Westborough or Shrewsbury hotter? (Boston, Worcester: 2009, daycare, new house)

[mandh]

I wanted to hear if Shrewsbury is "hot" or Westborough? Our realtor thinks Westborough is hotter but I see good houses going faster in Shrewsbury - sometimes with multiple bids.

Looking at school rankings Shrewbury seem to have equally good or even better elementary schools. Paton and spring st. schools seem great. But may be not so much for high school. We wont need highschool for at least next 12 or more years and things may be different then.

For the same size of house taxes in Westborogh are almost double of that would be in Shrewsbury. What are the extras you get in Westborough. I think both towns have some nice neighborhood. We would like to spend around 450K or less.

May be buy in Shrewsbury and when kids are ready for highschool, move to whichever seems good - how does that plan sound like/

Also seems like north side of Shrewsbury is "hotter" by at least 50K for the same house in south of Shrewsbury. I assume it is because of the two great elementary schools and nicer neighborhoods.

Of course there are no guarentees in life, we may have to move to a different state altogether for job or other reasons. So why pay higher tax in Westborough?

[brightdoglover]

Why not, indeed?
Tax rates are set by each town. I don't think there's a dollar-for-dollar return on what nice things you get if your town has high taxes. You just get to pay more taxes.
I think Westborough has a lot of McMansions, and I don't mean the 4-bed/2.5 bath/curved window over the front door new houses. There are some really big houses
(look more like office buildings) and more of a drive to develop so-called executive/estate houses, I think aiming at the people who work(ed) in tech companies in the area. Who remembers Data General?
Shrewsbury has a whole lot less of that and is more of a town than a bedroom commute to big companies. I'd go for Sbury in a second over Westborough if those were my two choices. Nothing wrong with Wborough, but there's a lot right with Sbury.

[CoastalMaine]

BDL, too funny... yes, I remember Data General. I worked for them in the late 70's, but I worked at their building in Framingham. lol Born and raised in Webo, but left for Cape Cod in 1979. So VERY glad I did!!! The town is not what it was when I was a kid. It was a neat little town then. I don't even recognize it anymore.

[mandh]

Brightdoglover,
I agree that Shrewsbury seems to be a better package. There is also bit of international community here which I love.. many people from China, India, Japan and Europe.

How do you compare Northborough and Shrewsbury. From School rankings I see Shrewsbury elementary may be better but at high school level Northborough seems to be a tiny weeny it better.

Thanks again for your inputs.

[brightdoglover]

Sorry, don't know anything about Nborough.
I personally think, regarding schools, that outside of extreme failure, "teeny weeny" different ratings mean nothing. If parents converse with kids, encourage reading and discourage electronic racket of games and TV and so much wasted time on screens, kids will be fine.

[sblumberg]

I think that the Westborough school system is significantly better than Shrewsbury. If you look at the 2009 rankings by Boston Magazine, the high school was 16 in the state, outperforming towns like Needham, Belmont, etc. Westborough was also one of only a few schools who are improving on mcas. That is not to say that Shrewsbury does not have excellent schools etc. but this may contribute to Westborough ranking higher on the hotness scale! Also, if you commute to Boston, Westborough is has a commuter rail and is closer to 495 and the pike.

[mandh]

sblumberg,
Thanks a lot for your message. I just looked at that list and below there are tons of comments from people saying that the list or method is flawed. Also I dont see a huge differene in average SAT scores between the two schools.

I dont see Grafton or Northborough schools in that list at all. Are they that behind?

I was making a small calculation.. For the same kind of house (may be we get better yard in Westborough) we may have to pay 300$ more in taxes every month if we chose Westborough over Shrewsbury. So if we owned a house for say 15 years additional tax itself would be around 50K extra from our pocket. Will the house be appraised that much more in Westborough compared to Shrewsbury.

Another option is to buy in Shrewsbury Paton or Spring street elemetary school and move to Westborugh or any other better highschool town when our kid (or may be kids by then) are in high school. Not sure if that is the best way to go. Also I dont like the thought of Westborugh taxes increasing even further and may be in 15 years the two high schools may be not be much different at all.

Hoping that some one else with chime in too. I guess eventually we will just buy a house we really liked in one of these towns. But cant stop comparing and going crazy over the ranks.

[sblumberg]

Northborough did very well on the rankings - the high school Algonquin is regional with Southborough. The survey was for metro-Boston, with the exception of a handful of Worcester County towns. Grafton was not part of the survey. That said, I live in Grafton and I am happy with the elementary school so far. I do think that Grafton is behind the towns you mention when you get to the middle and high school levels. The town will be building a new high school in the next year and that may solve some of the problems that currently exist.

[felicitev21]

How is Shrewsbury more of a town? You could base your comparison on size alone...Also Shrewsbury is a LOT more diverse than Westborough both culturally and between the classes....Shrewsbury is a city to me. I graduated from Algonquin-the high school in Northborough-and it was considered a top school then and it still is now, Just recently it was released that Algonquin is in the top percentile of this state for MCAS scores. Sorry I don't have any reference to that but I'm sure you could google it. But yes, for what you can afford Shrewsbury may be a better option. Towns in the Westborough area-(Southborough, Grafton, Hopkinton, even Marlborough) can be expensive and I know that the tax rates are high here.

[mandh]

Hi Slumberg,
Thanks for your message. I will look more into Grafton school rankings. So far I didnt see any houses in Grafton that attracted me.
We are willing to go upto 500K if it is something we really liked.

My main issue with not being able to decide is this: Taxes seem to be higher in Northborough and Westborough. Are the schools significantly better there compared to Shrewsbury? If they are and they continue to be then we would opt for those towns. I like Northborough and Westborough so far when I see that most houses come with decent size yards.

Grafton seems to be bit too much quiet town for us. Are there any good restaurants in Grafton?

Do you know of any good daycare centers or activity center for infants and toddlers in any of these towns : hrewsbury, NothB, WestB..?