Moving to Boston - Where to live?

[Anonymous]

One thing to keep in mind is that just about all of these towns are much less diverse than Arlington, VA. I grew up in one of the towns mentioned and it was at least 95% white and mostly upper-middle class. You can check stats on different towns, but there is nothing like Arlington VA in terms of diversity in the Boston area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to keep in mind is that just about all of these towns are much less diverse than Arlington, VA. I grew up in one of the towns mentioned and it was at least 95% white and mostly upper-middle class. You can check stats on different towns, but there is nothing like Arlington VA in terms of diversity in the Boston area.

While this is true for African American diversity, several of the towns around Lexington have a MEDCO program where children from inner city Boston are able to attend schools in the suburbs. Many of the towns have a decent population of Asian and Indian, and the Medco program adds some more diversity in the schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wellesley Weston Newton(that feeds into Newton South HS) Needham Dover Lexington

Newton/Wellesley/Needham/Lexington would be my top choice, great schools, ok commute, nice town centers (Wellesley especially reminds me of downtown Bethesda but less "city like")

can't get much for 700,000 in those towns-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we can live near the water I would love that. Hingham looks incredible on their town website, but when I google it I see a lot of comments about how snooty it is. Is it really like this? Are the people there especially fancy? My DH likes the idea of living in the same little town as Belicheck. What's the commute like from newton, Wellesley, Weston, medfield, etc? DH will work downtown in the financial district.

way over-rated-the schools are over-crowded and are no longer considered that great. There is only one real neighborhood called Liberty Pole other than that it's pretty much homes off the main roads many of which are OLD, many no central air and natural gas is a luxury-they use oil mostly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing to keep in mind is that just about all of these towns are much less diverse than Arlington, VA. I grew up in one of the towns mentioned and it was at least 95% white and mostly upper-middle class. You can check stats on different towns, but there is nothing like Arlington VA in terms of diversity in the Boston area.

yeah I have to agree. I am the Westwood poster-the major downside is the lack of diversity-there are Jewish communities intertwined with Asians but other than that, all white. As a Jew myself I consider us white but we are about as "diverse" as our neighborhood gets. My kids have maybe 2 or three Asian kids in their classes...that's about it.

[Anonymous]

Milton. It's absolutely beautiful, the schools are good and it's close to downtown Boston. Check your budget on redfin for Milton houses and you'll be excited to move!

[Anonymous]

the schools in milton are not great...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Essentially every town in Massachusetts is it's own school district and thanks to Romney's prop. 2&1/2 the schools have suffered. They have not been able to raise property taxes to keep in line with increased health care expenditures so it actually is pretty important to see how financially the town is doing to see how healthy the school budgets are. There have been lots pf cuts over the past several years and each town has dealt with it differently. In general though, Massachusetts schools are very good because they have a really challenging curriculum that each town develops to suit the needs of their students and the MCAS test which I perceive to be more challenging than the SOLs.

FYI Its not Romney's prop 2 1/2 its been around for AGES. But yes it does impact school budgets but amazingly there are so many schools that have done well academically without much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Milton. It's absolutely beautiful, the schools are good and it's close to downtown Boston. Check your budget on redfin for Milton houses and you'll be excited to move!

This was going to be my suggestion too. Close to the city (although commuting through the city by car is going to be horrific no matter where you are) I also like Braintree and Weymouth.

[Anonymous]

14:25 - wow, glad you know what you are talking about. the pp was going to waste LOTS of OP's time! You won't get anywhere NEAR those towns for that money.

The Boston suburbs are much more expensive than here. The people are more educated, better mannered and a LOT less angry in that area. Enjoy it OP!

Massachusetts schools are outstanding because everything is funded BY TOWN. You live where you can afford. Period. Poorer areas are dealt with differently so they also have outstanding schools. No southern BS there.

OP, you are in for a huge culture shock. In a good way.

There are not many here who know WTF they are talking about when it comes to New England, as you can see. You are far better off going onto a Boston site. I wish I had a good one off the top of my head for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Milton. It's absolutely beautiful, the schools are good and it's close to downtown Boston. Check your budget on redfin for Milton houses and you'll be excited to move!

This was going to be my suggestion too. Close to the city (although commuting through the city by car is going to be horrific no matter where you are) I also like Braintree and Weymouth.

Milton isn't a bad school district-their French Immersion program is pretty good from what friends say..the town is weird though-it seems like you either have a lot of money or none. There are some great private schools though should you go that route. If schools are important I wouldn't touch Braintree or Weymouth I would go to Milton before either of those.

[Anonymous]

11:16 - It is called METCO. METCO. METCO.

It has a tremendous history in the Boston area. Look it up.

OP, are you looking for diverse? You come from TX and CO? Those do NOT strike me as diverse.

I think the PP's need to try to stop force feeding you what they think is PC, or what they beleieve they want at this point in their own lives, because it has nothing to do with OP's post.

[Anonymous]

Brookline is great! I used to live in Coolidge Corner - it's a short commute to the Back Bay, good schools, a great independent movie theater and book store that is kinda like Politics and Prose (oh how I do miss Brookline Booksmith). Newton is also nice, I lived there as a kid and both Newton North and Newton South HS were good then (although I guess newton south was a bit better) not sure about now although I doubt Newton North has become their Cardozo, but I guess it's all relative.

[Anonymous]

OP I live in Hingham. It's not "fancy" but it does have a snoot factor. Although anywhere else it's called pride. The schools are good. We are having issues with the middle school now (rebuild or renovate?) and a brand new elementary was just completed last year. Athletics are huge here and both girls and boys hockey have recently won state. You can buy a house in Hingham with your budget but it will highly likely need some updating. There are several neighborhoods in Hingham, not just Liberty Pole (which is huge!). Some are smaller one-street neighborhoods - lots of New England charm. I know because I live in a great one! Here's a good list of school info, neighborhood breakdowns: http://www.localbetty.com/about-town.html

Also, we didn't look anywhere else but Hingham. We wanted to be on the water (we have water/Boston skyline views) and DH needed to be close to the boat & train. He has a 30minute commute on the boat. The trains are less reliable here than DC. Our kids are young and we plan to send our kids to the public elementary and then hopefully they'll test into a private middle/high school in the city.

Check out GardenMoms if you want other Boston-area feedback from other people living here. And if you think you're going to move to Hingham, check out the Newcomers Club. In fact, most towns around here have one. Cohasset/Scituate is a combined club. I know people in both towns and take my kids to the beaches there. Cohasset is more expensive than Scituate and has some of the best public schools in MA! Both are considerably smaller than Hingham. They each have train stops if your DH doesn't want to drive but it's obviously a longer trip into town.

Good luck with your move.

[Anonymous]

From prior post: "Massachusetts schools are outstanding because everything is funded BY TOWN. You live where you can afford. Period. Poorer areas are dealt with differently so they also have outstanding schools. No southern BS there".


There are economies of scale that the county systems produce that the Massachusetts systems do not have, especially with special education cost, superintendants, etc. Lexington, in particular, which is widely known to have one of the best Autism programs has enormous special education costs (because many families flock to Lexington for this reason) which have really hurt the budget of schools.

Massachusetts schools have an excellent reputation but they have been very hurt economically over the past several years, much more so than Virginia or Maryland I would argue. Before you buy, attend a town meeting in your chosen towns---they are often in October-- and you will really get a sense of the economic health of the town.

Honestly, if you want a nicer house--not new but something you think is worth 700k--- you are not going to find anything worthwhile in Winchester (although the Lynche District may be a possibility), Newtown, Brookline, Wellesley, Weston. I'm pretty sure Needham is out of your league as well.

I don't know enough about the real estate of Norwell, or Hingham, Medfield to say.

The 2 school districts no one brought up yet but are worth a look because the schools are outstanding are Andover and Acton. They are further out though but are on the commuter train line. You would get a nice house there for 700k and get an excellent education for your kids.


But the large Virginia/ Maryland systems offer more perks in their school system- immersion programs on a wider scale, GT program, etc. I would argue that the core curriculum of the wealthier Massachusetts towns are possibly stronger than the Southern schools, particularly at the elementary level, But the choices and perks offered by the larger systems are more attractive at the middle school and high school level.