Advice needed on Newton villages. (Boston, Cambridge: renting, townhouse, neighborhood)

[momnewtoboston]

My husband and I have just moved to Boston from London. We are currently renting and just had a wonderful baby boy and we would like to move to Newton or Wellesley as we heard the schools are very good.

Can anyone provide insight and a view point on the different villages in Newton. What is the main difference between Wellesley and Newton in terms of value for money? What are the top 3 most desirable villages to live in.

Ideally our criteria is 1. school district, 2. commute to Boston via car or public transport ( approximate commute times, 3. potential walking distance to restaurants / coffee shop and 4.location desirability?

Our budget is on the mid to high newton price range.

Thanks!

[rethcir]

Newton is by nature going to be closer and have more options for public transit (Green Line T/subway, Commuter Rail, Express Bus). The village centers typically have high walkability/businesses one can visit on foot. The villages north of the Mass Pike tend to be a little denser development than south.

Both Newton and Wellesley should maintain their property value tremendously due to the issue of the metro Boston public schools.

If you can afford the "high Newton price range" then you can afford to live anywhere.

[chicagoliz]

On average, Wellesley might give you slightly more land with your house, but the prices are pretty similar. Waban is probably the village that is most like Wellesley. Newton has a slightly more urban feel (some parts a much more urban feel) than does Wellesley.

Again, on average there will be more that you can walk to from a typical house in Newton than from a typical house in Wellesley. But there are homes in Wellesley that are walkable to places.

Either should be fine for you. I suggest looking at houses is both towns and seeing which ones you like.

[bugelrex]

In addition to desirability, you need to ask yourself of the following are important to you
- walking distance to elementary, middle and highschool
- distance to supermarkets
- distance to highway entrance
- walking distance to a sports field or park
- you want newish construction house (last 20 years) or prefer a prewar
- you prefer to have neighbors who are showy rich, family friendly, superficial, upper middle class, low key rich, Different villages have different types.

All these may affect the particular location as different parts have different feel. Waban would fit your criteria, 5-15 mins to subway and starbucks, and elementary school, some houses have lots sizes of 0.3 acres+, high desirability but no restaurants around, may have to deal with snooty stuck up neighbors.

Newton center would then be next, but only certain parts give walking distance to both elementary and restaurants and subway.

Newtonville (north of Mass pike freeway or south of mass pike freeway) might be better for a family feel and low key rich. Your choice may boil down to house specific as there are many different types of houses to choose from. They are rebuilding the downtown(Washington place) in Newtonville from scratch in the next few years. Some brand-new townhouse or single family houses may sometimes come to market

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by momnewtoboston

My husband and I have just moved to Boston from London. We are currently renting and just had a wonderful baby boy and we would like to move to Newton or Wellesley as we heard the schools are very good.

Congrats! I hope you're getting some sleep.

Originally Posted by momnewtoboston

Can anyone provide insight and a view point on the different villages in Newton. What is the main difference between Wellesley and Newton in terms of value for money?

It's really hard to say that one is a better "value" than the other. They're different from one another and a lot is going to depend upon what you're looking for.

Wellesley overall is a very suburban town and while many of the town's areas have names like "Cliff Estates" and "Poet's Corner" they're really just names of the neighborhood. There is no village center in any of them. The town itself has a good size and lovely town center with many shops/restaurants, but being that there are no centers in each village it limits the odds that you'll be walking from your home to get a coffee in the morning. There are some decent public transportation options in town with 3 commuter rail stops in Wellesley. You'd also have good highway access. So, overall a good commuting town. Schools are always highly ranked by the pundits, but the town is definitely dealing with some space issues in the schools and has already closed several grades in two of the buildings to new students for next year. Hopefully, by the time your newborn is ready for school they'll have everything figured out. There are also plenty of parks and walking trails sprinkled throughout. Wellesley does have a reputation of attracting the "keeping up the Joneses" types and my wife always comments to me that when she goes to the gym (BSC in Wellesley) that everyone is in full make up and wearing designer sports wear. Some people mind that kind of thing, others do not.

Newton on the other hand is a City and it's much larger than Wellesley. As you said, it's made up of 13 different villages and they range in feel quite a bit. Some lean more toward urban while others are very suburban. Many villages have their own village center and Newton is littered with public transportation options from bus to commuter rail to T stops. Newton overall has great highway access and it's a bit closer in than Wellesley so commute time can potentially be shorter. Plenty of parks and playgrounds in Newton as well. In Newton, things can change a lot from village to village you'll find from the cost of a home to how walkable the location is. The schools in Newton are also highly regarded and Newton North was the 2nd most expensive school ever built in the country. However, many of the other school buildings in town are not as nice. They're in the process of replacing several of them and by the time you need the schools 5 years from now hopefully they'll have everything figured out.

Both are great places to live it just depends on which is a better fit for you.

Originally Posted by momnewtoboston

What are the top 3 most desirable villages to live in.

I lived in Newton for 10 years before I lived in my current town. It wasn't for me personally. I found Newton too "big" for my taste. However if I were to move back and had a generous housing budget, I would probably focus my search on Newton Center, Newton Highlands, Waban, and the "West Newton Hill" section of West Newton for a lot of the reasons you mentioned.

These areas are pretty suburban though as my tastes tend to lean in that direction and that's going to decrease your odds of being able to walk places although they do have village centers. So, it's entirely possible.

[mwj119]

Not sure if you are open to adding towns to your list, but I'd recommend adding Cambridge and Brookline to your search if you can afford the higher end in Newton.

Cambridge and Brookline are going to offer the most walk-ability, the best public transportation, the best location (to get in and out of Boston), and will provide the most restaraunts, coffee shops, etc. As far as ROI, you can't go wrong with any of the towns listed, but my guess would be Cambridge and Brookline will continue to appreciate at a faster rate than a Wellesley. I'd also add that the schools are excellent- Don't think you'll find a real difference in the four school systems. For Cambridge, you'd want to make sure you are in the Cambridge R&L school district.

https://www.niche.com/k12/search/bes...massachusetts/

As for the demographics, my gut feeling is that you're going to find a larger Asian population in Cambridge and Brookline, a larger Jewish population in Newton, and a predominantly christian-caucasian population in Wellesley. All four will have a good mix of locals, folks from around the country, and international families.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by mwj119

As for the demographics, my gut feeling is that you're going to find a larger Asian population in Brookline, a larger Jewish population in Newton, and a predominantly christian-caucasian population in Wellesley. All three will have a good mix of locals, out-of-towners and international families.

Not certain this is entirely correct. At one point Brookline had one of the most Jewish population in the U.S. While there are many Jewish people in Newton, I'm not certain that it's more Jewish than Brookline, and my guess is that Brookline has more. Newton also has a very high Chinese population, although I'm not sure how it compares to the Asian population in Brookline, again if I had to guess, i'd guess there were more Asians in Newton.

While Wellesley has traditionally been very WASP-ish, there are a decent number of Jewish families there.

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Not certain this is entirely correct. At one point Brookline had one of the most Jewish population in the U.S. While there are many Jewish people in Newton, I'm not certain that it's more Jewish than Brookline, and my guess is that Brookline has more. Newton also has a very high Chinese population, although I'm not sure how it compares to the Asian population in Brookline, again if I had to guess, i'd guess there were more Asians in Newton.

While Wellesley has traditionally been very WASP-ish, there are a decent number of Jewish families there.

Could be true- Kind of shooting from the hip on those assumptions.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by chicagoliz

Not certain this is entirely correct. At one point Brookline had one of the most Jewish population in the U.S. While there are many Jewish people in Newton, I'm not certain that it's more Jewish than Brookline, and my guess is that Brookline has more. Newton also has a very high Chinese population, although I'm not sure how it compares to the Asian population in Brookline, again if I had to guess, i'd guess there were more Asians in Newton.

While Wellesley has traditionally been very WASP-ish, there are a decent number of Jewish families there.

Per Sperling's Best Places:

Newton is 1.85% Jewish - about 1650 resident
Brookline is 2.98% Jewish - about 1760 residents
MA is 1.24% Jewish - about 84,250 residents.

Shalom Boston says there are 275,000 Jews living in MA.

YMMV depending on your source.

The Boston Eruv encompasses all of Brookline, parts of Boston and Newton. Does that mean Brookline is more observant or that not all of Newton has been brought inside the eruv. There are also Eruvs in Waltham around Brandeis, Sharon, and Swampscott and a proposed one at UMass Amherst.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by robr2

Per Sperling's Best Places:

Newton is 1.85% Jewish - about 1650 resident
Brookline is 2.98% Jewish - about 1760 residents
MA is 1.24% Jewish - about 84,250 residents.

Shalom Boston says there are 275,000 Jews living in MA.

YMMV depending on your source.

The Boston Eruv encompasses all of Brookline, parts of Boston and Newton. Does that mean Brookline is more observant or that not all of Newton has been brought inside the eruv. There are also Eruvs in Waltham around Brandeis, Sharon, and Swampscott and a proposed one at UMass Amherst.

Newton is much harder to construct an eruv in due to its spread out geography. Most of the Jews who live in Brookline and care about an eruv live in relatively close proximity to each other, in an area that is more favorable for constructing an eruv. Sharon similarly has most of its Orthodox Jews in a clustered area.