vtcarter6

Looking for some opinions about family life in area around Lexington, MA.

How would cost of living compare to Surrey, UK (where 2.5 bd/1 ba terraced house is around £320,000...but obviously council tax is peanuts compared to what proprty tax would be)

How is traffic, say for a commute from Lexington area to Cambridge?

What is the cost/availability/quality of childcare?

What is the sense of general pace of life? A lot of these towns look on paper like fairly quaint historical communities, but is that how they feel? Are most people in a city mindset, of sort of fend for yourself, keep to yourself? (Sorry if that's not totally fair to all the city people out there...I know there are many many daily exceptions)

This isn't the area of the US where we hoped to settle but with job prospects so hard to come by we're expanding our options. The one thing I'm afraid of is finding ourselves in the kind of outside-the-city vortex, where cost of living is super high, traffic is horrendous, and people are generally stressed and unhappy.

hungryhorace

Great place to live. Incredibly expensive.

Which part of Surrey? Let's take Guildford. Having lived next to both, I feel Lexington is far more expensive to live than Guildford. It also comes with this badge of wealth which you are paying for in droves.

Not great, but then not the worst. You're talking 30-40 minutes with traffic.

Lexington isn't a city. It's an incredibly affluent historical town. You should also look at Concorde, which I think is even more beautiful than Lexington.

vtcarter6

Thanks for this. Where does the cost factor in that I may not be anticipating? So I can imagine house prices and property taxes being off the charts...but is everything that much more expensive (for example, groceries)? I guess childcare too would reflct the incomes of the area. Are there any towns around with a manageable commute but a little less expensive? Someone mentioned Acton, but that looked like a commute in to Cambridge with traffic would be around an hour (which is basically what my current commute between Surrey home and workplace is)

hungryhorace

Groceries are significantly more expensive here in my opinion. Plus, there is no Waitrose, so if you're looking for 'quality' you'll have to either endure being ripped off at Whole Foods (and I do mean ripped off - think a 2/3x increase in what Waitrose would charge) or put up with the likes of Market Basket or Stop and Shop (both equivalent to ASDA / ALDI). The closest I have found to decent ish quality at acceptable(ish) prices is Roche Bros. Even mentioning Whole Foods gets my back up - they are the biggest **** up the arse rip off going. Waitrose knocks them for six quality / choice wise as well.

I can't comment on childcare as I don't have kids, will leave that to someone else.

I would look to Arlington, Bedford, Belmont or even Winchester rather than Lexington. Out of interest, what income are we talking here? Our household income is around 170-180k and we couldn't afford to buy in Lexington.

Bob

quite a few threads on this that you could search out.

Commute, along Rt2 in the morning will suck balls, but then it will pretty much where ever.

Childcare can be great, but can be looking at $1500 a month for a few days a week, at half days at that, for preK....if they're babies it's expensive.

MA is a pretty fast paced state though and a lot of these nice towns will be very suburban...they're nice and a good ring of neighbouring towns, Acton, Concord etc.

If you want a shorter commute and possibly less cost, Waltham, but I wouldn't want to live there, not with a family.

Things that are expensive, well everything. You'll have no credit history that bumps things up, insurance for everything is much more here, car maintenance costs a lot, snow removal isn't cheap, AC in summer isn't either, not in these historic towns unless you get a new build.

vtcarter6

Are there decent farmers' markets around that are less expenisive than shops? The cost of ac/heating would be a big deal for us, I would guess, especially coming from a terraced house with double glazing in the UK.
Hungryhorace, our household income would prob be similar to yours, at best. We wouldn't be terribly attached to living in Lexington, but the idea is that's around where potential employers might be. So I guess my essential question is, what is it like to live/work in the satellite communities outside of Boston? Is it possible to have a good quality of life, not be stretched too thin money/stress-wise?
Here in Surrey where we both work on outskirts of London the answer is mostly yes. There is countryside, lots of things for kids to do without having to deal with going in to London unless we really want to. Still, we both have commutes that CAN be pretty nightmarish (over an hour and sometimes up to two) if traffic is bad. And houses are expensive in terms of the space you get. Also, if we wanted a night out beyond the usual blockbuster movie at the Vue in Staines, we would have to pretty much go in to London, or Richmond at least.
It's a good place to live in a lot of ways, but we'd like to get our foot in the door in the US without totally sacrificing quality of life (ie, living outside of DC). Trying to figure out if Massachussetts would be a fit for us.

Nutmegger

I don't know about MA, but here in neighboring CT the farmers' markets have lovely produce -- but you pay a premium for the quality and it is more expensive than the stores.

Bob

Second question first...the burbs can be great and much better cost of living, can check out Holliston, Ashland and places like that for better value but the commute increases. QoL all depends on what you're looking for though, but it can be good here. We're living on much less than your expected budget and that makes it a lot more hard work but it's doable.

As for market towns....they're generally not cheaper.

Berbarian Farms in Northborough isn't bad....there's a decent one in Acton, also a decent one in Natick. I've heard there's a decent one in Brighton and Cambridge but they're usually not cheap.

Plenty of CSA's which are expensive up front but good value for money and they're everywhere.

Farmers markets are seasonal though with a short season. I think Natick moves to the school in winter and the one in Boston is now indoors and that's a good one.

HumphreyC

Lexington is a lovely town to visit but the taxes are insane from what I have heard. It has a very good (and intense) school district which means the property prices are very high compared to burbs a bit further out. You might find Acton or Littleton a bit more affordable.

Then again my view of what is expensive is skewed because I live way beyond 495 - which is like a different planet to metro Boston in terms of affordability.

There is a ton of new construction happening in Waltham - e.g 1 Moody street - which suggests it is up and coming but -as Bob says - it might not be suitable for families.

Bob

Waltham, is a fun town and there are nice parts to it....but a lot of sketchy areas too. Moody St and area is a lot of fun though, but falls under not so great for kids IMO, also schools aren't nearly as good.

Acton, isn't much if at all cheaper than Lexington. Lovely area though.

HumphreyC

Thanks - good to know. I go past on the train on the way into Boston sometimes and wonder what's down there.

Any decent pubs on Moody street ? I was also wondering whether the steampunk festival is any good.

Bob

The Skellig is a fun bar with decent atmosphere, folk music on Wednesdays though.

Clockworks on the corner past it is also good. The parking lot behind them is free after 6pm and there's the bar opposite the steam works museum at the bridge that's pretty decent.

Also a few dodgy, but decent curry houses. Keep going up the road and on the edge of town, there's a Aston Martin dealership.

The steampunk, I've not gone, but a few friends have said it was awesome.

Oh and the Hannafords, that's just a bit the other way, it's a pretty decent one for Brit goods, well it has been in the past at least

HumphreyC

Thanks - I'll add 'Moody Street pub crawl' to the to-do list. The Steampunk festival got cancelled this year because of all the construction going on but should be back in 2015.

Chapmandan

Ooh this is dead interesting as we'll be making a similar move later this year. We're looking south of Boston as I'll be working in Milford but what we're struggling with is getting an idea of a place with a bit of community and a proper town centre. The missus isn't going to work right away so wants to feel less isolated.
I've seen Wellesley pop up a bit, but are there any other good locations? We're even looking as far off as Plymouth currently but I fear the commute would be hell!

Bob

Milford is a shithole...but you head out past Mendon and there are some nice towns.

You don't want to commute in from Wellesley, that would be a nightmare.

Winter will make it a bit poo to get to as well.

Stick a pin in Walpole and look at surrounding towns...anything on Rt27, double the winter commute times though.

Anything from the Cape, would be a dumb idea. You might as well slit your wrists now than deal with that commute.