Young couple needs guidance looking for town between Worcester & Boston. (Framingham: bank owned, short sales)

[Bonza]

Hello,

I have been researching the area between Boston and Worcester for about 3 months now and feel more lost than when I first started and would love some advice.

Here is our situation. We currently rent in Belmont. I work in the Financial District. I drive in to work as I currently work international markets and work off hours. My fiance works at a clinic in Waltham and is a Junior at BU. She will be starting Med School in 2 years and will be applying to Harvard and UMass Worcester.

Once she starts Med School we will be down to a single income. I do well for myself but would like to mitigate any risk by eliminating rent from the equation. We have a food amount saved up and feel confident that we can pay off, or come very close to paying off a 200k to 225k mortgage by the time she stops working. We plan on living in the house till she is done with school and possibly through her residency, so 6-8 years.

As I need to drive to Boston and she will need to either commute to Worcester or Boston, we feel like the safest spot to buy is somewhere between the 2 cities so that a commute in either direction is reasonable.

Ideally we would like a country setting with quick access to a major highway. We would also like an area with a solid school system, just incase we end up needing it, and to facilitate re-sale when the time comes.

Also, we love Weston, Wayland and Lincoln. Ofcourse we can't afford a house there yet, but I just wanted to give you an idea of the town setting that we like.

So any ideas where we should be looking? Any help would be greatly appeciated.

[holden125]

Weston or Wayland would be the obvious choices, but I take it you're trying to locate a house in a price range where you can use your down payment money and have a mortgage of $225,000 or under so you can be done with it before going down to one income.

I'd suggest looking in Hopkinton or Southboro. The other towns along the Mass Pike. are probably more built up than what you're looking for. If you go in at off hours, without traffic it's 40-45 mins to downtown Boston and much closer than that to Worcester. It's not clear how much you've got to put down, and how much house you want, but Hopkinton and Southboro have a more rural feel than, say, Framingham or Natick, and have well-regarded schools. Hopkinton has seen some high-end construction that's taken away some of the pastoral character in recent years, but it's not completely overrun. Both are just off the 495 exit on the Pike, or the Route 9 exit (exit 12). The other towns that come to mind are too expensive, too far from the Pike, or both.

[Bonza]

Thank you for your response.

To be more specific about the finances. I am looking to put down 40-50k and pay off the balance over 3 years. So the total purchase price should be 200-225k. Anymore and I'd be cutting it close to get it paid off.

As for how much house, it is just the 2 of us. A 3 bedroom with a finished basement or space for an office and a 2 car garage would fit the bill nicely.

Weston or Wayland is where we would love to live once med school is over with. I'll check out Hopkinton and Southboro. Maybe a drive through later this evening. :-)

[scarletfire]

Westboro would also be a good option. You could possibly do Grafton as well to get more for your money but that would leave you with an hour+ commute and both of you pretty far west if your fiance ends up going to Harvard. If you went that far out I'd recommend finding a home close to the Mass Pike or commuter rail station.

Best of luck!

[Concepts]

It would be difficult to find something under $225,00 in Grafton and even more unlikely in Southboro, Westboro or even Hopkinton. Northboro is an option also - still pricey - more than Grafton but less expensive than the others. Are you handy enough that you would be willing to consider a "fixer upper?" There are bank owned and short sales, even in these affluent towns, but tend to get scooped up pretty quickly and usually need some work.All have strong school systems though and have good access to highways -

[holden125]

Originally Posted by Bonza

Thank you for your response.

To be more specific about the finances. I am looking to put down 40-50k and pay off the balance over 3 years. So the total purchase price should be 200-225k. Anymore and I'd be cutting it close to get it paid off.

A little confused. The initial post said you were looking to make a down payment and pay off a mortgage of about $225K. So with $50K down that would mean a total price of $275K, although there are also closing costs, etc., to consider. It would be something like $7000 a month plus RE taxes to pay that off in three years, though. Even if $225K is the total price and the mortgage is more like 180, it would be $5500 or so (or a lower scheduled monthly payment on a longer amortization schedule, but some heavy prepayment going on).

In any event, it might be hard to find a nice single family house close enough for a decent commute to Boston for $275K, let alone $225K. There may be some condos around. Maybe time to scale back the current ambitions or get creative with it. I wasn't sure if you were talking $100K + down or what. I do seem to recall that there were some OK-looking homes under $300K up by Littleton and Westford, which are nice and quite rural towns, but $225K might be a stretch even there. If you're actually going to Boston at absolute off-peak hours (no traffic at all), you could make it in 45-55 mins via 495 to 93, or via Rt. 2 or Rt. 3. It's maybe 30 mins without traffic to Worcester. At the rush, I think it's too far to be very enjoyable.

Harvard and Shewsbury will probably be too expensive. I don't know about the other Worcester County towns like Berlin or Boylston.

If you did get a place for $275K, or $225K, and paid most or all of it off in a short time, you'd have the entire resale value (minus realtor costs) in equity. If you paid it off and stayed there for a while longer, you also have the chance to save up more on top of that, and you'd be well on the way to a spread in Weston. But paying off even a small mortgage that quickly requires serious payments now.

Right now, it's hard to get a decent and reliable return on money, but it may not make sense to prepay the mortgage if you can somehow beat the interest rate you pay on the loan.

[MichelleLane]

That is a difficult budget. You can find properties in Northboro in that price range, but Northboro is still pretty far from Boston. Sudbury would be great location-wise, but you won't get anything under $300K there. If you could raise the budget a bit you would have much more available to you, but if not, try Northboro and just be willing to drive a bit more. Or be williing to live in a more city-like environment - you can get something in your price range in either Framingham or Natick.

[Bonza]

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll try and adress everyone in opne post.

holden125 - Sorry about that. I know the finances came out a little garbled. Basically, we have about 150k saved up at the moment. Our plan is tentatively, to buy a 200-225k house. We will put down 20% and take a 30 yr. This gives us 2.5 yrs till med school starts. A bulk of the money is in the market and we plan on pulling it out in 2 years to pay off as much of the balance left as we can. Thus being on one income and payng for school should be a more reasonable proposition.

Then we cruise though the med school years, sell the house and use the proceeds as the downpayment on a house in Weston. It seemed like a solid idea, but we do not have the benefit of life experience to spot any major flaw with that plan.

scarletfire - Thank your for the great info you sent!

Concepts and Michelle Lane - I'm just about as handy as Homer Simpson, haha. In all seriousness, I have no experience with contruction type stuff. But with a good book to guide me, I'd imagine I should be able to handle most small repairs.

Also, a more populated area is ok. I just don't want to end up in a suburban maze, if you know what I mean. Actually, I spent today looking for listings in the areas mentioned and found a couple of places in Southborough and Hopkinton that is in the price range. I drove by them and peeked inside and they looked like they were in good shape. One of them that I didn't mind was just off Rt. 9 in Southborough and was a good size. Unfortunately, no garage though.

Also, regarding prices, these days I'm assuming we might be able to go after a 250k place with a 225k offer and actually get it. What do you think?

So, I guess the range of locations so far is Southborough, Hopkinton, Northborough, Westborough, Sudbury. I agree that Grafton would be too far away. How about Maynard, Ashland, Marlborough. These seem to be right in the same vicinity but noone mentioned them. Are they too expensive or are they bad areas?

[happywifey]

Originally Posted by Bonza

Also, regarding prices, these days I'm assuming we might be able to go after a 250k place with a 225k offer and actually get it. What do you think?

Most definitely!! Depending on the situation (how long it's been on the market, if you can find out why they are selling, etc.) - I think you can!

We got our place with an offer of about 18% less than asking. This was also over a year ago before things got "really bad".

Just remember at the end of the day - the worse that can happen is that the owners can say "no." Big whoop. More houses will come along. Especially if this is more of an investment for you and not your home for life.

Good Luck!

[holden125]

Originally Posted by Bonza

How about Maynard, Ashland, Marlborough. These seem to be right in the same vicinity but noone mentioned them. Are they too expensive or are they bad areas?

I wouldn't go so far as to say bad areas, but Maynard is a slightly depressed old mill town and Marlborough has some major traffic issues in the dense town center and lower resale due to the schools not be as highly regarded. Ashland is not bad; it's in some ways a cheaper and closer alternative to towns like Southboro, Westboro, etc. Personally I find it kind of nondescript but it's not so bad. There was one superfund site so you might want to ensure the house is not right on top of that.