Is Massachusetts Real Estate Affordable? (Boston, Springfield: real estate market, condo, crime)

[Newfangled]

Hi everyone. I live in Phoenix, AZ with my husband and two daughters. After decades of living in the desert, we'd like to move to the northeast. My brother was stationed in Ayer, so I've been to your beautiful state. We all love art and history and don't find a lot of either of that here. We're also fed up with the heat.

Anyway, we can afford to pay about $100K cash for a house. We're self-employed and don't qualify for a mortgage. We're fine with a fix-up. (I'm sure a fix-up is probably all we could afford anyway.) I've seen some houses on Realtor.com in Spencer, Ware, etc. for less than that. But, even though I check the crime maps, I'm not sure what the areas are like. So, can anyone suggest decent, affordable towns/cities not too far from Boston?

Thank you so much for your help!

[OutdoorLover]

Hi - I am afraid that the Boston area (and by that I really mean eastern MA) is one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. We're cheaper than Hawaii and San Francisco, but that's about it.

If you want New England and want reasonably priced, I'd suggest the northern New England States - VT, NH and ME. They are just as pretty, prettier if you like farms, forest and countryside a whole lot, and when compared apples-to-apples, are significantly cheaper.

[in_newengland]

Ware is isolated and probably has the worst drug problem in the state. I think Spencer could be the same.

Maybe you could find something really small in CT. It's a lot cheaper but has higher property taxes.

Eastern CT is very rural. There are also towns near the MA border that are sort of rural and could be cheap.

[LLCNYC]

100k?

Nope, sorry.

[Newfangled]

Thank you for your help. The nearby states sound nice too. I guess we should expand our search.

[tysmith95]

I'd think that 100k would be very difficult to find anywhere in New England.

[timberline742]

You're going to need to look in a remote location. something like an old double wide or something in it. Or a really down and out city. Springfield VT will have some solid homes for that, but its not a place I'd like to live, personally.



https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...75484420_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4...75484418_zpid/


Places like that. Old four bedroom places with decent bones for under 100k. There are plenty of places around like that in cities like that.

[jayrandom]

What timberline said. You should check out Maine, too.

[redplum33]

You could get a 2 bedroom condo in Providence for $100k, but typically in an area you wouldn't want to live.

This area isn't horrible:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...ct/11_zm/1_fr/?

[GeePee]

$100K is the average price of the cars people drive in some of the more expensive towns here.