2021 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Cambridge, Brockton: to rent, good schools, statistics)

[Boston Shudra]

I’d liken towns like Weston to a man who’s hired a team of bodyguard to ensure he has a 10ft radius of personal space at all times while he rides the red line through dtx during rush hour.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

I’d liken towns like Weston to a man who’s hired a team of bodyguard to ensure he has a 10ft radius of personal space at all times while he rides the red line through dtx during rush hour.

Not really. Anyone can move there if they have the money and a home becomes available. Weston has some of the best public schools in the State.

I have only lived in one other city before this San Diego and the situation there was similar maybe even worse. Wealthy people lived in places like La Jolla, Del Mar, Coronado, rancho Santa Fe. It was know that you had to be doing well in order to live there. There were other nice places to live like because well it’s San Diego. I worked at a substitute and you could definitely tell when you were in a rich suburb vs a not so rich one. I remember being a substitute teacher to a class of 4th graders and I was 24. One day the class asked how old I was and when I told them I was astounded by how many said my mom is 24 too! I was thinking wow so she was 14 or 15 when she had you, ok. San Diego also had a major immigration issue being so close to the border but those wealthier towns were untouchable to many and I’m sure they didn’t want their schools being crowded with the kids illegal Mexicans.

Unfortunately money is always going to be the key to living in any nice suburb but I don’t think people should be forced to move out of an entire area based on a chosen profession. It’s just sad to see the more affordable towns being take over and the locals being forced out. Medford has apparently become unaffordable now.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Not really. Anyone can move there if they have the money and a home becomes available.

Anyone can hire bodyguards if they have the money.

I have only lived in one other city before this San Diego and the situation there was similar maybe even worse. Wealthy people lived in places like La Jolla, Del Mar, Coronado, rancho Santa Fe. It was know that you had to be doing well in order to live there.

Other places being worse doesn’t make it acceptable for Boston to be bad.

Medford has apparently become unaffordable now.

Looks like the median house price in Medford is $551,900 per the last census. Maybe later I’ll do a deeper dive into how prices have changed per town per year. Sounds kinda interesting.

[msRB311]

Just looks at the article from Boston magazine someone posted here not long ago.

[Boston Shudra]

Crunched some numbers.

The median household income in MA is $84,385. I checked my own pay on my company's online portal and, as a single person without kids, about 24% of my gross is withheld every paycheck for MA and federal taxes combined.

So assuming no money back in tax returns and a 50/30/20 budget where 20% of a person's after-tax income is saved per paycheck, it would take 8.6 years for the median household to save up for a 20% downpayment (or $110,380.0) on the median house in Medford. This assumes that they are not saving for anything else: kids' college, a car, a vacation, etc.

[maclel]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

I’d liken towns like Weston to a man who’s hired a team of bodyguard to ensure he has a 10ft radius of personal space at all times while he rides the red line through dtx during rush hour.

I'd liken a town like Somerville to a man who chooses who spend his days at a never ending rave party. To each his own. Some of the people here really cannot fathom that other people make different lifestyle decisions.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by maclel

The role of the state is NOT to "nurture and foster growth where there is demand". The market can figure that out with no assistance, thank you. The role of the state is to intervene where there are clear material externalities. This is not such a situation. I would not call what you describe progress but the wanton destruction of human fabrics and natural ecosystems. Also, FWIW, the NIMBY gov't is as much the state as the state politicians are and I will say a much more important and generally altruistic one.

Each post of yours is getting more and more absurd. Of COURSE it's the state's job to provide things like sufficient infrastructure and education to meet current demands and future potential. You don't like it, tear down your home and live in a tree house. Cut off your water, electric and sewer lines. Let mother nature reclaim your homestead and the road leading to you (who needs that, right?). Please do the responsible thing.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

At the end of the day I don't particularly want more housing built in MA. I like the woods, I like nature, I think the area has been built up more than it should be, it's freakin' overpopulated as all hell! Look at the traffic and the MBTA. There's no reason why we need to tear down more of nature to fit in more people at this point. Companies can find other cities to go to as well.

You spend much time roaming the scenic woods of the South Weymouth NAS? Come on. Plently of places like that around Eastern Mass (although mostly on a smaller scale), that nobody will notice or care if they accommodate more development (assuming it's fed by appropriate infrastructure upgrades). People are getting worked up over absolutely nothing. We could add hundreds of thousands of housing units and still have plenty of places to disappear into the woods. All it would take is some proper planning, which is what we keep coming back to and a word that also seems foreign to this state.

[msRB311]

I thought that old naval station in Weymouth had been built up on already? There is a new section of town homes there. Two guys I worked with in Cambridge bought a town home there (each bought their own) They are not from ma.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.pat...amp/6738182001

In sqauntum. A 4.5 million dollar home in squantum

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Of COURSE it's the state's job to provide things like sufficient infrastructure and education to meet current demands and future potential.

There is the key differentiator in this discussion.

Many of us do not believe that is the role of state government.