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So I live in Boston, and bought a condo in the slums as soon as I could. Not the worst slum (Green St., near Hatoff's gas station for those who know JP), but 50

by seibelj 10y ago

So I live in Boston, and bought a condo in the slums as soon as I could. Not the worst slum (Green St., near Hatoff's gas station for those who know JP), but 50 yards from a halfway house, the suboxone at Arbour counseling and the needles near it, Mattapan is pretty close. 5 years later the condo is up 40%, Hatoff's gas is now being destroyed for (I assume?) more condos, a brewpub is opening pretty close, and families are moving in everywhere. And my mortgage is still $1500, and it will be for the next 25 years until it's paid off. So why move? I can make great money and I locked into an improving neighborhood. Don't a lot of young people with useful skills do this? Buy into a hood-ish area and wait for it to develop? I wouldn't have raised a family here before gentrification, but every month it seems more realistic... My point is, I live an expensive city but I made the right decisions. And now it isn't so expensive, and when I'm at 10 years, 15, 25 years experience, I will still be here. And anyone who thinks I'm bragging, you can do the same thing I did. My recommendation is Jackson Square and Roxbury Crossing, you can find quite affordable properties in Roxbury. Don't buy where things are nice now, buy where things will be nice later. EDIT - Hatoff's is just undergoing renovations.[0] I wish it would close! Cheapest gas in the entire city, and connected to a gambling parlor. Not quite gentrified yet... EDIT 2 - Yes down-vote all you want, sorry me and thousands of other people make economically rational decisions regarding where we put down stakes. [0] http://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/2017/04/02/historic-hatoffs-gas-station-closed-for-weeks-getting-new-pumps/24080 http://www.jamaicaplainnews.com/2017/04/02/historic-hatoffs-...

mahyarm 10y ago
Hood can stay hood a lot longer than your personal life timeline. It's kind of like the assertion 'the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent'. Younger people who want to buy somewhere affordable get long commutes instead in boring bedroom communities.
- seibelj 10y ago
  I'm fine with it being hood, I live here after all. But it is nice when things improve.
  - dtparr 10y ago
    You just said: >I wouldn't have raised a family here before gentrification, but every month it seems more realistic... So for young people not wanting to chance the 'gentrification lottery' you're describing with regard to their personal timeline, what you're proposing isn't reasonable.
    - seibelj 10y ago
      It is a lottery? Move where there is a subway stop and property is cheap. Allston, Somerville, Southie, even East Boston is coming around. It isn't fuckin rocket science
      - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
        Somerville has been expensive for years. Our landlord has raised rent by $175/month over the past two years, so we're having to move to Medford.
        seibelj 10y ago
        I mean the process of those areas getting better happened. Somerville already became nice, it's too late to get in cheap.
  - russdpale 10y ago
    Dude, there isn't 'hoods' or ghettos in Boston, at least none that I recognize. Plenty of places deep in the south that are much more dangerous.
    - seibelj 10y ago
      Yes the entire city of Boston is perfectly safe, we have no murders here /s
      - fader 10y ago
jaypaulynice 10y ago
Lol you don't live in the hoods man...Jamaica Plain is one of the surburbs of Boston and one of the best around. I lived in WR and right now these are the most expensive neighborhoods of Boston...you live in paradise trust me!
- seibelj 10y ago
  It used to be a lot worse, and it could be a lot worse, but it has drastically improved. Drive down Washington. I used to live in Egleston Square, this is indeed paradise. I also don't know how well you know JP, one block is full of $3mil homes and 2 blocks down it's a disaster
drfuchs 10y ago
30-year mortgage? Wouldn't a 15-year one be affordable enough?
branchless 10y ago
For every person like you someone buys in a neighborhood that never gets better. Some get worse. It's not a money train. I think you are bragging and that you don't understand the wider system, nor where your gains come from.
- seibelj 10y ago
  I think you need to understand a neighborhood well before you buy in. If you throw a dart on a map, yeah it's a lottery. But anyone without a hole in their head could tell (for example) that Broadway on the red line was going to explode, and it did!
  - branchless 10y ago
    Either the Goverbankment pumps land or they don't. You are kidding yourself.

by seibelj 10y ago

mahyarm 10y ago

Hood can stay hood a lot longer than your personal life timeline. It's kind of like the assertion 'the market can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent'. Younger people who want to buy somewhere affordable get long commutes instead in boring bedroom communities.

seibelj 10y ago
I'm fine with it being hood, I live here after all. But it is nice when things improve.
- dtparr 10y ago
  You just said: >I wouldn't have raised a family here before gentrification, but every month it seems more realistic... So for young people not wanting to chance the 'gentrification lottery' you're describing with regard to their personal timeline, what you're proposing isn't reasonable.
  - seibelj 10y ago
    It is a lottery? Move where there is a subway stop and property is cheap. Allston, Somerville, Southie, even East Boston is coming around. It isn't fuckin rocket science
    - eli_gottlieb 10y ago
      Somerville has been expensive for years. Our landlord has raised rent by $175/month over the past two years, so we're having to move to Medford.
      - seibelj 10y ago
        I mean the process of those areas getting better happened. Somerville already became nice, it's too late to get in cheap.
- russdpale 10y ago
  Dude, there isn't 'hoods' or ghettos in Boston, at least none that I recognize. Plenty of places deep in the south that are much more dangerous.
  - seibelj 10y ago
    Yes the entire city of Boston is perfectly safe, we have no murders here /s
    - fader 10y ago

jaypaulynice 10y ago

Lol you don't live in the hoods man...Jamaica Plain is one of the surburbs of Boston and one of the best around. I lived in WR and right now these are the most expensive neighborhoods of Boston...you live in paradise trust me!

seibelj 10y ago
It used to be a lot worse, and it could be a lot worse, but it has drastically improved. Drive down Washington. I used to live in Egleston Square, this is indeed paradise. I also don't know how well you know JP, one block is full of $3mil homes and 2 blocks down it's a disaster

drfuchs 10y ago

30-year mortgage? Wouldn't a 15-year one be affordable enough?

branchless 10y ago

For every person like you someone buys in a neighborhood that never gets better. Some get worse. It's not a money train. I think you are bragging and that you don't understand the wider system, nor where your gains come from.

seibelj 10y ago
I think you need to understand a neighborhood well before you buy in. If you throw a dart on a map, yeah it's a lottery. But anyone without a hole in their head could tell (for example) that Broadway on the red line was going to explode, and it did!
- branchless 10y ago
  Either the Goverbankment pumps land or they don't. You are kidding yourself.