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We are planning a move to the Natick area for my husband's job in the next two months. I'm hoping that you all could provide us with some suggestions/caveats that we can be aware of as we start our house search and find a place to settle down for a while.
About us: We have two young boys in late elementary school looking at middle school in the next couple of years. We'd like a good, friendly school system but don't need the best school system in the state. The odds are good that we'll settle here until our kids are off to college. We would like to buy a small house in the below $300,000 range which I know takes many towns completely off of our radar. We'd also like to see a commute time of less than 30 minutes.
Looking at previous threads I've started gathering information about Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Maynard, Medfield, Medway and Franklin. Looking at Google Maps these are all within a 30 minute drive time to Natick. My question for those of you who've actually driven these routes is if Google Maps is at all accurate or if that commute time can only be found at midnight not during rush hour.
Any thoughts as to a friendly town to settle in? Are there ones you would avoid?
We are planning a move to the Natick area for my husband's job in the next two months. I'm hoping that you all could provide us with some suggestions/caveats that we can be aware of as we start our house search and find a place to settle down for a while.
About us: We have two young boys in late elementary school looking at middle school in the next couple of years. We'd like a good, friendly school system but don't need the best school system in the state. The odds are good that we'll settle here until our kids are off to college. We would like to buy a small house in the below $300,000 range which I know takes many towns completely off of our radar. We'd also like to see a commute time of less than 30 minutes.
Looking at previous threads I've started gathering information about Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Maynard, Medfield, Medway and Franklin. Looking at Google Maps these are all within a 30 minute drive time to Natick. My question for those of you who've actually driven these routes is if Google Maps is at all accurate or if that commute time can only be found at midnight not during rush hour.
Any thoughts as to a friendly town to settle in? Are there ones you would avoid?
I'd add Shrewsbury to your list as well. Just about a half hour to Natick. One thing to think of there is that you get good schools but the property taxes are lower than all of those towns, so you can buy more house and still have a similar monthly payment when you take into consideration mortgage/taxes/insurance etc...
It sounds as if your husband's work will be in Natick. Am I guessing correctly? If so, keep in mind that the mapping website times may not account for heavy traffic and slower driving speeds during commuting hours, so some of the more distant locations you're looking at may be more than a half hour's drive from Natick at those times.
Holliston is usually the first town that comes to mind when I think of a nice town with good schools in that vicinity, where you might find properties for a price similar to what you're aiming to pay. I've wondered why a nice town like Holliston has relatively low housing prices by the standards of the Boston area. My best guess is that it's because Holliston is located a bit off of the main routes into Boston. However, it's in a great location for a commute to Natick, so you'll probably want to give Holliston a close look. Hopkinton and Ashland would be good to check out as well. All three are pleasant, safe towns, somewhat of the low-density, leafy suburban kind of town, though Ashland is a bit less spread out than the other two. There is also a commuter rail station in Ashland. If you don't live within walking distance of that station, it should still be a quick drive from any of these three towns, in case you'd prefer to use public transit for visits to Boston.
Most of the towns you said you were looking at are suburban in character, either with a fairly typical suburban population density or a bit on the leafy, low-density side. One exception is Maynard. At one time Maynard was an industrial town, and it reflects that history with a greater population density than the other towns you're looking at. Think single-family houses, but with small yards and not a lot of lawn space between houses. That has its pros and cons, depending on what you prefer in a place to live. Some people would like more yard space than you'll usually find in Maynard, but the tradeoff is that Maynard has a pretty good downtown, with a variety of local small stores, and it's possible to walk downtown from many neighborhoods.
Another point to keep in mind about Maynard is that the quality of the schools may be a tough call. Maynard's population used to have a mix of blue-collar and broadly middle-class residents. Because of the density and the downtown, Maynard has seen an influx of young professionals in the last few years. It looks to me as if maybe it's a situation where yuppies moving out of the city when they start having children are looking for a hint of city living in the suburbs. This new element to the population may be the reason that Maynard's schools, which long had a reputation as so-so, have shown positive developments recently, including a brand new high school that is currently under construction.
All of which means that Maynard may be a question mark when it comes to how good the schools will become and how soon they'll get there. On the other hand, the word from at least one Maynard resident who posts here at times is that the schools are looking good, and that there is some serious involvement in the schools by both the town's residents and the school administration, and a commitment to providing schools of high quality. Some of this may depend on you, and whether you're interested more in basically a good education for your kids or in more elite college-prep kinds of schools.
While you're looking for towns near Natick, you may want to consider Natick itself. Your housing budget may be on the low side for Natick in general, but it's possible that you may find some properties that would work. That could depend on how small a house you can accept. The north side of Natick--north of rt. 9--is where you'll find most of the less expensive properties. That area is classic '50's-'70's suburbia, and has mostly a lot of little ranch houses. Some designs have one-bath layouts, but I'm not sure whether that's true of all designs in the area. There are also some good-sized two-story add-on houses on the north side, scattered among the ranch-style houses.
In general, Natick is a clean, pleasant, safe suburban town, with good solid schools, a nice downtown area with local small businesses and commuter rail service, and also very close proximity to a big mall area.
Thank you both for your suggestions. I hadn't looked as far west as Shrewsbury it looks like a viable option to visit when we head out there in the next couple of weeks. Ogre, thanks for your indepth commentary on both Holliston and Maynard. It really helps give us a better idea of both towns.
I've wondered why a nice town like Holliston has relatively low housing prices by the standards of the Boston area. My best guess is that it's because Holliston is located a bit off of the main routes into Boston.
Holliston is a nice town. I would say it's lower prices are primarily due to:
distance from Boston
lack of easy access to major routes
lack of public transportation commuting options
To a far, far lesser degree, another contributing factor is that their town center lacks interesting shops & restaurants.
What about Northborough. Southboro is nice too but more pricey. It has better access to RT 9 and the I90 (Mass Pike) and is far enough fron BOS that traffic jams shouldn't be a problem even going in the same direction as the traffic. The schools are good from what I hear.
Prox to Wegmans is nice too since grocery shopping in MA sucks and if you live where there are very few choices, might as well be pick one that's good.
Actually the town center of Holliston has so much more than it did years ago: a renovated playground, tennis courts, artist lofts, a cafe with music at night, a handful of antique stores, new clothing stores, a children's boutique, a gift shop, a yoga studio, and a little ballfield. It's a sweet place with lots of community activities & a very active newcomers/moms group.
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