Winchester, Wellesley, Lexington or Concord?

[lz1982]

These are all nice towns. I agree with Ogre that Concord stands out for being the most rural. Winchester has only a 15 minute train commute into North Station, which is nice.

[mw25]

All four towns are very nice towns, and I would think you would be happy in any of them. One consideration might be the hours of work and exactly where in the financial district the office would be. Most offices in that area are going to be close to South Station. The only one of these towns whose commuter rail goes to South Station is Wellesley. That could be quite important. The other lines go to North Station which would require a switch to the T or a pretty decent walk (not fun during the winter).

To me, that would be a major plus for Wellesley. There are 3 stops in town and the ride is quite short. If you are thinking about driving to work, then Winchester is a really nice option. Depending on your hours, this can work just fine. There are many people who work in the financial district who get into work by 7am and I know some that drive from Winchester and have no problem with this commute. I personally would not want to drive from Concord, but that's just me. I know you can take the red line from Alewife if you were in Lexington, but I don't have any personal experience with the ease of that commute, perhaps someone else here does. From my perspective, the best town for commuting by train is hands down Wellesley, by car it would be either Winchester or Wellesley.

For what its worth, if we had that budget, we would probably be going to Wellesley. Great town with great amenities, love the town center (shops, restaurants,etc), and the great commute either by commuter rail or the pike are all major pluses for us. My husband works in the financial district near South Station so that is a big factor for us. However, Wellesley is also closer to family and friends for us which is not the case for you. I will say too, that I really love Winchester and Concord. I think Winchester is a fabulous town and if it were closer to family/friends we would just as easily move there. Concord center is about as charming as it gets in my opinion, its just a little far commuting wise for us. And that's not to say anything negative about Lexington, it just happens to be that the others are some of my favorite Boston suburbs out there.

Hope that helps some. FYI, I don't live in any of these towns but grew up in the area and know people who live in them all (all great people, all love where they live). Again, don't think you can go wrong in any of them, I would prioritize what is most important to you and go from there.

[Paul Cottone]

I highly recommend all of those communities. I doubt that anyone would say one was more desirable than another. One of the keys to your decision might be your method of transportation. Will you drive or take the train or what? If you were open to taking the train, you would choose any of those communities but Lexington. Overall, there is little inventory in any of those towns, as new construction is diffcult to create where no land exists. Another suburban community that you might consider that would be on the lower end of your purchase range, which has an attractive downtown and good schools, is Needham (on Route 128 next to Wellesley and Newton), which has a train right into South Station. If willing to consider it, you can find new construction there from tear-downs in the 1.3-1.7 million range. There are many homes in Needham worth that kind of money.

Best wishes,

Paul Cottone

[brightdoglover]

Ya can't blame a gal or guy) for looking... Hey, I drive through Concord every day!

[thisiswater]

Concord is very low-key, old money, classy. Wellesley is, I've said before, like Stepford. New money, ostentatious, and the kids are unbelievably materialistic and entitled. I know pre-teen and teenage girls who wear 400. boots and 200. belts and if you don't, you'll be a pariah. It's really, really awful. I just sent my children off to college and watched the whole process in Concord-Carlisle and through the experiences of friends in Wellesley. Concord-Carlisle (Carlisle being the rural country town next to Concord) expects a lot of its schools and kids do well here, but it's just more real...