Good towns in Central Mass (Boston, Marlborough: fit in, real estate, credit)

[firsttimebuyer19]

I'm a first time buyer looking for a house within 30 minutes of Millbury, where I work. Must also have good highway access for boyfriend who works all over New England.
We've narrowed our search down some to the following towns. We're looking for any strong feelings about any of these (love, hate, or just indifferent). We're getting mixed messages from friends and want to make an informed decision even though we're not originally from this area (though we have lived here two years). We don't have kids and won't have any soon, but we're worried about resale value in the future.
Here's the towns:
Upton
Northbridge
Mendon
Sutton
Grafton
Hopedale
Leicester
Oxford
Auburn
West Boylston
Sterling
Charlton

What do you think? Any you can recommend?

[CoastalMaine]

My daughter lives in Sterling and works in Shrewsbury. Her husband works all over New England as well. Sterling is a really nice town. Rural, but close to everything.

[scarletfire]

How about Shrewsbury itself? School systems and resale are quite good.

[CoastalMaine]

Well, I don't think you can make your decision based on what we say really. You need to take a trip here and check towns out for yourself. Shrewsbury has a nice feel to its downtown area, but for me, it's too citified. It totally depends on your needs, wants, and tastes. The next poster might come along and say it's a fabulous town.

[NewHomeBuyer79]

My wife and I just moved to Mendon. We don't have children but the neighbors all tell us how good the schools are excellent. There is a small "downtown" (not too much) but its near Milford, Franklin, Bellingham which have all the big stores, chain restaurants, etc...

Town seems to pride itself on not over-commercializing too much and keep the historical part of it...

Its a nice town - near major routes (140, 16, 126, 109 and interstate 495)

[Boston344]

I've lived in Shrewsbury all my life, and it really is a good town (bordering city pop. size). Great, competitive school system as well. As to the previous post regarding it's city feel, by no means does Shrewsbury have a city feel. I guess if you compare it to a rural town in MA, but not to a true city like Boston obv. Depending on your price range, you can get a great house in a great town...Shrewsbury is pretty separated in terms of wealth, but is growing more diverse with the overflow of worcester near the lake. The north side of town is higher priced (500K +) but near white city it's more close to 300K + ...good luck searching!!

[katsap]

Sutton: GORGEOUS town. One of my favorites.

Grafton: Mostly nice depending on the area.

Leicester: There is a drive-in movie theater and an amazing hot dog place called Hot Dog Annie's. Pretty nice area.

Oxford: I lived there for about a year. It's a very small town and geared more towards families. It is a safe area and close to the highway though.

Auburn: Used to be a pretty decent place to go for things to do but has really gone down the drain the past 5 years. There are a few restaurants and shopping centers there though.

Charlton: Another small family town but very pretty and very country-like.

[sdoherty]

Your list is a good one. Depending on what you mean by "good highway access" I would seriously consider Marlborough. Its centrally located to 495 (North/South) and 90 (East/West), rt 20 (east/West) Its a beautiful town overall that offers many great restaurants, shopping (Solomon Pond Mall, Home Depot etc...) state parks for hiking, biking etc. It allows easier access to Boston via 90 or rt 20; to Allbany New York via rt 90 west; to Providence or the Cape via 495 South or to New Hampshire/Maine via 495 North. It has great homes for younger buyers and it is surrounded by towns (Sudbury, Southborough etc..) whose real estate values are significantly more expensive for similar homes.

[CH0515]

Stay away from Oxford, if your kids aren't beautifully disciplined, grade A students, and dont fit in with the "clicks", you'll know all too soon, and the grownups are just as bad, they think they're better than everyone else, and look down on you if you dont have the newest car, best house, or best everything, sorry, spent 12 years there, dont miss it and wont go back, the other towns, are good from what i heard , Sutton is very pretty, and Grafton is too.

[Concepts]

Good school systems have a direct relation to resale value so you may want to think about that even though you don't have children. I'd say Grafton, Sutton and Upton look best from your list but it's difficult to tell without knowing your price range.

And don't wait too long....that hefty $8000 tax credit for 1st time homebuyers runs out in November.