2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Billerica, Burlington: credit, school district, colleges)

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

Four Waltham High grads from the same year got accepted? Link to the article?

Five not four.
https://www.wcac.org/news/whs-seniors-bound-for-harvard

[msRB311]

All girls too

[GeoffD]

Off topic from college admissions by town...


I just got my property tax bill. The mill rate went down to $8.78 per thousand. The fire district tax is another $0.39. My year-over-year property tax bill went down a bit even thought the assessment went up some. Proposition 2 1/2 is a wonderful thing. I presume the oceanfront and gated summer community property had big increases.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Off topic from college admissions by town...


I just got my property tax bill. The mill rate went down to $8.78 per thousand. The fire district tax is another $0.39. My year-over-year property tax bill went down a bit even thought the assessment went up some. Proposition 2 1/2 is a wonderful thing. I presume the oceanfront and gated summer community property had big increases.

My town does not have fire district tax etc.
The assessment value increased 12% and the property tax increased accordingly.

[MtPleasantDream]

What’s wrong with this house? The price is… hard to understand
https://redf.in/Hr17fW

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

What’s wrong with this house? The price is… hard to understand
https://redf.in/Hr17fW

Not really. Just put in with either an error, or that's the monthly rent. Most likely the rent and a box was checked off wrong.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

What’s wrong with this house? The price is… hard to understand
https://redf.in/Hr17fW

That sounds about right for rent for a single family of that size. Maybe even a little low to try to attract a family versus a less stable roommate situation.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

It's likely advantageous to be a smart student in a lower performing (but not horrible and underresourced) school district for college admissions. Everyone (exaggeration) in Lexington, Newton and Brookline are aiming for Harvard, MIT, BU, Northeastern, etc. There's less competition at a school like Waltham High for a student who is motivated and has involved parents.

It's not a horrible school and has honors and AP classes, but has a very different demographic and socioeconomic reality to the "best" districts in Massachusetts. In Lexington, almost all of the parents are college educated. You're just not going to see the same results in schools where a high percentage of students would be first generation college students should they choose to go. Both Bentley and Brandeis offer full scholarships to a handful of students each year, not to mention additional students who attend. Both schools have partnerships with Waltham schools to bring additional educational and research opportunities that most people wouldn't get (without a lot of legwork) in other districts.

Schools are also a lagging indicator. Many successful young professionals chose places like Waltham and Maynard in recent years because they were more affordable but provided reasonable commutes to areas with concentrated jobs. With Waltham in particular, there's no real reverse commute!

Waltham has not been a low income community for a long time. As I look to move closer to work for a year or two, Waltham is on my list and I was shocked to see that most 2 bedrooms or 1 bed+den/office are starting at close to $2700-3000 a month. My 4 bed/1.5 bath townhouse with a yard and ample parking cost significantly less than that a decade ago!

Are BU and Northeastern almost as prestigious as Harvard and MIT now? There were at least 3 kids in my 4/10 rated high school who got into those schools over 20 years ago. How things have changed!

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by MtPleasantDream

Five not four.
https://www.wcac.org/news/whs-seniors-bound-for-harvard

Very impressive!

Here is a published list of where Lexington High School seniors class of 2021 are headed to college. I have not done a search for other high schools for comparison, but here I count at least 24 headed to the Ivy League and a number going to very good schools (no, not BU or Northeastern).

https://lhsmusket.com/wp-content/upl...stinations.pdf

I'm not sure that it's a disadvantage to being good, but not great, in a top school district. And for better or worse, you get a stronger peer group.

[msRB311]

I know of two people who got into Harvard this past year and one of the moms told me what really helped was the fact that the SAT was waived because of covid. Apparently her son's scores weren't good.