Searching for a home in MA (Worcester, Framingham: real estate, low crime, house)

[LookinginMA]

My husband and I, along with our three children, preschool age and under, recently moved to MA from MD for my husband's job. We have narrowed our search to a short list of towns and would appreciate any feedback you can give. I am a stay-at-home mom and my husband works in Framingham. This is what we are looking for in a town: things to do with the children (parks, library programs, strong rec & parks, mom's groups, pool), town activities (concerts in the park, Christmas festivities, parades), good/strong Catholic Church, good school system (well-rounded programming, strong academics, small teacher-student ratio, not overcrowded), low crime, sense of community/belonging. Is this too much to ask? Oh yeah, did I mention we would like a newer home with at least 4 bedrooms in somewhat of a community setting for under $700,000?
Here are the towns we are researching....
Southboro, Westboro, Hopkinton, Stow, Grafton, Shrewsbury, Holliston, Franklin, Northboro

Does anyone have any other suggestions of towns that should be on the list?

Much thanks in advance!

[LookinginMA]

Thanks Johnnycakes. What does too Worcestery mean exactly? We do not know much about Worcester.

[countryman]

hello looking, Grafton has a beutiful town common, very classy type town nice homes,good schooling,& plenty of activity to enjoy,you sure could find a very ,very nice home in that price range! Shrewsbury is anice town too,in my opinion, you can get away from the stores & stuff there is a very large area with all of that on rt.9 leading from worcester over the Quinsigamond bridge from Worcester,so i think that's where some of that refererance is coming into play.Shrewbury is still a nice town plenty of areas that you can be away from that, lot of convenience in that particuliar community.I've always found Shrewbury people to be very nice, i worked there for a number of years as well.

[smarty]

At $700K, you can buy a very nice house in many towns you mention. However, you will be in the TOP 10-20% of many towns you're looking at. With real estate prices very high and rumor collapse, buyer beware!

[BrandiWorc]

uhm johnny cakessss.. worcester is amazing... and i wood never ever put my kids in WOrcester Academt, its located in the middle of the ghetto part of worcester, and all nerds with no lives go there ( no offense if u did) but Notre dame academy, where i go, Holy name, where i went, are both get private schools. dont dissuade worcester, since its an amazing city close to everything, you just need to know how to drive. If your worried about crime, dont go to hopkinton or downtown worcester, they r'nt too shnazzy, but uptown worcester bu umass has realli nice neighborhoods, cute schools, and great people. give it a try =]

[BrandiWorc]

**great private schools

[smarty]

Originally Posted by BrandiWorc

**great private schools

Yeah... Notre Dame Academy is a great all girl private school with over 97% caucasian (~300 kids.) It is a steal at ~$10K in tuition and fees as compare to Bancroft School (~$21K; where our former governor Celluci sent his kids to.)

You will notice a theme in MA. Nothing public is good enough for my kids. Hence, we probably have as many private schools as we have public schools. Public Universities are merely for the stupid and average (of course poor kids). I would not want to be caught going to UMass is the theme. Only private college is good enough for my kid. This is very different from states like Virginia or Arizona where top kids want to go to public universities.

[danielleg]

It's really starting to come into it's own, has the perfect balance of urban/suburban traits. Let me know if you want more info...good luck!

[Katezli]

Danielleg,
I just saw your post and am curious to hear more about why you thought Medford would be a good fit for LookinginMa. I am also thinking about where to move to in MA, but had crossed off Medford thinking that the public schools seemed weak. Do you or others have other info. about Medford to the contrary?

[danielleg]

admittedly, the schools aren't the greatest, but they ARE brand new and are very well suited with the best computers and equipment, etc. also, there are a number of private catholic schools in medford. what i really love about it is the balance it seems to have between being a quaint place, (where people know and care about each other and the local businesses) and being large enough to be interesting and diverse. there are also some lovely old homes in many different neighborhoods. i personally love west medford, but lawrence estates is also a highly regarded area. i do think it is an area that will continue to improve over time. the city is currently talking about developing its river front. if that ever happens, medford square will become a really wonderful destination for shopping, eating, sightseeing...let me know what else you'd like to hear about...