Accepted a job offer in MA (Boston, Newton: real estate, insurance, condo)

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by victorma

Thanks so much for your quick reply. The job location is Rockland but have never been there. I am looking to buy. Price range: 400-550 K. We love a quiet area with a 'main street' for shopping, cafe, etc.

Thanks again.

Vic

Plymouth meets those requirements, plus you get beaches.

[2KidsforMe]

Sorry Victorma, don't know anything about the Rockland area. We live about 25 miles West of the city, right off the MassPike.
Puffle: Ashland is primarily a bedroom community, but close to Framingham/Natick which has a nice mall that is currently undergoing major expansion, decent dining and shopping nearby. There is a T station in town. I'm guessing it will take 30-40 minutes to get downtown on the train. It is not nearly as rural as Westford though. Do you want to live in a town with a T station?

[smarty]

Originally Posted by victorma

Thanks for the advice. We really want a combination of suburbs with downtown. One of the things we dislike about NJ is that you have to drive to go to everywhere since there are not sidewalks. Is MA the same? In wintertime, after 5 PM there is nobody around .It is depressing!

On the shortest day, the sun sets around 3:30pm. Not many people in the suburb walk with or without sidewalks. Where do you want to walk to from your house? How far do you want to walk? 5-10 miles? There are sidewalks if population supports it. In many ways, "nice place" here means you are far away enough from your neighbors Hence, low density = no sidewalk.

I would look into Needham first. If too far to commute or not urban enough, try Norwood, Dedham, Milton, Quincy, Braintree even Weymouth. The reason for this is because Needham has better schools. You may even consider Rockland. It really depends on what you think is more important and what your definition of good school is.

After you decided in a town or two, I suggest you look for a house in a sub-division. MA is fairly old. No planning. Many houses or roads are not design with sidewalk in mind. (plus it is expensive to clear the snow). Sub-division usually designed with sidewalk since houses are closer together.

Most downtowns are not doing well due to malls. It is very hard to compete with chain stores with selection and price advantages. The same is with supermarkets, the small ones are pretty much gone.

[smarty]

Originally Posted by puffle

Hi 2kids......what do you know of Ashland area? Is it mainly rural with a station? My husband doesn't want to commute on the t or train an hour, and half hour would be best.Any responses appreciated. I know we are bouncing around alot but we still have six months before we move. Too much time!

Just beware there are certain parts of Ashland still cleaning up the toxic dump.

Nyanza-;The Nyanza NPL site in Ashland is a former dye-manufacturing facility. Residents of Ashland reported several cases of various types of sarcomas among young adults from the same graduating class in Ashland. MDPH has worked closely with a community advisory committee in conducting a retrospective cohort study to examine the possible relationship between exposure opportunities to the Nyanza site as a risk factor for cancer. Through extensive outreach efforts, aided by community members, approximately 1,700 persons who attended school in Ashland during 1960 to 1985 agreed to participate in the study. These persons were interviewed for this study and medical records of those diagnosed with cancer were sought. Data collection has been completed, and data analysis is ongoing. The study uncovered 73 cases of cancer and eight cancer-related deaths. About two thirds of those diagnosed were under 35 and many of their cases involved rare forms of the disease.

[url]http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2terminal&L=6&L0=Home&L1=Consumer&L2= Community+Health+and+Safety&L3=Environmental+Healt h&L4=Environmental+Health+Investigations&L5=Ashlan d+Nyanza+Chemical+Waste+Site+Health+Study&sid=Eeoh hs2&b=terminalcontent&f=dph_environmental_c_invest igations_ashland_report&csid=Eeohhs2 [url]

===============================
Then there is the Weymouth Naval Air Station.

South Weymouth Naval Air Station (SWNAS)-;This site is in the towns of Abington, Rockland, and Weymouth, and borders Hingham. Previous site operations from 1941 to 1997 included aviation training, aircraft support, logistic support, and blimp operations. Community concerns have focused on cancer incidence patterns in relation to hazardous waste sites, including SWNAS, as well as on possible arsenic exposures, as originally reported in spring 2001 by five families in South Weymouth. U.S. Representative William Delahunt has been actively involved with issues related to this site.

In February 2002, MDPH released an evaluation of cancer incidence data in these four communities. In December 2002, MDPH released supplemental analyses in response to recommendations made in the initial release.

MDPH conducted a variety of activities to address the arsenic concerns, including testing of soils on public properties and environmental testing (e.g., house dust, tap water) in the homes of the original five families who raised concern. MDPH held public meetings to report on its activities and respond to community concerns. MDPH also conducted urinary arsenic testing for 184 residents living near the original five families. Results of the environmental and urinary arsenic tests indicated that no widespread arsenic exposures were occurring among South Weymouth residents.

[puffle]

Originally Posted by 2KidsforMe

Sorry Victorma, don't know anything about the Rockland area. We live about 25 miles West of the city, right off the MassPike.
Puffle: Ashland is primarily a bedroom community, but close to Framingham/Natick which has a nice mall that is currently undergoing major expansion, decent dining and shopping nearby. There is a T station in town. I'm guessing it will take 30-40 minutes to get downtown on the train. It is not nearly as rural as Westford though. Do you want to live in a town with a T station?

Is that a bad thing to have a T station in your town? Doesn't Newton,Brookline and neighboring areas have it? That is one of the main reasons my husband is interested in Ashland other than the High School is small and has good scores and the prices of homes are a little more realistic than areas closer to the city. Do you know anything of this toxic problem Smarty was talking about?

[2KidsforMe]

Oh no, it's not a bad thing to have a T station in your town. It is one of the reasons we bought where we did. I was just trying to narrow down your criteria. I don't know about the toxic problem in Ashland, but I am sure you can find out all you need to know on the web.

[smarty]

Puffle,

You can listen to a WBUR (local NPR radio) report. It also gives you a link to the government (epa) site about the findings and status. I think it says as long as you do not swim in it, you are fine. Ground water for public drinking was not affected. I personally do not like to be that close.

[url]www.wbur.org/news/2006/57592_20060426.asp[url]

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by puffle

Is that a bad thing to have a T station in your town? Doesn't Newton,Brookline and neighboring areas have it? That is one of the main reasons my husband is interested in Ashland other than the High School is small and has good scores and the prices of homes are a little more realistic than areas closer to the city. Do you know anything of this toxic problem Smarty was talking about?

The Ashland train actually takes just under an hour on a good day. This station is fairly new w/significantly more parking spots (over 600 spots I believe) than any of the stations closer to Boston, so it's the destination for commuters from not only Ashland, but other nearby towns. I don't think it's bad to have a T in my town -- I would actually prefer one. Along the MassPike, there's a commuter station in Grafton, Westboro, Southboro, Ashland, Framingham, 2 in Natick, and several in Wellesley and Newton. The regular subway and express buses also serve the towns inside 128 (Waltham, Watertown, Newton, Brookline). But I should note, it takes nearly 45 min to get to downtown Boston from Newton on the green line due to the frequent stops.

The toxic problem was due to the old dye plant dumping waste into the ground. The effects appear to be constrained only to the youngsters who grew up in the area during the 80s and more specifically to those who played in the lake, but of course you can never be too sure (that's why I crossed Ashland off my list after doing research on this). The EPA has spent millions of dollars cleaning up the mess, but there's still 2 sites that remain uncleaned. They fenced/tarped these areas off until they can find funding to finish the job (although this may remain indefinitely).

[Parsec]

VictorMA: What part of NJ are you from? I lived there for 17 yrs, in the town of Livingston (yes, mostly Jewish doctors/lawyers there). Our town had sidewalks on at least 1 side of every residential street, but people didn't really walk anywhere except to the local elementary school playground. If you're looking to spend around $500k, you could probably find a decent place in Needham. Quiet residential parts, but it has a few busy streets w/retail plus a very busy business district near the highway. I have to warn you though, traffic gets really bad in the mornings trying to get onto Rt-128 (I-95).

[surfingatwork]

Originally Posted by victorma

Thanks so much for your quick reply. The job location is Rockland but have never been there. I am looking to buy. Price range: 400-550 K. We love a quiet area with a 'main street' for shopping, cafe, etc.

Thanks again.

Vic

I didn't see this post but did see your other one. I would definitely look into hingham and plymouth. I've never been to hingham but i've been to plymouth many times and they have a great main street. I'm not talking about Water Street (there are a few good restaurants but lots of touristy shops), I'm talking about court street and main street. Court turns into main and it has lots of quaint shops, cafes and restaurants. From what I've been told hingham has a great main street as well (hingham also has the largest whole foods in mass and talbots is headquartered there).