Boston 'burbs - Point me in the right direction please. (Newton: middle-class, 2010)

[riley1319]

My husband is on the cusp of accepting a job offer in Boston and once he signs we will likely have 8-10 weeks to move our family there. The relo package is great and we will have temporary housing while we decide were to live. We are a mid-30's family with two boys under 5. Here's what I'm looking for...

(I'm sure you all must be tired of answering versions of the same question and I have read through the other threads, I just want to make sure I don't miss a great recommendation specific to our needs.)

1) Great public schools (my oldest will be entering K in 2010)
2) 30 min commute to the financial district (So off a commuter rail line, correct? My husband's already gone 12 hrs. a day and we only live 10 mins. outside of uptown Charlotte, I don't think I can have him gone much more than that.)
3) We'd like 4 bedrooms, 2500+ sq. ft, and would prefer a garage (Are those common in the suburbs or does it just depend?). We're good with a more dense setting, but would like at least a little back yard for the kids to run circles in. We'd prefer not to go over 800K.
4) We'd like an active community with opportunities to meet other families.
5) I'd like to be relatively close to some shopping options - a mall, Target, etc. (Just threw this in b/c of something I read in a different thread. It's possible there is a Target on every corner. I have no idea. )

Schools and commute time are the most important to me - everything else is negotiable to one degree or another.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

[ogre]

Winchester and Beverly, if suburban character with moderate population density and active local downtowns appeals. The question marks: I'm not sure one way or the other how the schools are in Beverly, and, even though this is generally a fairly densely populated area where there is plenty of shopping, I'm not sure it's the best area for really close access to large malls.

Newton: nice upscale older suburban. More like a small city than a small town in terms of its population (somewhere between 80k and 90k), but it's predominately residential, and is broken up into smaller sections with their own local commercial districts. Also has a mall on the east side of town. Depending on the local section of town, you can find smaller or somewhat larger yards. Really good public transit, with both commuter rail and light rail (though be careful about commuter rail depending on the hours you might need it, as there are not inbound stops in Newton from mid-afternoon until late at night).

Westwood, if an affluent town with a decidedly suburban, though somewhat low-density suburban, character appeals to you. The one question mark is that I'm not familiar with the local activities there. There might be plenty to do, but I just don't know.

Needham. Somewhat similar to Westwood.

This one is out there a little, because the town is not served by commuter rail, but, maybe, Wayland. Good schools. Generally a low-density kind of suburb, but I'm thinking that you might want to look in particular at the Cochituate section of Wayland, on the south side. Cochituate is a mix of small older houses, well-maintained modest Victorians, and middle-class suburbia. There is a small sort of local commercial area, not quaint in appearance especially, but functional and pleasant-looking enough, with a grocery store, a drugstore, and a number of small local restaurants. You can walk to these businesses from a good portion of Cochituate. You're also a short drive from the commuter rail station in Natick (another question mark, as I'm unsure of the parking situation at that station), and very close to a big complex of mall shopping in Natick and Framingham.

You might also want to consider Natick, if schools that are good overall but not quite the real powerhouse schools systems some Boston suburbs have would work for you, and if you're comfortable with a clean safe town which overall is very suburban in character. Nice little downtown area with basic small-store shopping and a local arts center, in addition to the malls on the north side of town. And, as mentioned in the paragraph about Cochituate, Natick has commuter rail (slightly more than half an hour to Boston, but not by much).

[brightdoglover]

Of all the nice towns listed above, only Newton might fit the "30 minutes" request. Certainlyl not Wayland or Beverly.

With the generous budget the OP has, I think Newton would be great. Can't think of a better answer. Oh, maybe Wellesley.
Best wishes on the move.

[ogre]

Hmmm, yeah, I checked the commuter rail timetables, and Beverly is well up there away from the city. Sorry for the error. The North Shore area where Beverly is located is not my main turf.

Brightdog's point about the distance of most of these towns does point up a reality you have to deal with here. That is that Boston is quite a bit larger city than Charlotte, at least in terms of metro area population. Seeking a town with really good schools, on a commuter rail line, and on top of that located within a half-hour commute is tricky. A lot of the closer suburbs are kind of blue-collar in character. Even though the inner suburbs are their own cities officially, in physical appearance they are really more like outlying sections of the city of Boston itself. This is not true one hundred percent, and in general most of these close-in towns are perfectly solid and safe places to live, but many of them will come up short on the quality of schools, at least if having a really top-notch school system is one of your priorities.

Based on commuting time, Newton definitely moves to the head of the pack. The only reason I can think of that you might object to Newton would be if you did not want to live in that large a town. Being that you now live right in the city of Charlotte, maybe this would not be a problem for you. There is also the fact, as I pointed out before, that Newton is divided into smaller sections that have their own commercial districts, so in some ways Newton is not so much like a small city but more like a collection of small towns sharing one local government.

As for the other suggestions, that's where you might have to start being realistic about the difference in the size of Charlotte's and Boston's metro areas. The reality is that, outside of a couple of possibilities, you're going to find it difficult to find a suburb with first-rate schools within a half an hour commute of downtown. Next to Newton, Winchester may be the shortest commute. This is tricky, however, because Boston has two train stations, and the commuter rail line serving Winchester goes into the station farther from the financial district. When you figure in the additional time getting to the financial district after arrival in Boston, the total commute is likely to be a bit more than 30 minutes. The trip to the train station in Winchester should be fairly quick, because Winchester is a fairly compact town, but this too would still add a few minutes to the commute.

As for the other towns, how they would compare to each other in regard to commuting time would depend in part on what part of town you lived in. Most of those towns cover enough land area that it would be possible to add substantially to the commuting time just driving to the local train station, if you lived well across town from the station.

Unfortunately, substantial commuting time is one reality many people have to deal with in the Boston area. Based on the criteria you've specified, Newton looks like a good candidate to be at the top of your list at this point.

[jello88]

I would suggest Arlington, MA or Lexington, MA.

[Urban Peasant]

Newton, Arlington, and Winchester are excellent choices. Lexington is a little bit more removed but still an excellent choice. All of these suburbs have excellent schools and plenty of single family homes with yards. If I can suggest a few more, how about Milton, Dedham, Needham (I think already suggested) and Braintree on the south side of Boston. All of these suburbs have excellent schools too with Needham and Dedham serviced by commuter rail directly to South Station in downtown Boston and Milton and Braintree serviced by the Red Line rapid transit.

There are actually parts of Boston that have a very suburban like feel (nice single family homes with great yards in safe areas), so much that you would feel like you were in a suburb. West Roxbury is a prime example as are parts of Roslindale, the Readville and Fairmount sections of Hyde Park, and the Ashmont, Neponset, and Lower Mills sections of Dorchester. All of these neighborhoods have either a direct commuter rail line to Boston or serviced by rapid transit. You even get to save on property taxes. I admit, not every public elementary school in Boston is great but good ones definitely do exist. Its at the high school level that you have to really watch out. Just food for thought.

[TheWereRabbit]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Of all the nice towns listed above, only Newton might fit the "30 minutes" request. Certainlyl not Wayland or Beverly.

With the generous budget the OP has, I think Newton would be great. Can't think of a better answer. Oh, maybe Wellesley.
Best wishes on the move.

Winchester is certainly within 30 mintues (20 max on commuter rail) from the financial district and significantly closer to downtown than Wellesley.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by jello88

I would suggest Arlington, MA or Lexington, MA.

Nice towns, but the OP said something about commuter rail. If there can be some flexibility about mode of public transit, then these towns could be possibilities because they have bus service. The problem there could be with the preference for a 30-minute-max. commute. The east side of Arlington might work if a short drive to the Alewife station followed by a ride downtown on the red line would work for the OP's husband.

It's actually possible that driving to Alewife from anywhere in these towns MIGHT work, but I have my doubts. I'm thinking that most likely the drive from the neighborhoods more distant from Alewife would be slow enough in traffic that the total commute would exceed half an hour. The same would be true of taking the bus. By the time you get to the bus stop, wait for the bus, ride the bus with all the stops it makes along the way, wait for the subway at Alewife, ride downtown, then walk across the financial district to work, that probably exceeds the preferred commuting time.

The east side of Arlington might work, though. Either a short drive to Alewife or a house close to a bus stop, followed by a short bus ride to Alewife, then the ride downtown and the walk through downtown to work could be done within 30 minutes.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Of all the nice towns listed above, only Newton might fit the "30 minutes" request. Certainlyl not Wayland or Beverly.

Winchester is well within 30 minutes by rail, but that's into North Station. A few minutes more to financial district. Still, Wedgemere to North Station is a 16-minute ride or so, about 18 mins from Winchester Center.

Yards tend smaller than in, say, Winchester, but Belmont may be worth a look. And Arlington.

Belmont is near the Target in Watertown, so there's that! (There's certainly not a "Target on every corner" but there are a few sprinkled about).

[riley1319]

Thanks for the thoughtful responses. Newton and Winchester have been at the top of my short list, but I will check out the other suggestions as well.

Urban Peasant mentioned areas in the city. I think we'd be great with living in the city if we could feel great about the school. Can anyone list specific ESs in Boston that are at the top of their game?