Willing to buy a single family. Which one do you recommended: West Woburn, Arlington or Reading? (Boston: house)

[madigan]

Hello,
We are thinking about buying a single family house in the $ 350-400k price range close to Boston/Cambridge where I work. We have a 3 year old and would like to live in a district with good schools. Possibilities are Arlington/Lexington (a bit hard to find a decent ~1300-1500 sqf, in our price range ), West Woburn, and maybe Reading (although slightly further north).

We included in our shortlist West Woburn (west of Rt. 3) which seems to have a reputable "Clyde Reeves Elementary School".

Does anybody have any information about this section of Woburn (school, people) ? Would anybody recommend West Woburn, or should we buy a small (and expensive) house in Arlington? I know the answer may change from person to person, bu I wanted to hear some comments.

Thanks

[holden125]

The western part of Woburn is considered the nicest part, but Arlington is more likely to retain value and Woburn High is not as highly regarded when the time comes. The elementary schools only go to Grade 5.

Reading is a nice town but known for high property taxes. My aunt and uncle live there and complain about that (and, frankly, everything else) all the time.

Have you given any thought to Wakefield or Melrose? Stoneham also has some very nice sections.

[madigan]

Thanks holden125.
We thought about Wakefield and Melrose as well, but we are not sure about the schools there.

[holden125]

Originally Posted by madigan

Thanks holden125.
We thought about Wakefield and Melrose as well, but we are not sure about the schools there.

I've heard mostly positive things about both districts, probably more so than about Woburn.

[Wilm125]

I would recommend Burlington or Wilmington. Both have fairly high regarded schools (see Boston Magazine rankings) and very low taxes. Depending upon the location in Burlington it would not be much more of a commute to Cambridge than West Woburn