Happy Earth Day!

Happy Birthday, Betsy!

Good Passover to all who celebrate!

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Happy Birthday Betsy!

Happy Passover!

My parents used to constantly tell me that it made bad financial sense for me to rent rather than buy. Until I had to bail them out to the tune of $4000 for a new heating core their little fixer-upper needed. Nowadays I can't go over to visit without hearing about some new maintenance problem they had to hire someone to fix. Whereas if there's anything wrong with my apartment that a little dusting and a floor mop won't correct, I can call my landlord and all will be well the next day, free of charge. I think entropy and the stress and expense involved in dealing with it have to be factored into the rent vs. own argument.

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That's the funny part -- ideally, I'd buy in the neighborhood I'm in, but the prices are too high. To buy, I'll have to move to a poorer neighborhood, or be pretty lucky.

Or, to an equal or nicer neighborhood, but a little further outside of Boston (not far, just say 5-10 miles more, and still on the bus lines, and commuter rail, and in some cases, the subway lines).

How big is your apartment, Nutty?

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Happy Birthday Betsy!

Happy Passover!

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I think entropy and the stress and expense involved in dealing with it have to be factored into the rent vs. own argument.

Yep, those are some of the intangibles, that can only be defined and prioritized by the individual.

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I certainly wouldn't say buying is always better for everyone, it's just taking out a mortgage isn't always worse.

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Or, to an equal or nicer neighborhood, but a little further outside of Boston (not far, just say 5-10 miles more, and still on the bus lines, and commuter rail, and in some cases, the subway lines).

5-10 miles from where I live is 90% unaffordable for me. There's a reason why so many Tufts students live in Somerville instead of Medford. Moving further away but not particularly down in my case means pretty specifically moving east, to the Malden/Revere/Salem area. Practically every new (first time) homeowner I know has bought in that area. Don't think I haven't bee eyeballing the prices of those towns, and using them as baselines.

(I could move to East Somerville, but that's a serious downmarket move, and not in the "charmingly decrepit" way.)

How big is your apartment, Nutty?

It's a postage stamp. It's a 2 bedroom, and I could easily live alone in it, and it has one closet for the whole apartment, and it has Creepy Basement Bob instead of a laundry hookup and storage space.

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I certainly wouldn't say buying is always better for everyone

Heck, the way things are going for me I may be renting again at some point.

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How much would a postage stamp condo go for, in your neighborhood?

eta

Oh, Gud. I hope not.

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In my neighborhood, a 712 sq ft apartment was listed at 439K. It sold for 499K.

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