Lexington or Acton-Boxborough (Boston, Cambridge, Somerville: 2014, condo, credit)

[quantumdots]

Dear all, thanks for your feedback.

Yes, we have looked at many other places, such as, Bedford, Winchester, Arlington, Concord, Carlisle and Westford.
Of those, the top two were chosen based on school rankings of elementary, middle and high schools combined and overall commute.

Of-course my brain says: go for shorter commute, but my heart says: go for a beautiful, huge house.
I probably should not have gone and seen those amazing houses in Boxborough.

Also, the two car garage question arose, because when we had garages before, we never used them. But we never lived in East Coast before either, and I presumed snowy winters demand 2 car garages.
And I guess selling a two-car garage house will be easier down the road.

We will be doing some more number-crunching and soul-searching over the long weekend, and hopefully will have some clarity by the end of it.

[quantumdots]

We moved here a month ago, so I am not familiar with Southwest or South Shore. My MA education is stemming from Niche, Great Schools and US news school rankings and then going to Redfin to see where we can actually afford to buy.

In Lexington we currently are looking at an updated 4 bed house which has a detached 1-car garage, but no central AC and kind of on a busy road, but it's less than 900K. It's walking distance to my son's elementary school. It is not my dream house ( I am first time buyer), but I will have to compromise somewhere. And we may never get such a house again.

And your observation regarding morning routine during winter has been my exact thoughts too, and I wonder if this the right house.

[CaseyB]

If you do end up buying a house with a single car garage, make sure the driveway is wide enough to fit 2 cars side by side. Otherwise, you will end up moving one car all the time.

Also, unless you plan on doing snow removal yourselves (either with a shovel or snowblower) the driveway needs to be empty when you have someone plow it.

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by quantumdots

My MA education is stemming from Niche, Great Schools and US news school rankings and then going to Redfin to see where we can actually afford to buy.

Although I certainly appreciate the need to look at the various rankings when you are moving blind to a new part of the country, I wouldn't get hung up on being in a 'top 10' or whatever town.

We are spoiled in MA with great public schools and those sites don't of course tell the whole story.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by johngolf

I for one would not buy a home without a 2 car garage nor one without central A/C and I am from the greater Boston area.

Retrofitting a mini-split system isn't big money. I'm sure half the garages in Massachusetts are full of stuff and the cars are in the driveway. Mine is full of boats.

[ECPCVC]

Originally Posted by quantumdots

Dear all, thanks for your feedback.

Yes, we have looked at many other places, such as, Bedford, Winchester, Arlington, Concord, Carlisle and Westford.
Of those, the top two were chosen based on school rankings of elementary, middle and high schools combined and overall commute.

Of-course my brain says: go for shorter commute, but my heart says: go for a beautiful, huge house.
I probably should not have gone and seen those amazing houses in Boxborough.

Also, the two car garage question arose, because when we had garages before, we never used them. But we never lived in East Coast before either, and I presumed snowy winters demand 2 car garages.
And I guess selling a two-car garage house will be easier down the road.

We will be doing some more number-crunching and soul-searching over the long weekend, and hopefully will have some clarity by the end of it.

Acton and Lexington are ranked higher because there are many parents there who put insanely high expectations on their kids with sometimes devastating consequences (google it), not because the schools are better. If you are one of these parents then by all means go for it. But if you are contemplating living in Boxborough with two parents working and commuting to Cambridge because Bedford, Concord, Winchester, etc are not good enough for you I think you are not really understanding MA schools. We are talking about schools that are the best in the country with NEGLIGIBLE differences in school quality. Many of the rankings take into account diversity and money spent per student, which don’t necessarily have anything to do with student success. What will you do when your kids are sick, have a school performances, have parent teacher meetings, etc? Not to mention having them in an extra 2 hrs of before and aftercare per day on top of regular working hours or hiring a nanny. These are costs both financially and emotionally. Yes, of course people live in Boxborough/Acton and commute to Cambridge/Boston but they are usually people who have no choice but to live that far out because their budget is $500k and they still want a single family home in a great school district. Ok, way too long of a rant. Good luck!

[495neighbor]

With the exception of a few streets around Fort Pond and Strawberry Hill/Pope Road, you're at the top of the market with close to 1 MIL to spend in Acton.

[jayrandom]

Pin down your job first. There are lots of jobs in Cambridge, but many of the tech jobs are outside the city. Where most makes the sense to live will be different if you work in Cambridge than if you work in Burlington or Andover or Waltham or wherever it is you end up.

That being said, make sure you need a top five or even top twenty district. Lexington schools are great, but mostly because Lexington parents are great. If you are an involved parent your kids will thrive almost anywhere. I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but coming from the South where all the by the very best public schools were bad Massachusetts is a totally different situation.

[Steephill2]

Real estate taxes in Acton are pretty high.

[life4orce]

Originally Posted by Steephill2

Real estate taxes in Acton are pretty high.

A lot of it goes into the school system, which is what you'd like to happen if schools are important to you. I seem to remember that part of the town is assessed higher taxes because they put in a sewer line in that part of town.

Taxes in Sharon are sky high because of the same reason, a lot of it goes toward the school system, and there's not a lot of commercial or industrial taxes.