housing prices

Harold M. Clemens writes; says Hispanics seem to own all the apartments in the 'hood these days:

... lord knows I'm tired of grinnin', cracking fake smiles, and putting on an affected accent just to find a place to rest for the next few months. I'm even more tired of being second guessed. one palito bitch asked me, "You make $40k?!" in visible shock after reading my rental app. Beeeyyooottchh!! as if $40k is some kinda money! I got peoples who probably blow that on weed, alcohol, and food in a year. ...

John Keith reports that the median asking price for condos currently on the market in 02116 is $1 million:

... It makes you wonder - should you continue to call $1 million condos "luxury" when they pretty much refer to the standard "typical" Back Bay home? ...

From this to this.

Rep. Martin Walsh, a Dorchester Democrat, is co-sponsoring a bill that would end rent-control provisions for occupants of mobile-home parks - a move that could affect residents of Boston's only trailer park.

Although voters statewide voted to eliminate rent control in 1994, the measure exempted trailer-park residents, such as the people who live at the Boston Trailer Park off VFW Parkway in West Roxbury.

Walsh's bill would eliminate the exemption - giving poor residents up to a year to adjust before becoming subject to market rates.

The West Roxbury Bulletin reports the residents are, not surprisingly, none too happy. West Roxbury state Rep. Mike Rush and state Sen. Marian Walsh have vowed to fight the bill. Walsh spent more than a decade in an ultimately successful fight to keep the trailer park's then owner, car dealer James Clair, from simply plowing the whole thing under so he could expand his dealerships. In 2004, Clair deeded most of the land to a non-profit housing venture.

Martin Walsh's campaign-finance records show $1,500 in contributions on Dec. 29, 2006 from people associated with a Carver trailer-park concern: Owner David Piper Sr., his son and a worker.

Boston Condo Guy provides an overview of a $15 million unit in Trinity Place at 1 Huntington Ave. The unit actually consists of two previously separate condos that were smushed into one giant unit with 8,500 square feet, eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and four entire parking spaces - they were consolidated by some guy who spent a bit under $8 million for them back in 2000.

Oh, but wait: You'll also have to pay $10,000 in monthly maintenance fees.

Map showing how high housing prices are in Boston neighborhoods. No real surprises (although I would have thought West Roxbury would be "hotter") but interesting mashup.

Rob Sama argues that Deval Patrick's $250-million sub-prime-mortgage bailout plan really benefits shady operators at the expense of prospective home buyers:

... That's an easy out for lenders. Take a $20k loss instead of a much bigger loss in a foreclosure. Boy are our legislators boneheads. They are essentially giving out insurance payouts to lenders who paid no premium. We, the taxpayers pay the premium. And anyone looking to buy a house will pay the price, an inflated one on the value of their home.

John Keith discusses the local housing crisis and says we could learn something from New York by giving developers tax breaks to build new housing and so increase overall supply, rather than forcing developers to set aside a percentage of units in any project as "affordable."

John Keith discusses an Economy.com study that claims Boston housing prices have fallen as far as they will.

AnnaB can't flee RCN fast enough:

I switched to RCN a couple years ago since Comcast became too expensive for me. RCN has hiked their fees every six months even though they are constantly plagued with service issues. Now, they are more expensive than Comcast. The final piece de resistance is that I have had missing channels for two weeks ever since they began their program guide upgrade. ...

On the Property Monger, Jon writes that while Zillow may be cool, it doesn't know beans when it comes to Boston property values, because it ranks Roxbury as more desirable than Kenmore Square.

Diana delivers the news:

... Four years ago there were no houses under $500,000. Two years ago there were practically none under $600,000. Now there are quite a few under $600,000. Not that those are the "wonderful Wellesley houses" newcomers want, however. Any house in Wellesley that's selling for $650,000 or less will need work (or demolition) to meet the higher standards of today's buyers coming into a town like this.

In recent months, several houses have been listed below assessed value - clearly not a good sign! ...

Well, clearly not a good sign for sellers, but good news for buyers and schadenfreude fans. Plus, she provides examples of sellers with completely unrealistic expectations.

John Keith shows you what sort of home you can buy for $300,000 in different Boston neighborhoods these days.

Borderline reports:

... [I]t's once again possible to buy a single-family detached home in Newton for less than $400,000. ...

Chris Cagle explores the idea that housing in Boston would be a lot cheaper if only government hadn't allowed soul-searing architectural excesses such as Government Center and those "If you lived here" towers. Why? Read his complete post, but basically, it's because to this day, people are wary of large-scale development, even in areas that could benefit from it, if done right, he says.

The Beacon Hill Times declares it sees no reason to panic in light of the local real-estate slowdown. After all, this IS Beacon Hill we're talking about, it will always be in demand, and even people who have to sell their condo right now should stop fretting:

... The difference between a couple hundred thousand dollars in value when you're selling a piece of property worth a few million or a few thousand in a property worth hundreds of thousands isn't going to trouble you as much as you think. ...

Well, phew!

John Keith looks at 400-to-500-square-foot condos on Beacon Street going for as much as $479,000:

... Sweet lord.

I'm a real estate agent, and my business is real estate, and I know real estate, and love real estate, but I tell you. There is no way I'd pay that much for a condo that size. ...

High cost of housing or lack of good jobs?

Curbed, which long confined itself to covering the real-estate market south of the Bronx and north of Staten Island, has decided to cover our Fair Hub (just in time to watch the local housing bubble burst; hooray, more options for Brooklynites priced out of the City!). But they're having some trouble with the concept that Boston just doesn't have boroughs (kids, they're called "neighborhoods").

Also see: The Boston Real Estate Blog and Boston Housing Market Update.

The recent Boston Housing Report Card suggests that a growing number of Boston residents, in particular in areas such as the South End and the Fenway, are paying out upwards of 80% of their income for rent.

Rubbish, John says. The report assumes that everybody lives in a two-bedroom apartment, while obviously many people live in less expensive stuidos or one-bedroom apartments. It's based on the 2000 federal census, which included our zillions of college students, most of whom report below-poverty-level wages (the census does not take into account parental subsidies). And it fails to take into account the fact that people living in subsidized housing do not pay the full cost of their rents.

BuffaloPundit used to live in Brighton. Housing prices drove him to Buffalo. But now he wouldn't dream of leaving:

... [W]hat's really amazing to me is that I feel more at home here than I ever did in Boston. I just wasn't "of" Boston. It's a great town, I loved the convenience and amenities of living there, and I miss our friends in Boston, but I never felt like I really belonged there. I feel like I belong here. ...

Based on the comments to his post, he's not the only ex-Bostonian in Buffalo.

John Ford of Ford Realty has started a real-estate blog. Unlike some of his colleagues, Ford not only thinks we're in the midst of a housing bubble, he thinks it's about to burst:

... I think it has the potential to be worse then in the late 80's early 90's for the Boston area. Contrary to what my esteem Boston realtors believe that this will only be a minor air leak, I believe you should cover your ears because balloons will be popping with a BANG. ...

Blame Greenspan, he says.

The Greater Boston Housing Report Card 2004 (just out, in PDF):

... Led by its high cost of housing, the Boston metropolitan area had by 2004 the highest cost of living of any metro region in the entire nation, outpacing San Francisco, New York, and Washington, D.C., not to mention Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, Chicago, Austin, and Miami where living costs were only two-thirds as high. It is not surprising, therefore, that Massachusetts was the only state in the nation to lose population in 2004. Of particular concern was the loss of young people. Between 2001 and 2003, the number of 20–24 year olds declined by 11.5 percent while the number of 25–34 year olds fell by 7.2 percent. By contrast, the number of 20–24 year olds nationally grew by 5.6 percent while 25–34 year olds increased by 0.7 percent during the same period. ...

John, a real-estate agent, compiles the list, which tops off at a scosh under $14 MILLON (and it's not even in EaBo, although it does come with a washer/dryer).