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I had heard about Amesbury Squawks not Talks - thanks I'll check it out! I just recently discovered the higher tax rate - it's not as bad as NH though! There seems to be a concerted effort to get the rate down which is somewhat hopeful. Do you live in Amesbury?
Yes I've been to Dover a lot recently, it's what initiated all of this. After we visited and saw the adorable downtown we were interested in living near there - then my sister's husband coincidentally got a job offer in Dover and they moved there. However, I've heard from her that the Dover schools system is pretty bad, so we unfortunately took it off our list. Kids are the priority. Do you live in Amesbury?
Yes, I only hear occasion hearsay, but Dover schools don't have an outstanding reputation, and they do have high taxes - if you're going to be paying those higher school taxes and have kids, I can see saying you might as well be in Exeter or Durham and get the benefits.
Newburyport schools have a better rep than Amesbury's, though still not stellar for Massachusetts, and I don't know how Amesbury and Newburyport compare to Exeter and Durham.
Amesbury taxes are still on the high side, but they've actually fallen a few dollars in recent years - in 2014, the rate was $20.97, and in 2019, it was $18.37 per thousand, and I think it's supposed to fall a bit more for 2020.
Wow that's some detailed research! Thank you! I know there's more to schools than test scores but this is helpful!
Of course someone can always argue that a test isn't perfect, but talking to one or two people to get anecdotal information isn't perfect by any means either. Their experiences, their attitudes, their outcomes may not be reflective of people on the whole. To me, ideally, you don't rely on just one or the other - you look up the statistically representative test results for objective, quantitative comparison, *and* for selected places of serious interest, you also try to set boots on the ground and talk to people to get some additional color from a few first-person discussions.
I just wanted to follow up on this to see if there are any new thoughts on Amesbury? Turns out choosing a place to set down roots so to speak is really hard and stressful. Amesbury has made it onto my list to look into. I am young and single with no kids so that is a consideration. I know the Boston / Cambridge area would be best but I don’t work in the immediate Boston area so I don’t want to pay those prices and commute on top of that, especially since I am sort of over roommates at this point.
I am a bit concerned that Amesbury might be a place that says yes to everything on the ballet since it’s taxes are so high. Does anyone have background on that? Is it just because their tax base is small? I’m more of a no, I don’t want to spend money on most of these things that we don’t actually really really need kind of a person, especially since I don’t have kids using the schools.
I went to college with a kid from Amesbury and he did just fine for himself. It's a middle class Essex County town. There will be a mix of overacheivers and underacheivers. If you're an involved parent I think your child will do just fine up there. If you find a house and neighborhood you like, I'd go for it. You can always sell your house if you don't like it. As earlier posters said, there's a lot to do in driving distance (the beach, Maine, Salem, Portsmouth, Boston etc)
I had some friends from Newburyport that bought a lovely home on a lake (I forget the name of the lake) in Amesbury. They said they always felt like they were always on vacation.
This area is very competitive on the real estate and unless you have a huge budget, there will be compromises. To me, you need to look at some real basics like:
- Can I afford it?
- Is it safe?
- Can I manage the commute?
For many people of normal means, if the answers to those three questions are yes, the town should be in play, and beyond this one should expect some tradeoffs... what the priorities are is personal, but you won't get everything you want, for a normal human salary, that much one needs to accept.
The commute is one reason I did not initially look at it. It is expensive, and I’m not thrilled about the high property taxes but it does seem to have that nice quiet balance I am looking for. I feel like a lot of places I have looked just aren’t as relaxing and Amesbury seems very relaxing. I also love the ocean. I also think that with COVID it will probably be a year at least before everyone starts regularly commuting again. Hopefully they don’t go back to 5 days a week. I definitely will probably try and work from home more if I live there.
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There seems to be a concerted effort to get the rate down which is somewhat hopeful. Do you live in Amesbury?
