Town of Needham, MA

If you had to do it all over again, would you choose to live in the same town that you currently do?  I have spent the last few days with clients who are relocating and want to live in a town west of Boston.  We have discussed, looked at and/or explored options in Needham, Dedham, Wellesley, Weston, Wayland, Dover, Lincoln, Sudbury and Concord.  And so as I venture through the various towns with my clients, I have been pondering this question myself.  Would I choose Weston if I had to do it all over again?  And the answer is yes, but I certainly do see great attributes and appealing characteristics of these other towns as well.

Continuing down this path brings the next question – which factors would be most important to you?  Would it be the town’s school system? Proximity to Boston? Lot/yard size?  Size of the town’s commercial center?  And we can’t forget bang for the buck, i.e. which towns would allow you to get a bit more for the money?  There are so many factors to weigh and consider, and this fact leads me to my recommendation of approaching the “which town” question similarly to the “which home” question…. Make a list of priorities, rank them and then rate each town based on those ranked priorities.  And then you need to consider the houses in the various towns as well.  Sometimes love for a particular home can trump the town list.  In other words, if you think that you want to be in the town of Wellesley for all of the great things it offers, but you fall in love with a house in Needham, often the house in Needham will win out especially if Needham was high on the ranked town list.

The amount and appeal of the inventory can also play a role in this….  Needham and Wellesley have much more of a turnover in inventory (listings coming on and off the market) than Weston and Dover, for example.  And so if you decide that you want to be in Weston (#1 on your town list), but there aren’t any homes that appeal to you – nor have there been for some time – you might choose to be in Wellesley (#2 on your town list) instead from a mere inventory/home option perspective.

The bottom line is that this question is complicated.  What are your thoughts?  Which town factors are most important to you?  And would you choose to live in the same town again?

Finally, in an effort to provide you with some useful town information and as another consideration in answering the question, “Which Town Would You Pick,” click 2011 tax rates for the new 2011 tax rates in Weston, Wellesley, Wayland, Needham, Dover and more….