Hopkinton Relocation (Boston, Newton, Framingham: appointed, transplants, houses)

[davidcolvin]

Hello all,
I am about to accept a job in Southborough, and will be moving from Santa Barbara, CA. I have a 6 year old daughter and one due in July. We are interested in a typical new England type town, with good schools and a sense of community. I spent a day looking at Natick, Wellesley, Newton, etc and was disappointed by the value available in housing. I was also disappointed by the traffic (i like to ride my bike and run) and crowded feel. Our housing budget is $600k to $700k, so I am sure that if I could increase it to $800 k or higher I could find a great house in a nice neighborhood. This brings me to my questions. I did not visit Hopkinton, but like what I see on line as far as housing prices and schools are concerned. How remote/rural is Hopkinton? Are there roads with limited traffic in order to safely ride a road bike? Are trips into Natick/Framingham/Newton for shopping (eg Trader Joes, etc) going to be a big hassle? Commute to Southborough? Friendliness of the residents? Sorry for all of the questions, any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
DC

[MAbound]

I am not a MA expert as I am looking to relocate myself but I have done a load of research.

I would start with looking at the best schools for my kids and narrow it down from there. Here are some sites to look at: the MA education site (SAT Report (DISTRICT) - Massachusetts Directory Profiles) and Great Schools (or similar site). Many recommend Boston Magazine Sept Best School annual report (2009: Public Schools Chart - Boston Magazine (http://www.bostonmagazine.com/boston/public2009 - broken link)) but their criteria is controversial.

Then, I would look at towns that have a highly rated school system within a 30 min commute (or whatever criteria you chose). Towns that are frequently mentioned with a good school systems are Wayland, Sudbury, Harvard (Bromfield School), Acton-Boxborough, etc. When I look at the stats, I see that Stow (Nashoba Regional HS) are similar to Northborough-Southborough HS stats.

You didn't mention working spouse so not sure how she will play into where you live.

I personally eliminated Wellesley as they appear to have some over-crowding issues (they are thinking about moving the entire 6th grade to a different location???), budgetary cut backs (from what i remember reading recently on the town's newspaper) and over-priced crappy houses.

Other things that you can do: use redfin to look at houses - I like it since you can see where the house is on the map. Put in a slightly higher price range than what is in your budget since I think there is a conspiracy for RE agents to keep the housing prices high so they earn more commission - there are some realistically priced houses out there but you have to look. There is usually room for negotiation (5-10%). Depending on town (since they all assess differently), most buyers are unwilling to pay more than the assessed value.

And of course, search this forum for the towns that you are interested in.

You can also take the lazy man's way - find a house in Southborough. Schools are well regarded. Less commuting, less gas/one car, more time with family.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by davidcolvin

How remote/rural is Hopkinton? Are there roads with limited traffic in order to safely ride a road bike? Are trips into Natick/Framingham/Newton for shopping (eg Trader Joes, etc) going to be a big hassle? Commute to Southborough? Friendliness of the residents? Sorry for all of the questions, any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
DC

Holliston is rural compared to Newton or Wellesley, but not that rural. Once you get a certain distance from Boston, a lot of the towns have a similar layout. A small, somewhat classic New England center, with rural roads radiating out from it. The newer suburban-type homes tend to be in small developments off these rural roads.

The commute to Southborough should be pretty easy up the Cordaville Rd. (MA 85). Trips to Framingham and Natick should not be too bad, outside of the rush hours, if you take Route 9 or 495 to the Pike. Going through Ashland on 135 can be a little slow.

The one issue with bike riding around there is that a lot of the rural roads can be narrow and winding, and cars whizz along. But I've ridden in places like Hopkinton plenty of times and it can be done if you use normal caution.

It's interesting. With a couple of exceptions, I don't think of Newton as all that heavily trafficked or crowded, especially given its proximity to Boston. But I spent years in New York City and the city of Boston.

[nipsip]

Originally Posted by davidcolvin

Hello all,
I am about to accept a job in Southborough, and will be moving from Santa Barbara, CA. I have a 6 year old daughter and one due in July. We are interested in a typical new England type town, with good schools and a sense of community. I spent a day looking at Natick, Wellesley, Newton, etc and was disappointed by the value available in housing. I was also disappointed by the traffic (i like to ride my bike and run) and crowded feel. Our housing budget is $600k to $700k, so I am sure that if I could increase it to $800 k or higher I could find a great house in a nice neighborhood. This brings me to my questions. I did not visit Hopkinton, but like what I see on line as far as housing prices and schools are concerned. How remote/rural is Hopkinton? Are there roads with limited traffic in order to safely ride a road bike? Are trips into Natick/Framingham/Newton for shopping (eg Trader Joes, etc) going to be a big hassle? Commute to Southborough? Friendliness of the residents? Sorry for all of the questions, any help that anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
DC

Sherborn (18 miles from Boston) is an easy commute to Southborough and it's where I see most of the bike riders. The town is very rural. 1100 homes <5K people. The town owns 50% of the land and are not selling. No public water or sewer or street lights. High property taxes. Narrow tree lined roads. No or little salt use in Winter on roads. Not a town based on housing developments. Minimum 2 ac zoning, 3ac in some areas. Best schools in MA (top 3). Little to no shopping (one bank, one spa, one liquor store, one dry cleaner, one drug store, one hole in the wall restaurant, one public beach (Farm Pond). No public transportation or commuter rail (have bus to commuter rail).

Sounds bad, or wonderful doesn't it?

Dover is similar but has a grocery store, larger houses, 1.5 ac zoning, and shares the middle and high school with Sherborn.

I've lived here in a number of Metrowest towns and now live in Sherborn. I particularly enjoy the rural setting after having lived in the city.

We shop at Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Roche Brothers (I find Roche Bros has more organic foods than Trader Joes). All are fairly convenient.

Every town in Metrowest has its own personality. Hopkinton has a large rather new housing development that abuts a private golf club and gun club (shooting every Wednesday and Sunday). Large newer houses on 1 ac. Forgot the name but it's worth a look if you are undecided as to the town. Nicer/nicest in the towns bordering 495. Southborough also has nice housing developments.

[kmann-sherborn]

Commuting to Southboro from Hopkinton is very easy. They're right next to each other.

We used to live in Hopkinton & now live in Sherborn. I didn't care for Hopkinton as much, as I was disappointed by the lack of commitment to protecting open space and I hated that the lake I used to like was overrun with noisy jetskis and ATVs blazing through the backroads and digging up the trails.

That said, we liked the ease of access to Rt 495 & the train on the Hopkinton/Southboro line. I like the little family-run businesses downtown, and that I can walk into the Hopkinton Cafe, and Dave, the owner, remembers my name and favorite sandwich. I like the tiny hardware store that seems to have everything I want. There isn't much in terms of stores or restaurants in town. There's a small grocery store that's being expanded but we usually still drove a bit further to the Whole Foods in Framingham (and yes, it is a bit of a hassle). There are plenty of new transplants in town and housing is certainly less expensive than Wellesley. I didn't really bike much when we were there but I can't say I'd recommend riding on the main road, though back roads should be fine.

I cycle in Dover & Sherborn now and love it, although the hills are sometimes tough. I like to bike a few miles from my house to the pond. There are also lots of great hiking trails, a pond for sailing & swimming (no motorized boats), and easy access to the Mass Pike (though not to Rt 495). I haven't quite mastered running on steep hills yet so usually run on the trails at Elm Bank along the Charles River, which is really pretty & relaxing. There's an active newcomers/neighbors club and I found them very welcoming and friendly, and hadn't expected that. We don't have children in the schools but the moms in my book club rave about the enthusiastic teachers at Pine Hill (the elementary school). Like Hopkinton, there isn't much in terms of shops in town. I go to Wellesley often to shop, but don't really mind it unless I make the mistake of heading out onto Rt 16 during the morning commute and then I'm really sorry I did.

Anyhow, I hope that's somewhat helpful. Please feel free to drop me a line if you have other questions.

[susanewood]

There's some great information in the above posts - and when it comes to bike riding, I am not a long-distance rider (my sisters, brother in law's, are), and there are some good bike groups around, I could get you the names of them. Hopkinton's a short commute to southboro, and to framingham, although you will hit traffic. There is traffic everywhere, even back roads. The neat thing with Hopkinton/Holliston/etc. is you can do great bike loops all around the towns on back roads. That much I know. Unfortunately, we have POT HOLES. and Rain/Mud. Landry's Bike Shop in Framingham might be able to help about more specific biking questions. Holliston does a MS bike ride every year from the Fatima Shrine, and the Pan Mass Challenge runs right through Franklin, which is maybe 30 min. from southborough down 495. Remember also, there are hills everywhere here! Have fun looking!