Townsend MA vs Londonderry NH? Which would you choose? (Worcester: real estate, house)

[Bruins3445]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

Yeah, with that commute Londonderry or Bedford seems like a far better option. Since you're driving at non-peak hours, your commute should be at or under an hour.

Haven't looked into Bedford. One place we are considering is Salem. Salem would be great, some homes mapquest as being 45 minutes away but everyone says Salem school systems are no good

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Bruins3445

Haven't looked into Bedford. One place we are considering is Salem. Salem would be great, some homes mapquest as being 45 minutes away but everyone says Salem school systems are no good

I'd steer clear of Salem if schools are the priority. Some of the better border towns are Bedford, Londonderry, Windham, New Boston, Amherst, Hollis/Brookline.

[magicshark]

We live in Townsend. As far as I know there are no plans to make it anything but a sleepy little town. It seems to be the reason most people move here.
Commuting into the city can be a nightmare. My husband has to commute into the Cambridge/Boston area frequently for work. He starts early, usually he has to be there by six am. It is still a long brutal and boring commute. One accident, slow driver, or over sleep by fifteen minutes and it can mean an extra hour or two added to your commute. It takes a good twenty minutes just to get to 495.
We have rented a house here for 5+ years. It's a nice enough little town. We will be buying in the coming year but not in Townsend. We are definitely moving closer to highway access. It's a question of quality of family life and time at this point.

[elhelmete]

Work in Mass + live in NH = worst of both worlds for me.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by Bruins3445

Kenmore square, which is why at the moment Londonderry seems like our strongest contender. Straight down 93...

Do you know how long it takes to get from Kenmore Square to I-93 at 5pm? Sure it's only a couple miles, but it can take longer than your entire current commute. Then add another 80 minutes back to Londonderry once you reach I-93. Does your wife work too? Some people don't earn enough money to buy a house here and there's nothing wrong with that. Keep renting until you've gotten far enough in your career to handle a typical mortgage in this area.

The exception to that is if you could do the commute by train. Have you looked at the Worcester area? You can hop on the train to Yawkey and get things done on the train. Seriously, a 1.5 hour train ride is better than a 1.5 hour drive. You don't want to do a NH to Boston driving commute.

[brienzi]

Go with Londonderry Nh. My best friend lived in Townsend for 25 years and just managed to sell his 4000 sqaure foot home. Londonderry is nice, a quick shot to Boston and many other great place's. The taxes may be higher but a quicker selll if the market drop's.

My vote is for Londonderry! Good luck.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Do you know how long it takes to get from Kenmore Square to I-93 at 5pm? Sure it's only a couple miles, but it can take longer than your entire current commute. Then add another 80 minutes back to

This 100%.

I work shifts but commute from Somerville to west of 495. When I left work Sunday (6:30am) it took 33 minutes according to my waze history. The ride home this morning took just under an hour.

The storm on Saturday caused my commute in (shift starts at 6:30pm) to be over an hour and it was only a few inches. If the same thing happens during the work week it can take hours. My record is 3hrs to go 30 miles during one of last year's blizzards.

Basically what it boils down for me is, if I am working on a perfectly clear weekday with no major issues my commute roughly doubles working nights. Even something tiny can screw it all up (like solar glare on rt. 2 this am ). Day shift or weekend nights is reliably 35min.

I know you would be doing a reverse commute, but it isn't always the traffic that gets you, the distance adds an incredible amount of variables. I would never do either of those commutes voluntarily. If you work an essential personnel type job I'd consider that commute to be a job liability.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Parsec

Do you know how long it takes to get from Kenmore Square to I-93 at 5pm? Sure it's only a couple miles, but it can take longer than your entire current commute. Then add another 80 minutes back to Londonderry once you reach I-93. Does your wife work too? Some people don't earn enough money to buy a house here and there's nothing wrong with that. Keep renting until you've gotten far enough in your career to handle a typical mortgage in this area.

The exception to that is if you could do the commute by train. Have you looked at the Worcester area? You can hop on the train to Yawkey and get things done on the train. Seriously, a 1.5 hour train ride is better than a 1.5 hour drive. You don't want to do a NH to Boston driving commute.

OP stated that he works a night shift, so 9-5 commuting times don't apply. IMO, off hours commuting from southern NH is relatively painless.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

OP stated that he works a night shift, so 9-5 commuting times don't apply. IMO, off hours commuting from southern NH is relatively painless.

Does he have to deal with the evening rush hour on his way into work or the morning rush hour on his way home though? There's no reverse commute when you drive through Boston.

[FCMA]

Townsend already had a late 20th century growth spurt from ~3,500 people to 9,000 from 1970 to 2000. I think it's actually already about done its growing. If you're looking for a rural-suburban feel, Townsend has got that, but as others have pointed out it is not at all convenient for a Boston commute. It's a convenient bedroom community to Nashua and Fitchburg-Leominster, but not the larger metro area. I don't know Londonderry but it sounds like a better bet for OP's sanity.