2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Burlington, Acton: co-op, transport, food)

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

That's not an SFH. That's a townhome. SFH is SFH.

a townhome is a SFH home. Thats the rule.


Via Rocket Mortgage
The U.S. Census Bureau, for example, includes certain attached dwellings, such as townhouses, in its definition of “single-family house,” as long as these dwellings are separated by a ground-to-roof wall.

SFH detached is what your referring to.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

That's not an SFH. That's a townhome. SFH is SFH.

Right, why not just accept that there can be towns that exist that don't have these compact apts/condos/townhomes shoved together. There are some towns that make sense for that to happen but certainly not everywhere.

Some of you are acting like all of MA has just SFH sitting on these big plots of land. That isn't the case everywhere especially as you get closer to the city. I grew up in milton in a neighborhood that had lots of homes on it close together.

I really don't think adding additional town homes will enable there to be a significant drop in SFHs.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by Lampert

108,000 is not upper middle class anymore it's middle of the road. in MA that puts you between Lynnfield and Littleton. Nothing bad but not something to brag about I would say.

According to point2homes, the median household income of Littleton is $140,511, and Lynnfield $147,237.

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

According to point2homes, the median household income of Littleton is $140,511, and Lynnfield $147,237.

I just checked on wikipedia. They are probably outdated, even worse.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by Lampert

I just checked on wikipedia. They are probably outdated, even worse.

Those are straight out of the census data.

https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ly...pmassachusetts

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

requires building shtt ton.


affordable housing is what gets built instead. You can create 500k units directly rather than rely ing on building a ton.

What you want is a few 500k homes to be built market rate- its impossible.

Deed restricted affordable housing solves a different problem. Specifically, "a small handful of people would like better housing than they can afford at market rates". Depending on how you pick the small handful of people, it may be able to solve other problems as well.

"Building a ton" solves the problem of housing being too expensive.

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

The commuter rails should be used more. Maybe most people just need to change their habit.

I know a European woman who also lived in Japan. She takes the train from Boston to Lowell to work every day, although she has a car. She just thinks taking the train makes more sense. Most people (including myself) won't think like her because of the car culture.

People don't just change habits for no reason. They make reasonable decisions. If the commuter rail become better than driving, people would use it. There's a lot of ways to make that happen, but simply suggesting that people use the commuter rail probably won't move the needle at all.

[UNC4Me]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Deed restricted affordable housing solves a different problem. Specifically, "a small handful of people would like better housing than they can afford at market rates". Depending on how you pick the small handful of people, it may be able to solve other problems as well.

"Building a ton" solves the problem of housing being too expensive.



People don't just change habits for no reason. They make reasonable decisions. If the commuter rail become better than driving, people would use it. There's a lot of ways to make that happen, but simply suggesting that people use the commuter rail probably won't move the needle at all.

My daughter and SIL think the commuter rail where they live is great. They can get to South Station in about 30 minutes. Or they can take the commuter ferry to the Seaport and it’s about the same amount of time. Their walks from either to their offices is about 7-8 minutes. They have 2 cars, but SIL drove in one time and said never again.

I guess some won’t be happy unless mass transit picks them up at their front door and drops them in front of their office building, but others are happy not to have to fight traffic.

[yesmaybe]

https://www.redfin.com/MA/Acton/2-To.../home/11364836

You want affordable housing? Well.. this is the cheapest unit sold in the last 7 days that you could conceivably commute from - a condo in Acton. Just 159k albeit a $395 CF.

Bonus: Sellers claim that the tenant's been there 20 years and is currently paying $1500.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by bricka

who cares?

obviously the poster is referring to knowledge workers. pointing out that most jobs cannot be done remotely adds nothing to the conversation. ya... we got it, people have to physically make/do things. everyone above the age of 9 understands this, and yet no one cares.

Uhh I was replying to his post that said "I think it's a shame that so many work places are apparently not allowing people to WFH. I guess the people making these rules don't give a crap about the environment either. Sad. So many good things could have come out of people being remote."

And what exactly did your post add to the conversation?

[matrix5k]

Here is a fun listing. HOA is $1,028/mo for a 250k unit. This has to be a typo?? That's nearly as much as the mortgage. I would expect HOA to be around $250-300 in this price range.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...ource=txtshare