Westford? What to look for in a house?

[puffle]

Did you know that the State bird is the mosquito?

[jay dee]

I thought that was Minnesota's state bird :-) Suckers as big as helicopter's there...

I'm a SJ native myself (Lynbrook HS class of '88 go Vikings!) and my hubby's from the UK so we're at pretty equal distances to the in-laws now in MA. We haven't done much sight seeing on the weekends yet, mostly looking for potential homes before our lease runs out. I feel bad that we haven't gotten to see more of the area but finding a home and not freezing our behinds off is sort of a priority right now. Newbury St will still be there when the snow melts I'm sure.

Chelmsford is a close 2nd for us, the schools seem to be performing well, but don't have allot of info on the areas. Acton seems very nice but they lack the signal lights/stop signs needed for the amount of traffic we have encountered even on the weekends. Trying to get out of the Trader Joe's parking lot and back to the fwy was a challenge.

[rusummer1]

i live in Westford and am currently a sophomore at Westford Academy. i've lived here since 2005, originaly from Seaford Delaware, and absolutely love it. Westford is within 30 min to everything

[brightdoglover]

I live in the town next to Westford. It seems like a very pleasant place, and the schools are considered exellent, if that's a consideration.
Things to be aware of-
If you have a dog, he should be tested for heartwork infestation and then started on Heartguard preventative medication year-round ( spread by mosquitos). Many vets will not start the medication unless you have the test first, as it is very dangerous to start if the animal is already infected. You'll also want something like Frontline against ticks/fleas/mosquitos. Some people use it monthly year-round, I used it from about April- October. I use Nashoba Valley Animal Hospital, on Littleton Road in Westford, and have been very happy with the care there.

Septic systems. Massachusetts has a law that, when a title changes hands, the septic system must pass some sort of inspection. If the house has been continually lived in, the system has pretty low requirements to pass. If it's been empty, the system has to meet "new system" requirements.
You *DO NOT* want to get involved with this nonsense. Any house on septic that you buy should come with a "Title Five" certification or you keep looking elsewhere. If the seller can't provide this or is only willing to provide "approved plan for septic upgrade" or whatever, keep walking. Tell your agent that you will not consider any house that isn't Title Five certified. Trust me on this one. In 1994 or so, the state put in very strict new laws on septic systems that are triggered if you go for a building permit of any kind or if titles change hands.
I had so much trouble with this that I'm blocking the actual number of "Title..." I think it's five. You'd think I'd remember after almost two years of fighting with my town over an approved plan.
Any passing septic system will be in pretty good shape. If possible, you want a map of the location of the system. The system should be pumped out when you buy the house, and then every few years, depending on the size of the tank (listed by number of bedrooms) and the number of people in your household. Your house inspector should ensure that the interior pipes have "traps." This is likely only to be an issue in very old/poorly constructed houses, like former summer cottages.
The structure of the systems vary. A cesspool is a hole/tank in the ground. Virtually no decent houses still have a cesspool, and it wouldn't pass inspection. I have a ""new construction" system that cost almost $30K (required by the state, partly because of proximity to wetlands) that has machinery equivalent to a sewage treatment plans and a 1/4 acre very specific kind of leach field. Most new houses in the area have about 1/4 acre of a billowing front lawn that is the leach field. You cannot plant trees or put in foundations over ths system. Remember, the issue around here is too much water, not too little, in terms of ground drainage and so on.

Regarding heating and all, you need air ducts to have air conditioning (central air). I think eastern Mass. is grossly humid in the summer and have central air. New houses have it, older ones rarely do. Hence, the screened porch might not be an issue. I'd rather wait it out in a/c than in a screened porch. That said, I find no particular pests to be a problem except for protecting my dogs from ticks and fleas.
I also think the winters are way overrated as a concern. They've gotten increasingly milder in the 32 years I've lived here. But you can see that I can't stand humidity and summer here- summers have become more and more humid (if not hotter) also. You can see where my preference lie. I mean, winter here is hardly a version of Nanook of the North, like I imagine, say, Michigan or something to be.
Remember that a plowable snowstorm is hardly a weekly or daily event. If you have a hill, you might need to salt or sand, but it's hardly a constant. When the sun comes out on the blacktop, your driveway is clear. When I had a gravel driveway, it stayed iced longer. If you have a snowblower, it's no big deal to clear the hill area. If you have a very long driveway, you might want to hire a seasonal plow guy. Some charge by the storm, some by the season (and if there are two storms or 20, the rate is the same).
Just looked at your questions again. The leach field is a specialized gravel/sand mixture in a billowing pile that the septic tank drains into, not the area on top of the tank. I gather these can become clogged and need to be replaced (expensive) after some 25 years, depending on use. The current minimum requirement is a "three-bedroom" tank, so if you don't have enough people to overload three bedrooms, you'll be fine. Write in your offer that the seller must present Title 5 certification and throw in a pumping requirement, so you know your starting point.

I think some houses in Westford are on town sewer- the more congested areas and main road homes.

Many towns here do not have trash pickup. There's a town dump ("transfer station") where you carry your own stuff and thow it into trash or specialized recycle dumpsters. You can hire a service to pick the stuff up. My town charges $240 a year for the privilege of me carrying my own stuff there. I don't know what Westford has.

All of these things are hangovers from the rural past, which also offers a lot of good things nearby- farmer's markets, farms and orchards, horses in the fields. It's not mega-suburbia out here.
I think you mentioned Acton. Also a fine area, largely less "new" than Westford, great schools, a lot more history and little "village" areas within Acton.
As you can gather, I really like this area. Have lived in Littleton now for 16 years and wouldn't want to live anywhere else outside of the city. Good luck!