Help identifying a good suburb within 30 mins train ride to downtown boston

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Definitely, Cambridge and Brookline have very good schools.

This thread has moved pretty far off track. Neither of those communities is a possibility with the OP's $550K budget.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

Definitely, Cambridge and Brookline have very good schools.

Brookline, yes. Cambridge not as much. Both are insanely expensive and have no relevance for the OP since even a condo would cost them close to $1 million in both places.

[wolfgang239]

Originally Posted by Dm84

Brookline, yes. Cambridge not as much. Both are insanely expensive and have no relevance for the OP since even a condo would cost them close to $1 million in both places.

Yep, message received guys. I was just helping someone derail the conversation. Carry on with laser focus!

[Pokerdad1]

Originally Posted by saravananmb

All,

We are moving to Massachusetts from Connecticut for work. I will be looking for a 3 bed room house with in 550K in a suburban area with good school system. I am okay with the train ride to downtown ( I am ware of the car traffic to down town) up to 45 mins. I have Sharon, south borough and west borough in mind. But south borough and west borough train rides are more than 45 mins. I am looking at school ratings more than 7 out of 10. Any suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks for your help in Advance.

Regards,

Saravanan

I was raised in CT and have lived in mass for 13 years. We had a similar budget buying and wanted good schools and to be within 10 miles of the city. Both the wife and I are working remotely right now so we looked in all directions from the city. We ended up buying in Braintree and I love and recommend it. School ratings are good, taxes are incredibly low and many of the lots of are a very nice size for being so close to the city. You can get a nice house with low taxes for 550k in Braintree still. I would also look at the merrymount and squantum school districts in quincy (550k won’t do much in squantum but it goes further in merrymount). Staying south I would consider Sharon and canton as well. To the west, you will be able to find some options in natick. Framingham will help your money go far but your commute will suck. To the north I would look at Stone/Burlington/Wilmington. I can’t soeak to the nuances of various commutes, you are probably beat off in Braintree or Quincy by the red line in that regard. But like I said our criteria were very similar so those are the places I would look at.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by Dm84

Brookline, yes. Cambridge not as much. Both are insanely expensive and have no relevance for the OP since even a condo would cost them close to $1 million in both places.

Cambridge is just more socio-economically diverse. The fact that it can sit with these wealthy districts in the top 15 list is pretty impressive. It's much harder to do that when you are one of the most diverse schools in the state, making it possibly a better school overall.

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

Oh and the private school families have figured it out: Cambridge Rindge And Latin Diversifies — With Private-School Students

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Cambridge is just more socio-economically diverse. The fact that it can sit with these wealthy districts in the top 15 list is pretty impressive. It's much harder to do that when you are one of the most diverse schools in the state, making it possibly a better school overall.

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

Oh and the private school families have figured it out: Cambridge Rindge And Latin Diversifies — With Private-School Students

That's like evaluating BPS based on the performance of Boston Latin.

[semiurbanite]

Originally Posted by Dm84

That's like evaluating BPS based on the performance of Boston Latin.

Ummmm Cambridge only has one high school.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

Ummmm Cambridge only has one high school.

Haha.

[Dm84]

There's a vocational school and extension school.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Dm84

There's a vocational school and extension school.

Which one wouldn't include anyway. Belmont kids that go to Minuteman Regional Tech aren't going to be included in Belmont "high school" student stats.