bostonbubble.com

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[balor123]

Arlington is really nice. If I were in MA still, then my first pick would be a big enough condo in Brookline. I like city living and Jewish community is great there. My wife hates cities, though, so my next bet would likely be Arlington. I'd prefer pars of Newton but can't afford it. Lexington is too sparse for my tastes. Arlington is interesting, has good enough schools, and is relatively cheap. If you're patient, then you can probably afford to do a tear-down there even.

[Boston ITer]

I wasn't going to chime in but many moons ago, GenX, myself, and a few others had a lengthy conversation about this topic.

For one, the valedictorian (or someone in the top 5 to 10) of some rural Kentucky HS, who's the first person to start a school radio station in his local community, will more likely gain admissions to various Ivies, etc, over many Boston area upstarts.

But here's what forgotten... he'll also win full scholarships to other private colleges, like a Rice, Vanderbilt, or Emory, and thus, be able to graduate loan free. A person from the Immune HS (no need to mention names here ), on the whole, will not be in the top 5 to 10 in his class and thus, will not be in the running for those competitive scholarships because many colleges want their profiles to indicate a higher class rank for new attendants. What will happen instead is that the kid may make the base 'admissions' cutoff at a particular college but may not be in the running for a full ride, without a hefty loan component.

At the moment, I don't have children but I have friends who do. Some of these fellows are currently homeschooling their kids and I've helped them with the curricula. In particular, I've worked on training the kids mnemonics for fun and have incorporated those 3.5K SAT/GRE word lists, into those practices. We're talking 8 to 11 year old kids here, not even teenagers. They now want to learn new words, even without prompting.

In addition, we've contracted with online essay readers, who can provide feedback on their writing. They're also a part of a literature group where they can discuss the classics and so forth. In terms of math, concepts from algebra I are already be applied via word problems. The next phase is to roll in Landon's great sentences course and then, when they actually read Faulkner or Whitman, they'll have a better impression of how a particular writing style conveys a different perspective or flavor.

Once they've mastered what we call the foundational work, then they can start taking classes at Harvard Extension and aim for an associates degree by the age of 17 or not, if they change plans at the time.

[admin]

[admin]

[balor123]

A few teardowns on MLS the past 2 days:

255 Washington St Arlington, MA - $399k. Flat, decently sized lot in a decent location. Easier to buy that newish one around the corner though.

56 Orient Ave Arlington, MA - $395k. Not a flat lot but big enough.

421 Bedford St Lexington, MA - $399k. Easy to build lot in Lexington but bad location.

[Guest]

After 2.5 months in the market, with $23,500 reduction, the place finally sold.

http://www.redfin.com/MA/Newton/238-Austin-St-02465/home/11424678

[admin]

[Guest]

Very good tear down hit the market today.

11 Fremont St

It's a flat lot. Very nice trees, nicely placed in the rear of the yard. Lot is big - 8000sf! That's bigger than my lot actually. I have a 7500sf lot w/a 3500sf house on it. I have friends who live around the corner - great location and lots of stuff to walk to. Area is mostly 2-family residences.

Now for the math. Newly renovated homes in the area about 2000sf are selling for $368/sf. If you plop a 2600sf home here at a cost of $150/sf, then you your building costs $390k. Assuming you can get a clear lot for the asking price of $430k, then your total cost is $820 or $315/sf or a profit of $75/sf ($195k). No new construction in area to compare to but people would probably pay more for a new home than a renovated one. Also, $150/sf is a pretty high end home. Similar sized homes in my development only cost $110/sf by comparison and would still be less after adjusting for regional cost differences.

Impervious coverage ratio in Arlington is 35% if I recall so could probably even build a 1-level house here, though I wouldn't. It's enough square footage for 4br+office+game room/3ba, with master and office down and maybe a guest room. Need to check city rules but with density here you could probably go even larger except that you'd be pushing the price limit for the area so that'd only be for multi-family I think.

The main downside is the apartments across the street.

[Guest]

entry door facing the stairs, bad feng shui!