Brockton, Ma (Broketown) (Boston, Worcester, Fall River: real estate market, condos, houses)

[dia_diamondz]

I heard that Brockton is the new "it" place to buy real estate. WHY? I live there and I think its a horrrible town. I've lived on the South side for about 2 years now and its just a discusting place to live. Unless you got tons of money to live in a "rich" neighborhood then I don't think you should waste your money on such a ****ty town.

[howsitgoingdude3]

Yea, I do not get that either with a lot of the poorer cities and towns in MA having some of the largest appreciation over the last few years. It is the same along a lot of the crappy north shore towns as well as in central mass. I mean brockton is a dump and so is Worcester and they have both had huge increases in the price of their real-estate. It an odd thing, but Land is limited and building space is extremely limited in the New England area so maybe that is a reason. Not enough supply to feed demand, which does not makes sense considering MA is the only state to loose people each of the last 3 or 4 years.

[yankee in New Bern]

Hi, I grew up in Brockton and I agree with you. I moved from there in the early 80's and my Mom left about 6 or 7 years ago and from what I have seen in the recent past I would never go back. I grew up off of West street in the late 60's and 70's and it was an OK place to be. My Dad was born and brought up there so it was differant for him. I lived in the Boston area, NH, Concord Ma, and on Cape Cod and have now moved to New Bern NC and will never move back to Mass. I go back to visit friends on the Cape (in the summer months) but I would not move back.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Originally Posted by howsitgoingdude3

Yea, I do not get that either with a lot of the poorer cities and towns in MA having some of the largest appreciation over the last few years. It is the same along a lot of the crappy north shore towns as well as in central mass. I mean brockton is a dump and so is Worcester and they have both had huge increases in the price of their real-estate. It an odd thing, but Land is limited and building space is extremely limited in the New England area so maybe that is a reason. Not enough supply to feed demand, which does not makes sense considering MA is the only state to loose people each of the last 3 or 4 years.

Just answered your own question. Mass is not losing people. Latest census estimates revised upwards. If everyone is moving out, wouldn't property values plunge?

The truth of the matter is that MA is gaining population when immigration is taken into account. Not much development is happening. So, crappy towns are starting to attract attention. I think this is a good thing in the long term as people who move in will try to make those towns better.

The problem in this state is there are snobby towns that won't allow high density developments to bring this state's cost of living down. I say that state aid should be withheld to those towns that try to discourage affordable housing.

[JiminCT]

Mass is losing young people...in droves.

[maggiekate]

Originally Posted by dia_diamondz

I heard that Brockton is the new "it" place to buy real estate. WHY? I live there and I think its a horrrible town. I've lived on the South side for about 2 years now and its just a discusting place to live. Unless you got tons of money to live in a "rich" neighborhood then I don't think you should waste your money on such a ****ty town.

i do agree, I only worked there under protest, near the bridgewater line.

[OREGONRAIN]

Brockton has been going down hill for a number of years, crime, and unkept homes in much of the area, the few decent areas, you can't blame the people for wanting to move away. The majority of population gain in Mass like many places is from immigration, not as much as people native to the USA moving form another state to Mass. I think if Brockton is a new place to buy real estate, it is from Immigrants or people that are so priced out of other areas of Mass, they turn to the Brocktons, Worcesters, and Fall River, New Befords of Mass, I doubt Attleboro is getting them much anymore, I understand North Attleboro now has homes close to 1 million dollars. I grew up there, sorry to see all these things happen to Massachusetts. Unfortunately it is happening to much of the USA.

[CaseyB]

I haven't heard anything at all about Brockton having a hot real estate market. The West side has the nice areas, but people have been leaving for at least the past 10 years or so.

One city that I have heard this about is Fall River - I don't know if this is still true.

You are right about the homes now being built in North Attleborough, some of them well over a million - but the school system is still fairly good there, unlike Attleboro. While the downtown area of Attleboro remains run down, there are several new retail developments on the outskirts of the city.

[Baltic_Celt]

Originally Posted by ChunkyMonkey

Mass is not losing people. Latest census estimates revised upwards. If everyone is moving out, wouldn't property values plunge?

The truth of the matter is that MA is gaining population when immigration is taken into account. Not much development is happening. So, crappy towns are starting to attract attention.

Greetings CM -

Maybe we're finding stats in different places, but I've read in one of the local newspapers, that last year's census showed a population increase of only several hundred people. It was reported to be the 1st year with an increase in many years, as normally, MA has had an equal amount of folks leave as enter by approximately 10K. It could depend on where you find info, but I've heard this for close to 20-yrs now.

Perhaps you're right that immigration has caused a bit of an upswing by hundreds. My neighborhood alone, always known for a large immigrant population, now reflects a slight increase in immigrants from different countries than before, like Albania, Poland, Africa, Dominican Republic & Russia. I haven't come across the written info that reflects who comprises the several hundred population increase. It's just what I've personally seen, but I don't know if these folks are replacing those leaving, or adding to the current population. My understanding is the main reason for the 10K increase each year are college students entering the state. The main reason for the 10K decrease are college grads & young singles/couples who find the cost of living/salary ratio not agreeable & find areas of the country with more affordable housing and/or better job opportunities in the hopes of beginning families or just retaining more of their hard-earned dollars.

Property values are increasing in certain areas, particularly sections of Boston where the condo craze is still hot & those areas are becoming more & more gentrified. Many 3-decker homes in my 2-sq mi area are still being converted into condos. 1/4 of my 1-block street is condo converted & 4 more bldgs are in the works. Amazing on a street with less than 45 houses. It's only starting to slow as they're running out of houses to convert. No kidding. There are upwards of 450 new condos here every year for the past 8-yrs. People who can afford these 350-550K condos have driven up housing prices & caused my house to increase in value 6-fold over the past 6 or so yrs. Same house, just guilt by association.

I also read in the Boston Globe about 1-1/2 years ago that Brockton was becoming a hot spot for mid-range income families with children to buy single family homes. They're moving out of Boston as all they could afford to purchase would be a mid-range condo for an entire family. Brockton's affordable now for a SF dwelling, compared to Boston, not the best area but it's projected that Brockton will make a turn-around, similar to sections of areas like S. Boston, Dorchester, Mission Hill, Hyde Pk, W. Roxbury.

I don't know about the rest of the state, but perhaps those folks can chime in. It seems like MA has always been a tough state to afford property, unless you purchased in an iffy neighborhood & it had a major upswing. I have a friend who purchased a 1b/1b, $20K condo in a once awful neighborhood on the W. Roxbury/Roslindale line. After 8-yrs, he sold it for $170K with no fixing up the entire time he lived there. Another friend purchased whole buildings in the S. End for $100K about 25-yrs ago, where he said he always needed to carry a gun for Somerville Lumber runs for fear of getting robbed. He bought one after the other, fixed them up & rented them. They're now $multi-million buildings & his rents begin at $2K. He retired at 45.

Maybe Brockton will see this turn-around over time? Who thought parts of the S. End OR S. Boston would be populated by wealthy doctors, retirees, architects & financial district workers, 20-yrs after the 1st "nutty" folks began renovating 3-deckers into condos?

Just a bit about what I've seen & read... VV

[ChunkyMonkey]

Originally Posted by KittensPurr

Greetings CM -

Maybe we're finding stats in different places, but I've read in one of the local newspapers, that last year's census showed a population increase of only several hundred people. It was reported to be the 1st year with an increase in many years, as normally, MA has had an equal amount of folks leave as enter by approximately 10K. It could depend on where you find info, but I've heard this for close to 20-yrs now.

Hi KittensPurr: You may be right that 2006 is the first growth year, but according to the stats below that would mean that there was a growth spurt sometime in early 2000. However, Mass is not losing people in droves at least not when compared to the year 2000, which is the last year with a full census. The latest numbers are below from the census itself, which is the definitive source of population statistics.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25000.html

Population (2000): 6,349,097
Population (2006): 6,437,193

Population difference: 88,096 (+1.4%) which averages a 14,683 population increase per year.

These stats show that the population is essentially stable, not really growing much and not really falling much either. So, those that say people are leaving Mass in droves are clearly wrong. This is probably the reason why housing is still so high, as the demand is clearly still there.