How on earth can we get into Boston? (Cambridge, Lynn: middle-class, 2014)

[Lampert]

Worcester to Cambridge is not 1hr. Worcester to the westernmost part of Boston is over an 1 hr (in normal conditions). I did it for years.

[masssachoicetts]

Boston's housing stock is trash.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

This. Apply the shrink ray to the number of square feet you think you need and the lot size.

Love big lots, absolute minimum 5 acres. Ideally 30-40. Had not been for my wife I would be living in a tiny hut in the middle of a 50 acres lot, but I wasn't able to convince her

[msRB311]

I would think once traffic picks up again a drive from worcester to cambridge would be pretty bad

[mdovell]

So are all of you moving together with this? Here's a few of the issues I see with this.

1) You are trying to move from one of the cheapest areas of the state to the most expensive

2) You have a toddler, parents and a grandparent that all have different needs meaning you'll probably be driving more

3) You said "His work has told him when COVID is under control, they would like everyone to start coming in 2-3 days per week." did they put that in writing and to what terms exactly?

Are they taking temperatures of people walking in the door? Are they testing for covid for any employees? Are they encouraging the vaccine to be taken? To me that sounds pretty open ended unless they lay down terms and conditions. Look at all the regs they had for school and casinos to reopen. If there is no reopening plan I highly doubt they'd force people to come in. If you want to fine but if you don't. I go to work in my office but I have a paid guard, we all have masks and we're spending nearly a million on filtration systems. What does *under control* even mean? Positive testing under a certain amount? As a percentage? My point is if you buy a house and he goes in and then changes his mind it's going to feel like all of that (and it's quite a task) is for nothing.

If he works 2-3 days a week is it that earth shattering enough to validate moving? Daycare very expensive and the toddler might be better taken care of the grandparents to save money.

[msRB311]

People are saying buy a smaller house. I mean with 550k you ARE already going to get a smaller house.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by msRB311

People are saying buy a smaller house. I mean with 550k you ARE already going to get a smaller house.

Depends on the town. That will still buy a pretty nice house in areas of the state, only he will be driving a LOT further. He needs to pick his poison. I'm generally for keeping the commute as short as possible, but in the case of 2-3 days a week coming in from the Worcester area wouldn't be the end of the world imo. If that was 5 days a week, I would give a hard NO. Having the grandparents around for childcare is HUGE.

[BosYuppie]

Ditch your cars, buy a condo on the T for 550. Wait a couple years, sell it and you will probably net 200-300K back, with which to buy a house closer to your dream.

There's a lot of neighborhoods I'd be comfortable to have my toddler in for a few years. I'm not as concerned about school system quality til we get to about Junior High.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by scorpio516

If he's working in cambridge, unless he's married to driving, look north of rte 9. Start a rte 2 and go north.

You used to be able to find something nice in Littleton, but right now there is nothing for sale below $550 there (there's one house listed at $550,000).

If he's close to North Station, it's a 45 minute ride from Lowell to North Station.

That area of 495 is brutal right now. Even the better abutting 190 towns (e.g., Lancaster, Sterling) are approaching $450-500K for newer well appointed 3-4bd/2+ba SFHs.

Harvard, Littleton, Boxboro, Stow? Forget it ... unless you're cash heavy and willing to offer well above $600K. I have multiple coworkers currently targeting these towns and, despite targeting <2000sqft dated builds and having extremely favorable capital/lender positions, they cannot land home with $630-660K offers on $580-600K listings. Valuations have exploded with low inventory/rates.

edit: I agree with the above poster. Prices right now seem softer in Boston metro (context required) than the desirable 'burbs which are up 10-15%+ in the past 18 months. I'd also consider a condo with the intent of flipping into a SFH if shortening the commute is paramount.

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by BosYuppie

Ditch your cars, buy a condo on the T for 550. Wait a couple years, sell it and you will probably net 200-300K back, with which to buy a house closer to your dream.

To say that's optimistic is an understatement. NOBODY should bet on getting anything "back" in that short a time span. Buying in the already overpriced Boston market (condos maybe even more so), expect to be there 5-10 years minimum.