MA Spring RE will start early & be flooded with inventory (Newton: health insurance, credit score)

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by vtecluder617

And that is exactly why instead of complaining, My family and I are simply leaving. Why should we (and people like us) struggle to pay a mortgage for some crappy house that doesn't even have a garage or usable yard? It's just not worth it for some people. A couple making $155K a year (which I think happens to be a lot of money, I don't know maybe we're considered poor around here) shouldn't have to settle for a crappy home just to "live" in the greater Boston area. Our country is huge, with endless opportunities. I just think people stick around where they were born because it's a "safer" bet with no risk. Sometimes you gotta takes risks in life, though! If it doesn't work out, we can at least say we tried. Instead of wondering our whole lives "what if.."

It isn't a lot. It just isn't. I went out (first date) with a nurse last night and we were talking about when I lived in SF and I said you need to be a baller earning 150k to live right there and she just laughed. She is an oncology nurse and says she makes almost that much with a bachelors and 15 years experience.

[Dm84]

Originally Posted by timberline742

It isn't a lot. It just isn't. I went out (first date) with a nurse last night and we were talking about when I lived in SF and I said you need to be a baller earning 150k to live right there and she just laughed. She is an oncology nurse and says she makes almost that much with a bachelors and 15 years experience.

Median household income in Boston is $75k/year.

$150k/year is a lot of money. You can say it's not until you're blue in the face but it will still be a lot.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Dm84

Median household income in Boston is $75k/year.

$150k/year is a lot of money. You can say it's not until you're blue in the face but it will still be a lot.

It sounds like a lot to me, I earn around the median, but to a lot of people its not, and in reality it isn't that much because so many people earn it. None of the people that earn that much that I know think they're doing very well since they're surrounded by people that earn that or more. That's how it works. And there are enough of these people around, often they're married to someone similar, that the real estate will keep going up.

I mean, I never thought a nurse with a bachelors, or a scrum project lead (whatever they're called technically) as high stakes or high pay jobs, but most everyone I know doing stuff like that is earning 100k+ with 10 years experience and no advanced degree around here.

[vtecluder617]

Originally Posted by timberline742

It isn't a lot. It just isn't. I went out (first date) with a nurse last night and we were talking about when I lived in SF and I said you need to be a baller earning 150k to live right there and she just laughed. She is an oncology nurse and says she makes almost that much with a bachelors and 15 years experience.

Originally Posted by Dm84

Median household income in Boston is $75k/year.

$150k/year is a lot of money. You can say it's not until you're blue in the face but it will still be a lot.

I also think its a lot of money, but Timberline has a point, it just isn't enough around here.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by vtecluder617

I also think its a lot of money, but Timberline has a point, it just isn't enough around here.

I wish there was a way to determine household income of SFH owners in MA only, just to see what it takes to maintain a home around here.

[Whatsnext75]

How does everyone even know how much everyone else is making? I don't. I dont know how much people I work with even make. Unless someone tells me how much they make, I dont know. Just because someone is an engineer it doesnt mean they are making 150k. Just because someone is an RN doesn't mean they make 100k, they could make less.

One of my friends is a BPS teacher and she makes 91k, i was surprised...i only found out because you can see what city employees make online.

I know someone who is a VP at a well known financial company, he's been there a long time, he's in his late 30's and his salary is 120k. I'd have thought he'd make more to be honest with that title given the company he is at.

My husband's friend is a boston cop and he made 256k last year.

You just cant always assume you know what someone is making based on what they do...even if they tell you...they could be lying.

[claiz]

A simple search on google can reveal income distribution of MA household as a whole. In particular, the top 5% of household income exceeds 200,000 per year (which validate vtecluder617 and Dm84 point). The thing is the people who visit this board and are interested in real estate (in particular Metrowest/eastern Mass) tend to be very well off. If you are single mom struggling to make ends meet, you don't have time to browse internet forums and real estate threads. That make the discussion biased from the get go. So yeah, in the grand scheme of things, 150K-200K is a lot of money.

That said, in the context of real estate, especially the towns people most often talked about, 150-200K is not a lot of money. The one thing people ignore is while housing is expensive enough, Metrowest (the places people keep talking about) is the very top end of market. There are over 2.8 million households in Massachusetts. Weston+Wellesley+Newton+Brookline+Belmont+Lexingto n+Winchester+Needham (head nod to MikePRU) has total household of less than 110,000. That means those posh neighborhoods represent just a tiny slice of the market - about 4%.

So if you earn top 5% of income (200K), you will be able to afford a top 5% of most pricey neighborhoods. If you don't, you maybe stretching yourself. That said, there is absolutely no problem in NOT living in those posh neighborhoods. Stretching yourself to keep up with the Joneses, however, is another story.

[timberline742]

I've had financial roles in most of the orgs I worked at and I've been Board liaison in several others so I see the salaries in that role, and my friends and people I date and I talk about it and share offer letters, especially at job search time.

They "could" be lying, but I don't think most people do, not good people, and you see it in their lifestyles, and if you know what comparable people make then you know if it is offbase.

I guess if you hang with people that lie about such things then it could be a concern.

[Whatsnext75]

'I guess if you hang with people that lie about such things then it could be a concern.'

Well for God sakes, i'm not saying it's my friends lying about what they make. I'm just saying, people can exaggerate this number, round up, etc.

I don't think making 200k a year can get you into a town like wellesley or Weston these days. It just doesn't. 200k is not enough for wellesley, weston, needham. Maybe at the very low end.

At my job did accidentally see what a few people make on their offer letters. Most of them were VPs and they made 250k-300k (plus 10% bonus). The HR manager who is older (about 60) made 150k (she is no longer here). I saw a manager on one of the teams was making 80k, he's about 35. And the manager of admin and finance made 100k-she was about 41 at the time and has since been fired.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

'I guess if you hang with people that lie about such things then it could be a concern.'

Well for God sakes, i'm not saying it's my friends lying about what they make. I'm just saying, people can exaggerate this number, round up, etc.

I don't think making 200k a year can get you into a town like wellesley or Weston these days. It just doesn't. 200k is not enough for wellesley, weston, needham. Maybe at the very low end.

At my job did accidentally see what a few people make on their offer letters. Most of them were VPs and they made 250k-300k (plus 10% bonus). The HR manager who is older (about 60) made 150k (she is no longer here). I saw a manager on one of the teams was making 80k, he's about 35. And the manager of admin and finance made 100k-she was about 41 at the time and has since been fired.

It can when you have assistance. Loads of the people I know buying in decent towns get 100k+ from family to help with down payments.

On their own, without inheritance or whatever, I'd agree with you.

I personally make less, but I love my job and my field (I couldn't say that 5-10 years ago), and there is stability, that's something a load of my friends don't have. One of my closest friends is a project leader in tech and she went into work this week and was told at 10 the company was shutting down, that the largest funder in the last round decided to not infuse any more money into the company and the rest of the funders collapsed like a house of cards. I couldn't deal with that very well. The union nursing jobs seem pretty sweet though.