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Hello:
First, thank you for such an awesome forum and informative posts. I have been lurking around for a week and decided to join. Wifey works for a company in Billerica and I work from home and we are currently renting a place in Burlington, MA. Seeing that the rent keeps increasing (exponentially), we have decided to buy a place and settle down. Our max budget is 450K max, we have opted out Billerica and Burlington since the school ratings are pretty bad. Homes in Bedford, Carlisle, Winchester and Lexington...well, way out of our budget!
We recently saw a couple of condos in Westford, MA which is a 16 mile/25 minute drive for wifey and the school ratings are good. We have seen Graniteville Woods (brand new condos)-their 2 br, 2.5 bath runs around 450K with a 2 car garage and condo fees is 302/month. Also we saw Hildreth Hills (1987 built), where 3br and 2.5 bath with a 2 car garage and condo fees of $604/month. Being property virgins and new to the country, we are completely confused on which to put in offer. Does anyone here have any experiences living or hearing about these 2 places? Which one would you go for? Also, seeing that Burlington and its surroundings are pretty diverse, I am hoping Westford would also be pretty diverse and folks there are welcoming to folks of all walks of life and colors, am I safe in assuming this?
Thank you for your time and look forward hearing back your feedback.
Ramaka
Burlington school ratings are bad? Wow, that is news to me. The high school, to my knowledge, is a great high school. The town is also very well funded because of all the tech businesses and retail. On greatschools.org, the high school gets an 8/10 rating and several other elementary schools are 7/8 as well. I would seriously reconsider Burlington if I were you. The town also has very low property taxes compared to neighboring areas because of the strong business presence.
To your original question - Westford is a great town and has some retail on Boston Road/Littleton Road (near Exit 32 / 495). I don't know how diverse the community is, but with the properties you listed I would be very concerned about buying in either of those communities. First, mortgage rates for condos are higher than for single family homes. Second, $604/month for an HOA fee?!?! That is absurd. You can spend less than that and hire people to cut your lawn and plow your snow in a single family home. Finally, for appreciation rates, single family homes will always be a better investment.
I also recommended Burlington to someone with a similar (maybe $500k) budget and was told by someone else that Burlington schools were garbage too and they recommended looking for a smaller house in Bedford. I've always gotten the impression that schools in Burlington were quite good, but it all depends on the buyers priorities. Maybe they want a top 10% school system and anything that's "only" top 20% is garbage.
We recently saw a couple of condos in Westford, MA which is a 16 mile/25 minute drive for wifey and the school ratings are good. We have seen Graniteville Woods (brand new condos)-their 2 br, 2.5 bath runs around 450K with a 2 car garage and condo fees is 302/month. Also we saw Hildreth Hills (1987 built), where 3br and 2.5 bath with a 2 car garage and condo fees of $604/month. Being property virgins and new to the country, we are completely confused on which to put in offer. Does anyone here have any experiences living or hearing about these 2 places? Which one would you go for? Also, seeing that Burlington and its surroundings are pretty diverse, I am hoping Westford would also be pretty diverse and folks there are welcoming to folks of all walks of life and colors, am I safe in assuming this?
Thank you for your time and look forward hearing back your feedback.
Ramaka
Is your budget $450k for a condo or for a house? If you can afford a $450k condo with a $600/mo condo fee then you can also afford around $500-550k on a house. Westford does have a lot of immigrants moving into town, particularly Asians, so I wouldn't worry about feeling like you're the only non-American around town.
Burlington school ratings are bad? Wow, that is news to me. The high school, to my knowledge, is a great high school. The town is also very well funded because of all the tech businesses and retail. On greatschools.org, the high school gets an 8/10 rating and several other elementary schools are 7/8 as well. I would seriously reconsider Burlington if I were you. The town also has very low property taxes compared to neighboring areas because of the strong business presence.
To your original question - Westford is a great town and has some retail on Boston Road/Littleton Road (near Exit 32 / 495). I don't know how diverse the community is, but with the properties you listed I would be very concerned about buying in either of those communities. First, mortgage rates for condos are higher than for single family homes. Second, $604/month for an HOA fee?!?! That is absurd. You can spend less than that and hire people to cut your lawn and plow your snow in a single family home. Finally, for appreciation rates, single family homes will always be a better investment.
Thank you wxjay. My kid is 2 and it will be 3 more years before she actually goes to school, but Burlington Elementary Schools had a so-so ratings. I am more of a tech guy, than a handy man, so thought condo would be much easier option to stay as starter home with low or no maintenance. Our plan was to stay in a condo for 5-6 years max, hopefully save or build good equity and put that towards a good single family home. Regarding, $604 HOA fees, one reply I got was its that high since its 1987 built and in anticipation of future work that might be needed. Also, the fee includes Master Insurance, Water, Sewer, Landscaping, Snow Removal etc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Parsec
Is your budget $450k for a condo or for a house? If you can afford a $450k condo with a $600/mo condo fee then you can also afford around $500-550k on a house. Westford does have a lot of immigrants moving into town, particularly Asians, so I wouldn't worry about feeling like you're the only non-American around town.
Thanks Parsec for your time and reply. My budget is $450K for either condo or house. If condo, I want a monthly payment of not more than 3K inclusive of any associated fee. Yes, as you said, I did see quite a few Asians in the former community, but being in such a wonderful and diverse country we want to expose our kid to other ethnicity and not just tied to ours/hers. I guess I will make a few more trips and drive around the town and see. Please feel free to let me know of anything else.
$600 seems a little high. Is there a pool or any other facility like a clubhouse? Any place for your daughter to play?
Hi Casey:
Yes, the $604 condo fee place is set in a park like setting with conservatory area all around. It does have a pool, tennis and newly renovated Club house.
I also recommended Burlington to someone with a similar (maybe $500k) budget and was told by someone else that Burlington schools were garbage too and they recommended looking for a smaller house in Bedford. I've always gotten the impression that schools in Burlington were quite good, but it all depends on the buyers priorities. Maybe they want a top 10% school system and anything that's "only" top 20% is garbage.
Agreed. I have always understood Burlington schools to be on par with Bedford, Westford and Reading among others.
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