Anyone Here Buying Real Estate During the Covid-19 Crisis? (Boston: condos, houses)

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Some of my clients come in feeling very conservative about how much space they want. I usually advise bumping up that number for those very conservative people as most often end up needing the space down the road. It allows them to stay in the house longer.

In my experience RE agents advise bumping up the space because that is all they have to sell. For someone coming from 1,400 sq. feet, a 300%+ bump to 4,800 is ludicrous IMO.

[bugelrex]

Some words of encouragement, it seems Hong Kong is almost back to normal and is seeing about 17 cases a day. They have adopted changes such as distance between people in restaurants, face masks everywhere and constant cleaning. Many ppl still work from home but only by choice... perhaps a sizeable portion of the already population got it (but with very mild symptoms) that its spread is peaked?

I would expect the same in US, for at least 12 months and yes ppl preferring larger homes in the inner suburbs. BTW, what size is considered medium, large?i get the impression 1700sqft is the norm for inner suburbs. 2500sqft is considered very comfortable for room to grow and 3000+ is just "showing off"

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

Some words of encouragement, it seems Hong Kong is almost back to normal and is seeing about 17 cases a day. They have adopted changes such as distance between people in restaurants, face masks everywhere and constant cleaning. Many ppl still work from home but only by choice... perhaps a sizeable portion of the already population got it (but with very mild symptoms) that its spread is peaked?

I would expect the same in US, for at least 12 months and yes ppl preferring larger homes in the inner suburbs. BTW, what size is considered medium, large?i get the impression 1700sqft is the norm for inner suburbs. 2500sqft is considered very comfortable for room to grow and 3000+ is just "showing off"

I would not expect the same at all for the US, we can't be compared to any Asian country. Our society will never put up with the kind of measures they have in place over there.

[brightdoglover]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Ouch! That hurts.

...

I just messaged my former real estate agent in Littleton, who got me into my little crumbling cottage in 1992 and got me out of my snazzy custom rebuilt house (1250 sq ft of beauty!) in 2018 with work far above the call of duty when I retired to my 800 sq. ft. town cabin in SW Colorado (also referred to the lot by a fantastic real estate agent).

Maybe I'm just lucky with people I hire, but I've had only good experience with real estate agents and for that matter, lawyers. When I've needed a lawyer, I've gotten very good advice and service. I do dislike the whole smearing of a profession, like a knee jerk. (and by the way, I was not an angel of mercy in my RN life, just a competent professional doing a good job. No need for positive lump sums, either!)

[BosYuppie]

Maybe it’s just the spring listings, but seems like pretty good inventory right now, based on cursory zillowing.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

I just messaged my former real estate agent in Littleton, who got me into my little crumbling cottage in 1992 and got me out of my snazzy custom rebuilt house (1250 sq ft of beauty!) in 2018 with work far above the call of duty when I retired to my 800 sq. ft. town cabin in SW Colorado (also referred to the lot by a fantastic real estate agent).

Maybe I'm just lucky with people I hire, but I've had only good experience with real estate agents and for that matter, lawyers. When I've needed a lawyer, I've gotten very good advice and service. I do dislike the whole smearing of a profession, like a knee jerk. (and by the way, I was not an angel of mercy in my RN life, just a competent professional doing a good job. No need for positive lump sums, either!)

True I have dealt with some outstanding realtors as well as some VERY bad ones. All buyers/sellers must due their due diligence as with any profession.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

I'm expecting a lot of people will come out of this feeling that their house is not big enough. I have a client who currently lives in a 1400 sq ft condo in the South End and he's under contract to buy a 4800 sq ft house in Needham. He's mad that he didn't think to move sooner as his condo is feeling REALLY small right now since he's there all day with his wife and two kids. Plus, he's trying to work from home Mon-Fri.

Some of my clients come in feeling very conservative about how much space they want. I usually advise bumping up that number for those very conservative people as most often end up needing the space down the road. It allows them to stay in the house longer.

HOLY COW -- from 1400 square feet to 4800??? That is quite a leap. Years ago we went from 1500 to 3000 and that felt so cavernous.


I do wonder about home offices. My own thinking (and I don't know if this has broader applicability or not) has swung. Originally, a home office was pretty important, particularly because we needed a fair amount of space to deal with the big desktop computer, with the bulky monitor and the printer and all the attendant stuff. And on the occasions when we did need to do work, we wanted a dedicated space.

But then we migrated toward laptops, and even when we were doing work on our computers, we most often ended up on the couch or sitting in bed, or sometimes the recliner. When our desktop computer eventually stops working or becomes so obsolete that nothing will work on it, we aren't going to replace it. So I was starting to think that we really didn't need a dedicated office anymore, since when we did have it, we reached the point where we rarely used it. But now, with my husband working from home every day, we're really kind of missing having a dedicated office, and he moves around from room to room a lot. He's often in our kitchen or living room, but has to leave once our younger son wakes up and starts his day because he is not capable of remaining quiet for very long. So he goes up to our bedroom, but after a while, he doesn't like being in there, and it cuts off my access to it. So, now I am kind of wishing we did have a room that was more of a dedicated office. (Our current "office" in the house we bought a few years ago isn't really a separate room -- I think it was even referred to as an office, and we use it as such but it is open to the family room and doesn't have a solid door you can shut for keeping it quiet or really cut off from the family room. And if working from home really does become more accepted, more people might want a truly dedicated office. Our's is perfectly fine and works quite well if you are working from home and you are the only one home working, because the kids are at school and the spouse is at work. But when everyone is home, it doesn't work so well.

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by brightdoglover

Maybe I'm just lucky with people I hire, but I've had only good experience with real estate agents and for that matter, lawyers. When I've needed a lawyer, I've gotten very good advice and service. I do dislike the whole smearing of a profession, like a knee jerk. (and by the way, I was not an angel of mercy in my RN life, just a competent professional doing a good job. No need for positive lump sums, either!)

Originally Posted by massnative71

True I have dealt with some outstanding realtors as well as some VERY bad ones. All buyers/sellers must due their due diligence as with any profession.

In both professions, as always, there are very good people and very bad people.

In real estate in particular, the barriers to entry are low. And I think a lot of people indulge in the fantasy of the idea that someone sells a $1-$2 Million and thinks, damn - that guy made 100K for a few weeks of work. Even if I sell just one house a year, I could totally live on that. So they jump in, but then they realize that it is actually work, it can be hard to sell even one house, you split those commissions, you spend money on ads and other costs, and you might put in weeks of work with nothing to show for it because the person decides not to buy or sell after all. So at any given moment there are a bunch of agents who don't really know what they're doing, and they tarnish the whole profession.

And in the legal profession, well, sure there is a higher level of jerks and jackasses, but there is also so much room for incompetence. There are so many different areas of the law, and knowing one area doesn't mean you know anything about any other area of law. And since the law market has been oversaturated now for a few decades, you have lots of lawyers who hang a shingle and claim they can handle any issues that comes up. But then you bring them some complicated situation that requires real expertise (which can easily happen in areas of immigration, adoption, small business operations, employment law, etc.) and there is no guarantee of competence. You really have to do your research with lawyers and pick someone who has a lot of experience in the area of law you need.

But there are lots of very good, smart, competent, decent people in both professions. They're not really that hard to find.

[Bridge781]

Ok then y’all can move to Boston when you’re old since you think it’s so great.

[bizcuit]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

I’m allowed to say I don’t understand it. And I do wonder how it’s working out for all these older folks who sold their suburban homes to get a condo or whatever in the city. I wouldn’t want to spend the later years of my life surrounded by a hordes of people I don’t know. Downtown Boston just doesn’t seem like a peaceful place to retire to. Lots of hustle and bustle. I don’t want to be on a bus or a train now nevermind when I’m in my 70s. Sure there might be some conveniences but most of the things available in the city are available in the suburbs. I also get the less space thing too.

Different strokes but that was a trend I didn’t understand.

I can understand where it would be a very attractive option. Surrounded by culture and vibrancy. Walk to restaurants. Mass transit readily available. Plays and museums and music just a cab or uber ride away. Lots of community options and clubs. Don't have to upkeep a house or a yard.

Frankly, it sounds a lot more attractive to me than some retirement home.