Wellesley or Needham for family with 500k income

[HowieCFan]

You don't make nearly enough money for Wellesley. Needham it is. Say hello to the Channel 5 crew for me.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by HowieCFan

You don't make nearly enough money for Wellesley. Needham it is. Say hello to the Channel 5 crew for me.

I would disagree. I'm not sure what OP's budget is, but if it's around $2M, you can find a house in either Wellesley or Needham.

[expo25]

Plenty of people live in Wellesley earning under 500k.. Though they bought those houses a while back.

[Village Bumpkin]

Having lived in Needham for ten years and living in Wellesley for the last 11, I can give you a pretty honest opinion of both the towns. My wife and I both are Asian and have lived in the US for about 25 years. We don't make a ton of money but are as a family comfortable in what we make and can live well, although within our means.

1. Schools in both towns are excellent. I would rank Wellesley slightly better as they are more resourced and have exceptional teachers. Many of them in the middle/high schools have an Ivy League background. However, you cannot go wrong in terms of schools in both the towns.
Wellesley has a unique arts program, drama, choir, acapella, orchestra, and much more. My son enjoys participating in these programs.

2. Racism in schools - Both towns have elements of structural racism in schools (Which city in America, which is predominantly white, does not have structural racism?) However, the school systems are making significant attempts to deal with this and, over the past 20 years, have made great strides in both towns. Every student of color, Asian, Black, Latino learns to deal with this problem, and besides minor incidences like name-calling, etc., I have not seen any significant issues in both the towns. My son has a healthy mix of White, Asian, Latin, and Black friends. Kids generally are very good at finding ways to be comfortable in any setting.

3. Neighbors and Neighborhoods -
My experience with neighbors in both towns was excellent. We had terrific neighbors in Needham and Wellesley. We got together on weekends, our kids played with each other, and everyone was accommodating and civil.
Again - how much you interact with your neighbors and your attitude towards them generally dictates they will interact with you. If you are social and outgoing, you will make great friends.

4. Snobbery - People have very biased opinions on this forum. Many of those biases come from having heard things about both towns and not living in them.
-Wellesley and Needham generally have very civil residents. I barely recollect any snobbish behavior in 20 plus years of living in these towns. Yes, one or two minor incidences are not worth mentioning. I can honestly tell you that the snobbery you have in Needham, Dover, Wellesley, Newton, etc., is just about the same that you would find in any town in America. You see the good, the bad, and the ugly in every city, but I guess you have much more good than the bad and ugly in any of these towns. Again, it is the company you keep that generally dictates your experiences. If you keep company with snobs, you will experience snobbish behavior.

5. Keeping up with the Joneses - Not true to a large degree. If you want to keep up with them, all the best, that is your prerogative. IN WELLESLEY, where I live, you will have people who have the hundred thousand dollar luxury cars, and a lot of them like me stick to the good old Toyotas and Subaru’s as well. If you want to keep up with the Joneses, it's your thing; it is not a Wellesley or Needham thing.

6. "Hard to integrate/interact with Immigrants. By the look of my skin" - The immigrants in both these towns are highly educated. They would certainly not be interested in bothering you, interacting with you, or showing any deference or preference if you don't reciprocate. If you take a long look at what you wrote, this is a bias you have developed and cannot be applied in a general sense to any of these towns.

7. Neighborhoods - Both towns have working-class, affluent, and ultra wealthy neighborhoods. We chose to buy in a working-class neighborhood of Wellesley because we were found people more like us in those neighborhoods, and we have been pleased to have amazing neighbors. So if you are looking at a working-class neighborhood, an affluent neighborhood, or outright wealthy, you will find all those in Wellesley and Needham.

8. Safety - Both towns are A+ in safety.

9. Commute - Practically identical if you are headed towards Boston. My wife used to leave early and had a 30-minute commute to Boston in the early mornings at 6 AM. While returning, the commute was about 40 to 45 minutes from both towns in the evenings. Again this may vary depending on where in the city you are living in.
Both towns have excellent commuter rails that are comparable. You can access the Needham center and Riverside T from Wellesley if you live near those.

10. Zoning - Wellesley is slightly better zoned than Needham, and almost anywhere you live except for the extremities, you are a walking distance away from everything. The downtown in Wellesley is much better, with lots of small strip malls here and there. Linden street has very good shopping and dining options as well. Both towns have a variety of restaurants, American, Asian, Indian, Japanese, Mexican, etc. If you eat outside, you have excellent choices.

11. Cost to live in Wellesley and Needham -
Wellesley - If you are looking at a newer home, your budget in Wellesley should be a 2.5 Million Plus region. Suppose you are looking at an older home better situated within Wellesley like our home (10 Minute walk to everything in town), which could do with some renovations, along the years like ours. In that case, your budget is in the 1.25 to 1.75 Million . Plan to spend anywhere between 100 to 500K along the years to renovate these homes.
Needham - If you look at newer homes, your budges in Needham should be 1.75 million-plus. If you are looking at older homes, your budget can be between 900K and 1.35 Million. Again you will have to spend some money over the years to improve these homes.

Having said that, you cant go wrong with towns like Needham, Newton, Wellesley, Lexington and a lot more of them.

These are my two cents - I hope they help.

[expo25]

Solid post Village Bumpkin.

Which neighborhood would you consider working class in Wellesley, Overbrook?

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by expo25

Solid post Village Bumpkin.

Which neighborhood would you consider working class in Wellesley, Overbrook?

That would have been one but I don't know that you'd consider any of them working class anymore.

[Village Bumpkin]

expo25
One Clarification - As you and CaseyB posted, none of these neighborhoods would fall under "Working Class." I am not implying the literal meaning of working-class. I mean "two-income" upper-middle-class families primarily— college-educated such as teachers, academics, professors, lawyers, engineers, healthcare professionals, other professionals in the financial sector, a few blue-collar households and many retirees.

To live in any of these neighborhoods comfortably, you need an upper-middle-class family income, upwards of $175K. You might find homeowners with Incomes ranging between $175K to upwards of 750K per year.

Wellesley Hills has a lot of "these" upper middle class neighborhoods. The Grantland, Cunningham, Wareland, and Maugus Neighborhoods are outstanding examples. They have, however, got a lot more expensive over the years.

Linden Street, Lower Falls, Standish, Sheridan neighborhoods, and the Overbrook St, College Street / College heights area near Morses Pond are also examples. The houses in these areas typically go for upwards of 1.25 Million. Land prices in Wellesley for .5 Acres have been assessed between 800K - 1 Million, so it is hard to find homes less than 1.5 Million in reasonably good condition. All of these homes will require significant updating over the years.

[msRB311]

What exactly do the working class people that live in these Wellesley neighborhoods do for work?

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by msRB311

What exactly do the working class people that live in these Wellesley neighborhoods do for work?

"One Clarification - As you and CaseyB posted, none of these neighborhoods would fall under "Working Class." I am not implying the literal meaning of working-class. I mean "two-income" upper-middle-class families primarily— college-educated such as teachers, academics, professors, lawyers, engineers, healthcare professionals, other professionals in the financial sector, a few blue-collar households and many retirees."

[expo25]

Overbrook has seen quite a bit of development over the past few years, still some reasonably priced homes in that area though..