Considering a move from Western to Central MA (Worcester, Springfield: renting, violent crime)

[MassMuvr]

Hi Everyone,
We are a family of four currently residing in Amherst, MA. Our kids have a couple of more years before they start K. We are immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. While we really like Amherst as a town and also its schools, we really miss the diversity. All statistics show Amherst to be a very diverse town, which is true due to the presence of students. However, we are working professionals and don't really fall into that age group and the student families (mostly graduate students) who are in our age group are transient residents of the town. Both for us and our children, we would like to have a little bit more diversity.
One of the towns we have been looking into is Shrewsbury. From what I have gathered on the internet, it is a good town with good schools. Although it borders Worcester, the crime is not high in the town. Having kids who will be attending public schools in the near future, a good school system is of utmost importance. We currently earn about 200k and anticipate earning pretty much the same if not a little bit more in the near future. We have also looked at Wayland but I am not sure if we will able to afford a house in that town (the last I checked most of the houses available were in the 700k+ range).
My question is, in terms of education quality and student culture, will we be putting our kids at a disadvantage by possibly moving to a town like Shrewsbury? The school district is much larger than Amherst in terms of number of students(and I am not trying to say that necessarily means lower quality education).

Thank you for your response and advice.

[brs306]

It sounds like you aren't so much looking for diversity but rather looking for a town with a sizable Indian community, which is why you landed on Shrewsbury. It is one of the higher rated school systems in the state so no, your kids will not be at a disadvantage at all.

[MassMuvr]

Originally Posted by brs306

It sounds like you aren't so much looking for diversity but rather looking for a town with a sizable Indian community, which is why you landed on Shrewsbury. It is one of the higher rated school systems in the state so no, your kids will not be at a disadvantage at all.

Thank you for your response brs306. While we are from the Indian subcontinent, we are not Indians and not looking for a large Indian population. My preliminary search showed a decent percentage of non-Indian Asians and Middle eastern people residing in Shrewsbury who are working professionals in their mid-30s to early 40s. We are open to other locations in MA as well but we would like to maintain our current standard of living as much as possible. Also, Shrewsbury is with commuting distance from our current job for both of us.
We are at the very early stages of our search for a place which would be our home for the foreseeable future. We are trying to narrow down our options while trying to find a balance between cost and place that offers more diversity than Amherst.
Does the crime in Worcester impact Shrewsbury ( stats say it doesn't but residents of the town may have more input). Are Shrewsbury schools better rated than Amherst?

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by MassMuvr

Does the crime in Worcester impact Shrewsbury ( stats say it doesn't but residents of the town may have more input). Are Shrewsbury schools better rated than Amherst?

While Worcester isn't perfect, it's far from a crime filled ghetto. It's in much better shape then places like Springfield or Lawrence.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by MassMuvr

Does the crime in Worcester impact Shrewsbury?

No.

[gf2020]

Where are you commuting to that both Amherst and Shrewsbury work out?

There are no negatives in choosing Shrewsbury if that location is OK for you.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Where are you commuting to that both Amherst and Shrewsbury work out?

There are no negatives in choosing Shrewsbury if that location is OK for you.

Wondering the same.

Depending on OPs proximity to the highway, they're looking at a 90+ minute commute not accounting for the Pike/90's tendency to be an absolute cluster at any hour of the day.

[brs306]

Originally Posted by MassMuvr

Thank you for your response brs306. While we are from the Indian subcontinent, we are not Indians and not looking for a large Indian population. My preliminary search showed a decent percentage of non-Indian Asians and Middle eastern people residing in Shrewsbury who are working professionals in their mid-30s to early 40s. We are open to other locations in MA as well but we would like to maintain our current standard of living as much as possible. Also, Shrewsbury is with commuting distance from our current job for both of us.
We are at the very early stages of our search for a place which would be our home for the foreseeable future. We are trying to narrow down our options while trying to find a balance between cost and place that offers more diversity than Amherst.
Does the crime in Worcester impact Shrewsbury ( stats say it doesn't but residents of the town may have more input). Are Shrewsbury schools better rated than Amherst?

We don't have much of a crime issue in Shrewsbury. From time to time you will get some isolated car and house break ins here and there which I suppose you could relate back to proximity to Worcester, but overall crime of any type is not a concern here, especially any type of violent crime.

As for the various groups of people that call Shrewsbury home, I would say that the two most sizable and noticeable groups are (1) folks from India followed by (2) folks from various other Asian countries. There are some folks from the middle east as well and i'm not sure what the official numbers say but from just being around town and involved in kids sports etc..., they are far and away outnumbered by the other two groups mentioned above.

One thing I would like to add as far as housing prices go - if you are looking for new/newer construction you will be in the 500-600K + range depending on size / neighborhood. A lot of the housing stock in Shrewsbury is older and as such, you can get in to a smaller / older home that is in decent shape in the $300k range up to a decent size older ranch or split level in the $400k range.

Just some things to think about.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by brs306

One thing I would like to add as far as housing prices go - if you are looking for new/newer construction you will be in the 500-600K + range depending on size / neighborhood. A lot of the housing stock in Shrewsbury is older and as such, you can get in to a smaller / older home that is in decent shape in the $300k range up to a decent size older ranch or split level in the $400k range.

Just some things to think about.

Additionally, the older housing stock in the 400-600k range tends to be built to a much higher standard (and on better lots in preferable neighborhoods) than the price equivalent new builds. Some of the recent and ongoing town home builds by the likes of Toll and Burns are marginal at best and clearly 'built to code' at the lowest possible cost. IMO, these price-point driven builds do not offer a good long term value and developers are hoping naive buyers will focus on square footage and the perceived value a 'new build' only.

There are quality new builds in town, such as the Tomaiolo developments, which are built to a fairly high standard using premium grade materials/components, but you're looking at price points in excess of $800K.

I'd personally seek out an older home in the north side of town, such as a 1930-1960's cape, ranch or colonial revival, which was built and maintained to high standard. Though lacking some modern amenities, these buildings have aged gracefully over the past century and will continue to do so ... something I suspect won't be said of some of the recent developer builds.

[MassMuvr]

Thank you for the responses and advice everyone! Currently, we commute from North Amherst to Springfield and typically it is a 40-45 minutes commute. From Shrewsbury to Springfield, it will be about an hour. It is a slightly longer commute but we would be driving an additional 15-20 minutes each way. Am I grossly underestimating the commute?
When it comes to housing, we will most like look at houses in the 500-600k range. We plan on renting for a year before committing to a house. As we do not plan on moving again, barring unforeseen circumstances, we would like to make sure as much as possible of the place we are going to call home. For us, it will be very important to be in a moderately diverse neighbourhood of professionals where we will find families with children in and around the same age range as ours.