What's wrong with Wareham? (New Bedford, Bourne: condo, crime rate, motels) - Massachusetts (MA) - City-Data Forum

Parsec · 07-09-2013, 01:23 PM

I've been looking on and off over the years for a summer home and think Buzzard's Bay is a good choice due to combination of price and convenient access (no thanks to Cape and NH Lake traffic). Why do homes in Wareham sell for almost half the price of homes in nearby towns? I assume the schools aren't as good, but that's not a concern for me since I won't live there year-round. Overall I don't find anything "wrong" with the town when I drive through. Am I missing something?

Beachcomber4 · 07-09-2013, 09:46 PM

Of concern is the crime, drugs and transient population. Wareham has a rep for being sketchy and low class. Obviously there are exceptions and there are some terrific people and gems of neighborhoods but as a whole, it's not nice and prices reflect that.

Parsec · 07-10-2013, 09:55 AM

Is this also the reason Fairhaven is relatively cheap? The high crime rate in Wareham, which is nearly twice as high as the not-as-nice towns in my area, concerns me. Obviously I want a safe environment for my family and not have to worry about the house while I am away 90% of the time, so I'll have to rethink this.

We are just looking for a cheap (approx $200k) 2 bedroom house/condo/townhouse close to the beach or lake where we can spend weekends not worrying about stuff at home.

Beachcomber4 · 07-10-2013, 11:38 AM

I honestly don't know much about Fairhaven or most of the south coast at all so I'm not sure about crime. I do believe it is a safer area than Wareham. I dont' mean to imply Wareham is not safe. I believe it is. Most of the crimes are drug related and not violent crimes against innocent people. The break ins etc are all a result of those problems.

massnative71 · 07-10-2013, 10:33 PM

Never heard of Wareham being unsafe, it just has a lot more riff raff than the surrounding towns. Onset Beach is very nice. Arnold Schwarzenegger even has a home there (or at least he did at one point).

Also I assume you mean "Buzzards Bay the bay" not "Buzzards Bay the village" (which happens to be in the town of Bourne)?

HG123 · 10-03-2014, 05:32 PM

I moved near Wareham almost 4 years ago. I know it isn't as nice as some of the nearby towns, but I honestly don't think most parts of it are bad. West Wareham has a lot of streets filled with big new colonial houses. Many of us would consider houses that look like these to be dream homes. I've never passed any street gangs or anything that made me think West Wareham has any serious crime issues. The shopping center bordering West Wareham is very nice. Most of the stores are clean, a little more high end than the stores in some plazas, and don't get a lot of trashy looking customers. The center of Wareham near the hospital, high school, and library doesn't seem bad, either. There's mostly modest homes and a small aging downtown area. I haven't seen much in that area that makes it look like an area to worry about. East Wareham is where I think the town gets it's negative reputation and crime rate. There's quite a lot of mobile homes and motels that I hear people live in. You can tell by shopping in the area and observing the people walking around that many of them are poor. It's kind of sad to think that one section of a large town severely damages the town's reputation because some parts of it look very nice. It takes a good amount of driving and at least 10 minutes or more to get from what seems to be nice areas to tough areas. I'm not sure how the schools are. I've heard mixed comments about them. I think if schools are not an issue and you choose to buy a house in a nice area of town, you probably don't have to worry so much about the crime rate or the town's overall reputation.

HG123 · 10-03-2014, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Parsec

Is this also the reason Fairhaven is relatively cheap? The high crime rate in Wareham, which is nearly twice as high as the not-as-nice towns in my area, concerns me. Obviously I want a safe environment for my family and not have to worry about the house while I am away 90% of the time, so I'll have to rethink this.

We are just looking for a cheap (approx $200k) 2 bedroom house/condo/townhouse close to the beach or lake where we can spend weekends not worrying about stuff at home.

It would probably take some research to find out for sure, but I think certain sections of Wareham are safe and probably safer than Fairhaven and a lot of other communities. Wareham is very big and probably the size of a few towns or cities put together in some cases. You have to do a decent amount of travel by car to get from the nice areas to the tough ones. I've had an incident in Fairhaven where I got stuck between two tough guys from New Bedford who were about to fight right next to my car. Shopping there isn't the greatest seeing as there's a lot of tough people from New Bedford. Shopping at Wareham Crossing is a lot nicer and I haven't seen many tough, inner-city like customers at all.

brienzi · 10-04-2014, 09:58 AM

I lived in Wareham for almost 2 years. Their r some wonderful sections with good beach line and such. But make no mistake there is a criminal element within the town involving the younger kids. Much trafficking going on that is obvious to anyone that has some street smarts.
It's the Downtown area where it's very obvious, and the homes aren't that nice. But a few miles away the landscape totally
changes and has much more a high end cape cod feel.
Wareham is fine and a good place to find a home near the cape on the cheap. The drugs and stuff are on the cape too but
in Wareham it's just a bit more obvious..

thenewtexan · 10-04-2014, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HG123

I moved near Wareham almost 4 years ago. I know it isn't as nice as some of the nearby towns, but I honestly don't think most parts of it are bad. West Wareham has a lot of streets filled with big new colonial houses. Many of us would consider houses that look like these to be dream homes. I've never passed any street gangs or anything that made me think West Wareham has any serious crime issues. The shopping center bordering West Wareham is very nice. Most of the stores are clean, a little more high end than the stores in some plazas, and don't get a lot of trashy looking customers. The center of Wareham near the hospital, high school, and library doesn't seem bad, either. There's mostly modest homes and a small aging downtown area. I haven't seen much in that area that makes it look like an area to worry about. East Wareham is where I think the town gets it's negative reputation and crime rate. There's quite a lot of mobile homes and motels that I hear people live in. You can tell by shopping in the area and observing the people walking around that many of them are poor. It's kind of sad to think that one section of a large town severely damages the town's reputation because some parts of it look very nice. It takes a good amount of driving and at least 10 minutes or more to get from what seems to be nice areas to tough areas. I'm not sure how the schools are. I've heard mixed comments about them. I think if schools are not an issue and you choose to buy a house in a nice area of town, you probably don't have to worry so much about the crime rate or the town's overall reputation.

This ^^^^^ I had recently posted about taking a detour on my way home from the Cape and discovering a parts of the Wareham I had never seen. As a kid, I remember some cheesy motels on the main drag and the mobile home parks you can actually see from 495. This time when I ventured out a little more, I saw a neat little downtown (nothing fancy), and some very charming old colonials. The locals have known this all along. Had I not ventured out that day, I would still think the town is all about what I remember from so many years ago.

HG123 · 10-17-2014, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brienzi

I lived in Wareham for almost 2 years. Their r some wonderful sections with good beach line and such. But make no mistake there is a criminal element within the town involving the younger kids. Much trafficking going on that is obvious to anyone that has some street smarts.
It's the Downtown area where it's very obvious, and the homes aren't that nice. But a few miles away the landscape totally
changes and has much more a high end cape cod feel.
Wareham is fine and a good place to find a home near the cape on the cheap. The drugs and stuff are on the cape too but
in Wareham it's just a bit more obvious..

There's not huge amounts of trafficking going on in every section of the town. There's drug use even in wealthy towns. High school students from wealthier towns and high schools are more well known for their drug use and addictions than towns and cities where the students can't afford drugs so easily. I was a teacher for many years and heard of serious addiction problems from teachers who worked with these issues. The media often reports drug incidents in poorer areas more than in wealthier ones so it can seem like the tougher the city the more the drug use. For the adults, this is likely true, but for the teenagers I am not so certain. Yes, there are sections of Wareham that seem to have more drug incidents going on than most other places, but there are sections with beautiful, expensive to buy and maintain homes and after passing them at night for several years have never seen anything suspicious or any police activity. I lived in a city where I did see some obvious drug issues going on so you can't assume because someone writes about some neighborhoods being nice that they are oblivious to drug problems.