elsiemoo

Friends are considering moving there, with one young school-age child. I'd like to hear from anyone living there. Thanks!

wsm2004

it is beautiful - but it is also really expensive to buy a house and there is no access to any rail lines for commuting into the city.

(I don't live there but know people who do - they drive into the city to work every day - I do not know any thing about the schools)

wyatt92

It's a great place to live, especially with children. The cost of living is the drawback but I'm sure they're already aware of that.

escargot

I'm not quite sure what you are asking - your friends are considering moving there but she is looking to hear from people who actually live in Marblehead? I don't know if it is business reason for move or personal, but here is what I can offer.

I have family who lived there for years. It's a lovely town, like any town it has advantages and disadvantages - no town or neighborhood is perfect - in general, it is considered a 'high end' town / area to live in - although there are multi million dollar mansions surrounding the harbor, lots of sailing and power boat activity in and out of the harbor all the time - there are areas of less pricey homes too -

it's a "North Shore" seaside community, Marblehead harbor is delightful and the town offers good school system, sports, activities and you commute to Boston by car - as wsm said, I don't believe any new rail options either, but perhaps you can go to another town to take rail or other public transport - depending on what time they'd want to be in Boston (rush hour, mid day) it can be an easy drive in or a sit in rush hour traffic horror show. You can move there and have a million dollar plus home and perhaps join the yacht club, etc type things or not, much depends on their income and interests.

I would think she should plan to visit the town herself and speak in person with school administrators, teachers, perhaps plan her visit when the Parents Association is having some event to meet other parents, spend some time with realtors and checking out the community center, town hall, recreation center and any local church if that is important to them.

She can also begin reading their local paper either online or start subscribing to it to get a good feel of what is happening in the town and schools.

Most information can be found on
marblehead.com or some similar type web page.

elsiemoo

Thanks for all the replies. This move is for personal reasons, and they will, of course, visit there to check things out soon. I'm simply interested in comments from people who live there regarding ease of shopping, traffic, schools, recreational facilities, etc. AND how it compares, school-wise, to other communities around it that are not as expensive. Never know when you'll get a nugget of information that you wouldn't hear from another source. Again, thanks!

escargot

there are also several Massachusetts web sites that will compare schools - not the personal touch I know - but the statistics, facts, class sizes, etc - one is publicschoolreview.com and there are others if she searches online - she cna also check on the Dept of Education web site for MA. Many of the schools in MA have their own web sites with lots of info on activities in the school, calendar of events, athletics, curriculum, etc so she might want to also run a comparison that way -

gail

As far as towns around it that are not as expensive - cities of Lynn and Salem are close, and neither has a very good reputation for schools.

In Massachusetts there is often a very high correlation between cost of housing in a particular town and the reputation (deserved or not) of the school system - of course there are some exceptions.

I suggest they do some checking on various school statistics websites (mentioned above plus easily found on google), looking at things like % attending college, MCAS (standardized test) and SAT scores. Another thing to research is demographics of residents of that town - % of adults who are college graduates, etc.

Don't know from where your friends are moving, but hope they are prepared for sticker shock for housing in Mass.

elsiemoo

Gail, these friends are used to high home prices and have been investigating those stats you talk about. A question I have, is there really THAT much difference in school quality, to justify spending nearly TWICE as much on a home, as in Marblehead versus Swampscott or Andover, e.g.?

gail

Very difficult to compare home prices in Marblehead versus Andover - one is a tiny ocean-front community and other is inland town of 30,000. Ocean costs a lot more.

No knowledge of schools in Swampscott.

wyatt92

Well you're comparing apples to oranges with Andover and Marblehead. Andover isn't near the ocean, although it is a nice town. And I can't imagine that a similarly located, similarly-sized house would be twice as much in Marblehead than in Swampscott. I'm sure there would be some price difference, as Marblehead is probably one of the nicest towns on the North Shore, but not twice as much.

But it sounds as if the friends like Marblehead, can afford it, and want to live there. Nothing wrong with that.

marigold

We live in Swampscott, very close to the Marblehead line, and a few blocks from a nice beach. I think that the average price of a house in Marblehead is about $30,000 to $50,000 more than in Swampscott, but a lot of variables are involved. The "cheaper" houses in Swampscott are near the Lynn line; Swampscott also has multi-million dollar oceanfront mansions. Swampscott does not have the charming historic district that Marblehead does, but it is a pleasant seashore community.
The school system in Swampscott is good. Both Marblehead and Swampscott have just built new high schools. Swampscott is a few miles closer to Boston, if that makes a difference. Also, some people drive to Lynn or Salem to get public transportation into the city. There also are buses.
As for shopping, Swampscott has Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, and the Gap. For a "mall," you have to drive to Peabody or Danvers.
Also, about housing prices: They're dropping all over the Boston area.