Towns within 495 with nice walkable downtowns and good schools (Boston: sale, to rent)

[thinkingotherthings]

Originally Posted by r_p

With a $1.5 million budget I wouldn't recommend Natick (unless it's South Natick). You're better off looking at Needham and Wellesley. I see some options near Wellesley High School in your price range.

Thanks for the suggestion; we have seen the houses in Wellesley, but they all seemed like they'd need a decent amount of work, which is something we have no experience with as having never been homeowners before, and also probably wouldn't have much cash leftover for after what it would take to buy one of these houses.

[thinkingotherthings]

Originally Posted by Nauset102

OP, are you open to reconsidering Reading?

We relocated here from NYC almost a decade ago (with a brief interlude in Camberville) so I get your focus on a walkable downtown with solid dining options, etc. I agree the Reading food scene isn’t fantastic, although I do think it’s still evolving. FWIW, Reading demographics are shifting rapidly toward ex-urbanites and other transplants, and I’m fairly confident improved dining options will follow suit. I think Melrose (which was the only other town we considered) is a few years ahead of Reading in this regard, but Reading is quickly catching-up.

Also, I think it’s worth highlighting that Reading has the golden trifecta of easy, direct access to I-93, I-95, and the commuter rail. We didn’t really take this into consideration when choosing Reading (at the time our main priority was the commuter rail), but several job changes later, it’s been absolutely invaluable.

Happy to answer any questions as best I can. BTW, if you’re looking for walkability to both downtown and an elementary school, I’d stick to houses in either the Joshua Eaton or Alice Barrows school districts. Generally speaking, I think these areas will also have the look and feel you’re after. I’m not seeing any listings right now that quite meet your criteria, but here are examples of recent sales in great neighborhoods:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8...zpid/?mmlb=g,2
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...7_M42056-75438
https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...6-22392#photo6

Thanks for the suggestion and the insight on Reading – I think we should be open to reconsidering Reading. We did tour one house in Reading close to the high school, and really the neighborhood around the house was nice; and the high school itself looked great. The schools seem good (not top tier but pretty good). And as you mentioned the commuting access is great. It really was the downtown that seemed kind of "meh". But I think your hypothesis about the downtown improving with the ex-urbanite exodus seems very realistic, so maybe we should take a chance on that.

Do you have any favorite restaurants or shops in Reading you'd recommend?

[thinkingotherthings]

Originally Posted by almost_retired

Westford looks like it outside 495, but a portion of it is inside 495. Top-notch schools comparable with the best rated in the state(just under those in ratings if you believe in ratings), no downtown but there is a nice town common and some shopping areas - it is a beautiful town. Raised two sons here both graduated as engineers with jobs waiting for them when they got out of school. You could get a lot in westford for > 1 million. New, 3000 sf 1+ acre I think.

Thanks for the suggestion. To be honest it might be tough for us to get used to a place that spread out. Although we are looking for some degree of suburbia, both my wife and I grew up and lived most of our lives in denser locations, so Westford might be more of a jump than we're ready for (although I say that just based on a quick Google Maps scan, which I'm sure is not the most accurate basis for assessment).

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by thinkingotherthings

Hi folks,

As our frustrating house hunt continues we are thinking we should expand our search to include suburbs where we can get a bit more bang for our buck, particularly considering that we can both be part-time-remote. But we don't want to be too far out, so preferably within 495 at least. (My office is in Burlington but I only will be going in 2x/wk at most; my wife is full-time remote; but we both want to maintain the flexibility to go into an office in Boston or Cambridge on a part-time basis if either of our careers take us there in the future.)

However, one thing I've noticed from my google maps research is that most of the suburbs beyond 128 appear to lack nice walkable downtowns, which is important to us. And we have a kid so good schools are also a must.

We would like a town that is somewhat suburban – i.e. not Camberville dense – but also not so sparse that you feel isolated either.

We are looking for a 4+ bd / 2.5+ ba, 2300+ sq ft, within 15-min walk to the high school and preferably also to the downtown, that doesn't need major work. Our max budget is $1.4M, but looking farther out from Boston we would hope to find something substantially cheaper.

Our initial list of towns (mostly within 128) was:

• Winchester
• Belmont
• Melrose (price-wise I still think we have a good shot in Melrose, but there hasn't been a single listing so far that's met all our criteria because the houses tend to run small)
• Lexington
• Arlington
• Wellesley
• Needham
• Newton
• Brookline

We haven't given up on finding a house that meets all our criteria in these towns, but with our budget it's been a tough search.

So I come to this great forum to ask if I might have overlooked any suburbs with nice walkable downtowns, good schools, and not brutally expensive. I should also say that we are primarily looking in areas to the north or west of Boston, but can consider going a little bit south if there is access to 95.

The towns I've identified so far that I think meet these criteria are:

• Natick

.. and that's it – and even Natick is just borderline acceptable in terms of my commute.

Some other towns that didn't quite make the cut for one reason or another:

• Concord – Although it is a little bit cheaper than our top choice towns on average, the houses that are close to the schools or downtown don't seem to be any cheaper, and such listings only come up very rarely anyways.
• Andover – Same deal as Concord.
• Reading – Even though the downtown is walkable, we just didn't love the vibe or restaurant selection when we visited it.
• Wakefield – Same deal as Reading.
• Norwood – Although farther south, it is close enough to 95, and on Google Maps it looks to have a decent downtown. But the school ratings are just so-so.

Towns within 128 that didn't make the list because of school quality concerns:

• Stoneham
• Woburn
• Medford
• Waltham

Towns that didn't make the cut because they don't seem to have a walkable downtown:

• Weston
• Wayland
• Lincoln
• Sudbury
• Burlington
• Acton
• Carlisle
• Billerica

Please let me know if there are any other towns north or west of Boston that we should be looking at. I'll admit we've had a bit of a blind spot to the north shore due to concerns about commuting if either of us end up in Boston or Cambridge in the future, but I'm wondering if we should be giving the north shore greater consideration?

Also, please push back if you dispute any of our reasons for ruling out some of the other towns we dismissed. E.g. does Wakefield have a nicer downtown than we gave it credit for? Does Stoneham have better schools than the ratings suggest? Etc..

Many thanks in advance!

Sooo...

You want a walkable downtown, with good schools, close to Burlington and within striking distance to Boston. But those towns that fit the bill are too expensive or selective.

Join the club, my friend.

Many towns that would fit on the North Shore... Beverly, Rockport, Newburyport. But going to be a rough commute.

A lot of families post up in Waltham and go private. I’d take a hard look there.

We did Cambridge condo, Reading colonial, and finished in a Westford colonial. Westford was the best decision we’ve ever made. No real downtown, but not isolated. Nice amenities, schools are near the top in the US. Very transient town, made a ton of friends. I don’t think it’s the best choice based on criteria, but a lot of people end up in Westford with the same criteria as you.

[Shrewsburried]

I appreciate that we're experiencing some supposedly 'transient' inflation at the moment, but I have a hard time understanding why someone with a 1.4m budget would prioritize Westford over, say, Burlington itself which offers more or less the same amenities with better job/job market access. Better yet, OP can make a slight compromise on house vintage/updates, not that I know what their preference might be, without compromising on sqft/bds and buy a proper 'blue chip' like Lexington/Winchester or immediate Bos/Cam 'burb like Arlington.

[stuckbetween]

Inventory

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by thinkingotherthings

Hi folks,

We are looking for a 4+ bd / 2.5+ ba, 2300+ sq ft, within 15-min walk to the high school and preferably also to the downtown, that doesn't need major work. Our max budget is $1.4M, but looking farther out from Boston we would hope to find something substantially cheaper.

Our initial list of towns (mostly within 128) was:

• Winchester
• Belmont
• Melrose (price-wise I still think we have a good shot in Melrose, but there hasn't been a single listing so far that's met all our criteria because the houses tend to run small)
• Lexington
• Arlington
• Wellesley
• Needham
• Newton
• Brookline

We haven't given up on finding a house that meets all our criteria in these towns, but with our budget it's been a tough search.

Originally Posted by stuckbetween

Inventory

Inventory is bad but I suspect that you are being pickier than you let on. There's no problem with that (I spent considerably less than $1.4m and was also picky), but it means you should cast a wider net. By that I mean, put out house alerts for all those towns, plus maybe a couple more. Right now, there are a number of houses on Zillow superficially meet your requirements.

If I search by <$1.4m > 2500 sq. ft 4+ bed 2+ bath I find:

3 in Winchester
2 in Belmont
2 in Melrose
6 in Lexington
0 in Arlington
4 in Wellesley
4 in Needham
8 in Newton
0 in Brookline
9 in Natick

If you relax your requirements/expand your towns I'm sure you'll find more.

[stuckbetween]

I’m not OP, I’m just a visiting complainer. Our requirements are slightly different (larger) but either way the selection of move-in condition places is just in the can.

[mp775]

Ayer? It's a little outside 495, but it has a great downtown, not a bad ride to Burlington, and there is commuter rail to Porter Square and North Station.

[thinkingotherthings]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

I appreciate that we're experiencing some supposedly 'transient' inflation at the moment, but I have a hard time understanding why someone with a 1.4m budget would prioritize Westford over, say, Burlington itself which offers more or less the same amenities with better job/job market access. Better yet, OP can make a slight compromise on house vintage/updates, not that I know what their preference might be, without compromising on sqft/bds and buy a proper 'blue chip' like Lexington/Winchester or immediate Bos/Cam 'burb like Arlington.

The only reason Burlington fell off our list was because it lacks a walkable downtown.. I don't know if we can compromise on that, especially because I don't think there are any immediate towns with nice walkable downtowns nearby? Woburn's looks like the closest, and that one looks so-so in terms of cuisine variety and general charm.