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I have friends who live in Medway and they love it. The husband grew up in Medway. They both work in boston and I'm not sure I could do the commute everyday but they dont mind. They both make about 200k combined and were able to get a very nice new house house, about 3500 sq ft for about 600k in 2012 in a beautiful neighborhood. They say that even if they lived in a place like milton they'd still have a commute with traffic so I see what they are saying. The schools are also very good. It's not Wellesley or Weston but not everyone wants that. It's a very nice community, right next to Medfield, has a bit of a country vibe to it...i like it...but i think it's a bit too far out for me i think.
Again, thank you everyone for the feedback. My wife and I make more like 170k combined, but we've managed to save a lot of money. I think our income would be on the low side for a lot of nicer areas and that might marginalize us socially. In particular our kids may feel deprived even though in the grand scheme of things they aren't even close to being deprived. I think a solidly middle class to upper middle class area will suit us better.
My wife and I have decided that we prefer Norfolk and Medway over Franklin and Easton. We're still undecided on Mansfield. The express train would shave a LOT of time off our commutes so that's a compelling reason to consider it. It's a bit bigger than the others for better or worse.
I don't want Wellesley or Weston!
It's encouraging that people from Medway want to come back.
So does anyone have opinions on which areas are growing or gentrifying?
I have a friend who lives in Medway and has nothing bad to say about the town. Millis has been getting newer families into the town but still has a lot of old families low crime in each town my dad was on the police force in Millis until a couple years ago.
Commuting from Medway to the Back Bay is just plain awful. There is no way I would ever consider it. OP, you sound like a good family man, wouldn't you want to spend time with them during the week?
Commuting from Medway to the Back Bay is just plain awful. There is no way I would ever consider it. OP, you sound like a good family man, wouldn't you want to spend time with them during the week?
That's a good point. But where can I afford closer to the city with good schools? It might be worth cramming into a smaller house somewhere closer, but we won't have the privacy. It's a tough choice.
If you can afford up to $600k, you should be able to find nice houses with a decent amount of land in towns like Canton and Walpole, both of which would make your commute to/from Boston shorter than Norfolk and Walpole. Both Walpole and Canton has pretty good schools, Walpole is better than Canton.
You could easily afford towns like Randolph, Stoughton and Dedham with your budget, but I would avoid them due to the schools.
Personally, I would choose Franklin over both Medway and Norfolk.
But since you're looking at those two, consider some things:
King Philip High School is a lot bigger than Medway High School. I think the difference is something like 400-500 students.
Medway lacks a commuter rail stop - Norfolk has one
KP High School is located in Wrentham, so you may have a little bit of a drive
KP Middle School is located in Norfolk
That's a good point. But where can I afford closer to the city with good schools? It might be worth cramming into a smaller house somewhere closer, but we won't have the privacy. It's a tough choice.
Any reason why you are concentrating on the Rt-109 corridor? Hopkinton/Southboro has what you are looking for with better highway access. For example google maps says right now the time to get to Back Bay from Southboro is 33 min vs 50 min from Medway. The Southboro train which is right on the Hopkinton border stops at Back Bay too if you prefer a daily train commute.
Any reason why you are concentrating on the Rt-109 corridor? Hopkinton/Southboro has what you are looking for with better highway access. For example google maps says right now the time to get to Back Bay from Southboro is 33 min vs 50 min from Medway. The Southboro train which is right on the Hopkinton border stops at Back Bay too if you prefer a daily train commute.
I will definitely be taking the train. I'll have to take a closer look at Hopkinton. On zillow I saw several promising homes that are only slightly outside of our target of $600k. I think we initially scratched it for being a little too expensive and a long commute. Now it seems that everywhere we're looking is a long commute.
We live in Stoughton right now and while the elementary school is perfectly fine I don't want my kids going to middle school there. Canton doesn't offer enough for the money, but the commute is incredibly convenient and we've made some friends there. I'm about 2 miles from Canton Center right now and it's great.
I took my kids to a playground in Franklin yesterday to get a feel for it. I think it's just too big, but I'm not counting it out yet.
Right now Norfolk is the frontrunner but we have until spring. I would like to say that our list of towns is getting shorter, but we keep finding things we like about towns that we didn't like at first and vice versa.
If you think the town search is tough, wait til you actually start looking at houses! I just noticed both you and your wife work in Boston. If something happens at daycare or school, that's a long ways back to Norfolk, Hopkinton, etc. to pick them up. All the people I've ever met with both spouses working in Boston/Cambridge either live along I-95 or have a nanny. It's tough with 3 kids, even from Stoughton. I don't know how you guys do it.
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I just noticed both you and your wife work in Boston. If something happens at daycare or school, that's a long ways back to Norfolk, Hopkinton, etc. to pick them up. All the people I've ever met with both spouses working in Boston/Cambridge either live along I-95 or have a nanny. It's tough with 3 kids, even from Stoughton. I don't know how you guys do it.
