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Right we already own our main residence in southie but we're looking for a cheaper second home as an investment. HP is attractive because it's one of only cheap places left it seems. Just not sure what HP's future will be like...getting better or getting worse. I see potential there for prices to increase in the near future, but who knows.
Also, people seem to say, oh well HP is so far out. So are W. Rox and Rozzi but people pay 50k-100k more for a home there. There's obviously something a great deal more appealing about these places but it's certainly not convenience. It really seems like once the Globe and Boston Magazine start mentioning places people are like, oh we have to buy there and flock to these places.
It's farther out than Rozzi and the whole northern chunk of W. Roxbury. The commute by car is likely similar to Dedham or Milton, and that's ignoring the public transit options Rozzi especially has. And convenience isn't just about commute - it's being able to walk to the grocery/cleansers/coffee shop, and Rozzi and W. Roxbury offer more neighborhoods where that's possible. Are you looking for a neighborhood to live in, or an investment opportunity? If having to drive for your commute and for amenities isn't a concern, and nor are the public schools, then yes parts of HP might be a good place to get a SFH with more house for your buck in a relatively safe/quiet neighborhood. If you want to flip it in a few years for loadsamoney, then I wouldn't count on it.
Milton is very close to boston. I also thought HP was closer to boston than w. Rox and rozzie? I think there are many different routes you can take...maybe I know some short cuts. Anyways I'm sure people were skeptical of folks who bought in Dorchester just a few years ago and now they've made out pretty well. I also remember when rozzie was on the same wavelength as HP and dot, now it's a great place to own. We're not looking to get rich off this but if we could buy a place for 300k or so and sell it for 500k in a few years that would be nice. They are supposedly making changes to the fairmount line which maybe will make the area more desirable.
Fairmount is literally beside Milton, so it's going to be more similar driving from there than driving from Rozzi, which Hyde Park Ave goes through on the way to downtown. W. Roxbury commute times would likely range between Rozzi and HP...idk that there are any good short cuts left in the city any more.
If you were going to live in the neighborhood, at least you would know you'd be enjoying/using your house, while as you want to invest, you run the risk of fixing it up and having the stress of finding tenants, only to run the risk that it's only worth 350K in a few years. And the HP rental market is not the most fast-moving (probably because most of the people who want to live in HP are already there )
They are supposedly making changes to the fairmount line which maybe will make the area more desirable.
The Indigo Line? I believe the plan is to run diesel multi-units at a frequency between the red line and the commuter rail, so something like every 15 minutes? That would drive up property values in HP, but the MBTA doesn't own any DMUs currently so it would depend on them being able to buy some before the 2024 date they floated, and given the MBTA record of achieving expansions on time, I wouldn't buy real estate based on their plans
Not every place is going to go upscale and it's hard to predict where values will rise. Have values appreciated in HP in proportion to those in West Rox, Dorchester, Roslindale? If so then it may be a good bet. I agree there isn't much talk about Hyde Park here. People may associate Hyde Park with Mattapan since the boundary is unclear and Mattapan has a bad rep. Are HP prices behaving like Mattapan prices? The busing crisis resulted in HP being a lot less white than it was; maybe that's the thing that keeps Hyde Park under the real estate radar. Why would someone steer anybody to Readville unless they thought the racial turnover in other Hyde Park neighborhoods makes them a bad bet. Readville may be white but it's about the least attractive part of Hyde Park in aesthetic terms. The distance thing doesn't seem very relevant-- it's not all that far and the Fairmount line is a going concern with potential for more. Hyde Park has lots of nice looking streets and with a shift in tone the business district could be just as walkable as Roslindale's.
Yeah I'm not a huge fan of Readville and agree it's not very pretty. It seems like people always point folks in the direction of Readville when HP is mentioned probably because it's where the former mayor lives and it's far away from Mattapan, crime is rare there. I like the Fairmount/Stonybrook areas. The houses are nicer and there's lots of trees/parks. I never thought about the race stuff...i think dorchester and southie experienced the bussing thing just as much if not worse.
People are always quick to point out that HP is near Mattapan, well so is Milton and Dorchester and that doesn't stop anyone from buying there. Since the prices in HP are so low I would only forsee them going up in this market. I cant imagine they'd go down.
I'm not saying people are dying to live in HP by any means. I'm sure a lot of the folks who bought in Roslindale would have preferred to buy in JP or somewhere else, but sometimes you have to buy what you can afford. I just see HP as that type of place for people, but I agree there are areas of HP that are depressed, particularly Cleary Sq. The area near Fairmount could be nice...there's like one nice restaurant but not much else there. No coffee shop even..
According to zillow homes in mattpan are expexted to rise 3.4% next year compared to 3.6% rise for boston as a whole. Zillow predicts HP homes to rise 2.5% next year. Roxbury homes are expected to rise 3.8%, Roslindale 2.1%, Dorchester 4.4%! Maybe Dot is the place to buy? it seems like the places that are currently priced on the cheap side are the ones that are predicted to rise more. JP prices are expected to rise 1.4%...like they really need to go up anymore. Anyhoo, this is all coming from Zillow and in the end they dont have a crystal ball either.
Hyde Park is ugly, Rozzie and West Roxbury are attractive (houses, business districts). I would even go so far as to say that Dorchester is far more vibrant and attractive than HP.
People are always quick to point out that HP is near Mattapan, well so is Milton and Dorchester and that doesn't stop anyone from buying there. Since the prices in HP are so low I would only forsee them going up in this market. I cant imagine they'd go down.
It's comical. Lower Mills can be considered one of the best neighborhoods in Dorchester and many large estates are located right over the border in Milton. Mattapan never had the 'perceptional' effect it has on HP vis a vis Milton. So weird.
It seems sort of unfair that HP is a forgotten part of the city. So much money seems to go into other areas of Boston, but not HP.
Finding HP ugly and W. Rox attractive is a matter of opinion. I'm not sure how the Stonybrook forest area is ugly unless you hate nature. Cleary Sq and readville have their ugly parts. The only part of W. Roxbury i really find attractive is the Bellevue hill area.
It seems sort of unfair that HP is a forgotten part of the city. So much money seems to go into other areas of Boston, but not HP.
Finding HP ugly and W. Rox attractive is a matter of opinion. I'm not sure how the Stonybrook forest area is ugly unless you hate nature. Cleary Sq and readville have their ugly parts. The only part of W. Roxbury i really find attractive is the Bellevue hill area.
Preach! The only thing I can think of that makes Westie more aesthetically pleasing than HP is less littering. Which makes sense because of less foot traffic in Westie.
Honestly though, it's a good thing. HP has a lot of young college aged residents (either in school or working in the service industry). Not a bad thing to have at least one place around here affordable.
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