Most desirable places to live in MA (Boston, Lynn: sale, insurance)

[Brave Stranger]

[quote=495neighbor;38930077]The few times I checked out the Arlington listings, the lowest priced property was $500K. Properties that went through winter without a buyer are going under agreement right and left.[/QUO

Arlington is indeed red hot, again. Amazing watching the demographic change.....used to be a middle class town with pockets of upper-middle class enclaves (Morningside, Jason Heights, sections of Arlington Heights) & now it's an upper-middle class town with pockets of wealth.

[Whatsnext75]

I know two fsmilies who moved to Arlington in the past 10 yrs and they aren't wealthy. Probably middle/upper middle. Not saying it's not a hot town but its probably more like somerville but less hipster

[Brave Stranger]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

I know two fsmilies who moved to Arlington in the past 10 yrs and they aren't wealthy. Probably middle/upper middle. Not saying it's not a hot town but its probably more like somerville but less hipster

10 years ago you could get a nice house in town for 350k.....these days not so much. 10 years is a lifetime in real estate. It's not that Arlington is wealthy like some of the top zip codes in MA, not even close in many respects, it's just that the change since about the year 2000 has been amazing to see. And yes, Somerville is more a hipster hotspot

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

how many more years do you think we'll have of these high prices before they plateau or go down?

It's hard to say. Last year at this time they were predicting interest rates would rise to around 6% by the current date. Here we are though and interest rates are incredibly low. The Fed is starting to talk a little tougher so maybe rates will start to creep up. I'm not an economist and I don't have a crystal ball but I'm guessing this will probably be the last year of meteoric price increases. Then we'll probably transition into a phase of more slow price increases.

[kingeorge]

There is nothing to indicate some huge imminent crash in RE. Some people like to think it is near because they are priced out, and can not imagine that there are other folks with plenty of money that are living around here. Local middle class ability to buy or not buy RE, is not the primary driving force behind huge price increases in Boston metro area.

I agree with an assessment of prices starting to increase at the slower pace in the future, but with understanding that there is "wild card" of supply and demand. Decreased inventory may continue to prop prices, and inflate them longer than any of us are expecting it.

Timing the market rarely works. No one can be 100% sure of anything , except that they need roof over their head, and place to put their bed somewhere. You will be paying money to someone regardless of owning or renting.

[brightdoglover]

There is just a lot of money around Boston/Cambridge. I used to own a minuscule troubled condo in Cambridge and bailed out in 1994. When I look at prices now, my heart stops and I also wonder, where is all this money coming from? There is a lot of high-paid work in the Boston area, the mentioned biotech, tech, finance, universities with worldwide students… The area is a great place to live but you have to be able to make it work and that's a task. (I worked double jobs, bought a distressed property, gave up my dream of part-time work/modest life, live 25 miles NW of Harvard Square in my dream house. It's worth it to me, but I understand how much it might not be worth it to other people. If I couldn't make it work or it wasn't worth the efforts involved, I'd have sat down, looked at a map and run the numbers, and moved).

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

There is just a lot of money around Boston/Cambridge. I used to own a minuscule troubled condo in Cambridge and bailed out in 1994. When I look at prices now, my heart stops and I also wonder, where is all this money coming from? There is a lot of high-paid work in the Boston area, the mentioned biotech, tech, finance, universities with worldwide students… The area is a great place to live but you have to be able to make it work and that's a task. (I worked double jobs, bought a distressed property, gave up my dream of part-time work/modest life, live 25 miles NW of Harvard Square in my dream house. It's worth it to me, but I understand how much it might not be worth it to other people. If I couldn't make it work or it wasn't worth the efforts involved, I'd have sat down, looked at a map and run the numbers, and moved).

In my field, I'll never be able to buy here. That's fine. I chose my field.

But I look around and at some friends that are making 90k just a few years out of undergrad, and I understand how people couple up and buy 450k condos.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by timberline742

In my field, I'll never be able to buy here. That's fine. I chose my field.

But I look around and at some friends that are making 90k just a few years out of undergrad, and I understand how people couple up and buy 450k condos.

It is also a factor of ones tolerance for debt. I wanted to keep the mortgage+taxes under 25% of my single monthly income, deciding to leave my fiancee out of the equation ... monetarily speaking. This self imposed cap put us a good 35-45% under what lenders would approve us for, but allows us a pretty realistic path towards being debt free 10-12 years out while still saving for retirement. Conversely, I know plenty of friends who have no issue throwing 40-45% of their income at a mortgage every month ... most of them took on massive debt in order to be within metro-west.

Based on the comps within my lenders home appraisal, the appraiser isn't feeling particularly bullish about the central MA market. Of course, the east-central MA RE market is a different beast from the metro-west/Boston market.

[Parsec]

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

It is also a factor of ones tolerance for debt. I wanted to keep the mortgage+taxes under 25% of my single monthly income, deciding to leave my fiancee out of the equation ... monetarily speaking. This self imposed cap put us a good 35-45% under what lenders would approve us for, but allows us a pretty realistic path towards being debt free 10-12 years out while still saving for retirement. Conversely, I know plenty of friends who have no issue throwing 40-45% of their income at a mortgage every month ... most of them took on massive debt in order to be within metro-west.

Based on the comps within my lenders home appraisal, the appraiser isn't feeling particularly bullish about the central MA market. Of course, the east-central MA RE market is a different beast from the metro-west/Boston market.

And I thought I was conservative for having a self-imposed cap of 20% of our household income, not single income. We're actually well below that now because my wife and I are in the prime age (early 30's) for promotional raises. That's something to consider - you could be buying too little house if your career takes off. I bought my starter home in 2008 and have since sold it, but if I still owned it I would have paid it off by now in just 7 years. If this is your first house then that's not a problem - you can always move to a more desirable area after you have kids or to be closer to your job.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by Parsec

And I thought I was conservative for having a self-imposed cap of 20% of our household income, not single income. We're actually well below that now because my wife and I are in the prime age (early 30's) for promotional raises. That's something to consider - you could be buying too little house if your career takes off. I bought my starter home in 2008 and have since sold it, but if I still owned it I would have paid it off by now in just 7 years. If this is your first house then that's not a problem - you can always move to a more desirable area after you have kids or to be closer to your job.

First house. It is not a starter home in terms of our ability to grow into it (plenty of sqft and bedrooms) or being located in a poorly performing school district. We simply chose to stay slightly west of 495, which means for roughly $300K we can check every box (performing school district, large private lot, 2000 sqft/3 bed/2 bath) except reasonable access to Boston. Seeing as I don't work in Boston or have a desire to do so again, I'm okay with that.