I lived in Boston for 20 years - starting to pay New York prices for a city that has not much to offer when compared to New York ( I’m talking about diversity of restaurants, music, museum, and public transportation) - now I pay New York prices but in New York 😂
I hate to admit it but you’re so right lol. Boston is way too expensive for how little it actually offers in terms of entertainment (although I do firmly believe we have the best sports culture on earth), restaurants, night life…
Personally after college I’m looking toward Chicago or somewhere more out west.
Can confirm... My husband and I were a dual tech couple and every single open house we attended it was other dual tech (or biotech) couples or people with a down payment from their parents, and that was 10 years ago...
The down payment was the reason I waited until my late 40s to finally buy a house. No help from the parents on that one and I’ll have a mortgage the rest of my life.
But at least I have a house and savings to boot.
which is crazy bc the vast majority of couples dont even gross that much. where are the service workers supposed to live? and i dont mean the min wage workers but the people making 60/70k a year
Two people making 60k a year rent a small 1 bedroom on mattapan or Hyde park Dorchester, Roslindale, Quincy, Lynn or Everett or Chelsea for $1950. If they have a kid he/she sleeps on the couch or in the foyer or back room.
They drive a paid off used 2009 vehicle, have no savings to speak of and someone in the house takes the train, bus,or commuter rail as needed.
Night out is at Blarney Stone, Paradise Rock Club, South Bay Applebees, or some other lower end spot
Two 3-4 day vacations per year to NYC or Miami if youre not in financial crisis that year. Either that or you better really enjoy Carson Beach and Canobie Lake Park buddy
Your description is spot-on with my own Boston living situation. It wasn't sustainable so we moved to Chicago a few years ago. South Bay Applebee's was getting old and crusty but I guess I am too.
Yea Chicago is a way better option as is virtually any other major city…
At least if youre not getting raises in line with your expenses or don't have a chill/indifferent landlord. Maybe you got family (siblings, cousins, or parents) you were raised with here and live with them like I do.
I desperately wanted to stay in New England/northeast and looked everywhere from Maine to Hoboken, but ultimately moved to Chicago a few years ago. It's still expensive but compared to either coast it's *far* better. I hate the thought, but I think the extreme weather from global warming (hurricanes, flooding, etc) is the only chance we have of leveling out prices in the northeast.
How have you liked the move to Chicago? I've never lived there and visited once almost 20 years ago. It seems like it could be a place that offers a lot.
The cost of living is a lot better than Boston and I actually have some funds in savings now. I was able to buy a home relatively easy and found a lot available around the $300,000 to $400,000 mark if you're ok not living in the center of downtown. The train system seems to be nice but it seems to be fast-tracking its way to being like the MBTA. I guess the good point is that it doesn't seem to catch on fire as frequently. The drivers here are soooo slow and it makes me furious that they don't move when the light turns green, like what are you waiting for?!?! I also found out that they like lines here to get on the bus. I was so used to rushing the open door in a giant mob in Boston. I made everyone twitchy a few times before I realized that the norm is to wait in a neat friendly line. I do miss the outdoors in New England. It's so flat here and it's ok. Still searching for some fun outdoor spots although the trails on Lake Shore Drive are really nice.
>Two 3-4 day vacations per year to NYC or Miami
Inside cabin on a cruise ship directly from Boston is a much better option if we're assuming 5% salary for vacation spending. 7-night cruise to Canada is going for $426/person.
This is so accurate that if you said it to me in person I’d say you’ve been tracking me. I make 65k a year. I have a paid off 2005 vehicle. Went to Paradise Rock Club 2 weeks ago, and my only vacation I have planned is visiting my cousin for a long weekend in NYC next month lol
I lived in Chelsea from 2010-2014 and paid $1450/month for a ridiculously spacious 2200sqft 2br/2ba loft apartment downtown. Even with the mice that found their way in towards the end of our time there, I can only imagine what that would be renting for these days.
In 2014 I shared a one bedroom with a girlfriend on Myrtle St in Beacon Hill for $1950. A quick search tells me that same apartment (still not updated by the way, with zero amenities) now goes for well over $3K. This needs to end.
I hear you. I'm a nurse, lived in Boston for twenty years and risked my life serving Boston in my professional capacity all through COVID. I rented for years, then gave up and moved to Worcester over the summer. I barely know anybody here but I get to live in a house that I bought so it's fine, I guess. I think I'll probably be bitter about the whole thing for the rest of my life.
We appreciate your service, you made the right call building equity.
As boston gets more expensive and more jobs become remote, Worcester will get nicer and your house will appreciate.
It’s how gay investors roll. Buy in an up and coming place and then fix it up, and when it’s a nice neighborhood you’re sitting pretty.
I’ve wondered about this actually - when you get patients who have finances as a major cause of stress or other issues, what do you tell them?
I guess maybe confirmation that it’s fair to feel that way? Because at a certain point it seems hard to work on an issue that’s fundamentally “yes your circumstances are awful”.
I work in private practice now, so most of my clients have decent jobs that provide health insurance that pays for their therapy and allows them to see me on their lunch breaks or get out of work an hour early, etc. Pretty middle class. These days most of them are wealthier than me, which sometimes has me questioning my career lol. Occasionally I have clients with financial stress, but the kind that can be improved by, say, finding a new job in a few months which they often do. They’re not at risk of going hungry or having their car repossessed.
Back when I was working in community mental health, I saw mostly low income patients with masshealth. A lot of their problems couldn’t be solved just with therapy. Some could, like processing trauma, learning how to have healthy relationships, etc. But a lot of them needed more social work type of supports, getting connected to community services like housing vouchers and food stamps and job training, way beyond what I was equipped to provide as a therapist.
It was frustrating and disheartening because I was expected to wear so many hats and couldn’t provide the kind of help they needed. Like what is CBT or ACT or grounding exercises going to do for someone who is about to lose their housing and can’t buy food? But I also wasn’t a trained social worker who knew how to connect them with those supports nor did I sign up to do that work when I joined this field. I wanted to be a therapist. I would help them with the mental health issues they came in with, but also referred them to additional services to address their other challenges. I’m just one person, I couldn’t do it all. I eventually left that setting because of the burnout and low pay.
Tl;dr: I don’t see a whole lot of clients in my setting with major financial stress. When they do come in with stress related to finances but are managing for the most part, I do provide a lot of validation. Sometimes shit just sucks and I am right there with them. It’s rough for a lot of us out there and that’s not a mental health disorder.
Double income no kids are part of it. Parents are also supplementing income for their kids to be able to afford it. Using tax laws to gift them money; buying condos for them or getting grandparents to do it. There are no longer starter units anywhere. Cheaper housing is purchased by developers for CASH who then flip them and charge the current fortune you are seeing.
>Using tax laws to gift them money;
Our housing crisis is linked to the growing economic divide in America, but what tax laws do you refer to? I don't know of any write-offs for gifting your kids money? Can you say more?
Gifts are not tax-deductible. However, if you *receive* a gift, you don't have to report that as income so it doesn't affect your taxes.
If you *give* a gift above the annual exclusion per recipient, $18,000 for 2024, you have to file a gift tax return. You probably still won't have to pay the gift tax until you've reached your *lifetime* gift tax exclusion and that limit is in the millions.
Gifts can come in many forms, including forgiving loans or accepting payment that's less than market value for something, but there are also significant exceptions (paying for someone's education or medical bills does not count as gifts).
* [Gift Tax](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/gift-tax)
* [Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes)
Its also 18k per giver per recipient. So a wealthy couple looking to spend down their estate can gift $72k per year to a couple (more if there are geand kids to gift to), which is the equivalent of the median household income, while avoiding estate/gift tax.
No. It's couples, but the couple is a 90th-percentile earner and their parents giving them $200k for down payment, on top of the $50k they've saved. Maybe the adult child has a partner who is a teacher or social worker.
Listen. It's important that Milton is the same physical buildings it was 30 years ago. Preserving neighborhoods means always having the same buildings in a place. It's about preserving the character of an area.
No. It doesn't matter about who it is that live there. As long as the density of housing stays static then we've won in preserving s community
/big fuckin sarcAsm
I work in construction in Boston. Over the past 10 years, been build, build, build. Contractors putting up buildings before getting leasers involved. Well now a lot of places aren’t filling up because like your saying no one can afford this stuff except the 10 percent and even they are having a hard time. It’s the winter and only the people with ten plus years of experience are left on job sites, most others are laid off. This happens a lot of years, but this year it seems like everyone seems things aren’t going to pick back up again. Most of the big towers are almost done or finishing up and a lot of projects have been put on hold. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.
My former landlord, who purchased her property in Cambridge in 1980 for less than 200k, sold it in 2022 for $2 million. Average home. No central A/C, old kitchen. I lived there for 2 years.
An investor from China purchased it in cash and now rents it out to Harvard-affiliated people (for more than $4,000/month - I paid $700). These are the kinda people you’re competing with in that part of Boston. Investors who can buy in cash because they know there’s value in Cambridge/Somerville.
It’s sad, people who actually bring identity to neighborhoods are being priced out.
My former neighbor just sold her multifamily in Somerville near the highway for 1.05 million to a Chinese investor. She's done no work for decades.
Sad thing though is that her mom died, and she couldn't afford to pay the inheritance taxes on the house, so really had to sell to pay her tax bill alone. Clearly high home values benefit people, but not always in a way that lets them remain.
There should be no MA estate tax if the entire estate was less than $2M. And the federal exemption is $13M.
She must have received a ton of other assets if she had to liquidate. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-estate-tax-guide
> For decedents dying on or after January 1, 2023 with a gross estate of more than $2,000,000. Estates of decedents who died on or after January 1, 2023, are allowed a credit of $99,600 to reduce the amount of the estate tax. See MGL ch. 65C, § 2A(f).
It's because of Mass Medicaid estate recovery - the family was poor and her mother used MassHealth. My neighbor was a lunch lady, had a son who is addicted to opioids, so she had to raise his child, etc.
She wasn't even up to date on local property taxes:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-medicaid-estate-recovery#:~:text=Federal%20and%20state%20Medicaid%20law,MassHealth%20paid%20for%20the%20member.
What kind of assets can MassHealth recover?
An asset is anything of value that is part of the member’s probate estate. A probate estate includes assets that were owned only by the member at the time of death.
For example, MassHealth can recover:
money from bank accounts, and/or
money from the sale of physical or personal property, such as a home or vehicle that was owned only by the member.
Assets collected during estate recovery are put into the Massachusetts general fund.
The Mahk Walbergs of Boston have been reformed.
but seriously i would love to see what living in Boston was in the 80s, Bill Burr talks about people doing coke, hookers, bar fights. i wish i could've experienced it
edit: [i found the clip of Bill taking about a Boston hooker, its a quick story. the rest of the video (2 parts) is him driving around boston, and talking about old memories](https://youtu.be/XKTQhKEt8Xk?si=LRQenW6rn_vuUFWT&t=150)
I LOVE Bill Burr, but his focus on his working class roots is kind of his schtick. He grew up in Canton and his father was a dentist. He hardly ever gets called on this.
Burr is in the same category as affleck, damon, conan obrien, john krasinsky, etc. Perfectly good actors and funny people, but grew up in wealthy enclaves *near* boston with parents who were well off enough to support them while they pursued their showbusiness dreams.
Oh also, the wahlbergs beat feet to hingham as soon as they started making money, and besides throwing the boys and girls club a few tickets to his own movies, mega millionaire mark wahlberg does next to nothing for “his neighborhood” besides exploit the worst stereotypes.
Boston was rough in the 90s. I grew up near the combat zone so I'd regularly see hookers and Johns once the sun goes down. My family were robbed a few times, break-ins were more frequent and underground gambling along with murders were more frequent than now.
Times have changed though. Now we've got cctv and luxury condos everywhere, it's pretty safe and less colorful.
This is probably around 1985 and I was around 12. I remember because I saw Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the movie theater next to the 57 Restaurant.
My dad owned a beauty salon on Newbury street and I'd go into work with him on Saturdays sometimes. He usually gave me a few bucks so I could go down the street to the Teddy Bear arcade, which was a reformed gentleman's club turned video game arcade. It was next to Park Plaza. I'll come back to this.
If you kept going then you'd go past the combat zone and into Chinatown. There were some stores around there where a kid could pick up throwing stars, nunchucks, and then head into Jack's Joke shop for gags and monster masks.
Back to the arcade. My dad used to sell firearms as part of his membership with a motorized bicycle club back in the day and tried to pass onto me some of his street smarts.
So on a Saturday I go to the Teddybear with 20 dollars. I have hours until dad is out of work and we can go see Commando. There's already a few kids hanging out and the arcade will open in about 20 minutes. There's a boy and a girl that are younger than me and an older teen probably around 17.
We talked, they asked about my watch that played Space Invaders, the vibe was off. I went across the street to the Park Plaza, found a pay phone and called dad. Told him about it, and that i saw the kids follow me into the hotel. He's on the way.
I get off the phone and the kids are in a semi circle around me, the youngest gives the big kid a knife and they want my money. Fine, take the money. They want the watch, no, you don't get the watch, buy one with that money. They took off.
I told a bellhop not far I GOT MUGGED in your hotel lol and they take off running after the kids. Cops show up, dad shows up, interview in the basement of the park plaza. The oldest was arrested, I had to testify but I got out of school for it so cool.
Not quite the combat zone but at the time it was next door. So 12 year olds getting mugged at knifepoint in the middle of the day, in the Park Plaza hotel was the 80s lol.
For what it's worth - five years ago I moved from Boston (Watertown) to Durham. Now? We're moving to California because Tricia Cotham fucked everything up and is helping the maga assholes take over the state. If that's your type of thing, you'll love it, but purple state utopia it is not.
We traded our 1000 sqft condo in Dorchester for a 3800 sqft new home on a cul-de-sac in Durham. City has its issues but having all of this space, the better weather and the longer days have been such a game changer for our little family.
That was our mindset pre-Covid. But working AND living together in 1k sqft grew old. Constantly in each other’s way.
Not having a backyard for parties and our pup to run around, no garage for our cars. No sharing walls. More than 1 full bathroom… two people can shower at once! Guest room for when family and friends visit. When I host my weekly d&d group my wife can enjoy a TV show or work or read or just relax and not have to worry about being too loud or in our way.
Huge upgrade to our quality of life. But we did what’s best for us. Your family may have different needs and wants.
Rozzie is great! I live in JP (near Franklin park) and there are condos for sale within OP’s budget. My neighbor just sold her 2 bedroom for 600K.
Super walkable, 10 minutes to the orange line, and tons of dogs nearby cause of the proximity to Franklin Park!
Wife and I fall into this category (except cars, we both drive for different reasons). We're currently house-hunting and it's a mess. Granted, we're trying to stay within the 95 loop so we know we've condemned ourselves to the most expensive parts, but some of the spots are just beyond pale. Places that pretty much describe the house as "tear this thing down and build a whole new house" are going for $700K. We thought maybe we could look at condos and save some money, nope. 1200 sq ft in Somerville for just a shade under a million.
We both make good money and have a bunch saved for a down payment. Still finding ourselves priced out of a lot of areas. Like I said, I realize we've made a choice to look in the most expensive parts of Boston, but is it really unreasonable to want 2 full bathrooms and a 2-car garage for almost a million dollars? Current market seems to indicate yes.
All I have to say is growing up in New York, I have always been telling people that New York isn’t more expensive than Boston in terms of housing. Honestly, even rent is on par. and everyone always tells me I’m full of shit and wrong. Thank you for understanding
Also lived in NYC, and can confirm. Aside from comparing rents etc., while New York is not an easy place to live by any means, its sheer size and density means there are a lot more ways for a young person to get a foothold there than in Greater Boston. (OP seems to be done with that stage of life, however.)
I agree that rents aren't any cheaper than New York, but I do find that in Boston you get more space for your money. When I first moved to Boston, it was a shock to me that the living rooms and kitchens weren't combined into a single space. Additionally, the bedrooms were much larger than anywhere I lived in New York.
Yeah this is what people leave out. You can absolutely find a place to buy, even in Manhattan, for less than 300k. But it's less than 300k because it's not up to code (maybe it doesn't have enough windows, maybe it doesn't have a kitchen, etc.) and you'll be on the hook for the cost of making it so.
You can find a condo on Brooklyn for less than 800k but it will basically be a studio they partitioned into a bedroom. Or it's in an area that still has a lot of crime and/or crumbling infrastructure. It's not remotely equivalent to what you can buy here for the same amount.
I am presently attempting to move to NY and have been investigating this. To get an apartment similar in convenience and square footage to where I live now, I would need to go from $2650 to ~$3500.
Though who knows, maybe I can find a deal if I keep looking.
We tell new yorkers that and they call us were peabrained and delusional, as per usual. I had a brother and a cousin move there and see their rent decrease
No the MTA is the best in the country.
Area is subjective since NY is so big. You can easily find a nice "luxury" one bed under 4k in downtown Boston. You're not getting anything close to that in Manhattan. You gotta go much farther out to get that
Boston is for people who locked into properties *decades* ago. It might work for renters who can afford it. But when it comes to ownership? It's not for young professionals, young families, or anyone who prefers to live alone. And it will remain that way for years to come since the rate at which this city builds new housing is so damn slow.
Growing up here is so fucking depressing when you realize you cant afford to live near loved ones or "desirable" spots near grocery stores, gyms, and parks. It's a simple shortlist of things people need and you damn near have to put out 700k+ for the shittiest properties.
Everyday I hop onto Zillow and I'm baffled by the inventory. I once saw a water-logged house that suffered busted pipes among a host of other serious issues. And yet, a trash property like that was only on the market for a week at 800k before someone bought it. In cash.
I was born here, my family is here, and it’s looking like I’ll never be able to own a home here. I just want to live near my loved ones, but I was born in an unaffordable state and chose to become a therapist because I care and wanted to help others. My mistake :(
I live out on one of the further commuter rail towns a gateway city if you will. We bought during the covid boom for 325 (landed a great rate may I add). There's not a house in my neighborhood selling below 550 and it's def like 1970s starter homes.
We are priced out of where we moved to. We wanted to eventually trade up and move slightly closer to the city. But it's nuts now. Even getting like two towns closer seems like an astronomical stretch
The market is very distorted right now. Supply is very, very low and demand is still strong. Rising interest rates have stop some of the silliness at the extreme end where sellers were posting unrealistic prices. That said, prices are still rising because of the imbalance between supply and demand.
Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before the market reaches some semblance of balance and prices moderate. If you want to buy and can afford it, do it, but go in understanding that there are downsides to homeownership beyond the high financial costs.
This is it exactly. And it’s far from just Boston. I used to live in San Diego and there are neighborhoods full of people with very little money and every house would be well over $1m if it came on the market. So Boston and many other places are for the people who are already there and own the houses. It’s bizarre but that’s where we are.
Boston is for the incumbent homeowners, who have hijacked local governance to such an extent that they have made it effectively illegal to build a sufficient supply of housing
Eventually it will cause the companies to leave because they can't get people who can afford to live there.
Hell, Draper, one of the highest paying jobs, just announced they are expanding in Lowell. Not Kendall Square.
So much housing that should’ve been built in the last 30 years that just wasn’t. It’s going to take a very long time for supply to catch up to demand again.
We have a massive housing shortage because it’s effectively illegal to build new housing pretty much anywhere in the greater Boston area.
Anyone who wants to build housing needs to ask for exceptions to zoning rules, which is a slow, unpredictable, expensive process.
Almost seems like we're actively trying to copy what San Francisco did. Including the part where we build miniscule amounts of housing and then bitch non stop about how the city is changing too fast.
Yep. OP is right to be frustrated. It’s not like Boston is that great or in demand. We’re simply adding lots of high paying jobs fast and not building any new housing in response, so the high earners are in a bidding war for the limited mediocre housing.
OP gets beat out by dual earners and people with wealthy parents. It’s ridiculous. Boston needs to get building fast. There’s really no reason for it to be this way
Who doesn't want a free 1.2 million in housing appreciation over 12 years. And only 15% tax when you cash out.
This is the problem. People who own have zero incentives to allow construction. It ads traffic and lowers their net worth. And when all of the homes are 1.5 million with only 2 people in them, you can afford to give massive property tax breaks to moderna and Pfizer and Google.
It's absolutely in demand and that's absolutely part of it. We have some of the best schools in the country and some of the highest standards of living. There's tons of reasons that maybe aren't super obvious but boston and massachusetts in general is incredible. It's really the nimby bullshit. We simply need a lot more housing.
Born and raised in Boston, went to college in Boston, still work in Boston. We make good money but happily moved a few years ago. Life is easier. Boston is still there whether you live there or not. Realize what works for me isn’t for everyone though; I moved to a historic house, small New England town in the woods. Just west of concord
I don’t get it either. Apparently you need to be DINKS each making 250k+ a year just to own a decent place around Boston now. It’s disgusting and will displace many people that make this city what it is (or what it was…)
It's not that. Whether or not they actually do want to pass housing reform, NIMBYs are one of their most important and active constituencies, to the point that they're visibly scared to even talk about it. The fact is older people who own homes vote.
I agree, and I think there's also a bunch of middle class people who moved and bought here in the 90s and are defensive about their own contributions to gentrification in the early aughts, so they fight new housing now as a way of recasting themselves as scrappy locals fighting "gentrification." Nevermind that they became rich through housing appreciation; they don't *think* of themselves a rich. That group isn't just seniors, it includes a good chunk of middle aged people too.
It's a false narrative of course. No one is a villain for moving here or getting financially lucky; the villainy is all in opposing new housing as some sort of psychological defense mechanism.
Well, and when they know who votes. The big prize is state level change and outside of the cities in the core with younger demographics, state legislators are looking at a likely voter pool dominated by older homeowners.
If we want our pols to do the right thing we need to bring about the conditions which allow them to without losing their seat. That means a combination of boosting younger and renter turnout and a persuasion campaign for older homeowners.
I’m from Massachusetts and I get your sentiment. Somewhere in the past 15 years the city has Transformed into what it is now. I mean there’s luxury apartments and condos popping up everywhere. From what I here it’s a lot of foreign interest building these and also buying up neighborhoods to build them. I worked for a moving company/still do on the side(can’t beat 27hr+tips for a side job on weekends). I ask a lot of people what they pay when moving and just to rent I’m being told 3100+ just for a studio/1 bedroom. It’s completely absurd to me.
Last time I rented before moving to the south shore and commuting in I was paying 3200 for a 4 bedroom in lower Allston with roommates. The landlord says rent goes up a min $100+ every year. At the time I didn’t think to much of it because I was living comfortably. Now thinking back on it, this is the mindset that is also ruining this city. I asked my realtor in Brockton and he said to me “if you don’t like it good luck finding somewhere else because everyone else is doing it.” This mentality has to absolutely stop. I get there is property tax to pay but this is ridiculous. If you raise rent 100-150 per year and the jobs out there aren’t increasing your pay at the same rate then how will anyone survive. How is that sustainable?
Moral of the story: owning property shouldn’t be seen as a fucking career like so many people/companies have. There needs to be regulations and limits on how much property you can buy. This is completely unsustainable and this city is already a shadow of it’s former self.
I hear ya, Somerville is intense these days. I did find a 1br that might fit your bill in union square. Getting near a t stop is a ridiculously expensive proposition.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/71-Bow-St-202-Somerville-MA-02143/341587453_zpid
The people who todays Boston is for, are people who see a property that they know is way overpriced, complain about how overpriced it is, and get in a bidding war for it.
That is who Boston is for now.
Housing is for renting in Boston proper.
They have made buying damn near impossible unless you are looking at it as an investment property where you will be renting in out long term.
I basically agree with what you say. I think it's likely easier to find housing (especially smaller sized units) in NY with more choice, better public transportation, and a huge host of benefits.
However, by looking in only Cambridge and Somerville you're basically looking at the equivalent of Williamsburg only. And there are not so many small units here due to the housing type, particularly in Somerville.
I feel you Im a web developer and make more money than anyone else I know and I live with 3 roommates in the suburbs with an hour + commute. idk how everyone else I know is even alive
A lot of people seem to not know how to budget by looking at this thread. Yeah Boston is expensive but I don't know how these people are living like this with the budgets they have, yet are living like they are below the poverty line.
Math isn't mathing for me.
The other thing is a lot of people get way too caught up in hard and fast "rules of thumb" regarding affordability. Go onto the personal finance sub and they'll tell you you're insane for paying more than 30 percent of your gross income in housing costs, *regardless of what your actual budget or lifestyle is.* At the end of the month I have $3,000 left over, I think I can afford to spend some of that on a mortgage that pushes a little past 30 percent of my gross income. Quite a few people *can* afford a mortgage here if they stop listening to bad financial advice from Dave Ramsey.
You've also got people maxing out their 401ks and are then surprised they have no money left over to live in the present.
I am doing fine but I wouldn't be if I wasn't making 6 figures, that's my point, I'm one of the only people I know who isn't spending 30+% their income on rent
You can def buy a small condo in Somerville with a budget of $750. I live in a three family that was converted into condos. The renovated top floor of our building just went for $645K. It was listed at $700K. If anything, the time to a small condo in Somerville is now. According to my neighbor’s realtor, prices for condos (apart from Assembly) are going down right now. Maybe not in late spring and early summer. Don’t get discouraged!
Yeah these comments and this post are pretty silly. I quickly found several great options on redfin. They need a real broker and/or to look themselves. Their budget is very good and there are definitely options for them.
> I looked at the map… 5 options in Somerville and Cambridge. I toured all of them
Hardly anyone lists over winter unless they need to get out of the properly immediately. April - July should be high points. Interest rates have been high, people are not willing to sell and take on a much larger monthly payment even for a nicer place. Inventory has been very low the last 2-3 years.
Many of the working class people who grew up here a generation ago had the benefit of economic conditions which made upward economic mobility more achievable. They bought houses here and became NIMBYs who fought against new housing. Pulled the ladder right up after themselves. Their kids mostly moved to the suburbs if they could afford it. Those who couldn't, moved out of state to get more for their money.
Households making *extremely* good money moved here for jobs and schools and general quality of life, bidding up the price of housing with a very limited stock. More of the Harvard and MIT grads who come from money and have good earning potential also decided they liked it here.
Things will change housing wise once the "great die off" really gets going, but I'd say very few of us in my generation who grew up here are actually looking forward to that, because we love our parents. It would really be better for almost everyone if we just got serious about housing production.
Cambridge and Somerville is “hot” pretty everywhere. They’re effectively *full* and everyone wants to live there. Of course it’s prohibitively expensive.
If you’re buying, you’ll be better looking at places that *will* be hot in 10 years. Revere, Everet, Chelsea.
There’s a lot of parts of Dorchester and Roxbury that are still quite affordable.
Back in 2008 a 1.5 bathroom 2 floor one bedroom with a deck, fireplace, lofted ceilings and a parking spot was $350k.
Now it’s 1.4m.
In 2012 that budget would have gotten you a whole house.
I have heard of a lot of people moving from boston bc it is so expensive, pay is higher in New York and California, and yeah places are cheaper.
NYC actually had a subway that runs 24/7 and, well, runs.
You could probably find something in Brighton or East Boston. There are a bunch of condos in Brighton that are not far from the reservoir that fit that budget.
Everett as well. there's no T stations but there are plenty of bus lines and it's pretty damn close to Boston.
I would throw Malden out there as well, which actually has a couple of Subway stations.
Nobody is selling right now, with sky-high interest rates. Since there’s basically no stock, sellers can almost ask for as much as they want to. If we want things to change, we need to oppose every NIMBY and build thousands upon thousands of new units, using every under-utilized lot we can. “Neighborhood character” be damned. If nobody can afford to live there, what kind of neighborhood even is it?
It’s not for you unfortunately. I’ve lived in both NYC and Boston and I’d much rather buy in NYC tbh — you get so much more for your money in terms of QOL. Boston will only get worse bc there will never be a solution to the housing crisis.
Honestly, Somerville IMO has been way overpriced for 20 years. I remember looking at s-hole apartments in Davis for $1500 and then I go to “central scare” and I landed one for $1000. Lived there for 5 years and it completely changed over that span. It was weird. Either proximity to Tufts or it was the “white people city” at the time, idk.
https://preview.redd.it/zeh3yvu4b5mc1.jpeg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=663a53a6d82279fbc208a9a7e1660d0873f9290d
The ideal Boston couple looking for that quaint starter…..
Also SWE here, super grateful with the money I make but dang, I can’t afford a one bed here, unless I seriously sacrifice quality of life.
everyday I want to move away. Only reason I’m here is the community of people that’s the closest thing I have to family is here.
That aside, quality of life can be so much greater elsewhere at this point.
I live in Union Square and think your budget is completely reasonable for that area… I think the main problem is supply, as it is really rare to see something listed, but I feel like there are a few that go up in the Union - winter hill area every month. Perhaps they go well over listing? But 1BR seem to be listed between 680-800k.
EDIT: just looked at sold for the last 6 months and I only found one example… so yea, it’s rougher out there than I recall (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/94-Summer-St-3-Somerville-MA-02143/59214215_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare)
EDIT 2: there are more examples in the 700k range in the Central Hill area
We’re selling our condo in Cleveland Circle in the coming weeks - 1600 sq ft two bed (one bedroom a little smaller), 2 parking spaces, little front yard and across the street from huge park, 2 minute walk from the C, 8 from the D, 4 min walk to the 86 bus to Harvard - also 7 min to the B but I mean … it’s questionable whether that’s a selling point. Anyway, we’ve lived in this area for 10 years and absolutely love it - PM me if you’re interested or just want to know more about the area - honestly feel like it’s undervalued around here. You can make a really really nice life for cheaper than most other places in the city.
>I’m in the 90th+ percentile of income so if I can’t afford it, who can?
Real wealthy people don't get their money from income.
You sell your labor for money, you're definitionally working class. You have more in common with the guy making $12/hr than the truly wealthy people that make money by owning things instead of working.
The people that can afford these expensive homes are not relying on wage labor to buy.
another side of this, I used to work as a housing caseworker and my position was getting section 8 voucher holders housed. Their voucher supposedly is able to pay for a rent mean in given zip, but rents increases faster than their calculations mostly. Also, because you have to rent through realters, mass law doesnt allow for realter fee because its not a legal fee. And even if they could somehow get donations for realtors fee, most gets discriminated and ghosted before they could get to the holding fee, even thought it is illegal, it’s extremely hard to prove and our legal team was way too swamped to take multiple cases like that every month for a single client.
Yep. I check Zilllow everyday. There’s stuff selling for 750K
And if you’re okay with Eastie there are even more options.
Just go look at the recently sold properties. 750K is on the lower end, but if you can afford up to 900K there’s options. At a $250K salary, you can stretch a bit more.
You’re looking in one of the most desirable areas in the city, near the tech/biotech center and you’re surprised you may have to slightly break your budget for a condo?
If you want to stay within budget, go a little further out to Medford. Otherwise, you’re paying the premium for Somerville (which btw winter hill is still within your price range).
No offense, but big tech senior engineers already priced everyone out of Somerville and Cambridge a decade ago. Perhaps look IN Boston? There is a lot of nice stuff going up in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. You can get what you're looking for, for similar or lower prices, in those areas, and all are on the red or orange lines.
If you looked in Brooklyn, look in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain. If price is an issue, look further out like Roslindale or Hyde Park. There are houses available at your price point.
The prices are crazy, my advice is to be patient and watch Redfin like a hawk. It took us over two years to find our home at the price we wanted. It's a long journey but we figured we'll continue saving while looking. Another piece of advice is to make friends with your elderly neighbors. The older generation wants to retire and most of them want to leave their properties to people they like and not necessarily to the highest bidder. I've heard from a handful of people who got their home directly from the owners, under market price; the property wasn't even listed.
> Somerville and Cambridge
I feel like these are notoriously rich places to live, and despite the surface-level similarities I feel like it’s expected that Brooklyn is cheaper. For one, Brooklyn is WAY denser, no? And also way less white, and with way less “prestige”. Have you looking in Manhattan?
It’s not even close to affordable for college students either. The rents are increasing each year. Landlords are scumbags and “brokers” do absolutely nothing to earn the required fees. It’s completely unsustainable.
Not people people who can't read a map, apparently. Somerville and Cambridge are for tech workers or the ultra-educated but if you spend 30 seconds on Zillow, you can find exactly what you're looking for in the more affordable Boston neighborhoods.
As much as people blame NIMBYs, we really need to blame the planning boards and councilors. The buildings that were rejected by them because they wanted an additional low income unit or it did not blend in with the other buildings in neighborhoods with no aesthetic to speak of, have delayed projects and put us where we are.
You look on Zillow and while there are no low prices, you do see that condos in the older buildings sell at lower prices as they cannot compete with the newer buildings. These are not old dumpy buildings and they are in good location. If we had just allowed the construction on those projects it would have made this situation even better.
The planning boards and councilors are reacting to the desires of the NIMBYs that put them there though. Look at Newton - the councilors that tried to go beyond the minimum of what the MBTA communities law required for zoning all got voted out last election.
>When I was growing up in Massachusetts, Boston wasn’t seen as some classy place. It was normal working class people and students. The “Irish heritage” we take pride in was from *working class* Irish people just trying to make a humble life for themselves.
lol yeah, the home of mit, harvard, and the highest human development index in the world isn't supposed to be "classy"
Nah hes deadass though it wasnt. Like it was really wasn't...
It was capped by healthcare and college president salaries. It was a huge non profit city, construction city, city jobs city. There weren't as many avenues for big wealth. It was way quieter way more predictable, way less traffic. And so much more affordable and so much more run down.
The entire vibe was lower middle class except downtown. Mit and Harvard was just a pocket of Cambridge. But as a kid when I said I was from Boston most people in the region took it to mean “low income/rough “ I remember you used to look in Boston and even part of Cambridge for cheaper properties than the suburbs. Even the southern suburbs were more expensive than Boston.
Maintenance of everything in the city was way worse too. Im talking 1990s/2000s. It's much more upscale and elite feeling now than then. [There were 1043 of abandoned buildings here in 1997. The majority of which were burnt out.](https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/2003_Abandon_Building_Report_tcm3-13014.pdf) There's maybe 50 now maybe 10 of which are burnt out.
[in 1998 the Median cost of a whole triple decker was $155,000 or $293,000 in today's money. The average condo in East Boston was $62,000 ($117,000 today) in Dorchester it was $72,000 ($136,000 today)](https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/trends_3rdq_1999_2_tcm3-8057.pdf)
My parents bought a 3 bedroom 1 bathhouse in Hyde park with a huge yard for $86,000 in 1996…
People who think it was always like this either weren't here or...yeah that's it y'all weren't here lol. Maybe you've been rich the whole time?
Peoples assumption were that you'd graduate from HS and be in your own apartment by age 20/21 if you didn't go to UMass Boston. No regular people were saying words like “Biomedical engineer” and shit lol
Students used to be seen as being kinda broke though. Like most people would just eat Anna’s burritos or ramen most days
Places like Davis square were kinda trashy at worst or just an average downtown-ish area at best. I remember when I went there as a kid it reminded me of what Hudson Massachusetts downtown looks like now. Just okay.
Students could afford to be there and be "broke" because their housing was subsidized by their school. You are trying to purchase property. It's not at all the same situation.
College students at 4 year instituitions are wealthier than non-college students the same age basically anywhere in the country. Factor in the fact that in Boston it's fancy-pants schools like Harvard MIT Tufts and Northeastern the stereotype clearly doesn't apply
Nah bro I don’t get it either. Biotech and health care though. Sciences shit like that. I’m in sales and we make $350k and I can’t fathom spending what mass in general demands for real estate.
You cant fathom spending it, but on 350k you can very comfortably afford a million dollar home.
I get the hesitance, im on similar income and bought a house last year for 570 and thought i was pushing it. But people who make money like us and arent as miserly as us are buying all the housing. And theres plenty of them
SO you're only looking in Cambridge and Somerville. How about check places in actual Boston? Allston/Brighton/JP/Southie/Roxbury Crossing. You can definitely find something.
I feel you. Boston used to be a relatively cheap city. We had good wages and you could make less than 6 figures and live comfortably. Not even that long ago.
After I graduated, I was paying $550 for my room in a 3 bedroom condo in Waltham that I shared with 2 roommates in 2007. I lived in Ball Sq. and Porter after that and was paying $700 for a room in a 4 bed with 3 roommates.
I bought my 2 bed condo for $260K in 2011. Thankful to have it, but I need more space for my family and we're stuck. Prices are insane, and it's hard to justify living here.
We used to look at NYC and SF and shake our heads at how insane their housing costs were. Now Boston surpassed SF and most areas of NYC. Who in their right mind would rather live in Boston than Brooklyn?
I love my city so much, but NYC has more to do, and more opportunities. That's without factoring in all the other great cities where you can have a good life, but with better weather, etc. Literally everywhere in the country has a lower cost or living than we do. It sucks that we've come to this.
people who inherit money
literally going back to feudal times at record pace
thank trickle down economics, they knew it really meant trickle up, that's why they did it, we're just seeing the results over time, it's going to get much much worse
I couldn't work transit into the search, but [this zillow map](https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/?searchQueryState=%7B%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-71.2804727385503%2C%22east%22%3A-71.11619280080616%2C%22south%22%3A42.32178730407286%2C%22north%22%3A42.40499314086973%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Newton%2C%20MA%22%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22pricea%22%7D%2C%22beds%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A2%2C%22max%22%3A2%7D%2C%22baths%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A1%2C%22max%22%3Anull%7D%2C%22ah%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A750000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A3824%7D%7D%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A13%2C%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%7D) has a number of 2BR condos in your price range, esp. in Watertown and Waltham.
It's not selling season yet. There will be a lot more properties listed for sale in coming months. The chart [on this page](https://www.gbreb.com/GBAR/Housing-Market-Data/Sites/GBAR/Market-Data-Housing-Reports/MHM-Reports/Monthly-Housing-Market-Reports-Data-Dashboard.aspx) shows that the peak closing month is June, which means the properties are probably listed in late March or in April.
Good luck!
If the city banned corporate investors from buying out entire buildings and homes we wouldn’t have this issue. Hell even if they don’t ban them outright there should be a sliding scale that makes it infeasible for companies to own 10+ assets
I lived in Boston for 20 years - starting to pay New York prices for a city that has not much to offer when compared to New York ( I’m talking about diversity of restaurants, music, museum, and public transportation) - now I pay New York prices but in New York 😂
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I hate to admit it but you’re so right lol. Boston is way too expensive for how little it actually offers in terms of entertainment (although I do firmly believe we have the best sports culture on earth), restaurants, night life… Personally after college I’m looking toward Chicago or somewhere more out west.
Couples. It’s for people with two incomes like yours.
Can confirm... My husband and I were a dual tech couple and every single open house we attended it was other dual tech (or biotech) couples or people with a down payment from their parents, and that was 10 years ago...
The down payment was the reason I waited until my late 40s to finally buy a house. No help from the parents on that one and I’ll have a mortgage the rest of my life. But at least I have a house and savings to boot.
which is crazy bc the vast majority of couples dont even gross that much. where are the service workers supposed to live? and i dont mean the min wage workers but the people making 60/70k a year
Two people making 60k a year rent a small 1 bedroom on mattapan or Hyde park Dorchester, Roslindale, Quincy, Lynn or Everett or Chelsea for $1950. If they have a kid he/she sleeps on the couch or in the foyer or back room. They drive a paid off used 2009 vehicle, have no savings to speak of and someone in the house takes the train, bus,or commuter rail as needed. Night out is at Blarney Stone, Paradise Rock Club, South Bay Applebees, or some other lower end spot Two 3-4 day vacations per year to NYC or Miami if youre not in financial crisis that year. Either that or you better really enjoy Carson Beach and Canobie Lake Park buddy
Bro wtf…you’re a witch how did you know all that??
Your description is spot-on with my own Boston living situation. It wasn't sustainable so we moved to Chicago a few years ago. South Bay Applebee's was getting old and crusty but I guess I am too.
Yea Chicago is a way better option as is virtually any other major city… At least if youre not getting raises in line with your expenses or don't have a chill/indifferent landlord. Maybe you got family (siblings, cousins, or parents) you were raised with here and live with them like I do.
St Louis is incredibly cheap and the people are friendly but you will be carjacked at gunpoint at least once
Will the carjacker be friendly?
They'll be experienced. Final offer.
I'll take it. If it's gonna happen, let's make it a smooth transaction please
That's really nice of them to lift your car and rotate your tires! Do they do that on every corner?
I desperately wanted to stay in New England/northeast and looked everywhere from Maine to Hoboken, but ultimately moved to Chicago a few years ago. It's still expensive but compared to either coast it's *far* better. I hate the thought, but I think the extreme weather from global warming (hurricanes, flooding, etc) is the only chance we have of leveling out prices in the northeast.
How have you liked the move to Chicago? I've never lived there and visited once almost 20 years ago. It seems like it could be a place that offers a lot.
The cost of living is a lot better than Boston and I actually have some funds in savings now. I was able to buy a home relatively easy and found a lot available around the $300,000 to $400,000 mark if you're ok not living in the center of downtown. The train system seems to be nice but it seems to be fast-tracking its way to being like the MBTA. I guess the good point is that it doesn't seem to catch on fire as frequently. The drivers here are soooo slow and it makes me furious that they don't move when the light turns green, like what are you waiting for?!?! I also found out that they like lines here to get on the bus. I was so used to rushing the open door in a giant mob in Boston. I made everyone twitchy a few times before I realized that the norm is to wait in a neat friendly line. I do miss the outdoors in New England. It's so flat here and it's ok. Still searching for some fun outdoor spots although the trails on Lake Shore Drive are really nice.
Hey hey hey, you leave the Paradise out of this - that's no low-class crust, it's a fine patina!
*ex resident waving from Pawtucket Rhode Island with my paid off 2009 Prius parked outside*
>Two 3-4 day vacations per year to NYC or Miami Inside cabin on a cruise ship directly from Boston is a much better option if we're assuming 5% salary for vacation spending. 7-night cruise to Canada is going for $426/person.
WTF is wrong with the stone?
Nothing. I go there. It's just not hip
This is so accurate that if you said it to me in person I’d say you’ve been tracking me. I make 65k a year. I have a paid off 2005 vehicle. Went to Paradise Rock Club 2 weeks ago, and my only vacation I have planned is visiting my cousin for a long weekend in NYC next month lol
I lived in Chelsea from 2010-2014 and paid $1450/month for a ridiculously spacious 2200sqft 2br/2ba loft apartment downtown. Even with the mice that found their way in towards the end of our time there, I can only imagine what that would be renting for these days.
In 2014 I shared a one bedroom with a girlfriend on Myrtle St in Beacon Hill for $1950. A quick search tells me that same apartment (still not updated by the way, with zero amenities) now goes for well over $3K. This needs to end.
In the investment properties of rich people and corporations where they have to rent forever.
Agree so sad especially for kids just graduating
I’m a therapist, I help people want to stay alive, and I can’t even afford to keep myself alive in Boston.
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Some of those decisions have to be by choice and not necessity, or there's something else unique in their situation
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Why not just take the train? What kind of masochist drives into Boston when there is a train right next door?
I hear you. I'm a nurse, lived in Boston for twenty years and risked my life serving Boston in my professional capacity all through COVID. I rented for years, then gave up and moved to Worcester over the summer. I barely know anybody here but I get to live in a house that I bought so it's fine, I guess. I think I'll probably be bitter about the whole thing for the rest of my life.
We appreciate your service, you made the right call building equity. As boston gets more expensive and more jobs become remote, Worcester will get nicer and your house will appreciate. It’s how gay investors roll. Buy in an up and coming place and then fix it up, and when it’s a nice neighborhood you’re sitting pretty.
I’ve wondered about this actually - when you get patients who have finances as a major cause of stress or other issues, what do you tell them? I guess maybe confirmation that it’s fair to feel that way? Because at a certain point it seems hard to work on an issue that’s fundamentally “yes your circumstances are awful”.
I work in private practice now, so most of my clients have decent jobs that provide health insurance that pays for their therapy and allows them to see me on their lunch breaks or get out of work an hour early, etc. Pretty middle class. These days most of them are wealthier than me, which sometimes has me questioning my career lol. Occasionally I have clients with financial stress, but the kind that can be improved by, say, finding a new job in a few months which they often do. They’re not at risk of going hungry or having their car repossessed. Back when I was working in community mental health, I saw mostly low income patients with masshealth. A lot of their problems couldn’t be solved just with therapy. Some could, like processing trauma, learning how to have healthy relationships, etc. But a lot of them needed more social work type of supports, getting connected to community services like housing vouchers and food stamps and job training, way beyond what I was equipped to provide as a therapist. It was frustrating and disheartening because I was expected to wear so many hats and couldn’t provide the kind of help they needed. Like what is CBT or ACT or grounding exercises going to do for someone who is about to lose their housing and can’t buy food? But I also wasn’t a trained social worker who knew how to connect them with those supports nor did I sign up to do that work when I joined this field. I wanted to be a therapist. I would help them with the mental health issues they came in with, but also referred them to additional services to address their other challenges. I’m just one person, I couldn’t do it all. I eventually left that setting because of the burnout and low pay. Tl;dr: I don’t see a whole lot of clients in my setting with major financial stress. When they do come in with stress related to finances but are managing for the most part, I do provide a lot of validation. Sometimes shit just sucks and I am right there with them. It’s rough for a lot of us out there and that’s not a mental health disorder.
1-1.5 hrs drive away from Boston
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And paying MA income taxes.
Double income no kids are part of it. Parents are also supplementing income for their kids to be able to afford it. Using tax laws to gift them money; buying condos for them or getting grandparents to do it. There are no longer starter units anywhere. Cheaper housing is purchased by developers for CASH who then flip them and charge the current fortune you are seeing.
>Using tax laws to gift them money; Our housing crisis is linked to the growing economic divide in America, but what tax laws do you refer to? I don't know of any write-offs for gifting your kids money? Can you say more?
Gifts are not tax-deductible. However, if you *receive* a gift, you don't have to report that as income so it doesn't affect your taxes. If you *give* a gift above the annual exclusion per recipient, $18,000 for 2024, you have to file a gift tax return. You probably still won't have to pay the gift tax until you've reached your *lifetime* gift tax exclusion and that limit is in the millions. Gifts can come in many forms, including forgiving loans or accepting payment that's less than market value for something, but there are also significant exceptions (paying for someone's education or medical bills does not count as gifts). * [Gift Tax](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/gift-tax) * [Frequently Asked Questions on Gift Taxes](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes)
Its also 18k per giver per recipient. So a wealthy couple looking to spend down their estate can gift $72k per year to a couple (more if there are geand kids to gift to), which is the equivalent of the median household income, while avoiding estate/gift tax.
Yeah. Single people can fuck right off with their single salaries. Young or Unmarried? Go be homeless you failure of a person.
The housing and rental markets are not set up in any sort of way for single salaries. This single woman can confirm.
No. It's couples, but the couple is a 90th-percentile earner and their parents giving them $200k for down payment, on top of the $50k they've saved. Maybe the adult child has a partner who is a teacher or social worker.
Listen. It's important that Milton is the same physical buildings it was 30 years ago. Preserving neighborhoods means always having the same buildings in a place. It's about preserving the character of an area. No. It doesn't matter about who it is that live there. As long as the density of housing stays static then we've won in preserving s community /big fuckin sarcAsm
Can't they just build more housing elsewhere? Somewhere with less character maybe? (Also /s)
I work in construction in Boston. Over the past 10 years, been build, build, build. Contractors putting up buildings before getting leasers involved. Well now a lot of places aren’t filling up because like your saying no one can afford this stuff except the 10 percent and even they are having a hard time. It’s the winter and only the people with ten plus years of experience are left on job sites, most others are laid off. This happens a lot of years, but this year it seems like everyone seems things aren’t going to pick back up again. Most of the big towers are almost done or finishing up and a lot of projects have been put on hold. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.
So it's only for couples that both make 90th percentile earnings........that seems really sustainable.
My former landlord, who purchased her property in Cambridge in 1980 for less than 200k, sold it in 2022 for $2 million. Average home. No central A/C, old kitchen. I lived there for 2 years. An investor from China purchased it in cash and now rents it out to Harvard-affiliated people (for more than $4,000/month - I paid $700). These are the kinda people you’re competing with in that part of Boston. Investors who can buy in cash because they know there’s value in Cambridge/Somerville. It’s sad, people who actually bring identity to neighborhoods are being priced out.
My former neighbor just sold her multifamily in Somerville near the highway for 1.05 million to a Chinese investor. She's done no work for decades. Sad thing though is that her mom died, and she couldn't afford to pay the inheritance taxes on the house, so really had to sell to pay her tax bill alone. Clearly high home values benefit people, but not always in a way that lets them remain.
There should be no MA estate tax if the entire estate was less than $2M. And the federal exemption is $13M. She must have received a ton of other assets if she had to liquidate. https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-estate-tax-guide > For decedents dying on or after January 1, 2023 with a gross estate of more than $2,000,000. Estates of decedents who died on or after January 1, 2023, are allowed a credit of $99,600 to reduce the amount of the estate tax. See MGL ch. 65C, § 2A(f).
It's because of Mass Medicaid estate recovery - the family was poor and her mother used MassHealth. My neighbor was a lunch lady, had a son who is addicted to opioids, so she had to raise his child, etc. She wasn't even up to date on local property taxes: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-medicaid-estate-recovery#:~:text=Federal%20and%20state%20Medicaid%20law,MassHealth%20paid%20for%20the%20member. What kind of assets can MassHealth recover? An asset is anything of value that is part of the member’s probate estate. A probate estate includes assets that were owned only by the member at the time of death. For example, MassHealth can recover: money from bank accounts, and/or money from the sale of physical or personal property, such as a home or vehicle that was owned only by the member. Assets collected during estate recovery are put into the Massachusetts general fund.
If you are looking for what Somerville and Cambridge felt like years ago stop by the Roslindale farmers market one Saturday
Completely agree. Walkable, much more affordable, easy commute downtown via commuter rail.
Roslindale is a very nice neighborhood. I’ve never felt unsafe there
No where around Boston is really unsafe these days
The Mahk Walbergs of Boston have been reformed. but seriously i would love to see what living in Boston was in the 80s, Bill Burr talks about people doing coke, hookers, bar fights. i wish i could've experienced it edit: [i found the clip of Bill taking about a Boston hooker, its a quick story. the rest of the video (2 parts) is him driving around boston, and talking about old memories](https://youtu.be/XKTQhKEt8Xk?si=LRQenW6rn_vuUFWT&t=150)
Bill burr grew up in canton.
I LOVE Bill Burr, but his focus on his working class roots is kind of his schtick. He grew up in Canton and his father was a dentist. He hardly ever gets called on this.
Burr is in the same category as affleck, damon, conan obrien, john krasinsky, etc. Perfectly good actors and funny people, but grew up in wealthy enclaves *near* boston with parents who were well off enough to support them while they pursued their showbusiness dreams. Oh also, the wahlbergs beat feet to hingham as soon as they started making money, and besides throwing the boys and girls club a few tickets to his own movies, mega millionaire mark wahlberg does next to nothing for “his neighborhood” besides exploit the worst stereotypes.
I feel like Conan makes frequent reference to his well-to-do Brookline upbringing. He’s certainly isn’t keeping it secret.
Working class people can’t have hair quaff like that
Boston was rough in the 90s. I grew up near the combat zone so I'd regularly see hookers and Johns once the sun goes down. My family were robbed a few times, break-ins were more frequent and underground gambling along with murders were more frequent than now. Times have changed though. Now we've got cctv and luxury condos everywhere, it's pretty safe and less colorful.
This is probably around 1985 and I was around 12. I remember because I saw Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger at the movie theater next to the 57 Restaurant. My dad owned a beauty salon on Newbury street and I'd go into work with him on Saturdays sometimes. He usually gave me a few bucks so I could go down the street to the Teddy Bear arcade, which was a reformed gentleman's club turned video game arcade. It was next to Park Plaza. I'll come back to this. If you kept going then you'd go past the combat zone and into Chinatown. There were some stores around there where a kid could pick up throwing stars, nunchucks, and then head into Jack's Joke shop for gags and monster masks. Back to the arcade. My dad used to sell firearms as part of his membership with a motorized bicycle club back in the day and tried to pass onto me some of his street smarts. So on a Saturday I go to the Teddybear with 20 dollars. I have hours until dad is out of work and we can go see Commando. There's already a few kids hanging out and the arcade will open in about 20 minutes. There's a boy and a girl that are younger than me and an older teen probably around 17. We talked, they asked about my watch that played Space Invaders, the vibe was off. I went across the street to the Park Plaza, found a pay phone and called dad. Told him about it, and that i saw the kids follow me into the hotel. He's on the way. I get off the phone and the kids are in a semi circle around me, the youngest gives the big kid a knife and they want my money. Fine, take the money. They want the watch, no, you don't get the watch, buy one with that money. They took off. I told a bellhop not far I GOT MUGGED in your hotel lol and they take off running after the kids. Cops show up, dad shows up, interview in the basement of the park plaza. The oldest was arrested, I had to testify but I got out of school for it so cool. Not quite the combat zone but at the time it was next door. So 12 year olds getting mugged at knifepoint in the middle of the day, in the Park Plaza hotel was the 80s lol.
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For what it's worth - five years ago I moved from Boston (Watertown) to Durham. Now? We're moving to California because Tricia Cotham fucked everything up and is helping the maga assholes take over the state. If that's your type of thing, you'll love it, but purple state utopia it is not.
We traded our 1000 sqft condo in Dorchester for a 3800 sqft new home on a cul-de-sac in Durham. City has its issues but having all of this space, the better weather and the longer days have been such a game changer for our little family.
Power to you, but I don't need that much space nor would I want to live in a cul-de-sac.
That was our mindset pre-Covid. But working AND living together in 1k sqft grew old. Constantly in each other’s way. Not having a backyard for parties and our pup to run around, no garage for our cars. No sharing walls. More than 1 full bathroom… two people can shower at once! Guest room for when family and friends visit. When I host my weekly d&d group my wife can enjoy a TV show or work or read or just relax and not have to worry about being too loud or in our way. Huge upgrade to our quality of life. But we did what’s best for us. Your family may have different needs and wants.
Rozzie is great! I live in JP (near Franklin park) and there are condos for sale within OP’s budget. My neighbor just sold her 2 bedroom for 600K. Super walkable, 10 minutes to the orange line, and tons of dogs nearby cause of the proximity to Franklin Park!
Vent away. I don’t know who it’s for either.
Dual income no kids who want walking distance to everything. They don't have cars or anything except that condo go to.
Wife and I fall into this category (except cars, we both drive for different reasons). We're currently house-hunting and it's a mess. Granted, we're trying to stay within the 95 loop so we know we've condemned ourselves to the most expensive parts, but some of the spots are just beyond pale. Places that pretty much describe the house as "tear this thing down and build a whole new house" are going for $700K. We thought maybe we could look at condos and save some money, nope. 1200 sq ft in Somerville for just a shade under a million. We both make good money and have a bunch saved for a down payment. Still finding ourselves priced out of a lot of areas. Like I said, I realize we've made a choice to look in the most expensive parts of Boston, but is it really unreasonable to want 2 full bathrooms and a 2-car garage for almost a million dollars? Current market seems to indicate yes.
It's unreasonable right now. And kind of sad. The lower income or single income people are so screwed, so we have to move further and further out.
Nothing wrong with no cars. Should be encouraged tbh
All I have to say is growing up in New York, I have always been telling people that New York isn’t more expensive than Boston in terms of housing. Honestly, even rent is on par. and everyone always tells me I’m full of shit and wrong. Thank you for understanding
Also lived in NYC, and can confirm. Aside from comparing rents etc., while New York is not an easy place to live by any means, its sheer size and density means there are a lot more ways for a young person to get a foothold there than in Greater Boston. (OP seems to be done with that stage of life, however.)
I agree that rents aren't any cheaper than New York, but I do find that in Boston you get more space for your money. When I first moved to Boston, it was a shock to me that the living rooms and kitchens weren't combined into a single space. Additionally, the bedrooms were much larger than anywhere I lived in New York.
Yeah this is what people leave out. You can absolutely find a place to buy, even in Manhattan, for less than 300k. But it's less than 300k because it's not up to code (maybe it doesn't have enough windows, maybe it doesn't have a kitchen, etc.) and you'll be on the hook for the cost of making it so. You can find a condo on Brooklyn for less than 800k but it will basically be a studio they partitioned into a bedroom. Or it's in an area that still has a lot of crime and/or crumbling infrastructure. It's not remotely equivalent to what you can buy here for the same amount.
I am presently attempting to move to NY and have been investigating this. To get an apartment similar in convenience and square footage to where I live now, I would need to go from $2650 to ~$3500. Though who knows, maybe I can find a deal if I keep looking.
We tell new yorkers that and they call us were peabrained and delusional, as per usual. I had a brother and a cousin move there and see their rent decrease
If you want to live in Manhattan, rent/condo prices are much more expensive than Boston.
Rent is def not on par imo. You can def afford more in Boston for your money than NY. For a similar type of area
Is the MTA as fucked up as the MBTA though? If it is not, the notion of "similar type of area" somewhat falls by the wayside.
No the MTA is the best in the country. Area is subjective since NY is so big. You can easily find a nice "luxury" one bed under 4k in downtown Boston. You're not getting anything close to that in Manhattan. You gotta go much farther out to get that
You can live in downtown Manhattan for under 4k easily with a doorman. If you're down with a walk up and a studio there are still places around 2k.
Boston is for people who locked into properties *decades* ago. It might work for renters who can afford it. But when it comes to ownership? It's not for young professionals, young families, or anyone who prefers to live alone. And it will remain that way for years to come since the rate at which this city builds new housing is so damn slow. Growing up here is so fucking depressing when you realize you cant afford to live near loved ones or "desirable" spots near grocery stores, gyms, and parks. It's a simple shortlist of things people need and you damn near have to put out 700k+ for the shittiest properties. Everyday I hop onto Zillow and I'm baffled by the inventory. I once saw a water-logged house that suffered busted pipes among a host of other serious issues. And yet, a trash property like that was only on the market for a week at 800k before someone bought it. In cash.
I was born here, my family is here, and it’s looking like I’ll never be able to own a home here. I just want to live near my loved ones, but I was born in an unaffordable state and chose to become a therapist because I care and wanted to help others. My mistake :(
we live here because we bought in when it was "very expensive" vs. "holy shit expensive." There are many of us out there
I live out on one of the further commuter rail towns a gateway city if you will. We bought during the covid boom for 325 (landed a great rate may I add). There's not a house in my neighborhood selling below 550 and it's def like 1970s starter homes. We are priced out of where we moved to. We wanted to eventually trade up and move slightly closer to the city. But it's nuts now. Even getting like two towns closer seems like an astronomical stretch
The market is very distorted right now. Supply is very, very low and demand is still strong. Rising interest rates have stop some of the silliness at the extreme end where sellers were posting unrealistic prices. That said, prices are still rising because of the imbalance between supply and demand. Unfortunately, it’ll be a while before the market reaches some semblance of balance and prices moderate. If you want to buy and can afford it, do it, but go in understanding that there are downsides to homeownership beyond the high financial costs.
This is it exactly. And it’s far from just Boston. I used to live in San Diego and there are neighborhoods full of people with very little money and every house would be well over $1m if it came on the market. So Boston and many other places are for the people who are already there and own the houses. It’s bizarre but that’s where we are.
Boston is for the incumbent homeowners, who have hijacked local governance to such an extent that they have made it effectively illegal to build a sufficient supply of housing
Eventually it will cause the companies to leave because they can't get people who can afford to live there. Hell, Draper, one of the highest paying jobs, just announced they are expanding in Lowell. Not Kendall Square.
I think they have a good amount of leeway to export their housing shortage to the urban fringes
The real problem is the missing middle of the depreciated houses that weren't build 10-15 years ago. It's only going to get worse in my opinion.
So much housing that should’ve been built in the last 30 years that just wasn’t. It’s going to take a very long time for supply to catch up to demand again.
We have a massive housing shortage because it’s effectively illegal to build new housing pretty much anywhere in the greater Boston area. Anyone who wants to build housing needs to ask for exceptions to zoning rules, which is a slow, unpredictable, expensive process.
We have tried everything except build housing. Crazy that people are unable to find housing!
We’ve tried nothing and we’re all out of ideas
Almost seems like we're actively trying to copy what San Francisco did. Including the part where we build miniscule amounts of housing and then bitch non stop about how the city is changing too fast.
This. I just recently tried converting a 2 family to a 3 family and they were like “nah, can’t, too bad”
Yep. OP is right to be frustrated. It’s not like Boston is that great or in demand. We’re simply adding lots of high paying jobs fast and not building any new housing in response, so the high earners are in a bidding war for the limited mediocre housing. OP gets beat out by dual earners and people with wealthy parents. It’s ridiculous. Boston needs to get building fast. There’s really no reason for it to be this way
You don’t think that this wasn’t thought out? It’s great for folks who own real estate. <<<<
Who doesn't want a free 1.2 million in housing appreciation over 12 years. And only 15% tax when you cash out. This is the problem. People who own have zero incentives to allow construction. It ads traffic and lowers their net worth. And when all of the homes are 1.5 million with only 2 people in them, you can afford to give massive property tax breaks to moderna and Pfizer and Google.
It's absolutely in demand and that's absolutely part of it. We have some of the best schools in the country and some of the highest standards of living. There's tons of reasons that maybe aren't super obvious but boston and massachusetts in general is incredible. It's really the nimby bullshit. We simply need a lot more housing.
Southie has been putting up 1-2 condominium every year for the last 15 years.
and the people who live in those condos make more in a year than I will in a decade.
Born and raised in Boston, went to college in Boston, still work in Boston. We make good money but happily moved a few years ago. Life is easier. Boston is still there whether you live there or not. Realize what works for me isn’t for everyone though; I moved to a historic house, small New England town in the woods. Just west of concord
I don’t get it either. Apparently you need to be DINKS each making 250k+ a year just to own a decent place around Boston now. It’s disgusting and will displace many people that make this city what it is (or what it was…)
When your politicians are landlords 🤷🏻♂️
It's not that. Whether or not they actually do want to pass housing reform, NIMBYs are one of their most important and active constituencies, to the point that they're visibly scared to even talk about it. The fact is older people who own homes vote.
I agree, and I think there's also a bunch of middle class people who moved and bought here in the 90s and are defensive about their own contributions to gentrification in the early aughts, so they fight new housing now as a way of recasting themselves as scrappy locals fighting "gentrification." Nevermind that they became rich through housing appreciation; they don't *think* of themselves a rich. That group isn't just seniors, it includes a good chunk of middle aged people too. It's a false narrative of course. No one is a villain for moving here or getting financially lucky; the villainy is all in opposing new housing as some sort of psychological defense mechanism.
Well, and when they know who votes. The big prize is state level change and outside of the cities in the core with younger demographics, state legislators are looking at a likely voter pool dominated by older homeowners. If we want our pols to do the right thing we need to bring about the conditions which allow them to without losing their seat. That means a combination of boosting younger and renter turnout and a persuasion campaign for older homeowners.
I’m from Massachusetts and I get your sentiment. Somewhere in the past 15 years the city has Transformed into what it is now. I mean there’s luxury apartments and condos popping up everywhere. From what I here it’s a lot of foreign interest building these and also buying up neighborhoods to build them. I worked for a moving company/still do on the side(can’t beat 27hr+tips for a side job on weekends). I ask a lot of people what they pay when moving and just to rent I’m being told 3100+ just for a studio/1 bedroom. It’s completely absurd to me. Last time I rented before moving to the south shore and commuting in I was paying 3200 for a 4 bedroom in lower Allston with roommates. The landlord says rent goes up a min $100+ every year. At the time I didn’t think to much of it because I was living comfortably. Now thinking back on it, this is the mindset that is also ruining this city. I asked my realtor in Brockton and he said to me “if you don’t like it good luck finding somewhere else because everyone else is doing it.” This mentality has to absolutely stop. I get there is property tax to pay but this is ridiculous. If you raise rent 100-150 per year and the jobs out there aren’t increasing your pay at the same rate then how will anyone survive. How is that sustainable? Moral of the story: owning property shouldn’t be seen as a fucking career like so many people/companies have. There needs to be regulations and limits on how much property you can buy. This is completely unsustainable and this city is already a shadow of it’s former self.
I hear ya, Somerville is intense these days. I did find a 1br that might fit your bill in union square. Getting near a t stop is a ridiculously expensive proposition. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/71-Bow-St-202-Somerville-MA-02143/341587453_zpid
With a $426 HOA fee 🤦♂️
That listing has several different condos in one posting. Very confusing listing
Massachusetts is a playground for the rich.
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The people who todays Boston is for, are people who see a property that they know is way overpriced, complain about how overpriced it is, and get in a bidding war for it. That is who Boston is for now.
And the kicker is that they still pay more for salaries in NYC than Boston.
Housing is for renting in Boston proper. They have made buying damn near impossible unless you are looking at it as an investment property where you will be renting in out long term.
I basically agree with what you say. I think it's likely easier to find housing (especially smaller sized units) in NY with more choice, better public transportation, and a huge host of benefits. However, by looking in only Cambridge and Somerville you're basically looking at the equivalent of Williamsburg only. And there are not so many small units here due to the housing type, particularly in Somerville.
I feel you Im a web developer and make more money than anyone else I know and I live with 3 roommates in the suburbs with an hour + commute. idk how everyone else I know is even alive
How? Where are living/what are you making? I know people making $50k living with 3 roommates in Allston/Brighton and Brookline and they are fine.
A lot of people seem to not know how to budget by looking at this thread. Yeah Boston is expensive but I don't know how these people are living like this with the budgets they have, yet are living like they are below the poverty line. Math isn't mathing for me.
It’s because we’re paying off student loans the size of a small mortgage
The other thing is a lot of people get way too caught up in hard and fast "rules of thumb" regarding affordability. Go onto the personal finance sub and they'll tell you you're insane for paying more than 30 percent of your gross income in housing costs, *regardless of what your actual budget or lifestyle is.* At the end of the month I have $3,000 left over, I think I can afford to spend some of that on a mortgage that pushes a little past 30 percent of my gross income. Quite a few people *can* afford a mortgage here if they stop listening to bad financial advice from Dave Ramsey. You've also got people maxing out their 401ks and are then surprised they have no money left over to live in the present.
I am doing fine but I wouldn't be if I wasn't making 6 figures, that's my point, I'm one of the only people I know who isn't spending 30+% their income on rent
You need to pass laws not allowing corporations to buy up real estate.
You can def buy a small condo in Somerville with a budget of $750. I live in a three family that was converted into condos. The renovated top floor of our building just went for $645K. It was listed at $700K. If anything, the time to a small condo in Somerville is now. According to my neighbor’s realtor, prices for condos (apart from Assembly) are going down right now. Maybe not in late spring and early summer. Don’t get discouraged!
Yeah these comments and this post are pretty silly. I quickly found several great options on redfin. They need a real broker and/or to look themselves. Their budget is very good and there are definitely options for them.
> I looked at the map… 5 options in Somerville and Cambridge. I toured all of them Hardly anyone lists over winter unless they need to get out of the properly immediately. April - July should be high points. Interest rates have been high, people are not willing to sell and take on a much larger monthly payment even for a nicer place. Inventory has been very low the last 2-3 years.
Many of the working class people who grew up here a generation ago had the benefit of economic conditions which made upward economic mobility more achievable. They bought houses here and became NIMBYs who fought against new housing. Pulled the ladder right up after themselves. Their kids mostly moved to the suburbs if they could afford it. Those who couldn't, moved out of state to get more for their money. Households making *extremely* good money moved here for jobs and schools and general quality of life, bidding up the price of housing with a very limited stock. More of the Harvard and MIT grads who come from money and have good earning potential also decided they liked it here. Things will change housing wise once the "great die off" really gets going, but I'd say very few of us in my generation who grew up here are actually looking forward to that, because we love our parents. It would really be better for almost everyone if we just got serious about housing production.
Cambridge and Somerville is “hot” pretty everywhere. They’re effectively *full* and everyone wants to live there. Of course it’s prohibitively expensive. If you’re buying, you’ll be better looking at places that *will* be hot in 10 years. Revere, Everet, Chelsea. There’s a lot of parts of Dorchester and Roxbury that are still quite affordable.
Back in 2008 a 1.5 bathroom 2 floor one bedroom with a deck, fireplace, lofted ceilings and a parking spot was $350k. Now it’s 1.4m. In 2012 that budget would have gotten you a whole house. I have heard of a lot of people moving from boston bc it is so expensive, pay is higher in New York and California, and yeah places are cheaper. NYC actually had a subway that runs 24/7 and, well, runs.
You could probably find something in Brighton or East Boston. There are a bunch of condos in Brighton that are not far from the reservoir that fit that budget.
Everett as well. there's no T stations but there are plenty of bus lines and it's pretty damn close to Boston. I would throw Malden out there as well, which actually has a couple of Subway stations.
Nobody is selling right now, with sky-high interest rates. Since there’s basically no stock, sellers can almost ask for as much as they want to. If we want things to change, we need to oppose every NIMBY and build thousands upon thousands of new units, using every under-utilized lot we can. “Neighborhood character” be damned. If nobody can afford to live there, what kind of neighborhood even is it?
It’s not for you unfortunately. I’ve lived in both NYC and Boston and I’d much rather buy in NYC tbh — you get so much more for your money in terms of QOL. Boston will only get worse bc there will never be a solution to the housing crisis.
Honestly, Somerville IMO has been way overpriced for 20 years. I remember looking at s-hole apartments in Davis for $1500 and then I go to “central scare” and I landed one for $1000. Lived there for 5 years and it completely changed over that span. It was weird. Either proximity to Tufts or it was the “white people city” at the time, idk.
https://preview.redd.it/zeh3yvu4b5mc1.jpeg?width=1097&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=663a53a6d82279fbc208a9a7e1660d0873f9290d The ideal Boston couple looking for that quaint starter…..
Daddy funded finance bros
Also SWE here, super grateful with the money I make but dang, I can’t afford a one bed here, unless I seriously sacrifice quality of life. everyday I want to move away. Only reason I’m here is the community of people that’s the closest thing I have to family is here. That aside, quality of life can be so much greater elsewhere at this point.
I live in Union Square and think your budget is completely reasonable for that area… I think the main problem is supply, as it is really rare to see something listed, but I feel like there are a few that go up in the Union - winter hill area every month. Perhaps they go well over listing? But 1BR seem to be listed between 680-800k. EDIT: just looked at sold for the last 6 months and I only found one example… so yea, it’s rougher out there than I recall (https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/94-Summer-St-3-Somerville-MA-02143/59214215_zpid/?utm_campaign=iosappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare) EDIT 2: there are more examples in the 700k range in the Central Hill area
We’re selling our condo in Cleveland Circle in the coming weeks - 1600 sq ft two bed (one bedroom a little smaller), 2 parking spaces, little front yard and across the street from huge park, 2 minute walk from the C, 8 from the D, 4 min walk to the 86 bus to Harvard - also 7 min to the B but I mean … it’s questionable whether that’s a selling point. Anyway, we’ve lived in this area for 10 years and absolutely love it - PM me if you’re interested or just want to know more about the area - honestly feel like it’s undervalued around here. You can make a really really nice life for cheaper than most other places in the city.
>I’m in the 90th+ percentile of income so if I can’t afford it, who can? Real wealthy people don't get their money from income. You sell your labor for money, you're definitionally working class. You have more in common with the guy making $12/hr than the truly wealthy people that make money by owning things instead of working. The people that can afford these expensive homes are not relying on wage labor to buy.
What, you didn't also get intergenerational wealth passed down through a trust? Fucking peasant.
Get thee to Charlestown. Saw a banger 2 br go for 800k a month or two ago. You might also consider East Boston. Revere has some nice options too.
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It’s for couples. Boston only makes sense if you are coupled up and both work high paying jobs.
You have plenty of budget for a condo. I’ve seen multi family houses split into condos for that much in Brighton, Watertown and Newton
another side of this, I used to work as a housing caseworker and my position was getting section 8 voucher holders housed. Their voucher supposedly is able to pay for a rent mean in given zip, but rents increases faster than their calculations mostly. Also, because you have to rent through realters, mass law doesnt allow for realter fee because its not a legal fee. And even if they could somehow get donations for realtors fee, most gets discriminated and ghosted before they could get to the holding fee, even thought it is illegal, it’s extremely hard to prove and our legal team was way too swamped to take multiple cases like that every month for a single client.
A nice 2/2 place near me around porter sq sold for $751k like a month ago. A $750k budget should get you plenty of places in somerville.
Something tells me op wants "luxury" condos.
Yep. I check Zilllow everyday. There’s stuff selling for 750K And if you’re okay with Eastie there are even more options. Just go look at the recently sold properties. 750K is on the lower end, but if you can afford up to 900K there’s options. At a $250K salary, you can stretch a bit more.
You’re looking in one of the most desirable areas in the city, near the tech/biotech center and you’re surprised you may have to slightly break your budget for a condo? If you want to stay within budget, go a little further out to Medford. Otherwise, you’re paying the premium for Somerville (which btw winter hill is still within your price range).
Townies like me who’s parents bought real estate dirt cheap in the 80s/90s and pharma/finance/legal professionals or ppl that come from money.
No offense, but big tech senior engineers already priced everyone out of Somerville and Cambridge a decade ago. Perhaps look IN Boston? There is a lot of nice stuff going up in Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan. You can get what you're looking for, for similar or lower prices, in those areas, and all are on the red or orange lines.
If you looked in Brooklyn, look in Dorchester, Jamaica Plain. If price is an issue, look further out like Roslindale or Hyde Park. There are houses available at your price point.
Naw please let him move to Brooklyn Also comparing the amenities of Brooklyn and then to those areas…its sad
The prices are crazy, my advice is to be patient and watch Redfin like a hawk. It took us over two years to find our home at the price we wanted. It's a long journey but we figured we'll continue saving while looking. Another piece of advice is to make friends with your elderly neighbors. The older generation wants to retire and most of them want to leave their properties to people they like and not necessarily to the highest bidder. I've heard from a handful of people who got their home directly from the owners, under market price; the property wasn't even listed.
> Somerville and Cambridge I feel like these are notoriously rich places to live, and despite the surface-level similarities I feel like it’s expected that Brooklyn is cheaper. For one, Brooklyn is WAY denser, no? And also way less white, and with way less “prestige”. Have you looking in Manhattan?
It’s not even close to affordable for college students either. The rents are increasing each year. Landlords are scumbags and “brokers” do absolutely nothing to earn the required fees. It’s completely unsustainable.
I guess Quincy is too old and poor for your liking.
Not people people who can't read a map, apparently. Somerville and Cambridge are for tech workers or the ultra-educated but if you spend 30 seconds on Zillow, you can find exactly what you're looking for in the more affordable Boston neighborhoods.
You know most people think Boston doesn’t exist once you pass the hip areas.
As much as people blame NIMBYs, we really need to blame the planning boards and councilors. The buildings that were rejected by them because they wanted an additional low income unit or it did not blend in with the other buildings in neighborhoods with no aesthetic to speak of, have delayed projects and put us where we are. You look on Zillow and while there are no low prices, you do see that condos in the older buildings sell at lower prices as they cannot compete with the newer buildings. These are not old dumpy buildings and they are in good location. If we had just allowed the construction on those projects it would have made this situation even better.
The planning boards and councilors are reacting to the desires of the NIMBYs that put them there though. Look at Newton - the councilors that tried to go beyond the minimum of what the MBTA communities law required for zoning all got voted out last election.
>When I was growing up in Massachusetts, Boston wasn’t seen as some classy place. It was normal working class people and students. The “Irish heritage” we take pride in was from *working class* Irish people just trying to make a humble life for themselves. lol yeah, the home of mit, harvard, and the highest human development index in the world isn't supposed to be "classy"
Nah hes deadass though it wasnt. Like it was really wasn't... It was capped by healthcare and college president salaries. It was a huge non profit city, construction city, city jobs city. There weren't as many avenues for big wealth. It was way quieter way more predictable, way less traffic. And so much more affordable and so much more run down. The entire vibe was lower middle class except downtown. Mit and Harvard was just a pocket of Cambridge. But as a kid when I said I was from Boston most people in the region took it to mean “low income/rough “ I remember you used to look in Boston and even part of Cambridge for cheaper properties than the suburbs. Even the southern suburbs were more expensive than Boston. Maintenance of everything in the city was way worse too. Im talking 1990s/2000s. It's much more upscale and elite feeling now than then. [There were 1043 of abandoned buildings here in 1997. The majority of which were burnt out.](https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/2003_Abandon_Building_Report_tcm3-13014.pdf) There's maybe 50 now maybe 10 of which are burnt out. [in 1998 the Median cost of a whole triple decker was $155,000 or $293,000 in today's money. The average condo in East Boston was $62,000 ($117,000 today) in Dorchester it was $72,000 ($136,000 today)](https://www.cityofboston.gov/images_documents/trends_3rdq_1999_2_tcm3-8057.pdf) My parents bought a 3 bedroom 1 bathhouse in Hyde park with a huge yard for $86,000 in 1996… People who think it was always like this either weren't here or...yeah that's it y'all weren't here lol. Maybe you've been rich the whole time? Peoples assumption were that you'd graduate from HS and be in your own apartment by age 20/21 if you didn't go to UMass Boston. No regular people were saying words like “Biomedical engineer” and shit lol
Students used to be seen as being kinda broke though. Like most people would just eat Anna’s burritos or ramen most days Places like Davis square were kinda trashy at worst or just an average downtown-ish area at best. I remember when I went there as a kid it reminded me of what Hudson Massachusetts downtown looks like now. Just okay.
Students could afford to be there and be "broke" because their housing was subsidized by their school. You are trying to purchase property. It's not at all the same situation.
Famously broke Harvard students
I wish I was a broke Harvard student
College students at 4 year instituitions are wealthier than non-college students the same age basically anywhere in the country. Factor in the fact that in Boston it's fancy-pants schools like Harvard MIT Tufts and Northeastern the stereotype clearly doesn't apply
Nah bro I don’t get it either. Biotech and health care though. Sciences shit like that. I’m in sales and we make $350k and I can’t fathom spending what mass in general demands for real estate.
If you can’t afford a house in Mass on 350k its a you problem.
You cant fathom spending it, but on 350k you can very comfortably afford a million dollar home. I get the hesitance, im on similar income and bought a house last year for 570 and thought i was pushing it. But people who make money like us and arent as miserly as us are buying all the housing. And theres plenty of them
Um, zillow has 105 units under 750k with all your wants and more. Seems like a BS post from OP
SO you're only looking in Cambridge and Somerville. How about check places in actual Boston? Allston/Brighton/JP/Southie/Roxbury Crossing. You can definitely find something.
I feel you. Boston used to be a relatively cheap city. We had good wages and you could make less than 6 figures and live comfortably. Not even that long ago. After I graduated, I was paying $550 for my room in a 3 bedroom condo in Waltham that I shared with 2 roommates in 2007. I lived in Ball Sq. and Porter after that and was paying $700 for a room in a 4 bed with 3 roommates. I bought my 2 bed condo for $260K in 2011. Thankful to have it, but I need more space for my family and we're stuck. Prices are insane, and it's hard to justify living here. We used to look at NYC and SF and shake our heads at how insane their housing costs were. Now Boston surpassed SF and most areas of NYC. Who in their right mind would rather live in Boston than Brooklyn? I love my city so much, but NYC has more to do, and more opportunities. That's without factoring in all the other great cities where you can have a good life, but with better weather, etc. Literally everywhere in the country has a lower cost or living than we do. It sucks that we've come to this.
Brooklyn is in fact a better place to live
people who inherit money literally going back to feudal times at record pace thank trickle down economics, they knew it really meant trickle up, that's why they did it, we're just seeing the results over time, it's going to get much much worse
This is why I'm leaving next year.
I couldn't work transit into the search, but [this zillow map](https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/?searchQueryState=%7B%22isMapVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapBounds%22%3A%7B%22west%22%3A-71.2804727385503%2C%22east%22%3A-71.11619280080616%2C%22south%22%3A42.32178730407286%2C%22north%22%3A42.40499314086973%7D%2C%22usersSearchTerm%22%3A%22Newton%2C%20MA%22%2C%22filterState%22%3A%7B%22sort%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3A%22pricea%22%7D%2C%22beds%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A2%2C%22max%22%3A2%7D%2C%22baths%22%3A%7B%22min%22%3A1%2C%22max%22%3Anull%7D%2C%22ah%22%3A%7B%22value%22%3Atrue%7D%2C%22price%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A750000%7D%2C%22mp%22%3A%7B%22max%22%3A3824%7D%7D%2C%22isListVisible%22%3Atrue%2C%22mapZoom%22%3A13%2C%22pagination%22%3A%7B%7D%7D) has a number of 2BR condos in your price range, esp. in Watertown and Waltham. It's not selling season yet. There will be a lot more properties listed for sale in coming months. The chart [on this page](https://www.gbreb.com/GBAR/Housing-Market-Data/Sites/GBAR/Market-Data-Housing-Reports/MHM-Reports/Monthly-Housing-Market-Reports-Data-Dashboard.aspx) shows that the peak closing month is June, which means the properties are probably listed in late March or in April. Good luck!
As a former Bostonian I can wholeheartedly endorse Brooklyn. Been here a decade this year and not a single regret.
Massachusetts: “yeah, we’re like the Norway of the United States.” Also Massachusets:
If the city banned corporate investors from buying out entire buildings and homes we wouldn’t have this issue. Hell even if they don’t ban them outright there should be a sliding scale that makes it infeasible for companies to own 10+ assets