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Old 09-06-2014, 07:57 PM
 
Location: Westwood, MA
5,037 posts, read 6,936,429 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kingeorge View Post
I get it. I did not mean to put your on the spot. My advice was and still is that you can achieve your objective of bigger place, safe town, and great schools, in towns like Winchester, Newton, Needham, Arlington, Belmont, Concord, Lexington, Manchester by the Sea, which are all in between two "extremes" (rural vs. urban), without going to the rural size lot and area, and type of big home you will usually only find in the "bunnies". Semi-urban ring of towns close to Boston and Cambridge truly offers best of both worlds.

Obviously, you can not afford 3000 sq.ft (who anyway wants to heat and keep up that monster) in Lexington or Winchester, but probably closer to 2000-2800sq.ft in your price range. Maybe I am in the minority, but I do believe that family of five can live happily ever after even with sharing measly 1800 sq.ft. It is all about mindset, layout, and flow.
A family of five can live happily in much, much less. Just look at Hong Kong. That doesn't mean they wouldn't be happier with more. As you allude to, though, the key to life is either learning to be happy with what you've got or learning how to get what you need to be happy. The latter rarely works for very long, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kingeorge View Post
I was also reacting to the fact that your kids are right on the verge of being independent, and if you stay with possibly smaller house/yard but more sidewalks, town, and community, your kids will become "free" to hang out with friends easily, walk to school or practice on their own. Teenagers are not home as much as toddlers. Also, your kids seem past the big yard stage. They will need to socialize and "hung" out with other kids their own age. And that also brings point of you needing to decide if going for car-dependent lifestyle is worth becoming full-time chauffeur to your kids every day of the week.
I grew up in a low-density suburban neighborhood. Both my parents worked so having a full-time chauffeur wasn't an option. Luckily biking was an option.
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