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Hmm, we were looking a year ago and Needham had a lot of inventory under 700. It's certainly cheaper than newton/Wellesley/Weston. The market seems to be pricier this year though.
There have been very, very few houses on the market in Needham this year under $1M compared to previous years. However, my point was that your dollar goes further in Bedford. So if you don't like what you can afford there, you'll be looking at lesser houses in Needham which you probably will like even less. If you don't like what you're seeing in Needham then of course you're definitely not going to like what you would see in Wellesley, Weston, and Newton.
I'm curious what it is about Bedford specifically that you like? We ruled out Bedford because we determined it was too far out for us. I was told that it would be a long commute into Boston, and it didn't have the walkability we were seeking. It became our if-all-else-fails option -- if we really couldn't find anything else at all in the other towns we were looking at (Newton, Needham, Belmont, Lexington, or Arlington -- we also looked at Melrose, and it seemed promising.) (Actually Bedford and Acton kind of became those last resort type of options, given our parameters. And I don't mean last resort in a bad sense -- just that we'd be giving up our preferred location factors. Both towns sound great, and there are plenty of places that didn't make our list at all.)
Bedford seems like a very nice town, and I heard rave reviews from some residents, so I'm not saying it isn't a good place or that you shouldn't live there. I'm just wondering what your main factors are for having it as your #1 choice, to know what other towns might be good options. We saw some real estate listings in Bedford that made us salivate, so we really wanted to like it -- plus, we needed commutability to Lexington, so that was attractive, and we determined that some parts of Lex were so far out from the town center and would still take forever to get to Boston that if you lived in the outer parts of Lexington, you may as well live in Bedford and not pay the Lexington premium. But we had to draw the line, because as it was, Lexington was the furthest out I wanted to be, and really, in some ways, Lexington itself was a tad far.
If your price range were a tad higher, I'd say Needham would be perfect for you. If I were in your situation, I'd seriously investigate Melrose, but from what I understand (having spent no real time in Bedford), my impression is that it is different from Bedford, in that it is more urban, whereas Bedford is more typically suburban. Hence my question about what it is about Bedford specifically that you want.
I'm curious what it is about Bedford specifically that you like? We ruled out Bedford because we determined it was too far out for us. I was told that it would be a long commute into Boston, and it didn't have the walkability we were seeking. It became our if-all-else-fails option -- if we really couldn't find anything else at all in the other towns we were looking at (Newton, Needham, Belmont, Lexington, or Arlington -- we also looked at Melrose, and it seemed promising.) (Actually Bedford and Acton kind of became those last resort type of options, given our parameters. And I don't mean last resort in a bad sense -- just that we'd be giving up our preferred location factors. Both towns sound great, and there are plenty of places that didn't make our list at all.)
Bedford seems like a very nice town, and I heard rave reviews from some residents, so I'm not saying it isn't a good place or that you shouldn't live there. I'm just wondering what your main factors are for having it as your #1 choice, to know what other towns might be good options. We saw some real estate listings in Bedford that made us salivate, so we really wanted to like it -- plus, we needed commutability to Lexington, so that was attractive, and we determined that some parts of Lex were so far out from the town center and would still take forever to get to Boston that if you lived in the outer parts of Lexington, you may as well live in Bedford and not pay the Lexington premium. But we had to draw the line, because as it was, Lexington was the furthest out I wanted to be, and really, in some ways, Lexington itself was a tad far.
If your price range were a tad higher, I'd say Needham would be perfect for you. If I were in your situation, I'd seriously investigate Melrose, but from what I understand (having spent no real time in Bedford), my impression is that it is different from Bedford, in that it is more urban, whereas Bedford is more typically suburban. Hence my question about what it is about Bedford specifically that you want.
I'm not sure how to describe but it almost feels like "home" to us. We like how it feels suburban but isn't as far from the city as say acton or Sudbury. We like how all the big stores are kept to one area so there aren't strip malls in your back yard. I also like that they have a smaller middle / high school. I know they have two elementary schools. I guess it's just a vibe for us.
Melrose seems like a far drive from Waltham but I will add them to our email list. We are open to look anywhere! It looks like it's off 93 which would involve crossing over onto 95 which is a nightmare.
I'm not sure how to describe but it almost feels like "home" to us. We like how it feels suburban but isn't as far from the city as say acton or Sudbury. We like how all the big stores are kept to one area so there aren't strip malls in your back yard. I also like that they have a smaller middle / high school. I know they have two elementary schools. I guess it's just a vibe for us.
Melrose seems like a far drive from Waltham but I will add them to our email list. We are open to look anywhere! It looks like it's off 93 which would involve crossing over onto 95 which is a nightmare.
Where did you end up buying??
It may be a tad far from Waltham, although my husband is working in Waltham/Lexington, and was willing to do it. He had what was often a 2+ hour commute last year, so anything less than that was great to us. It seemed like Melrose had great access to Boston, though.
We ended up in Newton.
If you get that intangible "homey" feel from Bedford, I'd say to keep looking there. If you just feel at home somewhere, it's hard to replicate that and you're always going to kind of pine for it. But I know you said in the OP that you weren't finding what you were looking for. Are there any other parameters you can give on to get into Bedford? Then you could maybe move up to another home in Bedford later on, without the issues of changing schools, etc.
Interesting that Burlington didn't feel right to you, since there are certain neighborhoods away from the commercial strips that feel a lot like Bedford to me. Stoneham might be another area to check out, though it is more like Melrose than Bedford.
If Woburn schools were acceptable to you, then you could consider the northwestern side of Waltham too. Some of the streets in the Pigeon Hill neighborhood as well as a handful of streets off Trapelo (particularly west of 128, on the Lincoln border) have a Bedfordy feel to them, and you'd get a very nice house in the 700k range. Or you could try the Lanes just east of Prospect Hill.
I really like Bedford too. I didn't end up settling on it for other reasons(I'm house hunting now), but not cause we didn't love it. There is one k-2, one 3-5, one middle, and one high school. And the hs has <1000 kids. The schools are really highly rated but the people seem pretty down to earth and less competitive (than Lexington, where we rent). They are redoing the shopping centers along great rd. so they look like a walkable extension of the town center. Unfortunately prices are up 10% in 2 years, I think because of people who are priced out of Lexington or want more for their million.
OP, maybe you could get a starter there and move up in a couple of years. So much better in than Woburn or Waltham (if you have kids) imo.
Interesting that Burlington didn't feel right to you, since there are certain neighborhoods away from the commercial strips that feel a lot like Bedford to me. Stoneham might be another area to check out, though it is more like Melrose than Bedford.
If Woburn schools were acceptable to you, then you could consider the northwestern side of Waltham too. Some of the streets in the Pigeon Hill neighborhood as well as a handful of streets off Trapelo (particularly west of 128, on the Lincoln border) have a Bedfordy feel to them, and you'd get a very nice house in the 700k range. Or you could try the Lanes just east of Prospect Hill.
Did you really just compare Stoneham to Bedford? <<buzzer sound>> ummm nope pretty much opposites
Reading is great town but...not much similar to Bedford. I'd say andover bUT commute to Waltham. ..D+
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