Dither, dither...

[jducoeur]

As previously mentioned, we brought Susana on board as a buyer's agent a few weeks ago. Since then, she's been seriously earning her keep, pointing us at potentially interesting houses and generally kicking the moving project into high gear.

Well, one of the listings caught my eye as sounding particularly attractive. On Friday, I went to look at it, and was surprised to find that I liked it even more in person. So we went back again tonight with msmemory so she could take a look, and we continue to be quite attracted to it. A smidgeon expensive, but it has everything we wanted and a couple that hadn't occurred to us to look for. (Like an acre of land, most of it forested wetland, so it isn't adding to the price but provides lots of privacy.) The house just feels really nice. Walking into it is like shrugging on a well-tailored overcoat: from the kitchen to the family room to the basement, it fits us well.

It does, of course, have one snag: it's out in Framingham. We'd talked about location before, and established that anything out to about Framingham or Chelmsford was okay if the house was perfect. Well, okay -- now we've found a near-perfect house, so we need to decide if we're serious about that.

It's an odd psychological barrier, crossing 128. Framingham really isn't all that far -- maybe 15 minutes further out from the city -- but we've heard so many people talk about how far they think of it being that it gives us pause. One of the objectives for this house is to have a good place to start entertaining again (it's delightfully well-laid-out for parties), and there's an odd little fear that no one will make the trek out there.

Of course, it isn't very rational. Everywhere is far from somewhere -- this location is considerably closer to Waltham than, say, Dorchester is, and people go there all the time. Some of it is probably just habit: I've lived in Waltham for over half my life, and msmemory nearly as long, so the idea of moving a significant distance away and having to learn the ins and outs of a new area is curiously daunting. Up until now, the house-buying process has been very intellectual, but now that push is coming to shove, we're learning a bit about ourselves.

We'll see. First we need to decide if we want it. Even if we do, a host of things could go wrong. But one way or another, this project has now taken on a dimension of reality that it didn't have before...

Comments

[tpau]

it isn't that framingham is far... it is that it is in ahigh-traffic zone, down a pay-highway. i think those two rather then distance would make folks not want to come out...

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

For your car-less friends, how far is it from the commuter rail?

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

I don't measure distance in miles. I measure it in access methods. Walking, Subway, Bus, Commuter Rail, car. Framingham is out of bus range, and possibly commuter rail as well, depending how close the house is to the station.

[pamelina.livejournal.com]

Fergus and Eleanor live in/near Framingham, and may even have less trouble attracting people to parties and to visit than Dorchester.

[cellio]

It sounds like a good house.

I don't claim to understand all the relevant factors, not being from there, but the question that immediately came to my mind is: how's the public transit to there? Many of the people you'd want to attract would be taking public transit rather than driving, so even if you yourselves drive, that's the metric to apply. Or so it seems from the outside.

This is not just a question of how long the trip is and how much hassle it is (transfers requiring walking, etc), though those are obviously factors too. But: how often do buses/trains run? How late at night? In what kinds of neighborhoods do you have to wait for transfers?

[new-man.livejournal.com]

I wasn't going to comment on "farness", but I will a little. I have some friends who live out that way -- The Dark Place is out there, as are Cat & Preston. I've found that a lot of people live out there seem to stop coming into Boston. Cat comes in every once in a while, but it's tough to get anyone else from the other side of 128 to come into Boston for anything. I do head out that way every once in a while, but there's a certain quid pro quo; I'm more likely to go to Rhonwen's because she comes to me.

All right... on to my real point.

House shopping is like shopping at Pennsic. If you see something you like, put an offer on it. It doesn't obligate you to anything (they'll make a counter offer, you can always get out after the home inspection, etc.), and it's better than mulling it over for a week and then discovering its under agreement.

[hfcougar.livejournal.com]

I'll vaguely echo concerns expressed by others.

People will come out to you, at least for a while, but would there be a chance of you no longer coming in to people? You might think "no, of course not", but once you've settled in for a few years... I know I blow off a lot of stuff that I wouldn't if I weren't out in Waltham, and that's "close" by many people's standards.

Snow. How hard is it going to be in the winter?

Construction. Are you going to be screwed if Major Road going to your area goes down for the summer, or are there alternatives?

People without cars are going to have to go through a lot more maneuvering to get to you. It doesn't look like T passes work on the buses from the train either, which means someone taking the train and the bus both in and out is going to be blowing close to ten bucks on the trip. If it were me, and I were still at Simmons, there would be absolutely no way I'd have done it. Others may feel differently.

All that being said, what you really have to consider is if the house fills your needs. The rest of the tradeoffs are details.

[siderea]

It's an odd psychological barrier, crossing 128. Framingham really isn't all that far -- maybe 15 minutes further out from the city -- but we've heard so many people talk about how far they think of it being that it gives us pause. One of the objectives for this house is to have a good place to start entertaining again (it's delightfully well-laid-out for parties), and there's an odd little fear that no one will make the trek out there.

It's not an unreasonable fear. Alastair and Myfanwy were very disappointed that people were so reluctant to come out when they entertained, and they lived in Framingham.

Something also to consider, if you were thinking postrevels: where is the Barony holding events these days? With postrevels issue, then, becomes what is the trajectory from site, to postrevel, to attendees' homes? Is it either near or en route to any of the above?

How big a priority is entertaining, anyways?

[cvirtue.livejournal.com]

We chose Chelmsford because it was near where John was working at the time, and we liked the house better than any of the other ones we'd seen. I think I looked at around 50 houses!

But it takes an hour to get to Cambridge with a car, longer by transit. Maybe this wouldn't be as much of a factor if we didn't have the kids, or if our schedule weren't an early one. (We're usually in bed by 9:30 or 10)

The Dorchester argument isn't quite applicable, because when folks go to Dorchester, they're going to a large concentration of people in the multi-houses, not just to two people. The gravity equation is a little different, even if you throw really good parties.

[its-just-me.livejournal.com]

Wishing you both good luck in the decision. If there's any consolation you're right near the restaurant, Ipanema, and Minado. They are both worth living near.

[patsmor.livejournal.com]

I might mention that when I was visiting out there most recently (combining a trip to the plant in Hudson with a trip to my college in Framingham and a visit to cvirtue et. al. that new highway structure made what had previously been a long circuit into a fairly zippy one.

On msmemory's discussion I "voted" for Framingham, but I know I don't really count.

[antoniseb.livejournal.com]

Having lived in Waltham, Arlington, Framingham, Littleton, and Chelmsford, I can say that I was less active SCA wise when I was in Framingham, Littleton, and Chelmsford, than when I was in Arlington and Waltham. I also had a lot of difficulty getting visitors to come out. I really liked my house in Littleton, but we 'entertained' very seldom. People didn't want to come out that far, great house, or not.

[lakshmi-amman.livejournal.com]

Wow do I sympathize - I had these same debates when house shopping. The challenge of finding a reasonable house inside of 128 is immense - and I see lots of people following suit.

Some thoughts:

- travel time - Framingham isn't bad at off hours. I can make it from Framingham to Dorchester in about an hour - any time, day or night. At rush hour - all bets are off. I've tried 9 and the Pike - both are equally bad. 20/30 is too North for me. It's a reason the Dark Place is more likely to see me on the weekends, than weeknights.

- Weather - Framingham does get more snow than inside 128 - I lived in Medway as a kid. The idea that weather patterns are defined by the two rings of highway - 128 and 495 is relevant. Boston/Waltham gets noticeably less snow than Framingham, which gets less snow than Worchester. The upside? Much of Framingham is more geared toward this - people have yards, snow is managed better. It's not like digging out downtown, desperately looking for a place to put all this white stuff.

[marysdress.livejournal.com]

One question I would have is how many houses have you looked at? It doesn't negate this being a great house, but it is one data point to consider. Are you sure enough you can't find something you want closer that you want to take this one?

Think about the good parts

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Think about the good parts. What can you get in Framingham that you can't closer in? Space, obviously. Quiet, probably. What else?

One thing we love about Chelmsford is that we're walking distance from a forest (state park) with hiking trails.

Didn't you mention you'd gone to a great movie+dinner theatre in Framingham? (You posted about it at the time, but I can't find it now.)

[laurion]

Join us out here in Framingham; it's quite lovely. Fingers crossed, after our new furniture arrives on Oct 1, we'll get the place clean enough to have a housewarming party.

That said, Framingham really isn't that far from Waltham. There are several good roads to choose from. Framingham has some good movie theaters, and a very nice pair of libraries. It took me a lot of work to get adjusted to it as well, because I've been in Waltham or near parts of Watertown for the past 10 years, and I did have to learn to factor in the extra time to and from hobbies, and the extra time to and from friends. So far it's going pretty well, and I'm sure it'll go better when the place is set up enough to host. (I get that same itch)

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

I'd say if this place is really as good a match as it sounds like, you should try to take it. Psychologically it may seem far, but at most times when people would be coming over it's not. Certainly not from the Waltham area, and not really from elsewhere - I've gone Framingham to Dorcester during typical rush hour in about 45 minutes.

There are some people you know in Framingham already, as well, so you wouldn't be the only ones out there.

The one downside that I would say hasn't been more than passingly touched upon is your own commute times. 90 is usually quite dense traffic eastbound in the morning and westbound in the evening. I haven't done much commuting on 20, 30, or 9, but the few times that I have they have suffered the same traffic issues. You will probably be able to find routes that make it not a terrible commute, but it will almost certainly be rather worse than now.