If real estate appreciation was your primary goal, where would you buy a house? (Quincy: 2015, apartment)

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by massnative71

In general better schools (or at least always were), bigger homes/larger yards, more recreational opportunities.

I get the yards part, but not the others.

[jan0105]

Weymouth, hands down. I have clients who bought in 2013 for $200,000, put $100,000 and a lot of work into it, and it's going on the market in a few weeks for around $500,000. And it will sell in a weekend.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by MrLinderman

That's really tough with a commute to Quincy. You'd be going with traffic until you're through the tunnel.

True but the OP said he would commute up to 45 minutes and mentioned going to Natick. IMHO, Everett, Malden, Chelsea would be on par re the commute and probable will have a bigger upside.

[G-fused]

Originally Posted by Nobodybody

But HOA fees are imminent.

The condo fees are shared, with a SFH it's the homeowner who takes on the entire cost of whatever the condo fees cover. So as a simple example, if a 2 family home is set up as a condo association and you buy one side and in a year the place needs a new roof, you pay half rather than covering the entire cost if you owned a SFH. Yes, I know a 2 family is larger so will have a higher cost because the roof is larger but it'll still be less expensive and save you thousands. There is usually one such project a year (roof, paint, hot water heater, boiler, paving, lawn care and landscaping, etc.).

But you do need to understand what the fees cover. A good condo association who's residents work well together and are willing to do some of the work themselves and are flexible when it comes to agreeing on things can save a good deal of $ and share time - that's big.

I've had both SFH and a condo (currently in a condo). My association is great, we're lucky. There are good and bad things about a SFH and condo living of course and I miss a lot about having a SFH. All said, I prefer condo living. I like my weekends and I like saving money. Plenty I don't like but not enough to overcome the positives I get. Your situation may be different.

But bottom line though is that with your budget, you're looking much more at a condo.

Best of luck with whatever you decide.

[MrLinderman]

Originally Posted by robr2

True but the OP said he would commute up to 45 minutes and mentioned going to Natick. IMHO, Everett, Malden, Chelsea would be on par re the commute and probable will have a bigger upside.

I'll give you Malden as home values seemed to have spiked big time there. Chelsea and Everett I'm going to have to disagree with you on. The data I'm relying on here isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do while pretending to do work today

Median Home Value (based off Zillow)
Current Projected '17
Weymouth 322k 326k
Malden 353k 359k
Chelsea 273k 280k
Quincy 375k 381k
Everett 310k 313k

Median Household Income (Census 2010-14 American Community Survey)

Weymouth- 69099
Quincy- 62710
Malden- 55,523
Everett- 51056
Chelsea- 48,725

District School Rankings (14-15 schooldigger)

Weymouth- 206
Quincy- 210
Malden- 243
Everett- 247
Chelsea- 303

I think the school districts are splitting hairs at that level, but the data suggests to me that Weymouth and Quincy are the best options, even doubly so considering the job is in Quincy.

I know this board loves to dump on Weymouth, and I feel like its loan defender at times, but it is leaps and bounds better than Chelsea and Everett.

[jan0105]

Originally Posted by MrLinderman

I know this board loves to dump on Weymouth, and I feel like its loan defender at times, but it is leaps and bounds better than Chelsea and Everett.

ITA. I know I am South Shore-centric but this isn't even a debate as far I'm concerned.

[Whatsnext75]

Hell yeah id rather live in weymouth over everett or chelsea.

[Southshorebound]

Originally Posted by jan0105

ITA. I know I am South Shore-centric but this isn't even a debate as far I'm concerned.

Agreed, I've never felt unsafe in Weymouth or even thought about my safety - I cannot say the same for Chelsea (did some political canvassing there). They are not in the same league by any measure. Weymouth is underrated

[Whatsnext75]

Ive always thought weymouth was underrated as well. Looks like its having its day. Im actually surprised braintee had its day before weymouth

[robr2]

Originally Posted by MrLinderman

I'll give you Malden as home values seemed to have spiked big time there. Chelsea and Everett I'm going to have to disagree with you on. The data I'm relying on here isn't perfect, but it's the best I can do while pretending to do work today

Median Home Value (based off Zillow)
Current Projected '17
Weymouth 322k 326k
Malden 353k 359k
Chelsea 273k 280k
Quincy 375k 381k
Everett 310k 313k

Median Household Income (Census 2010-14 American Community Survey)

Weymouth- 69099
Quincy- 62710
Malden- 55,523
Everett- 51056
Chelsea- 48,725

District School Rankings (14-15 schooldigger)

Weymouth- 206
Quincy- 210
Malden- 243
Everett- 247
Chelsea- 303

I think the school districts are splitting hairs at that level, but the data suggests to me that Weymouth and Quincy are the best options, even doubly so considering the job is in Quincy.

I know this board loves to dump on Weymouth, and I feel like its loan defender at times, but it is leaps and bounds better than Chelsea and Everett.

Well I haven't dumped on Weymouth. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion other than the horror show that Rt. 18 is between 6 AM and 8 PM.

The OP said schools are not an issue, so it doesn't matter. He/She is looking for appreciation and for the cities you listed, Chelsea is the winner both in percentage and dollar increase with Weymouth coming in 4/5 place:

Median Home Value (based off Zillow)
Current Projected '17 Increase
Weymouth 322k 326k $4K/1.24%
Malden 353k 359k $6K/1.7%
Chelsea 273k 280k $7K/2.6%
Quincy 375k 381k $6K/1.6%
Everett 310k 313k $3K/1%

Chelsea is already starting to gentrify - luxury apartments, lofts, hotels, businesses, new silver line, a doggie daycare - can the Whole Foods and beard shops be far behind? Yes it's gritty and desolate but that was Somerville 20 years ago. Further, the west side of Rt. 16 is actually very Quincy like with older, well kept single and two family homes. A friend of my in-laws sold his single family home in Chelsea for $535K in December and Zillow has it at $588K today - that's 10% in 4 months.

If I were young, single and wanted to be able to reach the city easily regularly, Chelsea would be on my radar.