Info on Athol/Orange (Boston, Worcester: for sale, real estate, appliances)

[dei6360]

Hi,

We are going to be moving to Mass in the next couple of months and wanted to get more info on the Athol/Ornge area.

My wife is from Ma and would rather not move so far out however the home prices there are so much more reasonable. As it stands right now the work commute will not be a factor, but she is worried that if our jobs change we will have to commute to Boston.

Some of my questions are-- what is the resale value like, what is the commute time like, what is shopping like (supermarket's, walmart, target)? Is there garbage pickup available? Is high-speed Internet available ( we will both be working from home), also how is cell phone coverage (mainly Verizon and T-Mobile).

We will be moving from the Tampa, FL area and I would really love to move an area where we can afford a nice house with some land.

Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[graymall]

Hi!

I will try to answer some of your questions, as I grew up in Athol, work in Orange in live nearby.

A house is always a good investment, however...It seems to me more people are buying land and building new. I'm uncertain how this is affecting the resale values of homes as it seems it would bring the values down, but it appears the prices are still up there. I must admit, I haven't really been paying attention as I don't have much interest in moving. I do know the house next door to me has a for sale price of 160,000 for a 3 bedroom ranch with 2 acres of land. It was built about 17 or 18 years ago at a cost of about 70,000 for the land, materials, and some of the labor.

Shopping...there is 1 Walmart in Orange and not a very big one. There is one place to shop for food on the Athol/Orange line...Hannafords. Many people go out of town to do their shopping because of how busy Hannafords is (1 place supporting 2 towns) as well as to enable them to have a choice in prices. There is also a Familly Dollar and an Ocean State Job Lot, your typical CVS, Brooks Pharmacy, and some local merchants that sell Appliances, Furniture, etc. I often go to Keene, NH to shop. There is a large Walmart, a Target, a Hannafords, a Shaws, a Pricechopper, Bed & Bath, Circuit City, Michaels Crafts, Borders, a Sears and much, much more. Its about a half-hour to 45 minute drive, but there are no taxes if you are purchasing something big. I don't always go there...but probably once a month.

Garbage pick up is done privately. Or you can purchase special trash bags and a Landfill sticker in Orange and transport yourself.

Commute? Depends on where you are going. Jobs don't pay real well in the Athol/Orange area. An hour commute to Worcester isn't too bad, if you don't mind adding 2 hours to your already busy day. Boston would add about 4 hours to your day. Springfield about 2+ hours. Smaller towns/cities include Greenfield, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Amherst, Northampton, Whately...all about 45 minutes or less. Gardner is about 20 minutes.

Cell phone coverage... not the best area. I had Cingular and found the coverage to be in and out the whole length of Route 2 from Fitchburg to Greenfield. I hated it. I had Verizon Wireless first, and found the same problem, athough realized after I switched to Cingular, it wasn't as bad. I now have Sprint and think the coverage is the best out of the 3. There are pockets near the Erving area but the service is alot better than any of the others.

Well...I hope this helps...Good Luck!

[Lori Couture]

I just moved to athol about 3 years ago from Worcester... i find athol to be relatively quiet considering i grew up in a rather large city. As the other person said there is a walmart in orange and we really only have one supermarket.. hannafords.. we used to have a victory supermarket but that was closed a few years ago and they put an ocean state job lot in its place. but if you dont mind a 30 minute drive to leominster there are several other supermarkets and shopping places there. There is also a bj's wholesale club there if you like to buy in bulk. I have to agree with the other person about the cell phone service in this area.. its not great but if you shop around your bound to find a plan that works for you. There is high speed internet access in this area as well. I have verizon and it works pretty well for us. The housing prices are pretty reasonable depending on what you're looking for. My husband and i bought our house 3 years ago for 99,000. There is a house across the street from me and the seller is asking 125,000 for it. There is another house a little ways up the street and their asking 185,000. So, this area is still fairly reasonable compared to the surrounding towns. Depending on where you work you could have a pretty decent commute. Anyway hope this info helps.. good luck!

[Lori Couture]

one other thing i meant to post was about the trash removal. It's mostly private. You'll have to call around to different places to see how much they charge for weekly curbside pickup. again.. hope this helps.

[Ingleterra]

The housing prices are really reasonable, but be sure you want to stay before you buy. I know someone who bought a house in Orange a couple of years ago with the intention of staying a long time, but circumstances changed and he had to put the house on the market. Well, the house has been on the market for a year now and hasn't sold. I'd feel more comfortable making an investment in a place with more economic prosperity, because if the worst happens and you have to sell, you want a decent size pool of potential buyers out there.

[smokeyjoe]

First off, if you move from Tampa to Athol-Orange, prepare yourself for some changes. Winter is an obvious one. Another is that the land is not flat here. We enjoy our mountains (which we call hills), valleys, rivers and lakes (which we call ponds). And you're going to have to forget about Legends Field - we're part of Red Sox Nation here.

Athol and Orange are two of the nine towns in the North Quabbin Region, the area just north of the "accidental wilderness" of Quabbin Reservoir. Since you're looking for land, you might like one of the other seven towns better. On the other hand, the further out you go, the harder it is to get good cell service and high-speed internet, two of your other concerns.

There are some major new stores slated to come into Athol soon, which should improve area shopping. As for commuting, Athol and Orange are an easy 40-45 minute drive along Route 2 to Route 495. Check out the directions section of MapQuest - their times are pretty accurate.

The median price of a home sold in the North Quabbin Region in 2007 is $175K. Depending on your requirements, $200K - $300K should buy you a nice home with some land. Real estate prices here are down slightly from their 2005-2006 highs, as they are in most of Massachusetts.

In my opinion, 3 out of every 10 homes on the market in the North Quabbin Region right now are overpriced. If a house has been on the market for a year without selling, it may be priced too high. The best way to assure reasonable resale value is to make sure you do not overpay. I expect real estate prices in the North Quabbin Region, like most of Massachusetts, to remain relatively flat for a while.

While my opinions are personal, they are based on my professional experience as an Athol-Orange real estate broker. I enjoy introducing buyers to the North Quabbin Region because the region has a lot to offer. While it may not suit everyone, the North Quabbin Region gives you a good balance of value, clean air, casual living and easy commuting.

For more information, feel free to send me a private message.

[Millieshndc]

I'm confused if you work out of your home why have you chosen Orange/Athol area considering you mentioned if anything happened you would have to commute to Boston? You are talking a very long drive - like 1 1/2 hours with traffic and also the weather conditions in the winter. If that could be a reality I would definately live much closer to Boston. Why did you say Boston? I don't know what you would do for work but there is Springfield, MA area also to look at for work. Anyway if it were me and I wanted to move into the Orange/Athol area I would buy in Erving. It is approx. 7 miles west of Orange center and the taxes are very, very low compared to Orange/Athol. It is a nice small town also and there are some nice places to purchase in a variety of prices right now. I believe the tax rate is somewhere around $6.00 a thousand but you can check for sure by going to mass.gov and looking at different town sites. Now Erving is about 45 min.'s from Springfield which is still a bit of a long drive considering winter but there is also Amherst and Northhampton, MA within 1/2 hour. I do not believe there is too much industry (there again you can look up the towns) but a lot of colleges in those areas. Also if you take the back way you can be in Keene, NH in less than an hour and Brattleboro, VT in less than 1/2 hour both are larger towns. All shopping is terrible here I go to mall Holyoke (about 15 min.'s closer than Springfield, MA) and Hadley which is about 20 min.'s drive from Erving. The Walmart in Orange is a joke and only one grocery store. There is a smaller Home Depot in Greenfield - 15 min.'s away and three grocery stores there two are expensive I think. Keene grocery stores and Brattleboro are cheaper. Also larger Walmart and new super Walmart being put in in Hinsdale, NH about 25 min.'s away. There is also a BJ's in Greenfield (guess that would make four grocery stores there) and a Cosco in Holyoke. I also think the prices from what I have seen/read in Orange are high for that area and so are taxes because it is a very depressed town. I believe it is the most depressed in MA. This whole area is rather depressed not hardly any industry. Also Northfield and Bernardston, MA are very, very nice towns and don't believe taxes are as high you can check the towns out. Wendell, MA is a laid back sort of hippie, cultural town but taxes are a bit higher I believe there, Greenfield taxes are very high I think. Depends on I guess what you are looking for in a town. Erving is second lowest taxes in MA.
Hope some of this helps.

[roprava]

Has Orange, MA ever flooded?

Originally Posted by graymall

Hi!

I will try to answer some of your questions, as I grew up in Athol, work in Orange in live nearby.

A house is always a good investment, however...It seems to me more people are buying land and building new. I'm uncertain how this is affecting the resale values of homes as it seems it would bring the values down, but it appears the prices are still up there. I must admit, I haven't really been paying attention as I don't have much interest in moving. I do know the house next door to me has a for sale price of 160,000 for a 3 bedroom ranch with 2 acres of land. It was built about 17 or 18 years ago at a cost of about 70,000 for the land, materials, and some of the labor.

Shopping...there is 1 Walmart in Orange and not a very big one. There is one place to shop for food on the Athol/Orange line...Hannafords. Many people go out of town to do their shopping because of how busy Hannafords is (1 place supporting 2 towns) as well as to enable them to have a choice in prices. There is also a Familly Dollar and an Ocean State Job Lot, your typical CVS, Brooks Pharmacy, and some local merchants that sell Appliances, Furniture, etc. I often go to Keene, NH to shop. There is a large Walmart, a Target, a Hannafords, a Shaws, a Pricechopper, Bed & Bath, Circuit City, Michaels Crafts, Borders, a Sears and much, much more. Its about a half-hour to 45 minute drive, but there are no taxes if you are purchasing something big. I don't always go there...but probably once a month.

Garbage pick up is done privately. Or you can purchase special trash bags and a Landfill sticker in Orange and transport yourself.

Commute? Depends on where you are going. Jobs don't pay real well in the Athol/Orange area. An hour commute to Worcester isn't too bad, if you don't mind adding 2 hours to your already busy day. Boston would add about 4 hours to your day. Springfield about 2+ hours. Smaller towns/cities include Greenfield, Gardner, Fitchburg, Leominster, Amherst, Northampton, Whately...all about 45 minutes or less. Gardner is about 20 minutes.

Cell phone coverage... not the best area. I had Cingular and found the coverage to be in and out the whole length of Route 2 from Fitchburg to Greenfield. I hated it. I had Verizon Wireless first, and found the same problem, athough realized after I switched to Cingular, it wasn't as bad. I now have Sprint and think the coverage is the best out of the 3. There are pockets near the Erving area but the service is alot better than any of the others.

Well...I hope this helps...Good Luck!

[graymall]

It hasn't flooded in my lifetime, but back in the first half of the century, it did. They have markers on the L.S. Starrett Co. building showing how high the water rose to. Since that time, the Tully Lake Dam was constructed.

I have copy and pasted a little tidbit from a website I found on Tully Lake:

"Tully Lake is located on the East Branch of the Tully River in Royalston, Massachusetts, and is a part of a network of flood damage reduction dams on tributaries of the Connecticut River. Constructed between 1947 and 1949 at a cost of $1.6 million, it was first operated during the New Year's Flood of 1949 before it was completed. It's function is to reduce flood stages in Athol, Orange and other communities along the Millers River, and in conjuction with other Corps dams reduce flood stages along the Connecticut River.

The Reservoir Regulation Team (RRT), located at the Corps' New England District Headquarters in Concord, MA, is the "nerve center" for all Corps-operated dams in New England. Using radio and satellite communications, RRT constantly monitors river levels and weather conditions and directs the operation of the dams during high flows.

In April 1987, two storms dropped about 6 inches of rain, raising the water level to over 35 feet at the dam, utilizing 62% of the storage capacity. It is estimated that Tully Lake prevented over $3 million in damages to downstream property from this one storm."

~~~http://www.nae.usace.army.mil/recreati/tul/tulfc.htm

[jyoung666]

Originally Posted by dei6360

Hi,

We are going to be moving to Mass in the next couple of months and wanted to get more info on the Athol/Ornge area.

My wife is from Ma and would rather not move so far out however the home prices there are so much more reasonable. As it stands right now the work commute will not be a factor, but she is worried that if our jobs change we will have to commute to Boston.

Some of my questions are-- what is the resale value like, what is the commute time like, what is shopping like (supermarket's, walmart, target)? Is there garbage pickup available? Is high-speed Internet available ( we will both be working from home), also how is cell phone coverage (mainly Verizon and T-Mobile).

We will be moving from the Tampa, FL area and I would really love to move an area where we can afford a nice house with some land.

Any replies are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

There are all thoase things in athol. but however the commute to boston is not going to be great your talking about an hour and half with out any traffic, there isnt too many shopping centers there and no mall. It is really small and i would not recommend it, there is leominster and westminster that are about 20 min from athol and closer to boston that are really nice areas.