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Bigger house or better town?

jenna8984jenna8984 member
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in Chit Chat
We own a starter home in my hometown. Well we're looking to sell and get into our bigger family home in the next few months and we just can't decide. My town has a lot of minorities, which doesn't bother me but gives it a bad reputation. Whenever I meet someone and say the town they are like "ew, ghetto" and I don't really appreciate that. But it's also due to the terrible school ratings as well so they aren't really wrong. 

The nicer towns about 20-30 minutes away have good reputations and much better school systems. They are also closer to city/ job markets. So it's obviously more desirable but the houses cost so much more. I grew up in a 2,000 sq ft home so it's really hard for me to imagine raising a family in a 1200 sq ft house (which is all I can afford in the nicer towns). <-- stupid expensive MA 

I know you guys can't make the decision, just wondering what you would do? DH and I keep going back and forth! We don't really have family or friends so that's not a factor in location. 

                                                                 

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Re: Bigger house or better town?

  • lurkergirllurkergirl member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    Are you planning to start a family and send your kids to public school?  If so, I would 100% go for the better town. 




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  • birdybride2014birdybride2014 member
    500 Comments 250 Love Its Second Anniversary Name Dropper
    I don't have kids, but FI and I have discussed this stuff before. Schools are really important to both of us, and as usual better schools usually results in pricy homes. If you stayed where you lived would your children attend those schools or would you consider private school? Does that factor in the decision?
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  • hellohkbhellohkb mod
    Moderator Sixth Anniversary 2500 Comments 500 Love Its
    There's a reason they say location, location, location. Always pick the better town. You're not stuck in that one house for the rest of your lives.


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  • Jells2dot0Jells2dot0 mod
    Moderator Ninth Anniversary 5000 Comments 500 Love Its
    We're somewhat going through the same thing. We're looking at neighborhoods where the school system is better, but the home prices are lower, property taxes are lower, and the commute to work is 20-30 minutes. The other neighborhood is more expensive, higher property taxes, crappier schools, and a 15 minute commute to work. We're not having any kids and don't really need a larger home since it will be our second home, so we're leaning toward the more expensive neighborhood. However, if we had kids, we'd do what was best for raising them and ensure they had a good school to attend.

    FWIW the homes are more expensive in the crappier school district because it's considered historic. So, it's probably not the norm, 

     







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  • bethsmilesbethsmiles member
    10000 Comments Sixth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
    I would absolutely go for the better schools. School is a lot more important than a big house.


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  • theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownas member
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    Location, location, location. 

    Remember that you won't have kids in the public school system for at least 5 years, and then they'll be in for 12 years after that. If the schools in your current area are terrible now, will they be headed upward or downward in 5-17 years? If people having a bad impression of your town (regardless of the reason it's happening... even if people are being shitty, facts are facts) is causing people/jobs/money to leave, it'll probably only get worse.
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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
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    Yes we plan on kids soon and we plan on public schools. The private schools in my town are all Catholic and we are not Catholic. My brother is raising his kids here and his argument is always that people like myself went to this public school and are fairly successful. Others from my high school have gone to Harvard, and are doing well. Not everyone, but those with the aptitude.  That's the thing about New England- even a bad school district is better than half the country lol 

                                                                     

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  • theartistformerlyknownastheartistformerlyknownas member
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    Were the schools as "bad" when you attended/graduated as they are now though? Or have they declined? It's more about the trends than any rose-colored look at the past or at statistical outliers.
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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
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    hellokellybean said:
    Yeah I scratched my head at how minorities give the town a bad reputation.
    Sorry, but this is New England. Lots of wealthy, 95% Caucasian towns. They heavily look down upon the towns like mine that have a lot of Puerto Ricans. Tons of my friends from high school are Puerto Rican, and I love them. I was just saying these other towns call mine ghetto, it's sad but true. 

                                                                     

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  • lurkergirllurkergirl member
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    Also consider more than schools.  Will you encourage your kids to play sports?  What kind of parks and rec programs are in your current community, and how do they compare to the other community?  Will you continue to work?  How are the daycares and preschool/preK programs?  (You don't actually have to reply, but they are certainly questions to consider!)




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  • lyndausvilyndausvi mod
    Moderator Knottie Warrior 10000 Comments 500 Love Its
    If you are having kids then better schools all the way.






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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
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    lolo- true, mine has definitely declined since I was in school only 10-20 years ago, not really sure why. I really don't see it improving to the level of the other towns. 

                                                                     

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    I say the better town, education-wise. Remember that kids are adaptable, and it wasn't that long ago that we washed our babies in the kitchen sink. Heck, it wasn't that long ago that a lot of people's babies slept in drawers. Kids really don't need a ton of room. You can find closet nursery tutorials on Pinterest for crying out loud.

    It's funny, but for me, moving to the better town meant moving to a place with WAY more minorities. My old town was very predominantly white, but was a food / culture desert.


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  • CMGragainCMGragain member
    10000 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary 25 Answers
    Schools, schools, schools!  Location, location, location!
    I let DH talk me into our last house, a beautiful new colonial backing to woods in a so-so school district.  Over the 14 years we owned it, the schools got worse, the neighborhood declined (It was rezoned to include a lot more high density housing), and we had trouble selling it when we wanted to move out west.  I never should have let him talk me into it, but he wanted the woods in back.
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  • missdelilahmissdelilah member
    1000 Comments 250 Love Its First Anniversary First Answer
    Same exact conversation FI and are having.  He was deadset on Boston, but I've convinced him to at least look in a few other areas.  

    Unless you think you can afford to move before you have school aged children, go with the better town, all the way.  You'll also get a better resale value if you can afford to upgrade later on.  It's really impossible to tell where a town or city is going to go, but you say that schools in your town have gotten worse, so at best, they're likely to stabilize before you guys have kids of your own.
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  • iloveotters2014iloveotters2014 member
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    edited September 2014
    It's a really hard decision to make but think about how much your home value will continue to increase in a nicer area?

    When my H and I were looking to buy a house we went through this exact same thing. We both grew up in modern 2k+ square foot homes and we could only get that in our price range if we moved waayyy out of the popular suburbs. But we decided that having a smaller home in a popular nice area was worth more to us than space. We ended up buying a completely updated 1949 1300 square foot house. It took some adjusting but we have a beautiful totally updated home in an area that we can walk or ride our bikes around the downtown area and live in a super cool unique community....rather than a big cookie cutter not as updated home in the middle of no where.

    Quality over quantity ;)

    Give it 5 years and see if it's still the house and community for you.
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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
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    iloveotters2014 said:
    It's a really hard decision to make but think about how much your home value will continue to increase in a nicer area?

    When my H and I were looking to buy a house we went through this exact same thing. We both grew up in modern 2k+ square foot homes and we could only get that in our price range if we moved waayyy out of the popular suburbs. But we decided that having a smaller home in a popular nice area was worth more to us than space. We ended up buying a completely updated 1949 1300 square foot house. It took some adjusting but we have a beautiful totally updated home in an area that we can walk or ride our bikes around the downtown area and live in a super cool unique community....rather than a big cookie cutter not as updated home in the middle of no where.

    Quality over quantity ;)

    Give it 5 years and see if it's still the house and community for you.
    Thanks, that is good perspective! Except the last sentence, we've already have this first home for 4 years so the next one will be the forever home. There will be no more upgrading because our long term plan is to have it paid off in 15-20 years so upgrading in 5-10 years would fuck that all up lol. 

                                                                     

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  • southernbelle0915southernbelle0915 mod
    Moderator 10000 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary
    Better town. All day long.
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  • iloveotters2014iloveotters2014 member
    Fourth Anniversary 250 Love Its 100 Comments Name Dropper
    jenna8984 said:
    iloveotters2014 said:
    It's a really hard decision to make but think about how much your home value will continue to increase in a nicer area?

    When my H and I were looking to buy a house we went through this exact same thing. We both grew up in modern 2k+ square foot homes and we could only get that in our price range if we moved waayyy out of the popular suburbs. But we decided that having a smaller home in a popular nice area was worth more to us than space. We ended up buying a completely updated 1949 1300 square foot house. It took some adjusting but we have a beautiful totally updated home in an area that we can walk or ride our bikes around the downtown area and live in a super cool unique community....rather than a big cookie cutter not as updated home in the middle of no where.

    Quality over quantity ;)

    Give it 5 years and see if it's still the house and community for you.
    Thanks, that is good perspective! Except the last sentence, we've already have this first home for 4 years so the next one will be the forever home. There will be no more upgrading because our long term plan is to have it paid off in 15-20 years so upgrading in 5-10 years would fuck that all up lol. 
    You guys are really lucky to be in jobs where you will stay in your area for the next 20 or so years! That's not common anymore. kuddos to you!

    If that's the case maybe look for something that has enough land to be able to expand if necessary? Or something that the couple who lived in our house prior to us did was add a dormer, which turned what was once only an upstairs loft into a 2 bedroom floor with a nursery.
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  • jenna8984jenna8984 member
    5000 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
    Whatever, I was describing other's opinions of my town by people who don't live here, not by me. Just like Lolo said how others look down upon Detroit. Even my Realtor said "gee your house would be easier to sell if it were just like one or two towns over". That's not me, that's the reputation it has.  

                                                                     

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  • hellohkbhellohkb mod
    Moderator Sixth Anniversary 2500 Comments 500 Love Its
    I'm Puerto Rican.. I'll be sure to stay away from that town! ;)


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  • huskypuppy14huskypuppy14 member
    2500 Comments Fifth Anniversary 500 Love Its First Answer
    Couldn't you have both? I live in metro west with a 9/10 school system and though it takes  45 min- an hour to get to Boston in the morning,  we have a 2000 square foot home. I used to live in Brighton, so it was sort of the opposite of your situation, right in the city but worse schools and I would never want to send my kids to Boston public schools nor could I afford a SFH in a Boston neighborhood anyway.

    I think if you want kids, better schools are better than bigger houses. 

    I'm curious what town you live in now, is it Lawrence or Haverhill? Those are the towns that come to my mind that are farther from the city that have those reps.

    What towns are you thinking of moving to?
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