Local Schools & Restaurants — Featured Listings
Watertown lies about 6 miles to the west of Boston; and so, it is no wonder that, with the rise of property values in the Greater Boston area, so rose Watertown’s appeal as an attractive, affordable alternative to those more expensive communities of Cambridge, Brookline, Belmont, and Boston proper. Prior to parts being sliced off and annexed into Cambridge, Weston, Waltham, Belmont, and Lincoln, Watertown boasted more residents than Boston! Close to Soldiers Field Road and the Massachusetts Turnpike, major arteries into downtown Boston, Watertown has easy access to Boston’s nightlife and commercial center, as well as its suburban neighbors Newton, Waltham, Weston, etc.
If you have young children or grandchildren, you will surely want to stop by the Artesani Playground Wading Pool. Pictured above is my son and grandchildren enjoying cooling off on a warm summer day. It’s a popular spot with adequate parking… but it is a popular family park!
Pedestrians and cyclists like us enjoy the various bike/walking trails throughout the town. Here is more information on Watertown’s community path project.
We enjoy spending time in Watertown at the Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Arsenal Yards and Mall. Our son went into massage therapy and graduated from the Cortiva Institute before the campus was closed. It was located near bustling Watertown Square, which is where, if you prefer public transportation, is the terminus of several bus routes. You will want to check the MBTA site for route planning and schedules.
The official web site for the city of Watertown has helpful civic news and information. If you have a specific property in mind that you think you might like to buy, Watertown also maintains a database for the City Assessor which you can access to see what value the City gives the property so you can determine what the annual taxes are. Fortunately, Watertown has a residential exemption which owner-occupants can use to lower the taxes by a couple thousand dollars!
If you have school-age children, the Watertown Public School district will take good care of them. The district enrollment runs about 2,600 students who attend the Early Steps Preschool, three elementary schools, Watertown Middle School and Watertown High School. Unfortunately, its website is not very user friendly and you will probably being doing better to call by phone than take the time trying to find information online. The number is (617) 926-7700.
To keep up with daily goings on you can check in online with the Watertown Tab, The Patch, or, of course, the Boston Globe, and the Boston Herald.
Housing has been running from $415,000 for a fixer-upper to $2,400,000 for much larger homes, while condos and townhomes run from $200,000 for a 1 bedroom low-rise unit to $1,475,000 for a large, newly rehabbed townhome. Multi-families have been seeing prices from $650,000 for a two-family to $9,400,000 for an 18-family complex. Rentals have been available from $1,000 to $10,000 – depending upon location, size and amenities. Understandably, pricing varies depending upon size, location, and amenities. Real estate sales and pricing are very fluid and can fluctuate in a matter of hours because homes come on and off the market daily… even hourly. What is currently offered for sale is listed below.
Area Schools
Great Schools provides ratings for most schools in the United States. Below, you can see what schools are near the address you are thinking of buying and then compare it to other neighboring schools.
The following chart is a visual representation of the cyclical nature of real estate and compares the ups and downs of Watertown to those of the city of Boston. The taller the column the better it is for buyers. The shorter the column the better it is for sellers. Hence 2006 was the best time for a buyer to buy in Watertown. On the other hand, 2015-2018 were great years for sellers.
Search Watertown Real Estate
This next chart shows the number of sales occurring in Watertown month-to-month, year-to-year since 2018 and provides you a historical overview of the best times to sell – months with the greatest number of sales (spring and fall) – and the best times to buy – months with the fewest number of sales (summer and winter). CAVEAT: there are usually more homes to choose from in the first half of the year.
This is Watertown’s best real estate site to search for: homes, land and foreclosure properties. It is seriously the only site you will ever need to find your next home or investment property! Bookmark this page and check back anytime to see what is currently available in Watertown. Unlike other search sites which includes properties already under contract, this site only shows properties that are truly available.
*** If you should see some properties listed twice it is because brokers like to list a condo/townhome as a condo plus as a single-family house, or list a dilapidated house as land, as well as a residence.