bostonbubble.com

[Steverino]

The seller inherited the place, owned it outright, and shoveled the cash into his pocket as pure gravy, as it turns out. He originally expected to sell for nearly a million, and thought having no mortgage would enable him to hold out for his price.

It looks like even he is getting the message.

[john p]

Steverino: from previous posts, it seems you've got your finger on the pulse in the transformation of the Somerville and Cambridge area.

Is it safe to say that when people in the 70's moved out to the suburbs and throughout the rent control era, that people weren't investing in these areas? I mean if people had a little money saved and their careers caught some wind, they'd move to Melrose, Stoneham, Winchester, Lexington, etc. Then, after rent control and with increased demand for housing by the Universities north of the Charles (who didn't build enough dormitories to keep up with enrollment) and the new construction of R&D in some of the Squares in Cambridge, a new wave of yuppies started buying up properties. Then, contractors, tradesmen started buying up two families and splitting them into condos. Weren't the old Bunker's selling the places for big money and moving out to the suburbs? I mean in your opinion, who's getting the last laugh, the old locals or the yuppies. On the one hand people see the yuppies gentrifying the old neighborhoods, but I see a bit of the old neighborhood cashing in large and selling their old run down places and buying new homes in the quiet suburbs.

I'm sure I'm missing some important stuff, so if there is any infill, let me know. Also, I wonder how you see all of this playing out in the future for those areas? Do you see a splitting of the schools: one for the yuppies and one for the working class?

[steverino]

The people who made out were the boomers who bought 10+ years ago and saw their shacks appreciate into the millions, and the holdout Bunkers who didn't sell until the housing bubble came a long. Oh, and the Bunkers' kids made out too--old Edith was still living in squalor when she kicked the bucket and passed the property to her laughing heirs.

I'm not sure what the future holds. Neighborhoods turn. In the past few decades, we've seen them gentrify. But before that, older folks saw family neighborhoods turn to ghettos. Nothing says the same thing couldn't happen again.

[john p]

Read Steverinos post just above this one (the last comment in particular).

Do you think that is possible?

[Guest]