Framingham - Good/Bad? (Boston, Natick: short sales, rental, crime)

[looknforhome]

Seems like I hear both opinions on Framingham, what's the consensus here? Is there a good and bad Framingham, is any one part of Framingham more safe then another part?

What area's are best to bring up a 2 year old? Any other useful Framingham info would be much appreciated.

thx!

[ogre]

I'd say that neither term ("good" or "bad") completely describes Framingham. I lived in Framingham for about five years, and would describe Framingham in general as so-so. It's basically a fairly generic large suburban town. The downtown area has faded. Mostly, some chintzy small businesses characterize downtown, while the main economic center is a string of malls and strip malls centered around a stretch of two miles or so along rt. 9. The town does have a bunch of restaurants. Many are chain places, as might be expected in a small city with lots of mall shopping as an economic base, but here and there you can find the occasional distinctive eatery.

Generally, the area south of rt. 9 is the older part of town, with neighborhoods of varying quality. The area surrounding downtown is somewhat run down. Most of the rest of the area south of rt. 9 and east of Union Ave. is solidly blue collar with smaller houses that are showing some age but are reasonably well kept up. Going north on Union, as you approach rt. 9 the several blocks immediately east of Union have older houses of varying sizes that are in good condition, with the area being pretty much a middle class neighborhood. West of Union is nice and clean for the most part. This is the area that most people would probably consider the nicest section of Framingham south of rt. 9.

Most of the area north of rt. 9 is more consistently clean, safe, and relatively new, emphasis on the word "relatively" as there is not a lot of new construction in Framingam. The northwestern part of town is generally rather affluent, probably the most well-to-do part of town overall, and the very far northwestern part of town begins to take on a bit of an exurban look, with some woods and fields. Though the northwestern part of town may be the most well-to-do in general, for the most part any neighborhood north of rt. 9 will be nice and clean and suburban.

To my knowledge, Framingham is not a high-crime town, but the area immediately surrounding downtown has a reputation as an unsafe area. My impression is that this reputation is exaggerated, but that perhaps the area has a somewhat above average occurrence of what crime there is in Framingham.

While living in Framingham I did discover that there is a network of longtime residents who seem to have a clannish insider attitude, and to turn a cold shoulder to those who move in from outside. I rented while in Framingham, and found that this cliquishness was very noticeable among a network of small-time local landlords who pretty much knew that they could mistreat their tenants any way they wanted and that the tenats had no recourse because the local government officials, who are part of that local-yokel network, would back up the landlords. I also had the impression that the police dept. in Framingham had elements of those old-city police depts. that are ruled by cronyism, with the cops often being part of that old local network. Generally, this is not the best situation, since police depts. like this may often be a lot more helpful to their fellow local yokels than to those who aren't part of that network, and the officers can be very biased in disputes between people inside and outside that network. However, I have had only limited observation of how this actually works in Framingham. Generally, except for a group of Latin immigrants in the vicinity of downtown, there seem to be fewer of the longtime locals on the north side of town, though this may not be the case 100 percent.

All in all, I'd say Framingham is just your basic reasonably pleasant place to live, a moderately prosperous large suburban town, with some neighborhoods nicer than others, but few if any really bad areas, with plenty of mall-oriented shopping and dining, some local small-scale businesses scattered here and there, but for the most part not a lot of character other than generically suburban. For the cleanest, most aesthetically pleasant areas, you want to look mainly north of rt. 9, or, if you look south of rt. 9, mostly properties west of Union Ave.

[Braunwyn]

I recently put an offer on a short sale in Framingham. I'm on the fence about living there. I live north of Boston now and would like to stay here but it's out of my price range. One good and bad thing about Framingham is access to the pike. It probably makes for a quicker trip than the northern burbs but the cost of tolls is too high imo.

[scarletfire]

Short sales can be tricky. One important thing to know if you get an offer accepted is whether there are multiple lienholders and if all of them have agreed to accept the price. Sometimes if there is a second mortgage or other lienholder involved they can muck up the deal, even once you are well down the road past inspection. You can sometimes get very good deals, I just wanted to mention this as a word of caution.

[Bexo]

Framingham is both and it is generally defined by the Masss Pike...go north, good...go south, bad. That doesn't mean there is not better or worse in either direction but as you go north houses tend to be newer (under 50 yo) single-family with larger lots and mature trees/landscaping. Go south and you get more rental properties and (older 60+ yo) SF's w/ smaller lots and less greenery. This is likely due to there being more factory work on the south side back in the day. With the lack of factory work now, the south side is being left by the lily white suburbanites for a growing immigrant population. Also, when driving in Framingham South, do all that you can to avoid the "rotary" by Union and 126 - I think that's where it is.

[Braunwyn]

Yea, there's a marked difference between north and south Framingham. I don't know the town very well but I'm hoping it has a bit of culture and isn't just a big strip mall.

[itscolduphere]

Originally Posted by ogre

While living in Framingham I did discover that there is a network of longtime residents who seem to have a clannish insider attitude, and to turn a cold shoulder to those who move in from outside. I rented while in Framingham, and found that this cliquishness was very noticeable among a network of small-time local landlords who pretty much knew that they could mistreat their tenants any way they wanted and that the tenats had no recourse because the local government officials, who are part of that local-yokel network, would back up the landlords. I also had the impression that the police dept. in Framingham had elements of those old-city police depts. that are ruled by cronyism, with the cops often being part of that old local network. Generally, this is not the best situation, since police depts. like this may often be a lot more helpful to their fellow local yokels than to those who aren't part of that network, and the officers can be very biased in disputes between people inside and outside that network. However, I have had only limited observation of how this actually works in Framingham.

I was considering a possible relocation to the Framingham area, but this is somewhat disturbing. I lived in a Midwest town, and also a small "charming" town in CT that had this problem, especially with the police, who let certain individual's children get away with bullying nearby residents with ATV's and Snowmobiles, and general disruption, as well as other town-related people being generally unhelpful to the point of almost trying to run the new people out of town..... kind of like the movie Funny Farm that takes place in VT, only without the happy ending.

Are the surrounding towns like this as well? Or should I re-phrase this as: what surrounding nice safe towns are more welcoming to newcomers? Sorry to hijack thread somewhat.

[Braunwyn]

I've been living in North Framingham for a few months now. Both my dh and I really enjoy it. We're close to the Sudbury line. Our neighbors are friendly. One of them brought us a house warming gift. So sweet!

[DreamworksSKG]

For schools I'd say Natick would be a better choice or Hopkinton