The school district bubble

[kingeorge]

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

Yes, it's the general direction the entire country has gone, but there are mitigating factors in New England. For most of these types, New England is too boring outside metro Boston, too old with its infrastructure, and too restrictive in its local forms of governance. Still, we do get glimpses of 21st century Americana on here. "What?! I can't get a 4000 sq. ft. house with 4 bathrooms for $200k! Boston is a dump!" "I just blew three stop signs with my Beamer. How do I fight the ticket!" "I acknowledge your free advice that I don't see is sound, but I'm not liking what I hearing so I'll throw a tantrum." "What?! You guys believe in true democracy at the detriment of big corporations? You'll pry my filtered Coca Cola Corp water bottle from my dead cold fingers!"

Thank you, this was great post!

[urbanmyth]

Originally Posted by Morris Wanchuk

I am pretty sure the reason most school districts in other parts of the country are bad is because they are run by the county. Also, I am pretty sure 3 counties on MA don't have any county government at all.


The more local the control the better,.

Depends on the average income of the county or counties working together I believe...just like Massachusetts. The poorer cities and towns can't hope to compete with the Dovers and Hamiltons.

[konfetka]

Originally Posted by Cato the Elder

There is some truth to what you argue, but I think it applies more to other metros in the US - i.e. high end towns=most materialistic. Another way to frame it using pop culture is by asking yourself which cities are most likely to have a "Real Housewives of __________" show. You have the notorious pockets of conspicuous consumption around LA, Miami, NY/NJ, etc.

A better indicator than town in my opinion is the number of people driving lower/mid level luxury sports cars. You know what I'm talking about. All the Audi A4/A6, BMW 3/5 series m*****holes who drive like they own the road and are more important than everyone else. Thankfully, we get relatively few of them around Concord and Lincoln unless their wives dragged them out here. They tend to congregate more towards Winchester, Brookline, Wellesley, and the tony parts of the city. Even then, it's not nearly as bad as the aforementioned cities and even places like San Francisco, Chicago, etc.

I agree NY and Miami would be more 'superficial' in that sense, somewhat due to the fact that in Boston education is more valuable. But I think this just shows how the environment plays a huge role in people's values, and how people are more socially influenced then they are willing to admit to themselves.

[konfetka]

Originally Posted by kingeorge

Doesn't all of Eastern MA attracting and becoming more of a playground for those that love to "keep up with the Joneses" type of people? I often see that if movie-makers want to portray genteel/quirky/educated/well to do family, they use East Coast locale, NE colonial, as nowhere else such "charmed" life exists. Are we all that much better here? Is this truly a pinnacle of an American existence? It does make me wonder if mass culture and its myths, conditioned some folks to think--if I live on the East Coast, have Ivy League degree, big colonial (and rest of the accouterments)--I have arrived! I lead charmed existence, and I am better more deserving person.

Sadly, much of our values and life goals are defined by our environment and social circle. The challenge is to see beyond that to find out what is really best for yourself. I almost don't want to blame people for their 'follow the crowd' mentality. Part of it is survival and trying to make the best of yourself playing by the rules of the world we live in. But with some foresight you can get by with less stress and effort.

Although, it still scares me how people build their whole lives on artificial values. But may be for some it's just a shell which they feel is expected from them, because that's how they were brought up. And to some degree I think this conditioning is perpetuated in some of these 'high-end' towns.

[konfetka]

Originally Posted by 3cents

Interesting that Surgeons and doctors are on separate lists.

Because you need a different type of person to cut up people and sew them back up, then to figure out a treatment for them.

[konfetka]

This explains this phenomenon:

Happiness research shows that when people determine their level of happiness, how much they have compared with others is more important than how much they have in absolute terms, assuming basic needs have been met. Although rich people in a given country generally feel happier than poor people in the same country, rich people in a rich country do not feel happier than rich people in a poor country, even though in absolute terms, they have more. So, we tend to feel happy once our basic needs are met and we have more than the people surrounding us.

Money Matters, But Money Isn

[CityLight]

Originally Posted by DL0299

Last time I tried to get the best deal I could get, I went up to 440K$ in connecticut, because the lower price tags in the 350K-375K$ range was where 80% of the buyer were, and this segment of the market was in full blown bubble. We went up to 430K following the thinking: Might as well up the budget a little bit and get more for your money.

When we had to relocate to Mass, we helplessly watched the value of our house go from 440K at it's peak to a 337K$ short sale in 12 months. We loss 120K$ total.

I see the exact same trend here happening here: The range in 600-700K$ is in full blown bubble while the upper scale house are sitting on the market. Last year alone there were 20% increase in sale combined with lower inventory. The price should have rocketed, according to the most basic of economist predictions, but it did not. It stayed flat. This is what is called by economist an "abnormality" of the market. It simply shows that the upward potential of this market segment (600-700K$) is ZERO.

My post was not meant to convince well off folks to sell more stock options to buy a house in Belmont. It was meant to warned others to be carefull not to end up underwater 5 years from now.

We are approved for around 700K now, but are shopping in the 550$ range for the reasons I mentioned.

30% of american Homeowner are underwater right now, and roughly 50% of household have been "zombified" by real estate and will remain so for a solid decade.

This is my last post. I don't do the "forum" thing usually, but when looking info about local real estate markets, I got tired or reading histerical predictions about home values in an incestuous real estate market that will get it's share of reality at some point down the road, whether you like it or not.

Cheers,
DL

I am confused! I thought you are in the $1.5 million+ dollar market per your posts about the real estate market in Lexington and Weston.