Finding the right place to raise my family…Plymouth, Hanover, Norwell, Bridgewater…looking for advice

[n1ey]

Originally Posted by Maria2006

Hi everyone,
We are a young family with 2 children in elementary school. I am a stay at home mom for now and my husband works in boston. We've relocated from boston to Plymouth to offer our kids the suburbs. We didn't intend to move quite this far, but had a difficult time finding a good home anywhere else and had to move at that time. We've been in Plymouth for over 2 years and while it is absolutely beautiful, we are still not settled. The commute is probably the worst part but we also haven't met too many families that share the same values, although we have met many wonderful people.
So, we are still looking and are considering Hanover, Bridgewater, and Norwell (which might be too $ unless we found a fixer upper)
Ideally, we would like to be in a community with good schools, hard working families where we feel like we can relate, and a decent commute. Right now my husbands commute is over an hour and its taking its toll.

How is Bridgewater? Are there good family communities? Major differences in Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, etc?

Hanover seems like maybe the best fit for commute but again I'm not sure how community feel and schools.

and Norwell is beautiful and I know schools are great but I also know that its expensive and I'm wondering if we would not fit in since it seems like a more affluent town.

We feel like we made a mistake moving so far so definitely trying to make the right decision this time around.

Open to any advice/thoughts/etc. Also if there are any other town recommendations I would be interested in learning about those.

Our home budget is probably no more than $550K.

Thank you!!!

Everyone will tell you all sorts of stories! Do stories constitute data? The crime index in Rockland is lower than Abington. I know someone that had trouble in West Bridgewater. The school system agreed to transfer their child to the Brockton High School; the child has now graduated from college.

My impressions of the systems leaves towns like Hanover and Pembroke in much more positive light than Bridgewater or West Bridgewater. Access to commuter rail can be hard in those towns. However, the traffic in Bridgewater can really dull the lure of the commuter rail. When it takes you 30 minutes to drive through Bridgewater - you never crossed any town lines - then you will not care for Bridgewater's train station.

For 550k you can find a house in many of these towns. I saw a smaller house listed for 400k in Duxbury. Don't get focused on these reputations for the towns. I have concluded that one person is a OFD wearing rose colored glasses. From one town a poster is a realtor. She posted about a bicycle path being a positive for a town; it is a sidewalk. They tend to really emphasize trends espoused by Boston magazine, etc. Would you think that Cambridge's school system is better than North Quincy? I don't. Yet, you will read things like this on this board. They will also ignore that Brockton has more extracurricular activities and academic success than the neighboring communities.

Does your kid perform stellar in maths? Brockton had a Math team. Yet, I believe towns such as Bridgewater, Sharon, Stoughton, Avon, etc., did not. Want a swim team? Brockton has one. Hanover has one. Most do not.

Bridgewater had so much trouble in town politics only 5 years ago. This doesn't help the stability. Abington is constantly going through the mud. Things have settled for a bit in Bridgewater, but I would consider this. Bridgewater had similar political heatup.

Norwell also has some issues, but they are building sidewalks and trails for kids to commute to school.

If you help your children and understand education then your kids will have no problem in the first track at any school system.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by n1ey

Everyone will tell you all sorts of stories! Do stories constitute data? The crime index in Rockland is lower than Abington. I know someone that had trouble in West Bridgewater. The school system agreed to transfer their child to the Brockton High School; the child has now graduated from college.

My impressions of the systems leaves towns like Hanover and Pembroke in much more positive light than Bridgewater or West Bridgewater. Access to commuter rail can be hard in those towns. However, the traffic in Bridgewater can really dull the lure of the commuter rail. When it takes you 30 minutes to drive through Bridgewater - you never crossed any town lines - then you will not care for Bridgewater's train station.

For 550k you can find a house in many of these towns. I saw a smaller house listed for 400k in Duxbury. Don't get focused on these reputations for the towns. I have concluded that one person is a OFD wearing rose colored glasses. From one town a poster is a realtor. She posted about a bicycle path being a positive for a town; it is a sidewalk. They tend to really emphasize trends espoused by Boston magazine, etc. Would you think that Cambridge's school system is better than North Quincy? I don't. Yet, you will read things like this on this board. They will also ignore that Brockton has more extracurricular activities and academic success than the neighboring communities.

Does your kid perform stellar in maths? Brockton had a Math team. Yet, I believe towns such as Bridgewater, Sharon, Stoughton, Avon, etc., did not. Want a swim team? Brockton has one. Hanover has one. Most do not.

Bridgewater had so much trouble in town politics only 5 years ago. This doesn't help the stability. Abington is constantly going through the mud. Things have settled for a bit in Bridgewater, but I would consider this. Bridgewater had similar political heatup.

Norwell also has some issues, but they are building sidewalks and trails for kids to commute to school.

If you help your children and understand education then your kids will have no problem in the first track at any school system.

Lol God I missed these posts.

[massnative71]

Abington is the hood now, and its gangs are now terrorizing South Weymouth!

Everyone should move to Brockton.

[MrLinderman]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Abington is the hood now, and its gangs are now terrorizing South Weymouth!

Everyone should move to Brockton.

We can't let them reach the Compressor Station!

[ECPCVC]

Where does your husband work that you need to live in the south shore? There are better areas commute and school wise that are not in that area.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by ECPCVC

Where does your husband work that you need to live in the south shore? There are better areas commute and school wise that are not in that area.

I don't think the South Shore is an inherently worse commute than other options. I think Plymouth is the problem and I have no idea why they would move from the city straight to Plymouth.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by mrlinderman

we can't let them reach the compressor station!

lol!

[ECPCVC]

Originally Posted by Dm84

I don't think the South Shore is an inherently worse commute than other options. I think Plymouth is the problem and I have no idea why they would move from the city straight to Plymouth.

I think there is a premium you pay for being closer to the water. Plymouth is 45-60 min on the commuter rail to south station depending on what station you use. There are many towns with a 45-60 min commuter rail ride to south station that have way better schools than Plymouth, Bridgewater, and some of the other towns we are talking about. What about Ashland, Holliston, or Southborough? Even Westborough is a only an hour trip. Also Franklin, Norfolk, or Walpole. Even something smaller in Natick, which is a half hour to south station. All these towns have very nice homes in the $550k range.