Reading

[puffle]

Originally Posted by Ravesox34

Have you thought about taking a trip to Mass. for a couple days just to see everything again? Perhaps you can get some insight on the towns you are looking at and narrow things down for your eventual move. It seems like you are trying to plan way too much without getting the chance to really see things for what they are.

If you are thinking about Virginia too then maybe you are not feeling Massachusetts as much as you thought. A trip to Massachusetts might clear your head a little.

I totally agree, but our budget can't handle the expense of a visit right now or we would go. I mentioned Virginia because most of my hubbies biz is in D.C. and Virginia. We picked Ma. because we enjoy it so much more and it is a close plane ride away if he needs to meet with people there. You do get more for the money there and they have the best schools in the country, but I just dislike the South, and I do consider Virginia the South. Everything about it is Southern which is so foreign to me. I'm just a little crazy right now, that's all.

[puffle]

But still, no details about Reading!

[SP2]

I grew up in Reading, but have chosen to raise my family in Central Massachusetts instead. Reading is nice-well-tended homes, good schools, plenty of activities for the kids. There's not a whole lot in Reading, but it is convenient to many other things-shooping and employment along Rt 128, 25 minutes by car or train to Boston, 40 minutes to beaches on the North Shore, 75 minutes to the White Mountains. I think you will find that it an expensive place to find housing-not as expensive as Winchester, Manchester, Concord, or some of the other communities mentioned in earlier posts-probably on a par with Natick, but more convenient to the city. Property taxes, as in all of these communities which are primarily residential, are high. There are a couple of large apartment complexes like Summit Towers and some new 40B developments, but not a large stock of rental housing that is ideally-suited to families with children.

Traffic on 93 and 128 can get heavy, but it usually moves-128 bogs down about 7 miles south of Reading at Burlington and north about 9 miles on 128 after it splits with Rt 95. Rt 93 can bottleneck about 9 miles north at the lane drop in Tewksbury, and 10 miles south in Somerville, just outside of Boston. You get used to it-it's not so bad.

When I was growing up in Reading, and living in an apartment there as a young man, it seemed a fine and convenient place to live, but a little cold. Much has changed since then-the town has become wealthier for sure, and perhaps the identification that people feel with the life of the community has changed too.

[HOMELADY]

I HAVE TO SAY I LIVE IN LYNNFIELD RIGHT NEXT DOOR, AND I DO EVERYTHING IN READING
I THINK IT IS A GREAT PLACE FOR TO RAISE A FAMILY LOADS TO DO AND IT GIVES YOU A WARM HOMEY FEELING......... MY DAUGHTER BELONGS TO CONNECT THE TOTS BASED OUT OF READING, IT'S A WONDERFUL ORGANIZATION GEARED TO BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER.... I'VE HEARD TRAFFIC COMMENTS, WELL THERE IS TRAFFIC NO MATTER WHAT CITY YOU LIVE IN.. (TRY GETTING UP RT 1)
REAL ESTATE IS MY BUSINESS AND I HAVE ALOT OF BUYERS ATTRACTED TO READING ONCE THEY KNOW THE BENEFITS!

GOOD LUCK
SAMANTHA

[holden125]

This thread was almost a year old, so there's nobody specifically asking about Reading (where my cousins live and which I think is a nice town) right now. The OP is safely ensconced to the west.