bostonbubble.com

[Guest]

Doesn't anyone in Boston believe in updating their home...ever? All I ever see are homes for sale with kitchens from the 80's, wall paper in the dining room from the 70's and finished basements with drop ceilings from the 60's and bathrooms from the 50's? On top of that their asking prices are ridiculous.

If you want to see what I am talking about check out some homes in Lynnfield (espically Lynnfield), Wenham, Essex, Hamilton, Danvers, Belmont, and Arlington in the 600K-800K range. I lived in a few areas of the country but have never seen people who don't updated their living environments like the people in this area. Maybe it's me?

[balor123]

Nope it's not just you. I feel the same way and it's particularly frustrating that you pay a premium price for such unpremium properties. The reason is simple though. Getting a decent house here is so hard that there's simply no money left to pay for the building. It all goes to the land.

[john p]

I grew up in Lynnfield. It was great. Many of the farms have been infilled with subdivisions so it isn't as pretty as when I was there.

When they built up these towns that John Wayne, Bonanza Ranch and Frank Sinatra Rat Pack interior was cool. People thirty years from now will look at our Pottery Barn look as being dated...

Many people I know that left Lynnfield went further out from Boston and they often say "Boxford is like what Lynnfield was like 40 years ago..."

At the time, the housing stock was a mix of old farmhouses, a few georgian and victorians near the town centre, and then the post WWII GI cape neighborhoods (one I grew up in ), then the 60's/70's ranch neighborhoods further from the town centre, then the converted cottages around the pond, then the colonial neighborhoods near Apple Hill, King James Grant. Then Lynnfield became a snob town and the houses started to get huge. They used to follow the zoning ordinance of Weston. At this point the land that was left was little farm after little farm and it just turned into a sprawl upscale bedroom community. It was kind of nice to see horses and barns sprinkled in and around town. Now it is just mostly filled with new rich spoiled kids who ski, golf, lift weights and go to the clubs in Saugus. When I grew up you had lots of families that moved out of East Boston, Revere, Saugus, Dorchester, etc. You had a mix of kids that were raised old school (like mine) and others where the kids were totally spoiled. Some of the people like to show off their wealth. Many people just wanted to be around real people and live in a quiet community with regular people that weren't always prying about gossip. Older money people tended to be more private about certain things.

Anyway, some of the tacky stuff you see is often the flamboyant stuff that was actually showy years ago. years ago, people used to bring back pink flamingos and put them in their yards to show to their neighbors that they'd been to Florida...

[CC]

That's what I found too. I mainly look cities between 95 and 495. Most houses are so old, not updated, dark inside....etc, but of course they are expensive even 30% down from the peak in 2005 or 2006.

My major complain is the ceiling is always so low!! Why? For saving heating bill? It doesn't make any sense. I found only houses built before 1930 or after 1995 may have higher ceilings.

[john p]

I'd check out Kingston if you're flexible enough to be out a little ways. It is on the ocean...

If you're price point is around $600k, take a look at what you can get:

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Kingston_MA_02364_1107239789

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Kingston_MA_02364_1112705286

[john p]

Now compare those two houses above in Kinston to the neighboring town Duxbury.

Compare the first one to this cape with a big family room for $845,000.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/96-Duck-Hill-Rd_Duxbury_MA_02332_1113576710

And this huge colonial for $599,000.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Kingston_MA_02364_1107239789

These two homes are like five miles apart and the nicer of the two is like $245,000 LESS!

Kingston is an up and coming town which means that young families with a good head on their shoulders will move in and eventually the school systems will significantly improve as did towns like Medfield, Topsfield, etc.

[Guest]

I'm to the point where I am close to signing another 6 month lease and I've expanded my search to move further out from the North Shore areas I listed above. I work in Waltham so I need to be within a 45 min drive of there max which opens up a lot of other areas for me in Metro West and NW. I am staying away from South Shore since I hear the traffic going south from Waltham is unbearable.

One thing for sure is I refuse to pay what these people are asking in the above areas for homes my grandparents would call outdated if they were still alive. Have fun holding onto to those overpriced outdated pieces of property and watch their value continue to decrease in 2010 when interest rates rise and gov't support for the housing market goes away. Yes I am bitter

[john p]

Traffic down 128 is pretty brutal, especially by route 93.

[Guest]

Here is an article that may give a glimpse of what lies ahead for many sellers in the coming months. It's looking like the last chance they have to sell may be Q1 or Q2 at the latest. After that look for prices to drop fairly quickly with the interest rates rising. I'm sure this isn't "breaking news" to anyone but I thought this article gave a good outline of what the future may look like. Why anyone would purchase a house in the next 6 months before they sees how this plays out I can't understand??

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/23/news/economy/fed_mortgages/index.htm

[Brian C]

My drive from Dedham to Quincy is 15 minutes to 30 minutes on bad days. It much better than my previous drive from Danvers down 128, which would take 45 minutes down but always 90-120minutes heading back. I would seriously look at properties in Milton, Braintree, and Quincy.

As for finding houses in need of updating, its expected. Most people selling now are the ones with some equity left. Typically these sellers are old, hence the beat up kitchens and pink bathrooms.

If the price is right, getting a house that needs updating is actually a good thing. Our project house gave us a pretty much a blank slate to do what we wanted. Yes, it did cost us extra money on top of the downpayment, closing costs, etc but if you can buy 25% less than the neighborhood prices, then do it!

[john p]

You commute from Quincy (home) to Dedham (work) right? This is going against the traffic?

I think if you kept going past Dedham you'd hit a wall at 95 near Westwood right?

This guy's going to Waltham (work). My first thoughts were for this person to consider going west on Route 20 or 30.

http://profiles.doe.mass.edu/state_report/mcas.aspx

[john p]

Maybe keep an eye on Smartravler.com for a while to get a feel of things.

http://www.smartraveler.com/scripts/bostraffic.asp?index=29&city=bos&cityname=Boston

[Guest]

Thanks for everyone's input and help!

[Guest]

Here is another article from Cnnmoney today. This gets frustrating. One week the market is stabalizing and turning around. The next week it will bottom out again due to XYZ yadda yadda. Drives you nuts. Overall I have been seeing more negative reports on the future of housing than positive ones but the positives ones are still out there. I'm sure politics plays a big role in it.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/25/real_estate/home_price_forecast/index.htm

[CC]

Why would you care how medias report? They are generating news/stories and junks. They don't report!

Everyone knows the price will get only lower. Another 10-20% lower is my educated guess. Even sellers know that, but they can always have "hope" or wait for the "change".