2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston: seafood, wholesale, secondary)

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

By paying $46 for a lobster roll, your husband set the tone for high prices later on. I would never pay that much for a lobster roll. People with less incomes cannot afford $46 for a lobster roll and that's not right.

I'll slap him on the wrist for that. I don't like lobster rolls so I am not part of that problem.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by wolfgang239

At least they probably stayed at mom and dad's place, takes the sting off the prices.

You got that right.

[UNC4Me]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

By paying $46 for a lobster roll, your husband set the tone for high prices later on. I would never pay that much for a lobster roll. People with less incomes cannot afford $46 for a lobster roll and that's not right.

$46 is ridiculous! By the time my kids want to buy a lobster roll it’ll cost $100. They’ll have to split it with a couple friends since there’s no way they’ll ever be able to afford their own lobster roll. The high earners in MA are ruining the lobster roll market for everyone.

[id77]

Originally Posted by massnative71

Not so sure about this. If the inventory increased to normal levels again, the second quintile would once again have options left. The fact that that top quintile is gobbling up both the desirable and less desirable properties, is only the result of a rare set of circumstances that are most likely temporary.

Indeed, which is why I called out inventory as an "especially" factor right now, though ... around here it's been a temporary and rare set of circumstances going on 10+ years.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by lrfox

My quick check of Airbnb and VRBO shows more availability and prices that look better than what I saw last year (though certainly not "cheap").

I'm sure there are a number of factors, prohibitive prices being one of them. It's stupid expensive to go to the Cape right now. I've said for years that it's often cheaper to go to Europe for a week than do a week on the Cape. We're doing 5 days in Ireland this August and flights + hotel + car are cheaper than a halfway decent 5 day rental would be almost anywhere we'd want to go on the Cape - we looked and compared. It's a no-brainer as far as I'm concerned. I'm willing to bet that with COVID restrictions going away around the world, more people are traveling further so the demand for the Cape just isn't what it was in 2021 and 2022. It's a pretty natural shift and one I think that many people had predicted (the other side of the coin is that air travel is hot this summer).

Personally, I wonder how many people bought homes in vacation areas in 2020 and 2021 with the intention of living there full time or most of the time and are now in positions where they can't do that? It would make sense that if that's the case, they'd make those places available for renters. It's possible there could just be a glut of rentals right now.

I noticed that there was a house one street over from my parents that a young couple bought for about 1.2 million during the pandemic. About two years later they sold it for 1.5M. Maybe they had to go back to the office. They tried to get 1.6M for it but they still did ok I'd say.

[bostongymjunkie]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

By paying $46 for a lobster roll, your husband set the tone for high prices later on. I would never pay that much for a lobster roll. People with less incomes cannot afford $46 for a lobster roll and that's not right.

I'm with you on this. Outrageous.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by UNC4Me

$46 is ridiculous! By the time my kids want to buy a lobster roll it’ll cost $100. They’ll have to split it with a couple friends since there’s no way they’ll ever be able to afford their own lobster roll. The high earners in MA are ruining the lobster roll market for everyone.

you got that right.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

By paying $46 for a lobster roll, your husband set the tone for high prices later on. I would never pay that much for a lobster roll. People with less incomes cannot afford $46 for a lobster roll and that's not right.

Lobster rolls were $50 in Maine last summer.

[msRB311]

Wouldn't you think they would be cheaper in Maine given that they apparently have more lobsters than many other places?

We were at CBI so I'd expect things to cost more there...but can't quite wrap my head around why they'd cost so much in ME unless it was at some fancy resort. Not that the cape doesn't have lobster. Again a lot of it comes back to greed I say.

https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/...on-everything/

It's funny how common things that people are enjoy are so out of control when it comes to pricing. Ice cream? BS.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by id77

Indeed, which is why I called out inventory as an "especially" factor right now, though ... around here it's been a temporary and rare set of circumstances going on 10+ years.

10+ years? I think not.

People would kill to go back to the 2013 market.