SperlingViews - Needham, Massachusetts

We have lived in Needham for more than 5 years now. Needham is a picture perfect town to raise kids. If you are single or want more night life, Needham is not for you. The stores in town usually closed before 5pm and the restaurants are closed by 9pm. If you want night life you will need to drive into Boston, which is about 30 mins away. The town spends a lot of money on education each year. The kids all love their schools and the teachers are excellent. The cost of living is high here. Most of the houses are selling for $500,000 or above. The houses do hold their values, even in the current downward market. It's really safe here. The police really have nothing much to do. So any little thing happens in this town will get a lot of attention from them. For law bidden citizens, we don't mind at all. Overall, this is a great town to raise kids if you can afford it. [read more...]

My husband and I (no kids) lived here for over a year due to a relocation from the southeast. We knew nothing about the area beforehand and chose Needham only because of its proximity to our jobs. Within a month we realized Needham is not for people who are childless and in their 30's. There are lots of rude elderly people and plenty of annoying self-centered "kids first" people. There is a ton of pretense too. Very snooty overall. I don't think some residents have ever left Needham to see how the rest of the country lives! Even if we had children, this is not be a place we would want to live. We like a little more cultural diversity and have since moved to a more suitable area in Metro West. Positives: the area is clean, I walked to many stores, including grocery, and Cutler Park is nice.[read more...]

people are very friendlly to outsiders[read more...]