Sophie was selling her drawings at the Blueberry Festival in Paradise, Michigan. That is up at a northern tip of the UP for those of you who have never heard of Paradise.
For me, Sophie was the highlight of the day. She actually sold out of drawings while we where there.
Years ago it seems somebody, I don't know who, hired this Welcome Wagon company to stop by newly moved in residents in neighborhoods. The idea was to give them an introductory basket of many useful goodies to get them going in the new house. I don't know if times have changed or we're moving just faster nowadays but you don't hear about this as often.
The concept is a good one though. We should all practice to
BE A WELCOME WAGON TO THE WORLD.
Being friendly to others. Newcomers and strangers alike. Showing appreciation for what others do and for just who they are. Saying thank you will make you happy. Did you know that?
Try taking a little of the Welcome Wagon in you out into the world each day. You may not be able to change the WHOLE world. But you sure can change the part that's right there in front of you!! Good luck.
There are plenty of excellent school systems in Massachusetts. In the area which I cover Real Estate Hopkinton, Holliston, and Westboro made Boston Magazine's list of the 50 best public high schools in the state.
The calculations of the best schools according to a detailed formula. According to Boston Magazine here is how they graded the schools:
"Our goal in compiling this year's list of the area's best public high schools was not to identify only those schools that are performing well, but also those doing so while operating efficiently, too. To gather our data, we consulted school officials, school websites, and the state Department of Education; if numbers were unavailable, we used data from previous surveys. If that failed, the mean for the category was used so as not to skew the analysis. Variables that would be expected to increase when enrollment rises were standardized in accordance with the size of the student body.
We gave our data to professor I. Elaine Allen, research director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College, who calculated the rankings using a weighted average of cost and performance data over several years. Using correlation analysis, factor analysis, standardization of scores, and Grey relational analysis, Allen created a common metric for comparison.
Change over the previous three years was calculated to examine whether improved performance was related to change in spending. Because already-high-performing schools have little ability to increase their relative performance on standardized tests, two additional components were created: a factor for the relationship of a school's improvement to any increased costs, and a current cost-efficiency factor, which measures academic performance against dollars spent. These two factors were weighted equally and combined to provide the final ranking. Only grades 9 through 12 were included. And while only districtwide per-pupil expenditure figures were available, we still consider those numbers relevant indicators of how efficiently high schools are being run: Even if per-pupil expenditure varies, the way a district chooses to allocate its money is still an indicator of overall effectiveness."
Here is the links to the chart detailing Boston Magazines best public high schools.
Hopkinton High School came in ranked #24 for cost efficiency and #24 for academic performance. Hopkinton spent $11,114 per pupil.
Holliston High School came in ranked #35 for cost effeciency and #20 for academic performance. Holliston spent $9524 per pupil.
Westboro High School came in ranked #15 for cost effeciency and #16 for acedemic performance. Westboro spent 
$12,555 per pupil.
Hopkinton High School also recently was awarded Newsweek Magazine top 500 Schools in the country.
The quality of the towns school system will be a big variable in determining a towns Real Estate cache. A town with a good school system will almost always carry higher property values. Hopkinton, Holliston, and Westboro certainly offer a quality education and have been towns with an excellent reputation. All three towns apparently do pretty well in allocating their expenditures.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
The above information regarding Boston Magazines top 50 Massachusetts High Schools was provided by Bill
Gassett, the team leader for the #4 RE/MAX Team in Massachusetts in 2007.
Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 22 Years. Bill's office is conveniently located in the center of Hopkinton MA at 77 Main Street.
I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise! I would welcome the opportunity to earn your business.
Selling your home in Metrowest Massachusetts see Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate. Want to have MLS access to beat other buyers to your dream home? Sign up with no obligation at my MLS Property Finder Site.
I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Upton, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Grafton, Northbridge, Uxbridge, Douglas, and Framingham MA.
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Whether you want to live in Savannah, Pooler or Rincon, the real estate market in Chatham and Effinham counties is still alive with new construction. For many who move to Savannah, buying new construction close to the downtown activity is the route of choice. Although in the Savannah city limits new construction is hard to find, there are still places like Coffee Pointe offering beautifully constructed homes within 10 minutes of downtown -- and, although downtown Savannah is a huge attraction, many buyers either can't afford downtown homes or don't want to live downtown. There are some great alternatives.
Coffee Pointe, mentioned and linked above, is a great location on the southside, near all the services and shopping southside Savannah has to offer. For less than $200,000 you can find a newly constructed home conveniently located in an area of seclusion and privacy, yet near everything you need. Building there is probably about half complete and the builder is D.R. Horton. I've shown these homes several times and they have some attractive models with modern, open space - I was quite surprised at the square footage you get for your money.
Highlands is a neighborhood with several subdivisions within off Jimmy Deloach Highway in Pooler close to Pooler Parkway and I95. There's a little of everything in Highlands with several different quality builders including Landmark Homes and DR Horton. Jimmy Deloach Highway is not yet built out but there are plans to add schools, restaurants and shopping and it's only minutes from the heavily developed Pooler Parkway. You can enjoy the seclusion and privacy for a while and still find what you need close by. This is an up and coming development that is about 20 minutes from downtown Savannah.
Rice Hope, like the Highlands, will have a little bit of everything to offer from the 100s to 400s. Rice Hope is being developed off Hwy 21 between Port Wentworth and Rincon, close to the Effingham County line about 25 minutes from downtown Savannah. There are single family homes, townhomes and apartments being built. There is plenty of room for expansion, so this promises to be a big development with plans for commerical growth within the area. I can't find a website for Rice Hope, but if you Google "Rice Hope, Savannah, Port wentworth" you will find some articles -- I will be glad to send info packets to anyone interested.
All these new developments are being built by quality builders and any one of them would be a nice area in which to live -- and all have easy access to all Savannah has to offer, plus they have shopping and services being built nearby.
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