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If you will not have kids in public school than you can go anywhere, Waltham included.
Also you are aware that WB area is by far most remote and tucked in area of Belmont. If you lived around Harvard Lawn area, or Cushing Sq. or Waverly Sq. areas you would have much different experience of Belmont. It is exactly type of living you would like in Watertown. Check Butler Elementary which has 50% kids that are foreign born or have foreign born parent(s). There 30 or more different languages spoken at home, if I remember properly. It is much less stuffy and you would probably feel lot better about Belmont in general.
For some reason (no offense to people living there - just my personal opinion) i never liked Trapelo road and Cushing/Waverly sq...Actually when i first moved to the area i thought that Trapelo Rd is either Waltham or Watertown...
I am not saying that Watertown is the most charming city out there...Arlington/Lexington/Newton are definitely cozier and greener...But location of Watertown, in the middle of everything, is just a dream come true (for me) I would prefer Newton but townhouse in Watertown can be 600-700K at most, and 2 streets down the same townhouse but with Newton zipcode will have 800-900K pricetag...
My husband would never agree to renting... He actualy didn't agree to move to Watertown yet LOL... His friends say it's awful area, can't walk there with kids, no point of moving...
That is pretty dingy area IMO. If you are not happy, move might not change that.
You are dismissing parts of Belmont that are exactly the same living/same amenities as Watertown, but somehow you will be liking that in Watertown more?!! Your thinking about Watertown has no logic really.
Watertown is not more urbane that Belmont. Parts are pretty urban, most parts are your typical semi-urban town.
For type of living you crave you will need to head out to Cambridge, Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Boston...
I will not even start to tell you about benefits of SFH vs. townhouse, you should educate yourself bit more about RE in this area.
I do wish you luck whatever you decide.
That is pretty dingy area IMO. If you are not happy, move might not change that.
You are dismissing parts of Belmont that are exactly the same living/same amenities as Watertown, but somehow you will be liking that in Watertown more?!! Your thinking about Watertown has no logic really.
Watertown is not more urbane that Belmont. Parts are pretty urban, most parts are your typical semi-urban town.
For type of living you crave you will need to head out to Cambridge, Brookline, Jamaica Plain, Boston...
I will not even start to tell you about benefits of SFH vs. townhouse, you should educate yourself bit more about RE in this area.
I do wish you luck whatever you decide.
hm, maybe i am missing something, but i don't think there are lots to do in Cushing/Waverly sq?...And to get to Boston or Newton is still a bit of a drive...Not many parks either...Am i wrong??
At Watertown square there are lots to do and then a short walk/drive there is Newton with small shops/nice streets as well... Lots of different parks, as well...
What's so desirable about Belmont? I guess i just don't get it...
There's nothing wrong with Watertown. It's very safe, very convenient to Boston (and points west), and it's less expensive than surrounding areas. There are also some great ethnic food options and it has Russo's (Welcome to Russo's) which is a nice walk away
Go for it!
Last edited by Mr. Joshua; 01-17-2013 at 07:29 AM..
I will not even start to tell you about benefits of SFH vs. townhouse, you should educate yourself bit more about RE in this area..
Could you explain what you mean? I never had a townhouse, so would love to know ahead what can go wrong....
I only lived in apartments and SFH...
Thank you Mr. Joshua!
ps
my other concern right now is i don't understand the prices in Watertown...Is the house i am looking at priced too high? what would be the good buy? I tried to look at the history of sales, but not many houses sell there, and also the prices jumped so much for the past years, it's hard to understand the market...
No, I would not trade Belmont for Watertown. You'd be wasting your money and not accomplished the goal of getting out of the suburbs. I would go for Cambridge, Brookline or Arlington (east). You want more space and more urban amenities and less maintenance. A big townhome/condo in Arlington would have decent commutability to Lexington, decent backup public schools, the bus to harvard square or the bus to alewife and all of the amenities in Arlington itself.
Could you explain what you mean? I never had a townhouse, so would love to know ahead what can go wrong....
I only lived in apartments and SFH...
Thank you Mr. Joshua!
ps
my other concern right now is i don't understand the prices in Watertown...Is the house i am looking at priced too high? what would be the good buy? I tried to look at the history of sales, but not many houses sell there, and also the prices jumped so much for the past years, it's hard to understand the market...
I grew up in a 1350 square foot 3 bedroom home in Watertown that would sell for about 425,000 right now. That same house would go for about 650,000 in Belmont. As someone said, it's about the schools.
Watertown has a good school system but it is surrounded by school systems that rank in the top 1% nationally. Therefore, they are highly sought after communities and the prices reflect that.
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