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Old 07-12-2019, 03:30 PM
 
622 posts, read 557,434 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by matrix5k View Post
Back to the OP... what a weird comparison as others have said. If someone is interested in Burlington, they would look at surrounding towns like Reading, Lynnfield, Bedford. What's so great about Natick? It's out of the way. You either have to pay a toll on the pike or hit every stop light on route 9 to get there. Route 9 is one of the worst places to drive in the state, if you miss your turn you have to drive like 3 miles roundtrip to circle back. The mall is a PITA to get to, you have to go on Speen St then loop around 5 stoplights before you can turn into the full parking lot. No one shops at the overpriced Collection.

When I lived in the city, my friends and I would go to Burlington all the time cause it was so close. The mall, restaurants and shops are easy to get to and a pleasant experience. No one ever wanted to go all the way to Natick.

I find your argument to be a bit ridiculous. The same can be said about the following towns: (that you have to either take the pike or hit stoplights on route 9 to get to boston):

Wellesley, Newton, Needham, Weston, Wayland. Are these towns worse than Burlington? Obviously no.

The bottom line is its nice to have the pike access and the tolls are worth it. Route 9 simply isn't a road designed to travel long distances on - it isn't an interstate highway. It's a commercial road intended for shorter trips where you connect to a larger road and it can be incredibly useful to have route 9 access for those situations.
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Old 07-12-2019, 04:10 PM
 
Location: Columbia SC
14,193 posts, read 14,556,677 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by RBThescot View Post
Concord never was a suburb of Boston. I grew up in the west suburbs 60 to 70 years ago. We were keenly aware of Paul Revere's Ride down Massachusetts Avenue from Concord to Lexington, Arlington, to the Old North Church and that history connected us to our awareness of our location. Beyond that, we thought of the town we lived in relative to our ethnic group or religion. For example, Bedford and Burlington were side-by-side but Bedford was a blue collar wasp town, largely Republican and didn't have a Catholic Church. By the early 60s when Burlington was becoming suburbanized it already had one Catholic Church and then built the new St. Malachy's across from McCarthy's pig farm. So that's where the Irish and Italian Catholics moved to. When McCarthy's pig farm was forced out it was the seminal event marking Burlington's transition to a suburb of post World War Two white collar upwardly mobile residents and people like the Grahams were building stick built 3 bed/2 bath colonials for $18,900.
I think you reversed Revere's ride........LOL
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Old 07-12-2019, 09:43 PM
 
Location: Dripping Springs, Texas
162 posts, read 100,639 times
Reputation: 416
Yes I did but my subject was Concord and the west suburbs, so shoot me.
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Old 01-06-2022, 08:46 AM
 
145 posts, read 185,479 times
Reputation: 55
Hi folks, not OP but I am reviving this thread because I am also looking at Burlington and Natick as two top contender towns to buy a house in, and wanted to kick up a new round of discussion.

Briefly: married and have a 1-year old baby. Planning to have a second baby, also want to move my mother in with us, and have a guest room for when my wife's parents visit. Also need office space – ideally two seperate spaces but can make do with one – for both my wife and I to work from home. We therefore want a SFH with 4+ beds, 3+ baths, 3000+ sq ft, in move-in ready condition. Budget is 1.5M.

Those of you who have been following my saga will recall that most recently I had said we were targeting the metrowest and were ruling out towns north or east – Well, our reason for wanting to stay west has been rendered moot, and so more towns are back in play.

Comparing Burlington and Natick I see a lot of similarities: although not top tier towns both I would say are very nice, safe, with good schools (not top tier but still good). Both have quiet neighborhoods but also significant commercial stretches, many restaurant options with diverse cuisine types, and of course both have huge malls. I like the idea of living in a quiet neighborhood with good schools but having many restaurants and shops close by.

The main differences that I see are:

* Natick has a pretty decent walkable town center, whereas Burlington does not. I do like the charm of a nice walkable town center. And although some posters had previously mentioned that with kids I shouldn't expect to have much time to visit the town center, I'm not sure I agree – in fact I think it can be a nice place to come with our kids as well, and when we last visited the Natick town center there were many families with kids there.

* On the other hand, I believe Burlington has better proximity to tech company offices. Although both my wife and I work from home now, my office is in Burlington and eventually I might want to start going in 1-2x per week. My wife works from home but her office is in Boston should she decide to go back in part time; I think Burlington offers a slightly better commute than Natick into Boston, but probably not much different. But also in terms of keeping future options open for both of us, I think there are more tech offices along 95 and in Cambridge that would be a closer commute from Burlington than from Natick. But this is just my hunch, I haven't done detailed research on it.

* Natick does have two commuter rail stops, but I wonder how much of an advantage this really is – for commuting to work you really need to live close enough to the stop and also have your office close enough to the downtown stop, otherwise you might as well drive. I suppose it could also be good for our son when he's older to be able to go into Boston on his own for events, but even that wouldn't be a frequent occurrence.

Other towns that are still in play for us include Wayland, Lincoln, and Sudbury to the west, and Reading, Melrose, and Bedford to the north. If we had a higher budget I'd throw in Winchester, Belmont, Lexington, Arlington, Wellesley, Needham, and Weston, but I don't think we'll find the house we need at our price point in any of those top tier towns. But, for the reasons I listed above I think Burlington and Natick are our top candidates right now.
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Old 01-22-2022, 03:04 PM
 
Location: Franklin, MA
113 posts, read 75,698 times
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I'd pick Natick over Burlington any day of the week.

Framingham is a bit of a hole.
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Old 01-24-2022, 09:57 AM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,525 posts, read 13,904,246 times
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I agree that Natick and Burlington are pretty similar towns. I like having a town center and I like the slightly more "central" location of Natick which for me would give it a slight edge over Burlington. It's kind of coin flip though and the differences between the two towns are not massive IMO.

Quote:
Originally Posted by thinkingotherthings View Post
* Natick has a pretty decent walkable town center, whereas Burlington does not. I do like the charm of a nice walkable town center. And although some posters had previously mentioned that with kids I shouldn't expect to have much time to visit the town center, I'm not sure I agree – in fact I think it can be a nice place to come with our kids as well, and when we last visited the Natick town center there were many families with kids there.
I don't know who these yahoos are that keep telling you if you have kids then you won't use the town center. That's absolute hogwash. The town center is typically well . . . a center of activity for the WHOLE town's population and that includes families with kids. In fact, there are often activities that take place in the town center that are intended/designed for families with kids. I've been myself to some of the ones in Natick Center and my family has had a great time.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HowieCFan View Post
I'd pick Natick over Burlington any day of the week.

Framingham is a bit of a hole.
Wow! No need to pick on Framingham. No one even mentioned the town.
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Old 01-24-2022, 10:18 AM
 
24,509 posts, read 17,983,953 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
I agree that Natick and Burlington are pretty similar towns. I like having a town center and I like the slightly more "central" location of Natick which for me would give it a slight edge over Burlington. It's kind of coin flip though and the differences between the two towns are not massive IMO.



I don't know who these yahoos are that keep telling you if you have kids then you won't use the town center. That's absolute hogwash. The town center is typically well . . . a center of activity for the WHOLE town's population and that includes families with kids. In fact, there are often activities that take place in the town center that are intended/designed for families with kids. I've been myself to some of the ones in Natick Center and my family has had a great time.
Personally, I prefer being on I-93 because you have Logan access cutting through Chelsea without having to take a tunnel. I ski and real ski areas are 20 minutes closer from Burlington than Natick. If you face a daily commute to a Boston job, they’re both awful. We’re responding to someone who telecommutes. They’ll have multiple job changes. Their spouse will have multiple job changes. Anything you pick will present impossible commute scenarios that haven’t happened yet if they need to be on site daily.
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Old 01-24-2022, 06:25 PM
 
145 posts, read 185,479 times
Reputation: 55
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
I don't know who these yahoos are that keep telling you if you have kids then you won't use the town center. That's absolute hogwash. The town center is typically well . . . a center of activity for the WHOLE town's population and that includes families with kids. In fact, there are often activities that take place in the town center that are intended/designed for families with kids. I've been myself to some of the ones in Natick Center and my family has had a great time.
Yeah, I hear ya on the town center. I dig it, and that is a point for Natick over Burlington in my mind.

However, one thing me and the wife have been thinking lately as we've – yet again – reassessed what matters to us, is that even though we both have been fully remote since the start of COVID and probably could remain fully remote for the rest of our careers treading water at our current levels, eventually we expect things to bend back closer to the old normal – not fully but at least partially – and when that happens, going into the office 2–4 days per week will be beneficial for the long term growth of our careers.

So for us that puts Burlington a notch over Natick. My company's office is in Burlington; my wife's is in Boston, and checking Google Maps she would have a slightly better commute from Burlington. But also thinking about future options for both of us should we find ourselves needing to switch, there are probably more tech companies closer to Burlington than Natick. I have in mind the 128 beltway between Waltham and Burlington, as well as Cambridge/Somerville, and downtown Boston.

There is one other town that has come up on our radar recently, but I think I will make a new post for that rather than steer this thread off topic with it...
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Old 01-25-2022, 10:25 AM
 
9,784 posts, read 7,044,450 times
Reputation: 11378
Quote:
Originally Posted by MikePRU View Post
I don't know who these yahoos are that keep telling you if you have kids then you won't use the town center. That's absolute hogwash. The town center is typically well . . . a center of activity for the WHOLE town's population and that includes families with kids. In fact, there are often activities that take place in the town center that are intended/designed for families with kids. I've been myself to some of the ones in Natick Center and my family has had a great time.
I guess it depends on what kind of town center there is. Burlington doesn't have a town center with commercial activity - it has the common, Simond's Park, and town offices. Natick has a center with both commercial activity and the common.

Burlington has lots of family friendly activities in the center but shopping but dining isn't one of them.

I'm one of the yahoos that said when one has young kids that a town center with shopping and dining may not be used as much as one hopes. When one is shuttling kids to activities on the weekend, lounging with a coffee and the paper on Saturday morning may not be the priority. Without kids, sure.
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Old 01-28-2022, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Needham, MA
8,525 posts, read 13,904,246 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robr2 View Post
I guess it depends on what kind of town center there is. Burlington doesn't have a town center with commercial activity - it has the common, Simond's Park, and town offices. Natick has a center with both commercial activity and the common.

Burlington has lots of family friendly activities in the center but shopping but dining isn't one of them.

I'm one of the yahoos that said when one has young kids that a town center with shopping and dining may not be used as much as one hopes. When one is shuttling kids to activities on the weekend, lounging with a coffee and the paper on Saturday morning may not be the priority. Without kids, sure.
Town commons I drive by during the summer are littered with kids on the weekend. There are usually activities going on.
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