MA Real Estate is CRAZY (Boston, Newton: cul-de-sac, homes, buyers)

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by r_p

This. Boston is much more affordable than SF/Seattle or top European/Asian cities. Also, the city is so much more liveable. OP is complaining about prices being high in Needham. Name a top-tier city where you could live on 0.25+ acre lots, amongst farms, within 15 miles, with good schools and commute (rail?) for under a million.

As a homeowner in Needham, I am most certainly not complaining about the high prices in town. I'm not sure where people are getting that. I'm just saying $50k in appreciation over a 14 month period of time is really quite amazing.

[r_p]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

As a homeowner in Needham, I am most certainly not complaining about the high prices in town. I'm not sure where people are getting that. I'm just saying $50k in appreciation over a 14 month period of time is really quite amazing.

That's under 5% a year, which is normal.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by r_p

That's under 5% a year, which is normal.

$50k in appreciation on a house purchased for $980K is slightly more than 5% appreciation. I'm not sure I would label anything under 5% as typical appreciation either. I would put the bar lower.

[bugelrex]

here are just 3 Boston companies where there stocks doubled or tripled in the past 2-3 years

https://finance.yahoo.com/quotes/HUBS,W,RTN/view/v1

That's at least a couple of hundred people who made enough for a down payment on a million dollar house. Their focus would be close to work (near downtown) and good schools

.. and that's just the 3 off the top of my head, probably only a handful more that were as successful though. FYI, up until 2001, Boston was very close to SF Bay area on tech funding. Boston missed the consumer internet (facebook, twitter, Netflix) but if the next wave is medical tech then Boston would have a clear edge.

FYI: The new Amazon healthcare company will be based in Boston.. if successful, a gamer changer for Boston

https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterco.../#66312c245aec
https://boston.cbslocal.com/2018/06/...-atul-gawande/

[btownboss4]

A big issue is now people want a bedroom/child and a Bathroom/person and many houses have a living room and a Den, and they want Central air. New Houses are much bigger than old ones.

So Normal New Construction was luxury in the 80s.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by r_p

This. Boston is much more affordable than SF/Seattle or top European/Asian cities. Also, the city is so much more liveable. OP is complaining about prices being high in Needham. Name a top-tier city where you could live on 0.25+ acre lots, amongst farms, within 15 miles, with good schools and commute (rail?) for under a million.

"Under a million" makes it affordable?



The Massachusetts median household income is about $75K. The median household income in Norfolk County is $90K according to the US Census Bureau. Inside 495, $90K and 20% down will buy a small house on a small lot in a not great location that needs a ton of work in a town with a below average school system. A 30 year mortgage is now 4.6%. Figure a $15 mill rate and $1,000 for insurance. 28% of $90K for mortgage/taxes/insurance is a $375K house with a $300K mortgage. Put Zillow filters on $400K for single family homes and look inside I-495.



Of course, this is why we're seeing all the middle class flight from the high COL regions. If you're married making a combined $100K and have a kid where school system becomes important, Boston isn't viable. The math works way better if you flee to the sun belt even with a 20% pay cut. You have a shot of buying yourself into the town with the good school system where that isn't possible in Boston.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

"Under a million" makes it affordable?



The Massachusetts median household income is about $75K. The median household income in Norfolk County is $90K according to the US Census Bureau. Inside 495, $90K and 20% down will buy a small house on a small lot in a not great location that needs a ton of work in a town with a below average school system. A 30 year mortgage is now 4.6%. Figure a $15 mill rate and $1,000 for insurance. 28% of $90K for mortgage/taxes/insurance is a $375K house with a $300K mortgage. Put Zillow filters on $400K for single family homes and look inside I-495.



Of course, this is why we're seeing all the middle class flight from the high COL regions. If you're married making a combined $100K and have a kid where school system becomes important, Boston isn't viable. The math works way better if you flee to the sun belt even with a 20% pay cut. You have a shot of buying yourself into the town with the good school system where that isn't possible in Boston.

A good school system in GA or SC is a bad one in MA.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

A good school system in GA or SC is a bad one in MA.

No it's not. The public school systems in the professional bedroom towns of Atlanta and the SC 'burbs south of CLT/Columbia are just fine. It's the poor areas that have the problems because the state isn't pouring 15% of the state budget into propping up those school systems. It doesn't matter where you are. Towns with parents who are college educated white collar professionals have high performing school systems. It's the parents, not the school. ...and certainly not the school budget. A suburban school in the northeastern Atlanta 'burbs is going to blow away a Brockton or a Lawrence or a New Bedford. Ditto Fort Mill SC where the management tier of all those CLT banking jobs live in their big plastic box splendor.


The top metro Boston towns are far more socioeconomically segregated than most southern suburbs which often have county school districts so they have top school systems. It's laughable to compare southern suburban schools to the bad war zone schools in the failed northern cities.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

No it's not. The public school systems in the professional bedroom towns of Atlanta and the SC 'burbs south of CLT/Columbia are just fine. It's the poor areas that have the problems because the state isn't pouring 15% of the state budget into propping up those school systems. It doesn't matter where you are. Towns with parents who are college educated white collar professionals have high performing school systems. It's the parents, not the school. ...and certainly not the school budget. A suburban school in the northeastern Atlanta 'burbs is going to blow away a Brockton or a Lawrence or a New Bedford. Ditto Fort Mill SC where the management tier of all those CLT banking jobs live in their big plastic box splendor.


The top metro Boston towns are far more socioeconomically segregated than most southern suburbs which often have county school districts so they have top school systems. It's laughable to compare southern suburban schools to the bad war zone schools in the failed northern cities.

Brockton sure as hell isnt a war zone they've had 52 murders in 8 years.

While the 1st percentile in SC might be better than the 100th in MA, the bottom districts in MA (think Everett, Revere) are much better than say the 10th percentile in most of the South.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Brockton sure as hell isnt a war zone they've had 52 murders in 8 years.

While the 1st percentile in SC might be better than the 100th in MA, the bottom districts in MA (think Everett, Revere) are much better than say the 10th percentile in most of the South.

No the bottom districts in MA would be Boston, Lawrence, Holyoke, Springfield, Fall River...Everett and Revere are a good notch above those. Comparing the Nashville metro which I am familiar with, Rutherford and Wilson Counties are better than Everett and Revere. No question. Williamson is comparable to the best in MA, might as well be Wellesley, Newton, or Dover-Sherborn. Metro Nashville-Davidson is certainly no worse than Boston. It's the "upper-middle" (thinking Sumner County) that may not stack up quite as high as the equivalent in MA (Canton, Sharon, Walpole...), but again they are not really comparable to the size and socioeconomic diversity Sumner County has. No state income tax in TN.