North Reading today - the good and the bad (Boston: transplants, homes)

[cb2008]

Originally Posted by camis1980

Andover is our target-town - but since July the supply of housing meeting our requirements has been inexistent. Nothing, absolutely nothing. We usually update our houses before moving so I'd prefer to buy in fall so I have time to get permits and do whatever work is needed and move in next summer when the school year is over...(as for patience, it's easier to be patient when you're locally and upgrading or reducing commute ; we really need a roof over our heads come summer so we need to buy something....that's why I consider buying in North Reading, even if it might be temporary for 2-3 yrs, so I can look patiently in Andover...)

I think your thinking is right. Students form local schools get a slight leg up if you are interested in applying to PA. I am not sure if it still works that but it used to.

[cb2008]

Originally Posted by camis1980

That's why I am looking at North Reading - many neighborhoods we look at have a 10 min commute to the school (which is in the southern part of Andover). I don't know about the handful of feeder communities - we're now in a private school in the south of Lexington and we have kids coming all the way from Acton, Stoneham, Melrose... (for me commuting more than 10-15 min for elementary/middle is out of the question... but people seem to do it).

Be aware that NR has water scarcity problems.

[mwj119]

The western parts of North Reading, as memory serves me, are more industrial. I know housing prices are/were typically depressed in those areas... Safe to say, I'd avoid those.

Overall, North Reading is pretty suburban. Larger lots, a few main roads, quite a bit of forest. It's certainly a fine town, but if you want more of a communal feel, I'd consider inching your way south to Reading. That would be a far more appropriate town, in my opinion, to compare to your original Andover choice. Has a little main street with commuter rail, neighborhoods are tighter and cozier, and it's active with young families.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by cb2008

But that is true regardless of where you live. 15 mts is not too long to get to the expressway. If you live any closer you will hear it!

Not necessarily. I live maybe 2 mins from hopping on I-95/Rt1. I can't hear it at all.


Granted some people are fine with not being near a highway. All depends on their needs/wants for their particular life

[camis1980]

Originally Posted by Dadschum

what about this one? What is the problem with this one?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...0_M36591-37863

We want a house in a cul de sac or a circled street , not on a main road or any road with traffic other than the neighbors. We always lived on this kind of street, with minimal traffic, and that is not on the list of compromises we are willing to make.
I have a good agent and refresh Redfin, Zillow and Realtor obsessively. I even drove Andover street by street to figure out which streets I want and which not and searching for new construction fitting my bill. There is just no house in Andover that we would be interested in and as the fall market peaks soon, I am exploring my options.... I am open to update and renovate myself a dated house, but I need good "bones" and the right location and lot.

[camis1980]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Not necessarily. I live maybe 2 mins from hopping on I-95/Rt1. I can't hear it at all.


Granted some people are fine with not being near a highway. All depends on their needs/wants for their particular life

Depends also on the buffering a house has , trees help a lot. We lived in the past three streets and a small wooden area from a major highway. The noise level was very low in spring - fall period, when the trees had leaves. We could hear it in winter but in winter we don't spend that much time outside so it didn't matter to us. (nor to the 3 families who bid when we sold the house, in 2015 or so , when bidding wars were not common in our state).

[Dadschum]

availability aside - are there lots of streets and neighborhoods that fit your requirements in terms of size of house, newer construction and other things that would fit what you are looking for and its just a matter of hoping one of them comes on the market soon? Or are there 3 streets and neighborhoods that check all the boxes and you are hoping against hope that someone in one of those 2 dozen houses will sell on your timeline? In other words finding a needle in a haystack.

A town like Andover with solid schools, upper middle class areas and downright affluent areas, nice downtown - I would imagine a lot of young couples move in, start their families and stay put until they are empty nesters. I know my community is starting to go through some generational change - houses on the market for the first time in 30, 40, 50 years or more. But I don't know if Andover is like that. It may be that some of the lower prices starter homes turn over - young folks who got into Andover, had 1 kid and then upgraded to a larger house as their income increased and they had more kids because they like the community. Then they take root until all the kids are out on their own. Thus not much turning over.

[Dadschum]

are you married to your kid attending that particular school in Andover you have chosen? With your husband working in Burlington, maybe there is another community folks on this board can suggest that would give your husband a better commute and be near a school that would be of interest to you and have homes that would check all/most of your requirements?

[sal1181]

Originally Posted by Dadschum

what about this one? What is the problem with this one?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...0_M36591-37863

Salem st is a Main Street. Original poster does not want a main rd

[camis1980]

Originally Posted by Dadschum

are you married to your kid attending that particular school in Andover you have chosen? With your husband working in Burlington, maybe there is another community folks on this board can suggest that would give your husband a better commute and be near a school that would be of interest to you and have homes that would check all/most of your requirements?

I am not married to the school in Andover but I am married to a very short list of schools - and don't like any of the other areas (too rural respectively too urban for my taste). So yeah, in a way I am married to the school, because it's the only school on my list that is in a town that I like (and close enough for my husband's commute).

As about your previous question ... there are a few neighborhoods we are looking at. All in all I wouldn't say we're looking for the needle in the haystack - it's just been a disproportionately low fall market (compared to spring) - and we're searching at the higher end in Andover - and everywhere supply is more limited at the higher pricepoints. In 2020 and 2021 there have been a single digit number of houses that we would have liked (but I don't need 7-8, I need ONE). With the impossible traffic, people nowadays also move because their jobs move, we have friends who moved between areas of Boston suburbs because they went for jobs in different areas and commute became too long... . Plus the relocations out of state (we sold our house 3 years after buying it and 2 years after fully rennovating it down from the studs ) . I think in a year I might find something - but I don't have one year, already in spring it would be too late to update/rennovate a more dated house and move before school starts. I'd rather buy in N Reading so we have a B plan if we don't find anything in Andover till summer, or if we find something but it needs updates that run well into fall (I never do live-in rennovations; I'd rather move twice than rennovate a kitchen while living in the house - we always overlap houses; this is the first exception, the first time we sold before buying and moving in - and such an awful experience that it will be our last too...).