield: for sale, houses, schools)

[krgmah]

Hi,
I am in the process of relocating to either the town of Longmeadow or the town of East Longmeadow. Can someone give me an "insider's view" of these towns? What are the people like? What are the towns' reputations etc.
I have two small children and I am looking for a very family-friendly, safe town. From the research I have done on-line, it looks like I would get more house for my money in ELM, but better schools in Longmeadow. Any advice or comments?

Thanks in advance for your input!
- Kristy

[dan o8]

my wifes family stay in longmeadow and we find it a very quiet and peaceful lots of nice public parks and lots of very good places to eat the town is charming and the people very friendly we are moving there once she has her nursing degreee as we love it it also has a very good reputation and its a very clean town

[tonrob]

Originally Posted by dan o8

my wifes family stay in longmeadow and we find it a very quiet and peaceful lots of nice public parks and lots of very good places to eat the town is charming and the people very friendly we are moving there once she has her nursing degreee as we love it it also has a very good reputation and its a very clean town

I agree with everything you said - although you did make it sound like the town itself has lots of really good places to eat when in fact it hardly has any places to eat - period.

To the OP: Longmeadow is great, safe, quiet and has a lot of historic homes. It is primarily a "bedroom community" with very few businesses at all - however within 10 minutes' drive you have Enfield, Springfield, West Springfield, East Longmeadow which, between them, have lots of good places to eat and abundant shopping. Some feel that Longmeadow itself can be a bit snooty...

East Longmeadow is more down-to-earth, is generally cheaper and does have a couple of shabby (although not unsafe) streets but most of it is just fine (and some areas quite upmarket). While the town itself has more businesses unless you live within walking distance of them it's not much of an advantage as the town is further from the highway and consequently it takes you just that bit longer to get anywhere.

The only real way to decide, I think, is to simply come and visit - get a good map and drive around a little.

[FutureSoxFan?]

Hi. We recently went house-hunting in that area.

Left with pretty much the same impression as Tonrob, with a few additions . . .

Longmeadow is a very nice town -- lots of parks, trees, etc. Very peaceful and quiet as long as you live east of Longmeadow St (if you live west you seem to get a lot of traffic noise from the highway). It is very convenient to getting on I-91 and thus getting anywhere else pretty quickly. Schools have a good reputation and it seems pretty safe.
Downsides: expensive. high taxes. houses we saw in our price range (which we thought was pretty high already) were all older and almost all seemed to need another ton of money pumped in to updates and repairs. Small yards if you like having more than a postage-stamp sized lot.

East Longmeadow -- also nice, but IMHO not quite as nice as Longmeadow. Bit less easy to get to the highway. Has the infamous 6-way rotary that almost killed me every time I tried to drive through it! Seemed to have more commercial amenities than Longmeadow. While houses are a bit cheaper than in Longmeadow, taxes are actually higher in ELM, so it's probably a wash, and leaves you asking what extra services you are getting for the tax difference. Also, as you noted, the Longmeadow schools seem to have the better rep than ELM.

[tonrob]

Originally Posted by FutureSoxFan?

Downsides: expensive. high taxes. houses we saw in our price range (which we thought was pretty high already) were all older and almost all seemed to need another ton of money pumped in to updates and repairs.

Due to ages of homes condition can vary widely. On our street the houses are mostly the best part of 100 years old and have great character. Many have been well cared for and invested in by their occupants over the years, but some not. There's a lot of money in the town so many have been well-kept, you just need to be more thorough in checking what will need replacing, and when, prior to purchase.

[FutureSoxFan?]

Originally Posted by tonrob

Due to ages of homes condition can vary widely. On our street the houses are mostly the best part of 100 years old and have great character. Many have been well cared for and invested in by their occupants over the years, but some not. There's a lot of money in the town so many have been well-kept, you just need to be more thorough in checking what will need replacing, and when, prior to purchase.

The probable issue being that the well-tended ones don't seem to be up for sale. I think we saw virtually every house in Longmeadow priced below 600K and the vast majority would have needed a lot of overhaul for one reason or another (ranging from cosmetic like removing hideous 40 year old wall paper to structural like moldering wood and water leaks). These are not 100-year old homes either (I wouldn't want a house that old) but homes build in the 1930s or later.

I can also now attest that lots of places look much nicer from the outside or on the staged internet realtor photos than they do in real life. When you go into that nice-looking house you saw on the web and find out that in real life it reeks of urine, you know that not all is well . . .

[tonrob]

Originally Posted by FutureSoxFan?

When you go into that nice-looking house you saw on the web and find out that in real life it reeks of urine, you know that not all is well . . .

Hmmm.... nice.

[LoveEL&L]

Originally Posted by krgmah

Hi,
I am in the process of relocating to either the town of Longmeadow or the town of East Longmeadow. Can someone give me an "insider's view" of these towns? What are the people like? What are the towns' reputations etc.
I have two small children and I am looking for a very family-friendly, safe town. From the research I have done on-line, it looks like I would get more house for my money in ELM, but better schools in Longmeadow. Any advice or comments?

Thanks in advance for your input!
- Kristy

I raised my children in EL and they both received an A+ education, went on to WPI. One is in med school and the other is a Scientist. Can't get much better than that. I now live in Long. and love it but I wouldn't count out the education in EL.

[findingmesomeday]

DARN good LAX team! My town seems to wind up facing off against them (no pun intended) for the state championship every year.....

[in_newengland]

I grew up in Longmeadow and later moved to E Longmeadow.

Longmeadow has a great school system but I don't think the EL schools are that bad. EL has some very nice homes and at the same time, more of a down to earth attitude among the people.

I will say that Longmeadow is snooty, there are no two ways about it. It's not the friendliest place for kids to grow up and the schools can pressure kids too much. It's all about money in Longmeadow, from my experience so if you enjoy keeping up with the Joneses, that's the place to be.

If I had to make a choice I'd take East Longmeadow any time. Try the Porter Rd area or the cute little streets not too far from Brownstone -- lots of other nice areas too and a great variety of types of houses, not just the big pretentious houses you mostly get in Longmeadow.