Stow or westford?? (Newton, Waltham, Arlington: daycares, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[lakar]

We will be relocating in the summer of next year from PA.My husband will be taking up a new job in Waltham,MA. I have 2 kids, one in elementary school and another in pre-k. We drove to MA last weekend to see couple of cities and get a feel of it. We visited villages at stow, a new housing community in Stow and graniteville woods in westford and couple of other places. Our housing budget is within 600,000 and would prefer either a new construction or 2-3 yr old home. Does anbody have an idea about these places?. I did notice that shopping for essentials like grocery etc are not within a mile distance in both Stow and Westford. Do you have any other suggestions for good cities in this price range. Any input on these cities is greatly appreciated. Also if you know of good daycares/pre-school in either stow or westford for my pre-schooler.

[kmann-sherborn]

Stow is a town I would recommend for what you're looking for in terms of price range and commuting, although you're right that it has a sleepy feel and there isn't much in the way of shopping. The same could be said of Bolton, which has similar attributes. If you're looking for a town with a lot more shopping you might check out Natick, although the options for newer townhomes in that price range are few and far between, except the ones adjacent to the mall, which have very high association fees compared with other townhomes because they include concierge services, health spa, etc. Or a little further west you could check out Southboro, which is a very nice town with well rated schools, & lots of shops nearby in Westboro, although I imagine the commute would be more of a hassle because you'd probably take the Mass Pike to Rt 128 and that interchange gets jammed up in the mornings. Meeting House Lane would be within your price range.

Re: a preschool recommendation, you might want to check with the Assabet Valley newcomers & moms group: http://www.mothersandmoreassabetvalley.org/.

[gf2020]

Honestly, thinking for your husband's sake, the commute from either of those towns to Waltham is not great. Depending on where exactly in Waltham he is going to, Stow could be about an hour drive down slow route 117 and Westford could easily be well over an hour down route 3 to route 128. I would be looking closer to route 2 like Acton or Littleton, or even Ashland or Hopkinton and then he could get on the Mass Pike.

[kmann-sherborn]

agreed, Hopkinton could be a good choice as well. Well rated schools, lots of community & kids activities, two lakes, lots to do. And least there's a grocery store! ;->

[ogre]

Which towns would fit well depends in part on the features you'd like the town to have. The fact that you're looking in Stow and Westford suggests that you'd prefer something more exurban or semi-rural. The potential difficulty there is finding a town with this character where the commute to Waltham would be convenient. With that in mind, I second GF2020's suggestion of Acton for an exurban town that's a bit closer to Waltham. I also think that KS is on target with the suggestion of Natick, provided that you would be fine with a town that has a very suburban character.

I don't know what's available in the way of newer housing in these towns, but when it comes to the towns themselves I'd also suggest:

Bedford (avoiding the area near the airfield so you're sure noise won't be a problem) if low-density suburban, but still suburan rather than exurban, would work, and if having lots of shopping right in town is not a priority;

possibly Wayland (may be a stretch on cost of housing, but worth a look) if you could go for a nice town with a mix of neighborhoods that have a generally low-density suburban character with some woodsy sections and other neighborhoods with medium density.

[brightdoglover]

For up to $600K, you could buy almost anything you want, new construction, in Littleton, and there's a great supermarket. Other shopping is about five miles down Rt. 2a in Acton.

[lakar]

Thank you for all the replies. I will prefer to stay away from rural as much as possible. Right now where I stay, I have major stores like walmart, target, shopping malls etc very close by. If I run out of milk I can step our for couple of minutes and be back in a jiffy. I did see that westford and stow and couple of areas were not too accessible to big department stores. Although if we stay in Westford the NH mall is close by. My husband also wanted to consider Hollis, NH. He can leave home as early as 6:30 and leaving by 3:30. Is this something we should consider since the traffic and commute time from stow and westford are going to be similar?.

[Valerie C]

I purposely stayed out of this thread since you were discussing places out of my general area. Now that you brought up Hollis NH, I can jump in since it's in my neck of the woods However, your desire to stay away from rural areas may be a concern.

Hollis is a very nice town, but decidedly rural. Schools are considered one of the best in the state. There are neighborhoods that are within 10 minutes of shopping (along Rte 101A in Amherst/Nashua) and of course the Pheasant Lane Mall that you mentioned is just off Rte 3.

Originally Posted by lakar

Thank you for all the replies. I will prefer to stay away from rural as much as possible. Right now where I stay, I have major stores like walmart, target, shopping malls etc very close by. If I run out of milk I can step our for couple of minutes and be back in a jiffy. I did see that westford and stow and couple of areas were not too accessible to big department stores. Although if we stay in Westford the NH mall is close by. My husband also wanted to consider Hollis, NH. He can leave home as early as 6:30 and leaving by 3:30. Is this something we should consider since the traffic and commute time from stow and westford are going to be similar?.

[ogre]

Originally Posted by lakar

Thank you for all the replies. I will prefer to stay away from rural as much as possible. Right now where I stay, I have major stores like walmart, target, shopping malls etc very close by. If I run out of milk I can step our for couple of minutes and be back in a jiffy. I did see that westford and stow and couple of areas were not too accessible to big department stores. Although if we stay in Westford the NH mall is close by. My husband also wanted to consider Hollis, NH. He can leave home as early as 6:30 and leaving by 3:30. Is this something we should consider since the traffic and commute time from stow and westford are going to be similar?.

If you want to avoid very rural places, and want plenty of shopping options nearby, Natick moves up the list. I'm talking about the town and its having the features you may be looking for in the general area where you'd live. I'm not sure what's available in the way of newer housing.

While once again I'm not sure about the availability of newer housing, in terms of being fairly close to shopping and having plenty of areas without a highly rural character, Wayland could be worth a look if you can find something at the right price there. You're closer to shopping in Wayland's central and southern neighborhoods than on the north side.

If you can go for an area that's more inner suburban, or a bit of a mix between suburban and sort of urban, take a look at Arlington or Newton (though, as with Wayland, Newton may take some digging to find properties at the right price).

[Beantown_mama]

If you do not appreciate rural I wouldn't go with Stow. It is a beautiful town with wonderful schools but apple picking is its biggest draw if that gives you an idea of the town. I also agree that Natick is a really cute town and you can live close to downtown and it is pretty lively. I agree that Newton would also be a good choice, but I am not sure about the new construction. There isn't a lot of new construction in MA so you may want to take that off of your wish list if you are looking for more options!