Weston Wellesley vs Medfield, Westwood etc (Boston, Cambridge: for sale, to rent, mortgage)

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by DingYat

Thanks everyone for your inputs. My husband and I will both commute to back bay area. But we can work three days from home each week so we are okay ubering to train station for the other two days if necessary. Our budget is 1 M ish.

The biggest disagreement between my hubby and and myself is how to measure the value added of high school. I know Weston is ranked high but is Medfield, Westwood, Needham not as highly ranked because parents don't push their kids as much?

As I said in my earlier post, these rankings are just someone's opinion expressed in number form. To determine why one school is ranking higher than another you need to first understand how they are compared in that particular ranking system. The differences you find may or may not matter to you at all. Perhaps, the difference is that one school has a debate club and the other doesn't? Don't get wrapped up in essentially what is someone else's opinion. It may or may not apply to your situation.

Originally Posted by CaseyB

That's true about the private schools, you also see some of that in Wellesley.

I don't know what you can get for 1 million in Weston, though.

There are a ton of families in Weston who send their kids to private school. There are a lot of private school families in Wellesley as well. However, the Wellesley schools are definitely suffering from overcrowding. They've closed several grades at multiple schools to new students. So, a number of new Wellesley residents are buying homes in school district X only to find their children will be sent to school Y. Even worse, they may find their kids going to different schools because one child's grade is open at school X while the other child's grade is closed to new students. It's a bit of a mess right now and it will probably not be solved for a few years.

Also, I totally agree with you about $1M in Weston. It's not going to get you much of a house. In fact, it's not going to get you much in Newton or Needham either. It's really going to come down to what the OP is looking for in their new house. If they could provide more info about that aspect of their search it would be helpful.

Originally Posted by panchilly

What about a condo in somerville? You might be able to get a 2Bed condo in Davis for $1M. It'll be an old triple decker built in 1925 but it will be renovated with brand new floors, appliances, and wood trim.

The schools look pretty good once you subtract out 70% of the student population and just focus on the top 30% by household income and look at their 5th grade MCAS results.

Originally Posted by semiurbanite

I would suggest you focus on your commute an a town that fells right. You will not see any meaningful difference in achievement across those school, the biggest factor is the home environment that puts importance on education, how many get tutors, etc. My kids are in an "average" district (Somerville) based on sites like greatschools but my kids outperform Lexington, Belmont and Wellesley on test scores, as do their peers. Greatschools measures privileged, period, you are better off using Niche.com. The 'vibe' across those towns will be different - Wellesley and Weston have snobby reputations.

And don't forget - every 5 minutes you add to your commute adds up to 40 hours per year of your time. Time you could spend with kids helping them with school!

OMG! I think you two just need to meet somewhere and settle this with a thumb war or something.

There's no right or wrong answer here guys. Get over it already. Some people like urban living, some people prefer the 'burbs, and then there's this really weird subset of the population that actually enjoys rural living. Crazy!

[DingYat]

Thanks MikePRU. Great info about Wellesley!

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by DingYat

Thanks MikePRU. Great info about Wellesley!

That was true when I went there as well (way back in the "dark ages, LOL).

Seriously though, you should look at what 1 mil can get you - in some towns it isn't much.

[Idontwanttocheckmymessage]

OP, looking at the towns with the highest SAT scores may be helpful in evaluating your choice of school districts:

https://ssatmaster.com/2019-top-sat-...-high-schools/

https://www.wcvb.com/article/which-h...cores/26795337

[panchilly]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

That was true when I went there as well (way back in the "dark ages, LOL).

Seriously though, you should look at what 1 mil can get you - in some towns it isn't much.

you can get this for $1M in Wellesley
https://www.redfin.com/MA/Wellesley/...2/home/8999477

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

That was true when I went there as well (way back in the "dark ages, LOL).

Seriously though, you should look at what 1 mil can get you - in some towns it isn't much.

They had closed grades in the some of the schools to new students when you were in school?

Originally Posted by panchilly

you can get this for $1M in Wellesley
https://www.redfin.com/MA/Wellesley/...2/home/8999477

I know the listing agent of this property. When we were in the same brokerage I used to hire him to stage my listings. He's really good at it.

Anyway, if a listing is under $1M in Wellesley and it's been on the market for two months I would hypothesize that there's something going on with this house. Based on location, my first guess is that it may be in a flood zone.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

They had closed grades in the some of the schools to new students when you were in school?

A couple of the schools were overcrowded, mine was one of them. They bused some of us in the upper grades across town to go to a different school.

[r_p]

Originally Posted by Idontwanttocheckmymessage

OP, looking at the towns with the highest SAT scores may be helpful in evaluating your choice of school districts:

https://ssatmaster.com/2019-top-sat-...-high-schools/

https://www.wcvb.com/article/which-h...cores/26795337

Kids from Weston can probably get into any school, irrespective of SAT scores, because parents are so rich and well connected.

[huff100]

Originally Posted by DingYat

Thanks everyone for your inputs. My husband and I will both commute to back bay area. But we can work three days from home each week so we are okay ubering to train station for the other two days if necessary. Our budget is 1 M ish.

The biggest disagreement between my hubby and and myself is how to measure the value added of high school. I know Weston is ranked high but is Medfield, Westwood, Needham not as highly ranked because parents don't push their kids as much?

Good school kids can potentially do well anywhere...poor kids get into the Ivy League schools. Motivation and parent involvement help of course.

I just do not see the value in you picking a town based solely on a high school, as others have asked you what you as a person like to do, what you want in a house/town counts as well...

Do you want land, value a huge house, good commute vs. worse commute, these all play into what you want as well I would think...

[DingYat]

We commute to Backbay for work. But we don't care that much about land or huge house. So other than good school and warm and welcoming community, relatively easy commute we don't have other requirements.