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SFH is always better because you never know if the duplex Neighbor is easy to deal with. Even if the current one is, how about the next one.
However, you are talking about 2 diff towns. It's common to choose Condo for better location or a closer commute. If this isn't the case, then I'd go with the SFH.
As for the SFH being smaller, etc. Decide now if it works or not. There are always must and wants. If it meets most of your must list, you will get used to it once it becomes your home. Btw, this is the emotional part that only you can answer. If a house works for you, you will feel it.
Btw, I chose multi-family rather than a SFH further away. There is no right answer. I Have 2 Neighbors and luckily they have all been really easy to deal with. The previous and current Neighbors are considerate, no hassle type of people. We share some common expenses and for some things, they cost less than maintaining a SFH. I pay $1000k for my share of the master insur, and $350 for insuring the contents with a separate policy. But like I said, you never know who you get as Neighbors.
Doesn't really sound like an apples-to-apples comparison. I always recommend that buyers should decide on the town they want to be in first and then wait for the right property in that town. Comparing a condo in Ashland to a small single-family home in Holliston will only lead to confusion.
This doesn't make any sense at all to me. Of course you have to compare different properties across different towns. The town isn't the thing that limits most people, it's the budget. The same budget will get you a good house in an ok town or an ok house in a good town. That's the decision.
Inventory is tight. If you've got somewhere to live and can let the process take a year this is ok advice. Even then, and I know some people disagree with this, there really isn't THAT much difference between towns. If you live here the subtleties seem huge, but the difference between even Waltham and Weston are smaller than the differences between Eastern Massachusetts and say Southern California.
This all goes to say there isn't a universally compelling reason to always pick the town first. Sometimes it makes sense to do that (we did in our last move, for instance), but it's much less necessary than I see on this board.
That being said, there is no right choice with this stuff. Everyone has a preference but that says more about us than what's best for you? Personally I'd take a SFH over a duplex almost every time. I'm sure there are others that would usually prefer the duplex.
SFH is always better because you never know if the duplex Neighbor is easy to deal with. Even if the current one is, how about the next one.
However, you are talking about 2 diff towns. It's common to choose Condo for better location or a closer commute. If this isn't the case, then I'd go with the SFH.
As for the SFH being smaller, etc. Decide now if it works or not. There are always must and wants. If it meets most of your must list, you will get used to it once it becomes your home. Btw, this is the emotional part that only you can answer. If a house works for you, you will feel it.
Btw, I chose multi-family rather than a SFH further away. There is no right answer. I Have 2 Neighbors and luckily they have all been really easy to deal with. The previous and current Neighbors are considerate, no hassle type of people. We share some common expenses and for some things, they cost less than maintaining a SFH. I pay $1000k for my share of the master insur, and $350 for insuring the contents with a separate policy. But like I said, you never know who you get as Neighbors.
Having a decent size kitchen is a must for us. The SFH does not have that and who knows when we shall be able to afford a remodel? I think it is reasonable to roll the dice and cross our fingers as we hope for good neighbors now and in the future. The condo only cuts off about 15-20 mins off our commute. I guess my real hang up is holliston was recently ranked 14th in top MA school districts and Ashland was ranked 47, which is still decent but not top 15
It's not just the schools, Holliston is a much nicer town overall.
Agreed. When we first started looking at houses, we were looking in Holliston, Hopkinton, Ashland and Millis. After we actually looked at the towns, we narrowed it to Hopkinton and Holliston- they just felt nicer than the other 2. For us, Holliston beat out Hopkinton because of French Immersion and there were more houses in our (extremely meager) budget.
I have read about that and the house we are considering is on town water not well water so that should not be a problem. We certainly will not go fishing or swimming in ANY water bodies in the area. It seems a bit strange that when one mentions Woburn (as seen in 'A Civil Action' movie) people dont really say they wont live there due to the toxic waste dump they also had, yet they wont let Ashland move on. I wonder why.
I have read about that and the house we are considering is on town water not well water so that should not be a problem. We certainly will not go fishing or swimming in ANY water bodies in the area. It seems a bit strange that when one mentions Woburn (as seen in 'A Civil Action' movie) people dont really say they wont live there due to the toxic waste dump they also had, yet they wont let Ashland move on. I wonder why.
Because a toxic waste dump is the least of your worries in Woburn . However, the Nyanza dump is really the only thing wrong with Ashland. It's a nice town otherwise!
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. However, the Nyanza dump is really the only thing wrong with Ashland. It's a nice town otherwise!
