Information gathering - Looking for good towns near Westborough for young family

[brent s]

Originally Posted by kmann-sherborn

Holliston is also a wonderful community that offers everything you're looking for. If you google "living in Holliston" you'll find lots of good articles about the community, which offers a top 20 public school system, lots of trails, a new rail trail in process, a quaint town center with shops, a cafe, and a great little general store, tennis courts, and a children's playground.

I agree with Holliston. Loved it when I was looking for houses, however the taxes are on the high side compared to other towns in the area. Ended up settling in Shrewsbury because IMO it had the best mix between taxes, prices, and school quality.

[FrankTheTank2]

Thanks again everyone.

Any special websites to find rental houses? They must be in high demand because I have tried craigslist and Trulia but could not find that many good ones. My small neighborhood in NC has about 10 for rent at this moment. You'all must have a stronger economy and better employment figures than we do down here.

[brent s]

Originally Posted by FrankTheTank2

Thanks again everyone.

Any special websites to find rental houses? They must be in high demand because I have tried craigslist and Trulia but could not find that many good ones. My small neighborhood in NC has about 10 for rent at this moment. You'all must have a stronger economy and better employment figures than we do down here.

this is very much the case.

[Halfmoonbaby]

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

Judging from your comments and handle, I'm guessing that you don't live in SF proper or a place like Marin. As it is, I'm not sure what type of house and what region in the Bay Area has $3000-5000 property tax. Are you living off of Prop 13? No, New England does not have anything like Prop 13 from what I know, though there are personal exemptions for the disabled and elderly. You also have to compare apples to apples. You can't look at the property tax of Half Moon Bay and then look at Lexington in MA, just as I wouldn't look at the tax rate in Fairhaven, MA and compare it with Tiburon.

I fly to SFO and back periodically, and gas is consistently 30-50 cents more per gallon than Boston in a given week. MA sales tax was recently raised to 6.25% and people went nuts. It isn't going up again any time soon (especially when people can go to NH for tax free shopping). With local surtaxes, the Bay Area is around 9% and they've been pushing to raise this to help pay for Prop 13 and the state's huge deficit. I see it pushing 10% within the next five years. MA income tax is at 5.3%. In CA, it's at 8% if you make more than $37,000 and it balloons to 9.3% if you make over $47,000. To complain about taxes coming from CA is a bit laughable.

Very well put...No need to dictate the obvious though. While I have you laughing - It's great that you are so familiar with the Bay Area. I'll bet you can really appreciate the humor involved when someone is thinking about purchasing a home in your area and the property tax amount comes in at nearly the exact same amount as as their former home in California. Except the home in the Bay Area cost twice the price. Guess I was just caught in an Aftershock.

I actually spent my teen years and my twenties in the City of Chicago. Many of us would escape the city and hightail-it to Coastal Maine or Cape Ann several times each year for a weekend here and there. I certainly fell hard for the area and have never forgotten it. We never really explored Plymouth or New Bedford though. Also, thanks to the other poster who mentioned Holliston, looks like a fine place to live. The inland hills remind me of why I left the Great Plains and moved West.

Thanks for the response.