Moving further west of Boston
June 25, 2020 10:31 AM Subscribe
We live in Wellesley, but would love a larger house, more land, and a pool--none of which are really an option at our price point in our town. I'm looking for suggestions of towns further out that might be viable relocation options.
This is a bit of a pipe dream right now--I don't anticipate moving before next year at the earliest. My office is downtown, and I have enjoyed the short commute from Wellesley and some of the amenities the town offers (grocery stores, etc). However, post-COVID, my work may be more remote, making me more ambivalent about location. Meanwhile, we've really embraced our love of gardening during the lockdown and, wow, I want a pool.
I knew next to nothing about Wellesley before moving here, and I truly don't know anything about any of the other towns around here other than the commercial areas. I don't know school systems, politics, income levels, traffic, superfund sites. You name it, I don't know it.
Those who know the area, what can you tell me about the towns that lie west of Wellesley? Can be a bit north or a bit west, but I will surely have to go to Boston sometimes, and would want to be close to either the commuter rail (my main mode of transit) or the Pike. Would be looking for properties on at least an acre--we're not looking to be "downtown" anywhere. Surely east of Worcester.
This is a bit of a pipe dream right now--I don't anticipate moving before next year at the earliest. My office is downtown, and I have enjoyed the short commute from Wellesley and some of the amenities the town offers (grocery stores, etc). However, post-COVID, my work may be more remote, making me more ambivalent about location. Meanwhile, we've really embraced our love of gardening during the lockdown and, wow, I want a pool.
I knew next to nothing about Wellesley before moving here, and I truly don't know anything about any of the other towns around here other than the commercial areas. I don't know school systems, politics, income levels, traffic, superfund sites. You name it, I don't know it.
Those who know the area, what can you tell me about the towns that lie west of Wellesley? Can be a bit north or a bit west, but I will surely have to go to Boston sometimes, and would want to be close to either the commuter rail (my main mode of transit) or the Pike. Would be looking for properties on at least an acre--we're not looking to be "downtown" anywhere. Surely east of Worcester.
Response by poster: While I'm mainly looking for anecdotal experiences with the different towns (anything goes), I should have added that we have a first grader, so schools would be of particular importance. We don't need any particular healthcare support. My favorite Wellesley amenity is the library. Obviously COVID has resulted in everyone rethinking priorities, and for us, it would be the environment for the kid, and more space--possibly to have parents live with us. Bustling town center is not so important.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:06 AM on June 25, 2020
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:06 AM on June 25, 2020
You really need to give more info to get good advice. At least a general price range. Right now, the only firm criteria is:
Would be looking for properties on at least an acre
You're not going to get an acre until you go west of 95. You're not going to get an acre for less than $500K until you go west of Framingham, and even that would likely be undeveloped land.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:10 AM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Would be looking for properties on at least an acre
You're not going to get an acre until you go west of 95. You're not going to get an acre for less than $500K until you go west of Framingham, and even that would likely be undeveloped land.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 11:10 AM on June 25, 2020 [2 favorites]
Sherborn is a somewhat "rural" town where you should be able to get at least an acre of land. If you can afford Wellesley I'd assume you'd be able to afford Sherborn. There's a lot of conservation land as well. Schools (Dover and Sherborn share a high school) are supposed to be very good.
You'd have to come up 27 to get to the Natick commuter rail stop, or depending where you are in town some of the lines to the North might be easier to get to. Parking is hard to come by at the Natick stop and there's a wait list for the lots. If you bike, they're redoing 27 from Sherborn and adding bike lanes, from what I understand.
You might find a house with an acre of land in South Natick.
Out further west there's Southboro and Shrewsbury, which are both supposed to be decent towns with commuter rail access.
posted by bondcliff at 11:26 AM on June 25, 2020
You'd have to come up 27 to get to the Natick commuter rail stop, or depending where you are in town some of the lines to the North might be easier to get to. Parking is hard to come by at the Natick stop and there's a wait list for the lots. If you bike, they're redoing 27 from Sherborn and adding bike lanes, from what I understand.
You might find a house with an acre of land in South Natick.
Out further west there's Southboro and Shrewsbury, which are both supposed to be decent towns with commuter rail access.
posted by bondcliff at 11:26 AM on June 25, 2020
I'm pretty familiar with the area serviced by the Fitchburg line of the commuter rail and so I'll use that as a framework to help you get a sense of timing and options based on that framework since, well, there are a lot of towns "west" of Wellesley.
The first-grader factor adds a whole level of complexity for sure. You are in competition with thousands of other parents looking at the same criteria. Here is a list of the school district rankings and then another one just for high schools.
The other chart you may want to consider is the voting results from the 2016 election town by town. Mass is obviously a liberal state, but, well, there may be some surprises there that you might want to factor in.
Again, using that Fitchburg line as a framework, the furthest town that is still east of Worcester is technically Leominster, but that's a 90 minute train commute (one way) on a good day and, that may rule things out.
Here then, is a relatively opinionated overview of the towns near the commuter rail starting west and heading east toward the city. Each link is from Niche , be sure to scroll down to see real estate prices.
posted by jeremias at 12:06 PM on June 25, 2020 [9 favorites]
The first-grader factor adds a whole level of complexity for sure. You are in competition with thousands of other parents looking at the same criteria. Here is a list of the school district rankings and then another one just for high schools.
The other chart you may want to consider is the voting results from the 2016 election town by town. Mass is obviously a liberal state, but, well, there may be some surprises there that you might want to factor in.
Again, using that Fitchburg line as a framework, the furthest town that is still east of Worcester is technically Leominster, but that's a 90 minute train commute (one way) on a good day and, that may rule things out.
Here then, is a relatively opinionated overview of the towns near the commuter rail starting west and heading east toward the city. Each link is from Niche , be sure to scroll down to see real estate prices.
- Shirley and Ayer are both towns that will be the most affordable on the list and have a higher percentage of land that you could garden. They are both fairly small and share the same school district. Both definitely have small town vibes, so it's good that you don't care about an access to a downtown. (Although tbh, that is something you could say about almost every town on this list.) Culturally speaking, not a whole lot going on here, but you could potentially find an older NE-style home with pool and property for a relatively (for MA) sane price.
- Littleton a little bit less "small town" than the previous two, i.e. more working professionals from Boston, but there's also that quiet, old-fashioned New England feel to it (although that's changing a bit recently). For sure there are properties with land and pool here, some hidden gems, in fact. In the last two or 3 years it has started to join the modern world a bit with a new shopping center and movie theater. The proximity to Interstate 495 is useful. Definitely a town I would put on the list as everything starts to get more expensive from here on.
- Harvard is not technically on the commuter rail, but is close enough to consider... if you are rich. Harvard has some of the most beautiful land you'll find anywhere, it's a geographically gifted area but it's also a small, somewhat insular and monied town. The schools are great and the town has a very strong sense of civic pride. But that may be part of its downside. There can be more than a whiff of elitism to be found here and the demographic is lily-white, but again, if I had lotsa money I might consider plunking down a couple of million bucks and get me a nice 19th century Shaker farmhouse and never leave my property.
- If you looked up "bedroom community" in the dictionary you might find a picture of Acton and Boxborough. Consistently high ranked school system brings tons of working professionals here, including a healthy proportion of folks from India and China, which adds a degree of diversity to the area. Acton is the biggest commuter rail stop on the Fitchburg line, so in the "before times" you could get an express train to and from North Station in about 35-45 minutes. Acton is more of a classic suburbia than anything else mentioned so far, so while your pool ratio is probably very high, the land with which to garden starts to decrease but it's definitely out there. If you *don't* have kids, Acton and/or Boxborough might be odd choices, property taxes are high, and real estate prices reflect that fact. Neither town actually has a "downtown" or much going on culturally, but again, that doesn't seem to be a priority.
- Stow, Hudson, Bolton are also towns in the area that are much more rural and you are likely to find places with land/pool. All three are a much harder commute to Boston though (if you are relying on the commuter rail), most folks living there go to Acton to catch the train which can add time and stress to your commute. I would also throw Maynard in there. Not a fantastic school system, but would fit your criteria as well, it has a history of a blue-collar town that potentially seems on the cusp of breaking out into something unique, but never seems to get there.
- Then you've got Concord, Lincoln and Sudbury all of which have some beautiful properties, houses and school systems, but we are now back into Harvard territory in terms of real estate. Super-expensive, but if you can swing the ticket price, worth a look.
- I'll throw in Waltham just because it is on the commuter rail, it is an interesting town, one I know well because I worked there for a number of years. A former industrial center in the 19th century, it is a strange mix of urban, suburban and rural. There definitely are places that fit your bill, but the overall sense is that you're getting less bang for your buck here, mainly because it is a little closer to the city and you're paying a premium. It does have some interesting restaurants and a downtown that seems to go through periods of boom and bust every 7 years or so.
posted by jeremias at 12:06 PM on June 25, 2020 [9 favorites]
We live in Concord and, while expensive, it checks all your boxes. Commuter rail access, good school system, awesome public library, wonderful hiking, and plenty of houses with pools.
Price point is going to be a very important factor but coming from Wellesley you shouldn’t be too surprised.
posted by lydhre at 12:43 PM on June 25, 2020
Price point is going to be a very important factor but coming from Wellesley you shouldn’t be too surprised.
posted by lydhre at 12:43 PM on June 25, 2020
Response by poster: You're not going to get an acre until you go west of 95.
Wellesley is west of 95, and I'm looking to go west of Wellesley. As Bondcliff notes, Wellesley's a pretty expensive town to begin with, and I'm not aware of any town west of Wellesley that would not be less expensive from a median home price perspective! (Dover's not far behind.)
Thanks for bearing with me on this and for the thoughtful responses so far. Redfin identifies about 80 1+ acre properties with a pool between Wellesley and Worcester, zoomed out with Route 9 bisecting the map. I was just hoping for some anecdotes on towns in that admittedly wide zone. I may come back with another Ask with a more focused list of towns--I just don't know my Southboroughs from my Ashlands!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
Wellesley is west of 95, and I'm looking to go west of Wellesley. As Bondcliff notes, Wellesley's a pretty expensive town to begin with, and I'm not aware of any town west of Wellesley that would not be less expensive from a median home price perspective! (Dover's not far behind.)
Thanks for bearing with me on this and for the thoughtful responses so far. Redfin identifies about 80 1+ acre properties with a pool between Wellesley and Worcester, zoomed out with Route 9 bisecting the map. I was just hoping for some anecdotes on towns in that admittedly wide zone. I may come back with another Ask with a more focused list of towns--I just don't know my Southboroughs from my Ashlands!
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:51 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
I'd encourage you to think more broadly than just the initial price of the property.
Wellesley has high house prices, but it also has an industrial base that pays commercial taxes which keep your property taxes lower. Southborough by comparison might have lower house prices, but it has almost no industrial base, and your real estate taxes will be just about 50% higher.
All of this is compounded in towns with strong social services or great schools, because those things cost money, and that money has to come from residents if it can't come from businesses.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:15 PM on June 25, 2020
Wellesley has high house prices, but it also has an industrial base that pays commercial taxes which keep your property taxes lower. Southborough by comparison might have lower house prices, but it has almost no industrial base, and your real estate taxes will be just about 50% higher.
All of this is compounded in towns with strong social services or great schools, because those things cost money, and that money has to come from residents if it can't come from businesses.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 1:15 PM on June 25, 2020
This may be a bit out there (literally and figuratively), but consider Sawyer Hill Ecovillage in Berlin. The houses aren't large, but it has 65-shared-use-acres and a shared pool. Compared to Wellesley, the price point might allow you to buy two units, one for you and one for your parents. Commuting to the city would be daunting, for sure, but you could drive to the train station in Westborough and be to South Station within 90 minutes or so.
I moved from the Boston suburbs to a co-housing community in small-town New Hampshire and can't say enough about the improvement to our quality of life. Co-housing is not for everyone, but it is a great place to raise kids, find community, and (if Sawyer Hill is like Nubi, and I think it is) do a ton of gardening in a beautiful natural setting.
posted by libraryhead at 1:22 PM on June 25, 2020
I moved from the Boston suburbs to a co-housing community in small-town New Hampshire and can't say enough about the improvement to our quality of life. Co-housing is not for everyone, but it is a great place to raise kids, find community, and (if Sawyer Hill is like Nubi, and I think it is) do a ton of gardening in a beautiful natural setting.
posted by libraryhead at 1:22 PM on June 25, 2020
Some friends of ours live in Acton and love it (she’s actually a librarian there, and I can vouch that their library is great!). They have a pool and a decent sized lot and haven’t found it to be much more expensive than their place in Minneapolis.
posted by padraigin at 1:27 PM on June 25, 2020
posted by padraigin at 1:27 PM on June 25, 2020
There's a commuter train that runs into Boston from Worcester, so maybe you want to be in that area?
I live much further out in Northampton - it's a gorgeous area and easier to find houses on larger lots (although Northampton lots themselves tend to be smaller and pricier). Commuting into Boston is a non-starter, though. My team's office is in Cambridge and in the before times, I would go in for various events. There's a bus line that's decent enough, but it isn't non-stop. I've driven to Worcester to take the train and that's works, but it ends up taking about the same amount of time over all as driving and just removes the hassle and cost of parking in Cambridge, which is not nothing.
If you want space you might look at Brimfield or Sturbridge, both on the pike.
posted by plinth at 1:32 PM on June 25, 2020
I live much further out in Northampton - it's a gorgeous area and easier to find houses on larger lots (although Northampton lots themselves tend to be smaller and pricier). Commuting into Boston is a non-starter, though. My team's office is in Cambridge and in the before times, I would go in for various events. There's a bus line that's decent enough, but it isn't non-stop. I've driven to Worcester to take the train and that's works, but it ends up taking about the same amount of time over all as driving and just removes the hassle and cost of parking in Cambridge, which is not nothing.
If you want space you might look at Brimfield or Sturbridge, both on the pike.
posted by plinth at 1:32 PM on June 25, 2020
Do you have a preference for commuter trains that terminate at South Station vs. North Station? The Fitchburg Line (which runs to Concord, Acton, etc.) ends at North Station, as opposed to the Worcester Line which terminates at South Station (with a stop at Back Bay). If you're only interested in commuter trains that terminate at South Station and you don't want to go south, the towns on (or near) the Worcester line are really your only options.
posted by mskyle at 2:00 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mskyle at 2:00 PM on June 25, 2020 [1 favorite]
+1 on considering property taxes in costs. And along those lines, consider what are likely improvements the town could need that might raise your taxes in the near future... public sewers are a hot topic ‘out west’.
I live in one of these towns on more than an acre for <$500k and would be happy to answer any questions by pm...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 5:40 PM on June 25, 2020
I live in one of these towns on more than an acre for <$500k and would be happy to answer any questions by pm...
posted by Tandem Affinity at 5:40 PM on June 25, 2020
2nding mskyle re exactly where in downtown your office is. When I worked by South Station, I had a coworker who came in via North Station, about a 20 minute walk away on top of his hour on the commuter rail before/after that, because there just wasn't a transit connection that was going to be better than that walk. (Will we ever see the North-South rail link in our lifetimes? Sigh.) OTOH, I know someone who usually does a Salem-Back Bay commute via North Station, and transferring to the Orange Line usually works just fine.
posted by Pandora Kouti at 12:40 AM on June 26, 2020
posted by Pandora Kouti at 12:40 AM on June 26, 2020
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