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fair enough, it's certainly an opinion, like yours. it's interesting that you chose to buy a condo in boston rather than worcester lol.
i'm certainly curious to see if those cities gentrify. it has no impact on me, and i have no money in the game. i just think it's one of those things people have been saying for 40 years now
When real estate went crazy at the beginning of COVID, Condos in the urban core (particularly in neighborhoods like East Boston which was "up and coming,") were not part of the initial boom. In fact, there was a relatively short-term dip in prices. We got lucky and had something that fit the description of what we were looking for fall into our price range. Even with continued career growth over the past 2 years, we couldn't afford if we were buying today. We'd be looking at places like Salem, parts of Lynn, Quincy, and potentially Worcester or Providence to get what we want at a price point we could afford.
The current gentrification of places like Worcester is not an opinion at all. It's fact, and pretty easily to track too. Worcester grew at a rate of nearly 14% between 2010 and 2020 (buoyed by a massive increase of priced out Boston area buyers and renters). Home prices in Worcester have risen accordingly. It's attracted billions of dollars in private investment, added thousands of new luxury housing units, offices, labs, retail, etc. All of that is fact, and pretty easy to see at that. The facts are reflected in the opinions of people who follow them - Worcester has been ranked as one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. It's also frustrating the people who have been there forever as they're getting priced out (a hallmark of gentrification).
Framingham has also been gentrifying in measurable ways for some time. To a lesser degree, so have Lowell and Haverhill. My opinion, is that there's very little to indicate that those trends won't continue. I do not put places like Lawrence, Springfield, Holyoke, Fall River, Brockton, etc. in the same camp. There appear to be larger barriers to their turnarounds, but I wouldn't be surprised if eventually some (or all) of them became more desirable.
A coworker of mine recently moved to Fall River, from his condo in a Boston suburb to a house in the far north end. I guess he found a nice piece of property that he couldn't resist. I personally wouldn't choose to live in Fall River or put up with that commute, but people do all sorts of stuff that wouldn't make sense to the bulk of this forum.
I lived in Fall River and would do it again now (in the right place with flexibility on the commute). But I think I'm in the minority on that front, and a big part of the reason for me (apart from price) would be having ties (family/friends) to the area which isn't true of most.
But one thing I've noticed over the past several years, especially with the growth in places like Worcester, is that a lot of the people who are horrified at the thought of these places are the people who grew up here and have old (often times extremely outdated) perceptions of them. I work with a lot of people who have only seen Worcester (or even heard of it) in the past 3 years or so. They didn't have preconceived notions of the place, and their only exposure is the current city with decent urban bones, a bunch of good bars/restaurants, a new baseball stadium and a big influx of development in/around downtown. Naturally, it's going to be easier for someone like that to embrace the place than it will be for me who for the bulk of his life has only known Worcester as a place to avoid.
Fall River isn't Worcester. It hasn't attracted nearly the same level of investment and it doesn't seem like powers that be down there have any interest of putting it on that type of trajectory. But yeah... if you find the right place at the right price, I guess it can be worth it.
The current gentrification of places like Worcester is not an opinion at all. It's fact, and pretty easily to track too. Worcester grew at a rate of nearly 14% between 2010 and 2020 (buoyed by a massive increase of priced out Boston area buyers and renters). Home prices in Worcester have risen accordingly. It's attracted billions of dollars in private investment, added thousands of new luxury housing units, offices, labs, retail, etc. All of that is fact, and pretty easy to see at that. The facts are reflected in the opinions of people who follow them - Worcester has been ranked as one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. It's also frustrating the people who have been there forever as they're getting priced out (a hallmark of gentrification).
that's great i would love to hear from those people on this forum, i have some questions for them. i imagine they are on this forum since there are so many of them
It would also make a big difference if one had kids vs. if they didn't.
She actually raised her kids in fall river and they attended fall river public schools. Again the horror lol. Both kids are doing well, one lives in DC now, both college grads. She's Portuguese and close with extended family and they all seemed to stay within close proximity.
that's great i would love to hear from those people on this forum, i have some questions for them. i imagine they are on this forum since there are so many of them
Dude, give it a rest. As you can see this forum is NOT diverse and there isn't a large pool to sample from either.
I lived in Fall River and would do it again now (in the right place with flexibility on the commute). But I think I'm in the minority on that front, and a big part of the reason for me (apart from price) would be having ties (family/friends) to the area which isn't true of most.
But one thing I've noticed over the past several years, especially with the growth in places like Worcester, is that a lot of the people who are horrified at the thought of these places are the people who grew up here and have old (often times extremely outdated) perceptions of them. I work with a lot of people who have only seen Worcester (or even heard of it) in the past 3 years or so. They didn't have preconceived notions of the place, and their only exposure is the current city with decent urban bones, a bunch of good bars/restaurants, a new baseball stadium and a big influx of development in/around downtown. Naturally, it's going to be easier for someone like that to embrace the place than it will be for me who for the bulk of his life has only known Worcester as a place to avoid.
Fall River isn't Worcester. It hasn't attracted nearly the same level of investment and it doesn't seem like powers that be down there have any interest of putting it on that type of trajectory. But yeah... if you find the right place at the right price, I guess it can be worth it.
That's a fair point, the guy in my example didn't grow up in the area. He also came from a place that is probably much rougher and would make somewhere like the North End of Fall River seem like a quiet paradise by comparison. But it's also fair to say that while Worcester has improved in recent decades, Fall River (along with Brockton and Taunton) has gone the opposite way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by msRB311
She actually raised her kids in fall river and they attended fall river public schools. Again the horror lol. Both kids are doing well, one lives in DC now, both college grads. She's Portuguese and close with extended family and they all seemed to stay within close proximity.
How old are her kids though? Attending Durfee HS twenty or thirty years ago, is not the same as it is now.
That's a fair point, the guy in my example didn't grow up in the area. He also came from a place that is probably much rougher and would make somewhere like the North End of Fall River seem like a quiet paradise by comparison. But it's also fair to say that while Worcester has improved in recent decades, Fall River (along with Brockton and Taunton) has gone the opposite way.
How old are her kids though? Attending Durfee HS twenty or thirty years ago, is not the same as it is now.
imagine being under 35 and actually moving to worcester from boston
all of your friends still live in boston, but they will definitely move out to worcester eventually! they'll see that it's much cheaper and it's very dense! eventually everyone will see that it's just a hidden gem!
In the meantime you will just reach out and start making friends in the local community.
after doing a couple walks around the neighborhood you start to notice that there are a lot of unsavory looking individuals, they're very different than the people you remember seeing when you were renting in watertown.
just because you're curious, you check the census data on median household income from 2020 for worcester.
> Worcester median household income is 51k
hmmmmm. well what is brockton? it can't be worse than brockton right?
> Brockton median household income is 63k
you start doing a little more research because you're starting to get worried
> Worcester is ranked 342nd in massachusetts by median household income... out of 352 cities and towns.
you start wondering why you didn't just move to chelsea
somebody on the internet told you that worcester has definitely been gentrifying over the past decade (2010-2020), and not to worry. You download the census data for percent change in median household income between 2010 and 2020 from the gov census website.
> Worcester is ranked 282nd out of 352 cities/towns for percent change in median household income over the past decade. it turns out it's only gone up by 14.68% from $45k to 51k over the past 10 years.
Worcester is literally in the bottom quintile for median household income growth over the past decade for mass. if worcester has been gentrifying over the past decade, then everywhere else in mass is SUPER-gentrifying!
it's going to be ok.... you start to calm yourself down... you start to justify your recent move:
the commuter rail can even get you to south station in 93 min, which means that if you live close to the worcester rail station, it's only a 10 minute drive. and once you arrive at south station, it's only another 10 minutes to get to a destination within walking distance. so the trip to boston to meet your friends will only be 2 hours each way.
imagine being under 35 and actually moving to worcester from boston
all of your friends still live in boston, but they will definitely move out to worcester eventually! they'll see that it's much cheaper and it's very dense! eventually everyone will see that it's just a hidden gem!
In the meantime you will just reach out and start making friends in the local community.
after doing a couple walks around the neighborhood you start to notice that there are a lot of unsavory looking individuals, they're very different than the people you remember seeing when you were renting in watertown.
And imagine being under 35 and actually moving to worcester from boston
most of your friends started out in Boston, but being at that age where people set out on their own, start families, buy houses, etc. they are now scattered. A few already live in Worcester, some in Shrewsbury, Leominster, Hudson, Franklin, Holliston, etc. who you already only saw on an occasional weekend anyways since everybody is working and doing their own thing the rest of the time. That is unlikely to change, although you will now be closer to some of them. Some of them might still live closer to Boston...oh well, you can still get together on your days off.
As for you, you once worked in Boston but now work in Marlborough. You are thankful for an easier, toll free commute. You are also thankful to own your home with a private back yard, on a shaded street with NO unsavory characters out and about since you could afford a nice area as opposed to a sketchier part of Worcester. It certainly beats that lead painted 3 decker you used to rent, with noisy neighbors and the rent going up every year.
what point are you trying to make? Sometimes people do unconventional/uncool things to save money. Not everyone cares about living the life in Boston. If someone has a Boston based job and is remote I don't think it's unheard of if they decided to move to worcester. I wouldn't judge them or fault them. You're spending a lot of time thinking about this...
I work with people who are 100% remote and are living other states.
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