Moving to North Shore Area, where should I live?! (Boston: real estate, insurance)

[Ticorella]

Hi, I will be moving to a new job in Danvers area, and need to buy a home right away--almost blind. We are looking for an small, historical home $350 to $400k in price, with a lot of yard and charm, and a town with a nice little center with restaurants, yoga, coffee shops etc. Easy access to Boston by rail would be nice. I am 49, husband is 60, no kids. We are fleeing the gated communities and new-ness of south Florida, and very excited. Also--are home prices bottomed out in this area, still falling or quickly rising? Houses are sky-rocketing in price in Palm Beach County after dropping by 50% in 2008. Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

[queenbee78]

I am positive that there is no public transportation that goes to Danvers. You will have to drive to Danvers from wherever you are living. Melrose, Beverly, Wakefield and Reading are some good places to live. Someone else will have to chime in about the drive from these towns to Danvers. There are buses/commuter trains in each of these towns. Good luck!

[495neighbor]

I recommend looking in Salem, along with the towns queenbee mentioned.

[Angeluzzo]

Originally Posted by Ticorella

Hi, I will be moving to a new job in Danvers area, and need to buy a home right away--almost blind. We are looking for an small, historical home $350 to $400k in price, with a lot of yard and charm, and a town with a nice little center with restaurants, yoga, coffee shops etc. Easy access to Boston by rail would be nice. I am 49, husband is 60, no kids. We are fleeing the gated communities and new-ness of south Florida, and very excited. Also--are home prices bottomed out in this area, still falling or quickly rising? Houses are sky-rocketing in price in Palm Beach County after dropping by 50% in 2008. Thanks in advance for any advice you can share!

First of all, there are a few things that one would need too make sure they understood prior to really finding a home on the North Shore when moving from South Florida;

1) There is no homestead exemption for primary residence property owners in Massachusetts like you have in Florida. Therefore, you need to be prepared for a substantial increase in your proportional property taxes paid annually.

2) If you have not lived in the Greater Boston Area before, prepare yourself for the fact that home prices here are far different than anything in Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties. Yes, there are obviously parts of all those area that are profoundly expensive (Palm Beach, Fisher Island, etc) but each county there is scattered with more affordable areas as well. There is a rhyme and reason to the pricing there predicated on proximity to 95, the Florida Turnpike, 75, etc etc etc. Massachusetts is different.

What I am saying is this - your dollars go further in South Florida then they will on the North Shore, both regulated (property taxes, insurance, etc) and free market (home prices, market evaluations, etc etc).

Also, South Florida doesn't have any "old homes". The only people who really lived there before air conditioning became an American staple were Indians, Swamp People, and misplaced Spanish and South American populations. Therefore, a massive increase in development since post World War Two has resulted in a vast majority of the homes there being "newer" and thus, easier kept than almost any New England home.

So, when you are contemplating where to live on the North Shore in Massachusetts, you have to not only be prepared, but also be ready to adjust accordingly. On the North Shore, the vast majority of homes are older, restored, and have been around since the revolutionary war. In towns like Boxford, Topsfield, Newbury, Beverly, Salem, Manchester, Ipswich, Newburyport, etc etc etc you will find far different types of issues that you would find in South Florida homes. Questions about oil based water heaters, septic tanks, historical properties, county easements, copper plumbing, insulation, environmental protections, and New England style "Town Hall Meeting Rights" could all throw you for a loop. In addition, given your husbands inevitable approach to retirement age, things like estate taxes, probate taxes, death taxes, inheritance taxes, and a surplus of other tax burdens which offer substantial breaks and omissions for retirees in South Florida are not applicable in Massachusetts. So all that needs to be prepared for financially as well.

With that being said - I can now give you my opinion on your principal question "where should you live"?

Topsfield, Hamilton, Wenham, and Boxford would all be a very easy drive to Danvers, and would also be in close proximity to Newburyport where you could park at the MBTA Train station and take the Newburyport/Haverhill line into Boston. However, truth be told, with your prerequisites of a house with "a lot of yard and charm" you might be priced out of those areas on your budget - unless you were willing to put in some work on the house.

The communities of Lynnfield, North Reading, North Andover, and Andover would all pose a similar problem. However, if you were willing to buy half of a nice duplex in those areas, and perhaps give up the idea of a big yard, then you could certainly find a home with New England charm.

However, if you are fixed on having a single family house, with a yard, and some charm, then you might want to focus a little further away from Danvers than the communities listed above. You MIGHT have better luck at your price point in Georgetown, Amesbury, and Haverhill. Now, Haverhill has some areas that feel like a "small New England town" and other areas that feel like a "forgotten industrial city" so you would have to focus harder there, but they do have a train that runs right into Boston, and the drive to Danvers would only be about 20 minutes or so.

Georgetown and Amesbury have nice, albeit "quaint" downtown areas, with yoga studios, small restaurants, antique shops, grocery stores, and banks - so maybe those could fit your situation. Georgetown would be a bit more expensive than Amesbury, but you certainly find a couple options there either way.

In terms of if the markets have "bottomed out" on the North Shore, the answer is "sort of". The market here is in constant motion, but is nowhere near as volatile as the South Florida market has been for the last decade. Massachusetts didn't have a 60% equity drop between 2006 and 2008 and then start roaring back in 2011. The markets in Massachusetts are not subject to those types of swings - mostly because Massachusetts is not overwhelmed with foreign real estate investment and a large retiree community. Most New England families have been here since before the civil war, so there is stability in their population and their managed assets. Florida is a revolving door of retirees, investors, 20-somethings, and old Florida families. The dynamics of the markets are almost too different to accurately compare.

So while I would not expect the market on the North Shore to get much more favorable than it is currently, there certainly is always the possibility of a small dip again in the next 2-3 years. That being said, it is probably a good time to buy there.

I would look at the towns I listed herein, and evaluate your price point and criteria as it is relevant to Massachusetts, not South Florida. The North Shore is a beautiful place to live and work - but it is far different from the area which you are moving from.

Best of Luck to You.

[gf2020]

Wow, Angeluzzo wrote a whole book!

I'll keep it short: Danvers and Beverly have everything you are looking for.

[cwaggy]

The vast majority of homes on the North Shore are NOT IN FACT from the civil war era. This is misinformation. Don't believe it. The population of the North Shore is 25X that of the civil war era and most homes are from the 1930's and later.

Homes are selling if they are priced right but many people don't know how to price their home so they sit and wait or offer a 'new price'.

[Martha Anne]

Originally Posted by cwaggy

The vast majority of homes on the North Shore are NOT IN FACT from the civil war era. This is misinformation. Don't believe it. The population of the North Shore is 25X that of the civil war era and most homes are from the 1930's and later.

Homes are selling if they are priced right but many people don't know how to price their home so they sit and wait or offer a 'new price'.

I am so glad you wrote that. Angeluzzo wrote that most New England families came here before the Civil War. This is nonsense. What about the Irish, Italian, Jewish immigrants of the 1880's and beyond? My family on one side came here in 1660 but we are not that common. My Irish side came around 1880. That is more typical. Many came later than that.

And I had to laugh at the age of the average house he gave. I mean, really! Give me a break. Yes, some are from the 1700's but they are few and far between and most are from the 1850's on and very commonly from the turn of the 20th century or just before.

I couldn't believe his post! So incredibly inaccurate!!

[luvmyhoss]

I would look in the Danvers area first, then Beverly, Wenham Hamilton. Train depots are
everywhere.
Even Rowley. Prices are jumping a bit.
Oh Stoneham, too.

[macalan]

You can buy a house in Hamilton/Wenham for 350K - 400K??

[professeurpablo]

I would look in Beverly, which is next door to Danvers. Beverly has five commuter rail stops on two branches of a line that goes into Boston's North Station. The villages in Beverly vary in personality, there are numerous houses in your price range, there's an older, established feel to much of the city, with many older homes, and there's a busy downtown with many restaurants, pubs and shops. There are two small colleges in the city, but they don't overwhelm with their presence, and while some shopping is available, there's considerably more next door in Danvers if you need it. Your life would be pretty geographically focused, with an easy commute to Danvers and a simple trajectory into Boston via commuter rail, and the prices are fairly reasonable except around the more posh areas of Prides Crossing and The Farms.