Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 22:03     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:I grew up just west of Framingham in a town called Westborough. It's still supposed to have very good public schools, although the town is much bigger than when I was a kid. $850k would buy a very very nice house there and it would be an easy commute to Framingham although there's a ton of local traffic that moves around this area.

Note that schools are funded by property taxes in MA, and they vary widely (and by extension so do the schools.) So you will pay for a better school system - but that also shows up in property values etc. The county is essentially irrelevant.

I can't promise your family will adjust to the cold weather. TBH I'm not sure I could move back for just that reason. But I would if we had great jobs there! It is a great quality of life compared to the DC area at much lower cost. And there's lots of winter sports and summer beach options.


Wedtborough now has many million dollar mansions . Friends that moved there from here (Bethesda) have found the public schools to be a bit rigid and the people to be a bit rich? I guess you could say that they have found Westborough to be more like Potomac .
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 21:58     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:Framingham = Rockville
Weston = Potomac
Wellesley = Bethesda


What would you call Westboro?
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 21:54     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Framingham is not a charming New England town. Needham is. Wellesley is and also natick. South natick on the Dover Sherborn border also very nice. All would be an easy commute to Framingham. All
Have better schools.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 21:06     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
HAHAHA please stop playing up that area. They don't want the D.C. type. LOL.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:39     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
I grew up just west of Framingham in a town called Westborough. It's still supposed to have very good public schools, although the town is much bigger than when I was a kid. $850k would buy a very very nice house there and it would be an easy commute to Framingham although there's a ton of local traffic that moves around this area.

Note that schools are funded by property taxes in MA, and they vary widely (and by extension so do the schools.) So you will pay for a better school system - but that also shows up in property values etc. The county is essentially irrelevant.

I can't promise your family will adjust to the cold weather. TBH I'm not sure I could move back for just that reason. But I would if we had great jobs there! It is a great quality of life compared to the DC area at much lower cost. And there's lots of winter sports and summer beach options.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:30     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

OP here.

Thanks everyone!

The job is in Framingham itself. We could afford 1M or thereabouts in house, if we sell our house in Bethesda.

My husband is on the fence because he currently has a 10 minute commute, versus whatever he would have over there, and he's afraid of the cold winters (his native country is tropical!). But the job seems interesting and stable. I stay home.

Anyone care to comment on the weather up north ?




From what I know (friends who live there), it has similar spring and autumn. Snow in winter more likely than here, summer less humid than here. Are you a southerner (if so, you might not like it -- it is not a place where people "quickly adjust", from what I have been told).


I come from a cold and rainy country. I think I could handle it. My husband loves warmth, though, and that's our concern.



PP here. I can ask my friends what their input is. What is warm to your husband - 12 months sunny and over 80 (for example)? Nights are sweatshirt weather in New England, even in summer, I know that much. It is nice to sleep with your windows open summer and part of spring and fall. Winter I have only been to New England for skiing (different snow than out west, in case you were wondering). Much colder on the mountains, but almost every year I have talked to my friends, and they get at least some snow.

I ask because Boston cold is not "Detroit cold" during winter - which seems to go through you a bit more. But I don't know if this helps.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:26     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
What ethnicity are you? Let me know then I'll recommend a town. New England is racist FYI
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:23     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

OP here.

Thanks everyone!

The job is in Framingham itself. We could afford 1M or thereabouts in house, if we sell our house in Bethesda.

My husband is on the fence because he currently has a 10 minute commute, versus whatever he would have over there, and he's afraid of the cold winters (his native country is tropical!). But the job seems interesting and stable. I stay home.

Anyone care to comment on the weather up north ?




From what I know (friends who live there), it has similar spring and autumn. Snow in winter more likely than here, summer less humid than here. Are you a southerner (if so, you might not like it -- it is not a place where people "quickly adjust", from what I have been told).


I come from a cold and rainy country. I think I could handle it. My husband loves warmth, though, and that's our concern.



14:55 again. I find it much drearier than it is here during the winter. The snow never seems to melt but the roads and sidewalks are wet for a long time. It may only be 5 or 10 degrees colder than the DC area, but it feels much colder, for longer, to me. They do have much better equipment than we do for clearing snow, and things don't close down nearly as often as they do here. It's rare for my niece to get a snow day, but she has had at least 1 per winter the past few winters.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:23     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Jesus Framingham is a freaking dump with a prison, tons of low income housing and gang issues. If a ten minute commute is important move to wayland, Sudbury, Hopkinton or even natick. Don't spend 1million dollars in Framingham. Also property taxes are higher there. 850k will be plenty in any of those other towns.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:15     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

OP here.

Thanks everyone!

The job is in Framingham itself. We could afford 1M or thereabouts in house, if we sell our house in Bethesda.

My husband is on the fence because he currently has a 10 minute commute, versus whatever he would have over there, and he's afraid of the cold winters (his native country is tropical!). But the job seems interesting and stable. I stay home.

Anyone care to comment on the weather up north ?




From what I know (friends who live there), it has similar spring and autumn. Snow in winter more likely than here, summer less humid than here. Are you a southerner (if so, you might not like it -- it is not a place where people "quickly adjust", from what I have been told).


I come from a cold and rainy country. I think I could handle it. My husband loves warmth, though, and that's our concern.

Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:12     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Framingham = Rockville
Weston = Potomac
Wellesley = Bethesda


Wellesley is not like anything here, IRL. Maybe on the Google.


So how is it?


LOADED.
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 20:12     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:

OP here.

Thanks everyone!

The job is in Framingham itself. We could afford 1M or thereabouts in house, if we sell our house in Bethesda.

My husband is on the fence because he currently has a 10 minute commute, versus whatever he would have over there, and he's afraid of the cold winters (his native country is tropical!). But the job seems interesting and stable. I stay home.

Anyone care to comment on the weather up north ?




From what I know (friends who live there), it has similar spring and autumn. Snow in winter more likely than here, summer less humid than here. Are you a southerner (if so, you might not like it -- it is not a place where people "quickly adjust", from what I have been told).
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 19:43     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Framingham = Rockville
Weston = Potomac
Wellesley = Bethesda


Wellesley is not like anything here, IRL. Maybe on the Google.


So how is it?
Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 18:25     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?


OP here.

Thanks everyone!

The job is in Framingham itself. We could afford 1M or thereabouts in house, if we sell our house in Bethesda.

My husband is on the fence because he currently has a 10 minute commute, versus whatever he would have over there, and he's afraid of the cold winters (his native country is tropical!). But the job seems interesting and stable. I stay home.

Anyone care to comment on the weather up north ?


Anonymous
Post 07/17/2017 17:50     Subject: Framingham, MA: schools and general vibe?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Framingham = Rockville
Weston = Potomac
Wellesley = Bethesda


Accurate. Chestnut Hill also lovely.


Newton has tons of neighborhoods, some affordable. (Newton is midway between Boston and Framingham, OP - and some might say a "reverse commute" to Framingham).


PP here. I said Newton, because it is part of Chestnut Hill (which isn't really where most people live, although they are putting some high priced condos in, still in progress. Hard to tell online, which is why OP is asking for real life opinions).