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First, 2 disclaimers:
1. My wife and I JUST moved to North Reading; as of April 18th we're likely biased in favor of the town since we're now invested in it.
2. We don't have kids (yet), so we have zero experience with the local school systems.
With that out of the way, I'll give you my 2 cents worth regarding the community, etc.
Community:
We started getting involved with the community a few weeks before closing on the house. We're involved with the 'Bring Back the 4th' committee for fund raising and planning for a public celebration and fireworks display on the 4th of July. We've met a small subset of locals through this. We've also met some folks in our new neighborhood and at local restaurants.
The local community, in my opinion, is full of friendly and helpful folks that are pleasant to deal with and instantly warm and welcoming. We have not experienced any degree of resistance or unwelcome attitude towards us. Everyone has just been great.
Groceries:
We live on the extreme East side of town, near Middleton. There is a Market Basket just inside the Middleton town line. There is also a Stop and Shop near the middle of North Reading; a Walmart near that too.
For us, we have to drive about 5 miles to either Stop and Shop or Market Basket. I think we're also a worst-case location: no matter where in North Reading you live, you should expect to be no further from a grocery store than we are.
Trash:
There is municipal garbage pickup and recycling, both are paid for from your taxes. There is no additional fee for either service.
Schools:
North Reading schools are rated exceptionally high. Yes, Andover is 'known' for great schools, but don't forget the disclaimer I stated at the start of this message: I'm biased because we live here now. Folks who bought into Andover specifically for the school system are also biased - and the feedback regarding quality of education is very likely skewed (perhaps similarly for North Reading, I really can't say for sure since I don't have kids in the schools!). One particular point of interest is that Andover has Philips Academy - a posh and highly regarded bording school. That this school exists in Andover brings 2 major academic biases: on one hand, folks are more willing to consider funding their schools (which makes for better schools), and on the other folks are more likely to feel competitive with Philips and rate their schools higher than they may deserve.
All things considered, bias exists everywhere (even in me) and the only thing you should take away from my verbose blob of text here is this: school ratings are just as much about local pride and politics as it is about the actual quality of education in that school system. If nothing else, you can take the ratings at face value and see that folks in North Reading seem just as proud of their school system as folks in Andover seem to be.
As a side note, as far as entertainment and activities for your kids, North Reading has a lot to offer:
1. during our brief time working on fundraisers for the 4th of July, we've noted several 'school dances' took place - there's another one this Friday. They seem to be very frequent during the school year.
2. There are a half-dozen parks; public basketball courts; public soccer; public football/lacrosse fields; public baseball fields; public tennis courts; public outdoor skating rink in the winter; and i'm sure there's more we haven't seen yet. if you want your kids to be able to "go outside and play", North Reading offers substantial municipal infrastructure to support doing so.
3. Folks here are generally dog friendly too - if you've got a dog and your kids might be the ones walking your dog, this might matter to you. I frequently see folks out walking their dogs and everyone is very friendly about it.
Overall, I think North Reading is a great community. As I said earlier, I'm biased since I'm now invested in the town - but we chose to buy for good reasons.
That's all I've got to say at this point. I'd be happy to answer any direct questions you might have. Best of luck!
very curious why you'd suggest Reading over North Reading.
from what I can see, Reading is just a more urban version of North Reading. That's fine if urban is your thing, but then you wouldn't be suggesting Andover/North Andover quite so much.
as far as Andover/North Andover being 'way' better than North Reading, do you have some reason for saying this? In my experience, there is very little difference between these 3 towns.
I'm familiar with all of these towns; my wife works in North Andover, we've spent time in Andover as well (and have friends we visit there), and we live in North Reading (for all of 1 week now).
In my experience Andover is nice enough, as is North Andover. They offer the same basic charms: lots of red brick buildings, a small 'downtown' with shopping and restaurants, generally safe and clean public spaces. The school-system argument doesn't hold water, in my opinion, but that would make a fine basis for your opinions I suppose.
North Reading has very few red brick buildings, but aside from that differs very little from the above description. North Reading also has more abundant clean/safe public parks for residents.
The only major difference I see between the towns is cost of living - North Reading is somewhat less expensive to buy into. Given that conclusion, I wouldn't suggest any of these three towns as being WAY better than the others.
There is something to be said for buying into a more widely acknowledged 'great town' - I grew up in Chatham MA which easily fits this genre - people love to pay a little extra so they can say with pride (sometimes a little snooty), "I live in Andover (Chatham)". Often, the surrounding towns are exceptionally great places. Harwich, for example, abuts Chatham and is an exceptionally great town with a somewhat lower cost of living. I claim North Reading is to Andover as Harwich is to Chatham.
Nothing against Andover (or Chatham for that matter), my point is really about recognizing who great the surrounding towns often are (North Reading and Harwich in this case).
Property appreciation is generally better in the widely acknowledged 'great towns' up to a point. If you're buying land as an investment, Andover is the place to be (or Chatham). If you want a great place to live that is likely to appreciate just a little less, but also cost less out of your pocket, well you get the idea.
Just My Humble Opinion as well - but very curious as to where your opinion comes from. Did you have a bad experience in North Reading growing up or something?
-bit
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperSparkle928
Well, just my opinions:
I grew up one town over from North Reading. I would personally choose Reading as a better choice, if you are insistent on living in the area. Actually, Andover (my hometown), North Andover, both which are very close to NR are way better, but significantly more expensive.
If your screenname 'ChelmsfordLady' is indicative of where you live in MA, I would stay put, unless there is some compelling reason to move.
very curious why you'd suggest Reading over North Reading.
from what I can see, Reading is just a more urban version of North Reading. That's fine if urban is your thing, but then you wouldn't be suggesting Andover/North Andover quite so much.
I am a rural-living person. Just stating my opinion.
However, you should ignore my opinion, as I only lived in the area for 30 years.
as far as Andover/North Andover being 'way' better than North Reading, do you have some reason for saying this? In my experience, there is very little difference between these 3 towns.
They are not even in the same league. (though I bailed from Andover to get to an even better town). (Depends on your definition)
I'm familiar with all of these towns; my wife works in North Andover, we've spent time in Andover as well (and have friends we visit there), and we live in North Reading (for all of 1 week now).
And, please live there and enjoy it.
In my experience Andover is nice enough, as is North Andover. They offer the same basic charms: lots of red brick buildings, a small 'downtown' with shopping and restaurants, generally safe and clean public spaces. The school-system argument doesn't hold water, in my opinion, but that would make a fine basis for your opinions I suppose.
The school system does make a fine basis. As residents of Andover, we kids (at the time) got to take classes at Phillips Academy for free. Now let's compare schools. Got to pass out of freshman year of college from a really hard school.
North Reading has very few red brick buildings, but aside from that differs very little from the above description. North Reading also has more abundant clean/safe public parks for residents.
I guess that if you think that clean/safe public parks are a differentiator (as the other towns have way more than NR), some of us will question the decision-making processes that were made.
The only major difference I see between the towns is cost of living - North Reading is somewhat less expensive to buy into. Given that conclusion, I wouldn't suggest any of these three towns as being WAY better than the others.
There is a tendency (though this is a generalization, which I hate to do), that more expensive towns tend to have things that those who choose to live there have access to things deemed 'more desirable' (whatever that means). Well, things like schools, stores, etc.
Did you read about the 6 girls that got killed leaving a bowling alley in NR in a VW bug? Nice. The driver had a BAL that the investigators could not figure out how she was still alive, and driving. Sounds like my type of town.
There is something to be said for buying into a more widely acknowledged 'great town' - I grew up in Chatham MA which easily fits this genre - people love to pay a little extra so they can say with pride (sometimes a little snooty), "I live in Andover (Chatham)". Often, the surrounding towns are exceptionally great places. Harwich, for example, abuts Chatham and is an exceptionally great town with a somewhat lower cost of living. I claim North Reading is to Andover as Harwich is to Chatham.
My condolences for living out there on the South Shore. Come visit me on MV, when I am in that part of the country...
Hey, did you see where they were building a 'Hooters' in North Reading? Now THAT is class.
Nothing against Andover (or Chatham for that matter), my point is really about recognizing who great the surrounding towns often are (North Reading and Harwich in this case).
Having had a gf for years from NR, and learning the culture, sorry, but I will pass. (but she was really easy )
Property appreciation is generally better in the widely acknowledged 'great towns' up to a point. If you're buying land as an investment, Andover is the place to be (or Chatham). If you want a great place to live that is likely to appreciate just a little less, but also cost less out of your pocket, well you get the idea.
Just My Humble Opinion as well - but very curious as to where your opinion comes from. Did you have a bad experience in North Reading growing up or something?
Didn't have a bad experience there at all... Was a great place to buy beer when I were under-aged, or bribe service station owners to pass my car because it was too suped, or where the Lawrence Eagle Tribune needed to fill up its pages for the crime log.
The Horseshoe Bar was awesome, as you always were guaranteed to see a good fight.
Take a look at the strip malls on Rt. 28 (or what is left of them).
Haven't been there in years, and have no plans on ever going back.
If your primary reason is to move because of schools you should consider
- Westford and
- Acton
in the immediate area.
I am surprised you say that you can't get a 4/2/1 for a 650k budget. I can point you to at least 10 houses that are under 650k in Westford and Acton. We went to an OH for a new construction in Acton a few weeks ago.
Do you have an agent you are working with?
PS: We were considering Chelmsford for buying a house but with your comments it gives me a pause. I will forward your comments to my wife.
wow, that was amusing. i read your post in my email, where the emoticons come through as text (ie and it was like reading an old batman comic! great stuff!
as far as your post goes, i personally see your response as just further evidence of my main point: some people want to pay extra to associate themselves with what they perceive to be the 'better' or 'more desirable' places/people.
hey, i didn't know about taking free classes at Philips though, so you did actually share something directly useful to the original poster. that's worth something, regardless of what the schools are like themselves. if you can freely take courses at neighboring schools then that opens up who avenues of curriculum that could otherwise be vacant.
the rest of your post was just silly.
some key points i picked up on:
you think the towns can't even be compared since they aren't even in the same 'league'.
you 'passed out' of a whole year of college? great, i just lost a whole heap of respect for you. no degree program worth following would have courses you could 'pass out' of. where did you go, Amherst maybe? Liberal Arts I'm sure. I'm guessing it was one of those 'make it up as you go along' degrees, with a moderate focus on art history. am i close? my degree is in computer engineering and i can state without hesitation or doubt that no one would ever 'pass out' of a whole year from that program. every minute in class was precious and most students still struggled to finish a 4 year degree in less than 5 years. I remember a student in my 'quantum information theory' course senior year who had been there for 7 years - straight A's the whole time, just hadn't matriculated yet since he kept taking more advanced electives but struggled with the basics still.
you think other towns have 'way more' clean/safe public space available than NR? great, show me. i'll happily use them. my new home abuts 227 acres of conservation land and i still enjoy the prospects of heading into town to visit any one of the 8 local parks in NR that are municipally funded and cared for. i know of 3 in andover, where are the other 'way more' parks exactly?
drunk driving: i hadn't heard of that, no. and a solid 5 minutes of searching the web hasn't turned up any info on it. when did it happen? very sad to hear, but if you really think andover is immune to drunk drivers, you're just nuts. they are everywhere and by definition they are moving - even if you firmly believe that all drunk drivers come from outside of andover, there's no stopping them from driving through your old hometown.
those sites show andover having an annual average of 50.5 traffic fatalities per 100,000 residents from 1975 to 2009. the stats are in the same form for north reading, but you can see the typical year having less than 10/100,000 with some at 0 and one spike at 22 in 2001 (was that the year of the drunk driver?). all told though, NR looks a good deal safer in this regard than Andover... hrmm, that's odd isn't it?!
martha's vineyard - good for you. i've got nothing against MV these days, but as i was born on nantucket i did have a competitive streak that biased me against MV growing up. these days i'm more than happy visit there and acknowledge that some parts are even just as nice as nantucket or chatham. i think of MV to Nantucket as I do Harwich to Chatham, not perceived to be as nice but really a great place overall.
Hooters: eh, no? i don't see any articles anywhere talking about a hooters coming to NR. i've seen some folks who don't have any fiscal connection to the old Piccadilly pub talk about what could go there and at one point brought up hooters as an option - but that's not exactly the same as actually having hooters coming to the town now is it?
class: it's really funny to read your references to 'class' and being 'classy'. i mean chuckle out loud accidentally sort of funny. thanks for that laugh, it was great!
your girlfriend was easy: wow. too many informations! now in all seriousness, you follow up an argument that NR has no class with a statement that your girlfriend for years was easy. that's just... i don't have the words. just wow. i suppose that means all girls from NR are instantly tramps then? i sure hope i have boys! of course, i'll raise them to have a bit more class and to most definitely not use some easy girl for years of fun and a much later feeble attempt at a meaningless argument online.
buying beer underage and paying off your emissions tests: yay for you! i can't argue against events that happened 30 odd years ago, so good on ya mate!
yup, similar crime indexes - north andover looks a little better, but a larger population which makes the individual crimes count for less in the final index value. take a look at some raw data though:
Thefts: NA@277, NR@84
Auto thefts: NA@13, NR@3
These are cherry picked to show NR as being safer than NA, but by and large both towns have a similar crime rate: extremely low. Reading is similarly low.
Horseshoe Bar: great place to see a fight, eh? i don't know what it was like 30 years ago, but these days you couldn't see a fight there even on TV - it's a classy place with a great atmosphere. My family came out to visit and we all went there for Easter Dinner - it was great. It isn't known as the Horseshoe Bar though, it's known as the Horseshoe Grille.
as you said: "Haven't been there in years, and have no plans on ever going back." right - haven't been there in years. so your 30 years of knowledge in this area is a little stale perhaps? you expected nothing to change in that time?
I can't speak for what this town was like 30 years ago or even 30 months ago. I can say from first hand and recent experience that the town is nothing like you describe. Your memories sound like those of a teenager and I can only surmise that you are suffering the same fate as the rest of us: your memories are flawed; skewed representations of the emotions you couldn't deal with in your youth. it happens to us all, i mean no disrespect by pointing this out. look back at your post and honestly ask yourself why it comes across so passionately and full of subjective and rash conclusions.
i'm no psychologist (as i said, i'm an engineer) but i am a betting man. i'd wager a good sum that your relationship with that girl from NR didn't end well; that you knew some folks in NR who made you suffer some social stress; and that recalling those memories is somewhat bothersome.
based on your last post, i fully expect some passionate rebuttal. i don't mind - have at it. i'll leave you to have the last word and end my participation in this conversation with one last post to the original poster that is more on-topic this this long winded dialog of mine.
clearly sparkles and i disgree. my suggestion to you is to ignore us both. we can't both be right, we could very well both be wrong. i hope you can find more meaningful answers to your questions elsewhere.
best of luck,
-bit
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChelmsfordLady
Hi,
We are thinking of buying a house in North Reading but the town is fairly new to us. We have two school going kids (6th and 2nd grade). When I saw the sales in the town for 2011, there was only sale in the town which is unusual to me. Can anyone please help me here: 1) Are the residents kids friendly? 2) Is this town with lot of older community or there are lot of people with kids?
3) How's town recreation activities? 4) How far are the shopping malls/ grocery stores etc?
I wouldn't consider North Reading to be an upgrade over Chelmsford either. Different strokes for different folks, however.
The only additional comment I will make about North Reading is that the town has a bit of an identity crisis. It isn't as large as Reading or have as many amenities and it doesn't have the cachet or schools of Lynnfield.
I would imagine that Reading has changed significantly from the infamous days of how Bill Russell was treated to now having a Swiss bakery at the train station.
I would imagine that Reading has changed significantly from the infamous days of how Bill Russell was treated to now having a Swiss bakery at the train station.
i should certainly hope so! seems with each new generation the undertone remnants of bigotry fade only so much further. if i'm lucky i'll have a hard time explaining to my kids someday how people used to be stupid enough to hate each other by sight alone.
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Now let's compare schools. 
Got to pass out of freshman year of college from a really hard school.
)
classy
and it was like reading an old batman comic! great stuff!
