Move to the North Shore (Boston, Lynn: home owners insurance, house, movies)

[Lauren]

Hi, I am planning a move from the suburbs of Atlanta, to the North Shore with my children and husband. I'm trying to get information about some of the schools there, such as Newburyport, Andover, Georgetown, Topsfield and Lynnfield. I need information regarding the middle schools and the high schools. Do any of these middle schools offer an after-school program?

Also, what will the commute be like from these towns into Logan Airport?

I also am trying to get a handle on what monthly utility costs would be on an 2500 sq. ft. house? What would house insurance roughly cost per year?

I greatly appreciate any info, advice, suggestions you could offer.

Thank you

[Dragondog]

I know Newburyport has very good schools- the other towns I have no information on. The other towns are all smallish towns north of Boston,

Any commute into Logan can be a trial- and take time. Newburyport would be about the most distant to the Airport.

Energy costs in New England can be costly- to heat a 2500 square foot home with natural gas count on in January and February will cost at least $250 when temps are average in the winter. If using oil- costs will vary according to market conditions- $225.00 a month in January and February seems fair. Electric costs will exceed $100 a month.

Home owners insurance costs for a home of 2500 square feet near a coastal location would exceed $250 a year.

[CityGirl52]

Hi,

The towns you mentioned are all off of I-95. The town that's the furthest of course is Newburyport as the previous poster mentioned. If you were going to Logan from Newburyport it's exactly 25 minutes when it's a good day. Newburyport has the commuter bus right off of I-95, as a matter of fact they have the "Logan Express" with C&J trailways that you could check out on their site, I won't put it here because it'll disappear unfortunately. I took the C&J bus twice this year. Once for a Washington, DC little jaunt and the other time was for my flight to Ireland this past summer. The bus is GREAT. They're brand new buses with leather seats. The bus driver had a cooler up front with ice cold bottled water on it you just helped yourself; there's also headsets for the movies onboard. You can't beat it. The price for this trip was $34 round trip, it was well worth it. I know several people that commute from this parking lot in Newburyport every day down to Boston with C&J buses and they couldn't be any more happier. If you wanted to go in to downtown Boston they also have the Commuter Rail, just go to the MBTA site and click on commuter rail and you'll see the Newburyport-Rockport line, you could even get down to Salem or Beverly for dinner or to shop, I've done that plenty of times myself. You're going to find Newburyport to be very convenient to live. Like I said to drive down on a good day it's only about 25 minutes. Once you see for yourself, you'll agree. The other towns you mentioned are even closer, the only thing is? I don't know what they use for transportation if you weren't going to use your car. I'm more familiar with Newburyport because I used both the bus and train several times.

Any questions you have don't hesitate, I haven't been looking on this site in the last few weeks too much, so if I see any questions I'll just try to help you out! GOOD LUCK!

[CityGirl52]

I forgot to tell you that a lot of flight attendants and pilots use the C&J "Logan Express" bus, that's how great it is, we see them all the time. You really can't beat it with a stick.

There's traffic on rainy days a lot of times when you're leaving Logan or the Boston area. It's a given, every one knows it, there's no going around it either, due to this, Rte 1 that you have to go on from Logan or Boston that connects you to I-95 gets congested sometimes, NOT all the time, just when there's a huge snowstorm or bad rainy days. The traffic moves, but it can some times be a pain with congestion and tie ups. Some times when it rains along Rte 1 they have problems with flooding along the road, so it gets tied up with traffic. The thing is? It eventually moves. If there's a snow storm and when every one gets out of Boston at the same time? Forget about it, Rte 1 can be a nightmare trying to get up to I-95. One time I was on it for 3 hours, I couldn't wait to get home, we were stuck right near the Hilltop for hours, I didn't think I'd ever get by the cows, when you see them along Rte 1 you'll know where I mean and every one that lives around here knows exactly what and where I'm talking about! I finally got by the restaurant and I'm talking hours later and from then on it was a piece of cake, it all moved, I forget what the reason was with that incident and I live just past Newburyport in NH. Out of all the years I commuted in to Boston, it only happened may be 2 or 3 times, that's not bad actually. Most of the time it's a breeze, you shoot right up Rte 1 to I-95 and right down on the mornings, we used to leave as early as possible. I used to take the commuter rail down from Newburyport quite a bit, that worked out very well. You're in Boston in no time, there's less stress dealing with the Rte 1 tie-ups & congestion when it happens.

[bostongirl]

CityGirl52- Truly you are mistaken....25 minutes to Logan on a good day?? Are there every any good days driving down 128 to Route 1 through East Boston/Chelsea to Logan?????????? No way. It took me at least 25 minutes to get from Logan up to Peabody- I lived in Beverly

[CityGirl52]

If you PAID me I wouldn't go on that 128! I'm talking about the drive down from I-95. It's nothing to shoot down I-95 to Rte 1. It most certainly can be done in less than 30 minutes, if not 25 minutes, I've done it quite a bit. Then in to downtown Boston it's another 20-25 minutes from Rte 1. I could do that drive in my sleep, it's been done so much. I'm serious when I tell you that if you paid me I wouldn't live in Beverly, Salem or any towns on that 128! I can't stand that road and never could, THAT'S another story all together!

[Gwenny]

Take a look at Groveland, West Newbury, and Merrimac too.... they are nice towns and the schools systems I hear are great. http://www.prsd.org/

All are about 30 miles North of Boston, close to beaches. Safe and quiet towns. It can take 30 minutes to an hour to get to the airport depending on what time of the day & weather conditions.

Hamilton, MA is nice too...http://www.mass.gov/dhcd/iprofile/119.pdf (broken link)

[sonnymoz]

i googled 'moving to the north shore of boston' and came upon your thread...i too may be moving to the area this fall to attend Gordon College then Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary...i am married with three school-aged children and have the questions you did...so i'm wondering how the move went and what you think of life so far....i would be moving from NJ...my biggest concern is what will happen to me when i wear my Yankee hat!

[NY'er lost in MA]

To be realistic, getting to Logan from the North Shore is NOT easy and NOT 25 minutes. Talk about a total lack of time and distance. The Logan Express from Peabody to Logan is a solid 30 minutes with NO traffic. So if you had to get to Logan during rush hour or any other high traffic times- good luck.

CityGirl must be taking a short flight into Boston. Newburyport is 38.7 miles from Boston. Getting there in 25 minutes? Ummm- I don't think so.

Just a little example. I drove from Boston north on 93 to 95 and then to Salem. It took me 40 minutes at 2:30pm today. Why- TRAFFIC.

Newburyport is a great town....but make sure you fully understand that it isn't a hop, skip, and a jump from Logan.

[Nanseev]

Try Manchester...Manchester and Hamilton are the best school systems in the area that you're talking about. Lynnfield would be the closest commute to Logan. Topsfield & Andover schools are going to be larger than the others. They are all good schools though.

I would check out greatschools.net....I've gotten some decent info from that website.

And...we're actually looking to move to the Atlanta area (probably in Cobb County)