Newton or Lexington for small family? (Boston, Harvard: houses, schools, colleges)

[puffle]

Originally Posted by smarty

You are right. It should be 13 villages.

I do not live in Newton. I am not familiar with all villages to suggest anything.

West Newton I though goes to Newton North. Most of the area south of RT30 are nice. Just look at the bus map of Newton South. Contact the school for a list if you have trouble accessing the school/district website.

My friend lives in Newton Highland. Not the best neighborhood but the price is right. Only cheap area that goes to Newton South.

Chestnut Hill is consider more snooty because condos sells around $500k and up. If you know the people as a person, many are not that snooty.

On the other hand, the reason why Newton South has better test score is because students have richer and more educated parents. These two factors correlate well with test scores. They can afford supplemental help like tuitor.

Sorry cannot help much.

Smarty, I appreciate any help I can get. Moving long distance is a drag no matter where you go, especially with the kid and dog(s) factor. We are not rich and have to rent and it sounds like we probably couldn't go wrong with either school. If anyone out there in Ma. has any personal experience with Newton North or Newton South High please let me know.

[dekor8r]

FYI~ Newton made #4 on the safest towns to live.
#1 was Brick NJ being the safest.

[puffle]

Thank you everyone. See you in the summer!

[Dayne411]

I've lived in Lexington for the past 7 years (age 15-22) and I'm happy to say I wouldn't mind staying here indefinitely. I've gone through the MA school system from highschool to college and its very good.

I came from a private school in London, UK and as an incoming freshman at Lexington I thought I would be one of the smartest kids in my class...I was wrong. I could definitely keep up with my work and was able to take some honors classes, but I found that most of the kids that had been in Lexington since the beginning of middle school had an edge on me. The middle schools at Lexington are excellent, I think Clark was the number one middle school in MA back in 1999. In the end I graduated with a 3.7 gpa and a 1300 on the SATs so I was happy.

I'm now a senior studying finance at Umass Amherst and I love it. Although its a state school, it's one of the better ones out there. I got into every school I applied to, which included Boston University, Boston College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, however costs prohibited me from attending any of them.

When I first moved to Lexington, my parents were renting an apartment in Avalon at Lexington located at 100 Lexington Ridge Drive. I believe rent was around $2000/mo for a 2br and $2500 for a 3/br. I enjoyed living there as a teen because there were other kids my age that I could meet before school started. They have a swimming pool and indoor basketball court there too. There's a supermarket, gas stations and restaurants all within walking distance. I'd recommend living there if you plan to rent.

If you plan to buy a house in Lexington, you should know ahead of time that $500k won't buy you much...its the lower end of housing prices in Lexington.

You really can't go wrong with Newton or Lexington, it really comes down to whether you want a quaint town or a small city.

I'd also recommend Bedford, Concord, Reading, Needham, Wellesley and Wakefield. They're all nice areas too.

[puffle]

Thank you so much for the detailed response! We lived at the Katahdin Woods apts. in 2004-05 for a year so I know how nice Lexington is. I didn't like living far from downtown. We also have 4 dogs and I believe there is a two dog minimum in apts. Had only two dogs at the time. Good luck with your studies!

[Dayne411]

Originally Posted by puffle

Thank you so much for the detailed response! We lived at the Katahdin Woods apts. in 2004-05 for a year so I know how nice Lexington is. I didn't like living far from downtown. We also have 4 dogs and I believe there is a two dog minimum in apts. Had only two dogs at the time. Good luck with your studies!

I live down the street from Katahdin Woods and my girlfriend works on Hanscom Air Force Base as a lifeguard in the summer. If you don't have a car then I agree that it can be a pain to get to the center of town. The problem is that as you get closer the center of Lexington, the cost of land goes up exponentially. So apartment companies aren't willing to put forward the capital needed to build closer to the center.

I take it that you chose Newton?

You should also look at the other towns mentioned in my previous post.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by Dayne411

I'm now a senior studying finance at Umass Amherst and I love it. Although its a state school, it's one of the better ones out there. I got into every school I applied to, which included Boston University, Boston College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, however costs prohibited me from attending any of them.

I'd also recommend Bedford, Concord, Reading, Needham, Wellesley and Wakefield. They're all nice areas too.

Smart person! We just hired a WPI grad. He has $100K in student loan. He'll be paying $1K per month for the next 10 years. Hence, he is living with his parents to save money. Remind you of a recent movie?

All those town are nice. However, many of them cannot get into Boston easily. I think there is only commuter rail as public transportation.

[puffle]

Originally Posted by Dayne411

I live down the street from Katahdin Woods and my girlfriend works on Hanscom Air Force Base as a lifeguard in the summer. If you don't have a car then I agree that it can be a pain to get to the center of town. The problem is that as you get closer the center of Lexington, the cost of land goes up exponentially. So apartment companies aren't willing to put forward the capital needed to build closer to the center.

I take it that you chose Newton?

You should also look at the other towns mentioned in my previous post.

Well, Bedford and Concord is still a bit of a commute to Boston, and Needham and Wellesley I hear are about the same as Newton. Welleslely is a bit more expensive with few rentals compared to Newton. So I guess Newton is probably the one to chose. By the way, do the planes from Hanscom still fly directly overhead? It was a little scarey when we first moved to Katahdin...we thought we were being attacked from above!

[Dayne411]

Originally Posted by puffle

Well, Bedford and Concord is still a bit of a commute to Boston, and Needham and Wellesley I hear are about the same as Newton. Welleslely is a bit more expensive with few rentals compared to Newton. So I guess Newton is probably the one to chose. By the way, do the planes from Hanscom still fly directly overhead? It was a little scarey when we first moved to Katahdin...we thought we were being attacked from above!

Sorry for the late reply.

I don't hear the planes at all from my house. The landing flight path takes them over bedford and onto the base, however since Katahdin is literally RIGHT next to the base, you hear every one of them.

What did you end up choosing?

[GreenMachine]

both are nice. Newton is cool because it's near boston! You'll have fun going into the city!

greenie