Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts > Boston
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 07-01-2011, 07:03 PM
 
110 posts, read 315,253 times
Reputation: 45

Advertisements

Mdovell is correct in that Boston area is this expensive due to the grow spur that occurred in 80's and even more - the 90's. MIT/Harvard graduates are starting companies in biomed, technology, and finance. BU and other universities pumps out a ton of successful graduates as well. Many more families in this area are also dual earners. Building laws are very restrictive here, mostly due to the infrastructure unable to support bigger population above current level (roads, water, sewer). Wetlands cover a good portion of surrounding area and the ocean further reduces buildable land by 1/2. All of these factors feed the housing prices.

Salary in Boston area are not considerably higher than other parts of the county, as general rule. It certainly does not account for 2x-3x housing costs. For professionals, salaries here are only 10% higher than in the rest of the country. But job availability here is a whole lot higher, good for job seekers, not good for house hunters.

In simple terms all of this means that for 200k that you sell in FL, you can buy a "livable" home in the most undesirable area of Greater Boston. That area may have crime, bad schools, usually unkempt and unattractive. That same home in an area where most people would like to live, raise children, would sell for 600k-800k.

I hope I am not exaggerating, others can correct me if I am off by a few.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 07-01-2011, 07:15 PM
 
4,423 posts, read 7,330,138 times
Reputation: 10934
All those kids who come to Boston for an education... they don't want to leave! They get jobs here, they buy houses here, and like Cliff Clavin says, "supply & demand."
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-02-2011, 10:01 PM
 
7,912 posts, read 7,736,904 times
Reputation: 4146
Quote:
Originally Posted by ipoetry View Post
All those kids who come to Boston for an education... they don't want to leave! They get jobs here, they buy houses here, and like Cliff Clavin says, "supply & demand."
Some stay..some don't. I'd say that if everyone stayed our population would be easily the largest in the country. Post 9/11 not so much.

But having large groups of students can eventually lead to other population growth. If people become couples and have kids they might not be as apt to move.

There is a serious difference though if you go say on the cape or the berkshires.

It used to be that nearly everyone would go there for a number of things
For plane trips - now there's TF green, worchester and nh
for school - there's schools in other areas
for sporting events - technically the patriots play in foxboro
for medical care - there fair amounts of hospitals outside the city.

The more I think about it the issue is probably housing. There are smaller cities in Mass but people have left them for other areas. Suburbs in towns do not really have much in the way of condos (quincy and weymouth might be an exception). If you don't have apartments or condos in a town it means it's just houses and it is much more expensive to buy a house than an apartment so by default they continue to stay in boston.

Some of this is due to the fact that residential areas usually mean a chance of more students which means larger classroom sizes..which counters a major reason why parents wanted to move to suburbs to start with.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-03-2011, 10:57 AM
 
Location: San Antonio
4,422 posts, read 6,213,554 times
Reputation: 5429
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdovell View Post
Some stay..some don't. I'd say that if everyone stayed our population would be easily the largest in the country. Post 9/11 not so much.

But having large groups of students can eventually lead to other population growth. If people become couples and have kids they might not be as apt to move.

There is a serious difference though if you go say on the cape or the berkshires.

It used to be that nearly everyone would go there for a number of things
For plane trips - now there's TF green, worchester and nh
for school - there's schools in other areas
for sporting events - technically the patriots play in foxboro
for medical care - there fair amounts of hospitals outside the city.

The more I think about it the issue is probably housing. There are smaller cities in Mass but people have left them for other areas. Suburbs in towns do not really have much in the way of condos (quincy and weymouth might be an exception). If you don't have apartments or condos in a town it means it's just houses and it is much more expensive to buy a house than an apartment so by default they continue to stay in boston.

Some of this is due to the fact that residential areas usually mean a chance of more students which means larger classroom sizes..which counters a major reason why parents wanted to move to suburbs to start with.
Drive 45 minutes west of Boston and the prices drop dramatically. Sure the commutes are a little longer, the towns are smaller and you won't have the urban "feel", but you'll $ave plenty. A $600K house in greater Boston is half that west of 495. Btw, there's no H in Worcester, and the airport is a joke.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-03-2011, 01:32 PM
 
Location: Gibsonton, Florida
36 posts, read 128,870 times
Reputation: 31
All of this stuff is good to know---thanks for posting all of your replies. I was curious if living in a town away from the greater Boston area was cheaper. It all bears looking into.

Peace All,
the DragonLady
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-05-2011, 08:22 AM
 
132 posts, read 494,377 times
Reputation: 119
Quote:
Originally Posted by thenewtexan View Post
Drive 45 minutes west of Boston ... west of 495.
Mind you that driving from west of 495 will NOT take you 45 minutes to get into Boston during rush hour. Figure around 1.5 hrs.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-05-2011, 08:30 AM
miu
 
Location: MA/NH
17,758 posts, read 40,013,892 times
Reputation: 18034
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jojim View Post
All of this stuff is good to know---thanks for posting all of your replies. I was curious if living in a town away from the greater Boston area was cheaper. It all bears looking into.

Peace All,
the DragonLady
Sure. The farther away from Boston you are, the cheaper the homes get for the same size and amenities. For example, waterfront property or a beautiful home with a large yard will still be desirable and expensive. And any town with good public schools and other public services will be pricey.

Also, consider that the longer commute times will most likely offset the savings in the cost of your housing. So you have do decide what your personal time is worth, the price of gas, possible tolls, and the wear to your vehicles.

Eastern Massachusetts is densely populated and the the strong job market here. The housing market reflects the supply and demand for dwellings.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-12-2011, 12:12 PM
 
132 posts, read 494,377 times
Reputation: 119
Good job market and relatively low crime are the pros of Boston, but you may hit a negative in almost every other aspect of living here (except Biking!).
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-12-2011, 12:17 PM
 
110 posts, read 315,253 times
Reputation: 45
Just don't leave that bike anywhere, it will be the last time you see it.... And the pole it was strapped to
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 07-12-2011, 10:14 PM
 
594 posts, read 1,629,101 times
Reputation: 332
I think it's because of what Cliff said, there's pretty much no more land in Boston to build on so the value of what property there is can get extremely high.

Also, many parts of Boston are historically wealthy and cater to rich WASPS. This causes the property values to rise for miles around and it hasn't stopped rising for hundreds of years. Add to that the gentrification of many traditional working class areas and the relative isolation of "bad areas" and the property has never devalued.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Massachusetts > Boston

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top