Like he** I'm going to pay these prices! (Boston, Springfield: eviction, brokers)

[OutdoorLover]

Unless you either (1) Bought back when prices were reasonable in this area and have ridden the runup for the equity increase or (2) Make a lot of money now, the cost of housing in this area is challenging, there's no doubt about it.

[KemBro71]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

If there are nice lofts then I haven't seen any recently. The commute would be great, and I don't currently have to worry about school districts. Having grown up in Boston, I'm also not too too worried about crime or prettiness though I would maybe worry about having people over.

But I look and see places like these:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...72911691_zpid/
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...59234773_zpid/

Which I still think are too expensive for what I'd be getting.

There are the lofts in and around the Pacific Mills near the No. Andover line. I don't know if they have ones for sale or if they are all rentals. They're also near the multimodal garage and the CR stop.

Having grown up there, I'd have to admit that I'm not sure that even a huge rising tide would life Lawrence's boat but think of it this way. If an average first time homebuyer stays less than 7 years, are you likely to start a family NOW so that the kid(s) would be in school before you move? Probably not.

[KemBro71]

Originally Posted by Urban Peasant

I've ridden the 450 bus before. It seems convenient because it picks up right in the neighborhood but it is a very long ride into Boston. During this pandemic, traffic may be lighter but during normal times, the jams on Route 1A and the tunnels during rush hour can be so bad you'd think you were in LA or New York.

Lynn to Andover could be a cluster-eff, just getting out of Lynn and then what...114? Oof

[chicagoliz]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

You're right about the laundry! The wording in the description was a little confusing. I reached the point where it said that the property was valued at 150k and lost my sh**.

I disagree that it'd be good for a couple, however, or at least one with kids. Unless it was a stepping stool before eventually moving to a better school district.

I agree it would not be good for a family with kids, which is why I said it would be good for a single person or a couple. When you add in kids, that is more than a couple.

When I said a couple, I meant two people who would sleep in the same bedroom, and would be ok with sharing a lot of personal space, like a bed and a bathroom. I don't think it would work for two independent single people who were not a couple. A couple can often get by in not much more space than a single person unless they have some particular needs like a work from home space or an art or music studio or a hobby that required large spaces like woodworking or car restoration or something like that.

[Urban Peasant]

I'm in a similar boat as the OP, typing this post away while sitting in the same bedroom I slept in when I was in high school. I had moved back in with my folks right before the pandemic after some years renting north of the city. I thought I could quickly shop for a house or condo to buy but that did not turn out to be the case and major reasons were supply and prices. The OP is absolutely right, the prices in Greater Boston are disgustingly expensive. I grew up in Boston and I can remember 25 years ago, $250K could buy you a house on Moss Hill, Jamaica Plain where big time attorneys and medical practitioners lived. Half a million dollars could buy you a mansion. There is no excuse for Boston really. One should NOT be paying $250K for a 1 bedroom condo in a crummy neighborhood. This region failed to plan for a population boom, it failed to build the needed housing to fit the population, it failed to invest in necessary public transit that could have connected so many places to the city, and it failed to save the middle class from being priced out. We Bostonians used to make fun of New York for being overly expensive, not anymore. I suppose if and when we build super high speed rail, then perhaps I can move west, as far west as Buffalo maybe where homes cost the prices they ought to cost, and still work in Boston.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

You're right about the laundry! The wording in the description was a little confusing. I reached the point where it said that the property was valued at 150k and lost my sh**.

I disagree that it'd be good for a couple, however, or at least one with kids. Unless it was a stepping stool before eventually moving to a better school district.

Tax assessment and market value are two entirely different things. My house has been assessed at less than what it's worth the entire time I've owned it. This is a POSITIVE thing. If your assessment matched the value of your property then you'd be paying more in taxes.

Bottom line . . . don't get bent out of shape because the assessment is much lower than the asking price.

Also, don't get upset by what other people paid for their property X years ago. We all wish we could pay what everyone was paying in the 1920's but the market is what it is. I also wish I could pay for my groceries what they used to charge years ago.

[Boston Shudra]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

Tax assessment and market value are two entirely different things. My house has been assessed at less than what it's worth the entire time I've owned it. This is a POSITIVE thing. If your assessment matched the value of your property then you'd be paying more in taxes.

Not exactly. Take this property for example:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...06142511_zpid/

It's listed for $449,900, and is assessed for $366,500. The difference between the listed price and the assessed price is $83,400.

Per the tax history section on Zillow, in 2020 it was assessed for $307,000 and the property tax came to $4,175. Assuming a linear relationship between value and taxation, that means it will be $4,984 when assessed at $366,500. If it were assessed at $449,900, the property taxes using the same relationship would come to $6,118. That means, the buyer of this property will be saving $1,134 per year because of the difference in tax assessment and actual value.

Assuming the difference in value between the assessed and listed price stays the same and the tax rate in Haverhill stays the same, it will be ~74 years before the buyer makes up the $83,400 in tax savings.

Originally Posted by MikePRU

We all wish we could pay what everyone was paying in the 1920's but the market is what it is.

This isn't a matter of inflation. The cost of building a triple decker in 1920 is not equivalent to the $1.5M the same triple decker is being sold for today in Somerville!

[Lampert]

Definitely stay with your parents. I lived with my parents as long as I lived in the same country.
It was great, my little income was completely savings and disposable. I wish they moved in with me now lol.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

Not exactly. Take this property for example:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5...06142511_zpid/

It's listed for $449,900, and is assessed for $366,500. The difference between the listed price and the assessed price is $83,400.

Per the tax history section on Zillow, in 2020 it was assessed for $307,000 and the property tax came to $4,175. Assuming a linear relationship between value and taxation, that means it will be $4,984 when assessed at $366,500. If it were assessed at $449,900, the property taxes using the same relationship would come to $6,118. That means, the buyer of this property will be saving $1,134 per year because of the difference in tax assessment and actual value.

Assuming the difference in value between the assessed and listed price stays the same and the tax rate in Haverhill stays the same, it will be ~74 years before the buyer makes up the $83,400 in tax savings.

Again, you are trying to connect two data points which are not even on the same planet. Your tax assessment is your tax assessment. The market value is the market value. One impacts how much you pay in taxes. One impacts what you can buy/sell the property for. Stop trying to connect them and you will stop feeling like you're banging your head against the wall. It's like you're trying to judge a car by how tasty your pancakes were this morning. One has nothing to do with the other.

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

This isn't a matter of inflation. The cost of building a triple decker in 1920 is not equivalent to the $1.5M the same triple decker is being sold for today in Somerville!

Again, you're trying to judge the worth of a property by a metric that is not commonly accepted in the marketplace. Cost to build is irrelevant when discussing the market value of a property. The only thing that determines the value of a property (government regulations on the market aside) is what the average person is willing to pay.

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by Boston Shudra

I've been living at home for about a year and a half now. At first it was to save money while I looked for a job. Then soon after finding one, the pandemic hit, and I figured it'd be good to hunker down where I was. Now, I'm starting to look around again and seeing the options available to me feels like hearing the punchline of a sick and twisted joke.

I really don't want to rent for a few reasons. For one, I feel like I'm going to be in the area for the foreseeable future. So why not buy a place that I can sell back later on? For another, paying rent feels like throwing money into the wind. The last thing I want to do is pay some unemployed shmuk tens of thousands of dollars a year for a single room in the working-class housing that his grandparents built a century ago before the Fair Labor Standards Act for peanuts and pocket change.

So, I'm looking around at condos for sale on Zillow (I like the idea of a condo over a house because I don't need the space and they seem to require less upkeep), and all I'm seeing are places like this:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6...56073292_zpid/

Like, are you KIDDING ME?! Not only does it seem to lack any modern amenities (in-unit laundry, central air, etc.), it's assessed value is 146k compared to the asking price of 280k and it sold for 135k in 2017! It's in Lynn, and the nearest schools are all ranked abysmally. It's MILES from downtown, and not even a very comfortable walk to the Swampscott commuter rail station.

Or take this one in Somerville. Remember that "working class housing built for peanuts and pocket change" I mentioned earlier?

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2...13388443_zpid/

At least this one has central air, but OVER HALF A MILLION!? For 875 SQUARE FEET!? It sold for just 285k in 2011!

And these last 2 examples aren't the exception to the rule. I practically just picked two listings at random!

Best option I can see for myself at this point is to continue living with my parents for 3-5 years and pray I can find a job somewhere else in the country where I won't be spending my entire income to be able to live in a shack. Doing so means that I'll have to put off any thoughts of getting married or having kids for that duration. I can't believe that people find the state of affairs in the area acceptable. It's a disgrace!

Your like the same age as me if I remember correctly.

Boston is cool and all. But for someone in their 20s? Get out. I moved out to far better places. Find a city nearby like NY DC PHL CHI HRT PVD any of them... They all have good jobs and you can save money and invest in good property. I haven't bought yet, but probably will in 2-3 years.

Leaving MA was the best thing I did financially. My rent is 40% lower for MUCH better quality and if I want to buy a condo (I'm like you, no yard needed) I can in a decent area under 250k. My budget would be like 200k.


.. oh and I live 8 miles to Nyc.

I'm not sure why Boston and around is SO expensive and there really isn't any relief in the hinterland. It's absymal quality for insane prices .. I understand there's good jobs, but no city warrants the prices in Eastern MA. Boston is easily the most overpriced metro for it's offerings. There's like 4 condos under 250k within 45 mins of Boston that are over 800sqft. It's quite disgusting.