Wakefield? What stands out and how is the school system?

[ogre]

Mandh, nice towns, but her husband will be working in Reading, and I get the impression from a number of her posts that they want to avoid a long commute.

[CityGirl52]

Wakefield and/or Melrose should be on your radar if your husband is going to be working in Reading. North Reading is pretty nice, but the taxes in both Reading and No. Reading were always thru the years ridiculously sky high. Wakefield and Melrose have much more charm any way, seriously! Trust me when I tell you this bit of knowledge, they're extremely quaint & charming towns. In fact, when you come for a visit you will see for yourself and you'll definitely know what I mean. Good luck!

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

Ok, the houses would probablly be older and not insulated for noise. I guess you have been looking at listings where there is one unit above another? There is also the side by side configuration (duplex), which seems like a nicer arrangement. When the units are sold separately, they are considered to be condos. That means you own from your walls in and the decisions on the exterior of the house are shared with the other owner (s). If you have good relations with the other owner, wonderful. But you see what I'm getting at...that would be my reservation.

As far as the schools, I think I would be comfortable sending my kids to any school system that ranked in the top 25% of the state's schools.

Casey - yes. Mainly at those "one above the other". In fact, right now, we are looking for RENTING, not buying, and honestly, there is only so much out there. For example, we have seen no "side-by-side" duplexes for renting in the area we are looking for, which is anywhere 15 miles of Reading with good school district.

Now, you disclosed something that really scares me: not insulated for noise??
Then how in the world do so many people live in such arrangements to begin with? If they are not insulted for noise, I can see how the two families would be in a permanent state of war. Granted that many of the units above are 4 BR units, you would think many would have families with small children in them, right? I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to try to make my kids step on feathers every time they feel like running around or jumping up and down. Right now we have an office on the first floor (made from what was initially planned to be a 2 car garage) that is not insulated for noise from the level above. From this office you can hear each and every little soft step above, let alone running and jumping. But this is within OUR own unit so not a big deal.

Perhaps the separating floor in these New England two-family homes is at least a bit thicker or more insulated somehow? Because if they are exactly how our floor separating the office from the level above is, then I do not see how families inhabiting the first floor would ever be able to live like this. There is NO WAY. Kids or no kids.

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by mandh

syracusa,
I have been following your thread about school district related questions.
We have also been very much thinking about all this. Actually just me- my husband does not think that small changes in ranking will effect our kids life that much. He thinks that if our kid (who BTW is still a baby ;-)) is smart she will do well. Although he agrees that we should buy in the town that will help us get a total package of good school, neighbors, restaurants, ect ect..also affordable houses. We do not plan on spending more than 450K. It just doesnt seem to make any sense to us just to go crazy over those school rankings. And believe me I want nothing but the best for our baby. But we will try to get that without getting too poor.

Have you considered other towns like Southborough, Westborough, Northborough, Shrewsbury?

Town like Harvard and Bolton have great school ranking but a bit more commute.

If you are willing to commute a bit you get good houses and friendly neighborhoods with great schools.
Where wll you be working - in Boston or nearby?

Mandh, those towns would indeed be too far out for my husband's commute, so no, we never considered them. At some point I am not sure which would eat more into quality of life: lesser house, walls/floors shared with neighbors or devilish commute. For husband the change would be brutal as his "commute" in Atlanta was a total of 4 minutes.
He had it THAT good.

As for total package, I could not understand better - we are desperately trying to achieve that too. But I will not lie, we find the "balance" very hard to achieve. When time comes for buying (not yet), we will most probably not be able to go above 550,000.

I do believe you when you say you want the best for your baby. It is unfortunate that the incredibly competitive world we live in today (and which I anticipate will be even more ferocious by the time our babies become adults) makes some parents desperate for the best of the best schools. However, I will admit that in the very large scheme of things, placing kids in highly competitive environments may provide them with more economic "safety" in the future but will probably not give them a better life overall. It's the sad truth about life in the modern world.

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by CityGirl52

Wakefield and/or Melrose should be on your radar if your husband is going to be working in Reading. North Reading is pretty nice, but the taxes in both Reading and No. Reading were always thru the years ridiculously sky high. Wakefield and Melrose have much more charm any way, seriously! Trust me when I tell you this bit of knowledge, they're extremely quaint & charming towns. In fact, when you come for a visit you will see for yourself and you'll definitely know what I mean. Good luck!

Citygirl,

We will surely consider them when we look to buy.
Right now, there's just not much to rent there. I cannot wait to visit in 10 days though.

[mandh]

Good luck with your search. I suggest renting for few months would be a great idea. We have been house hunting for last year + and cant tell you how much we have learnt and our priorities changed. We may end up finally buying next spring thinking Shrewsbury. Although I like to try Harvard just because of even better school ranking. My husband thinks that is too quiet place for us.

My husband says we should actually go and visit some of these schools if we are confused. Rankings alone may not be enough to know where you fit.
I figured that the town that we can afford will be where we may fit better than where we have to try hard and fit in. Other people living in those areas may be economically too much in a higher level and who knows what kind of problems our kid will face when she is in teenage years .. Like being insulted for not wearing name brand clothes and such silly stuff..all those mean girls stuff you hear about.

My strong suggestion is to rent for few months and keep looking. There are lot more houses in market during spring.

Your husband had just 4 minutes commute! Boy he is spoilt.

We have several friends who commuted to Boston every day just because they can raise a family here and also save something for future. Husband just needs to wake up at 5.30 am , drink a a big cup of coffeee and drive

Also if you end up getting a job somewhere you may want to buy in a twon closer to your work or in between. Once you buy a house it is a pain to sell. So may be worth waiting to buy till you are a bit settled.

[mandh]

I also wanted to add that we have kept our spending limit bit lower to keep it comfortable in case of unlucky events like one of us loosing our jobs or accidents and being unable to work and so forth. We are trying to reduce our monthly payment as much as possible.

I read your older post and you asked about where people with PhDs and such live ..we are in that group and as you know we are not among those "rich" people. I would NOT want to try and live in those expensive towns. But I think we will be very involved in our kids day to day activities and learning process and perhaps that will compensate for not sending her to No: 1 ranked school. Also being with "normal" families and kids she will learn something more about life that with those million dollar babies.

I dont know if you considered Westford. Schools are ranked highly there. I think you may want to see where your job options are and see if your husband will like to try out about 30 minutes commute. It really is not all that bad - Once he gets used to it.

[syracusa]

Originally Posted by mandh

I don't know if you considered Westford.

We did - and there is a good chance we may end up buying in that area, depending on my future job situation.

Speaking of McMansions, right now there is a new house for sale in Westford, in the low 400's, that would look impressive pretty much ANYWHERE in this country. Let alone MA. It is probably not a McMansion (as the term has an obvious pejorative flavor). Let's say it looks like a very nicely built house that might just be a pain to heat. :-)

However, we are not looking to buy right now. As you said, we really need to learn about the area for real.

As for the million dollar babies and the brand-name clothes ...darn it!
I thought I had it nailed when I wrote down my lesson that people of New England (including the trust fund stock) are all about modesty, substance, tradition and a low-key, fair-play attitude - old-money style.

And just when you think the million dollar babies of MA are taught that brand-name clothing is "NOT COOL", the game suddenly changes.

Joking aside, you are right. Rarified environments CAN backfire, especially for the young coming from not so "rare" type of families.
They also have hard-to-resist advantages, PC or not. In the end, most parents want to do the very best they can do for their children, there's no question about it.

Good luck to you too, I hope you find your dream house soon!