August 24 - 31, 2000
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Don't move, continued
by David Valdes Greenwood
CAMBRIDGE CONDO. 1st ad. 2 blocks from Porter Sq., mix of old and new, modern kitchen, private balcony. $625,000.
If you really want to find an apartment at an affordable -- well, relatively affordable -- price, think about moving outside the Allston/Brighton/Back Bay/South End/Fenway/Harvard Square/Central Square/Porter Square/Union Square/Davis Square nexus. "Be creative -- do you really want the same thing as everyone else, or can you live on a frontier?" asks David Scott, a rental agent for Apartment Rental Experts. He says that Boston renters are too addicted to the subway, when commuter-rail or bus lines would extend their range of options and drop the price of housing. "Why not Everett, Chelsea, Revere?" he asks.
Sara Rosenfeld, senior vice-president of Brookline's Coldwell Banker-Hunneman, agrees that a wider search area could help. She calls Malden, with its downtown Orange Line stop, "the best-kept secret in town." And Matt Newman, owner of Just Publications and Matching Roommates, thinks your quality of living could rise if you look outside the city -- "the commuter rail can take you to some high-end neighborhoods." Meanwhile, Boston Realty Associates' Bob Imperato says that "you'd have to go beyond 128 for relief." All told, their advice echoes the cry of Monty Python's knights: "Run away, run away."
Face it: neighborhoods on the Red and Green Lines are maxed out. Orange Line destinations like Jamaica Plain are beginning to swell past capacity. Here are six neighborhoods that you probably wouldn't have considered a couple of years ago but should think about today if you're looking for a new home.
Roslindale -- It's got a cute village square featuring a cool new grocery store, and the commuter rail. The first wave of rediscovery has already occurred without you, but there are still deals to be had.
Malden -- Lots of complexes, if you like the pool-and-balcony thing, and the Orange Line runs right through it.
East Boston -- With four, count 'em, four Blue Line subway stops, it's a train rider's dream. Authentic Latino comidas and Italian pastry shops, plus a skyline view, make up for the shadow of the airport and the torture of the tunnel.
Hyde Park -- Cleary Square is coming back to life, with old Irish residents and newer immigrants in the mix. There's plenty of transportation via commuter rail and bus routes.
Revere -- All jokes aside, it's the cheapest possible way to live on the ocean and still be able to hop a subway back to the city.
Chelsea -- Stop laughing. This area, especially Admiral's Hill, is hot, hot, hot. Gay men and lesbians forged the way two years ago, and today you can't drive near the Chelsea waterfront without spotting a rainbow flag.
-- David Valdes Greenwood
It's not just expensive multi-family sales that are screwing things up for renters. Condos, once the lowly also-rans in the housing market, are suddenly desirable -- thanks in part to the Department of Neighborhood Services' successful 1997 move-to-Boston marketing campaign. Aimed at suburbanites, the campaign was clearly appealing to midlife empty-nesters: years after they had abandoned the city for plush 'burbs, yanking their tax dollars and their kids out of our schools, many seemed drawn anew to the perks of city living. They wouldn't stick around to help the city in leaner years, but they'd love to own a piece of it now.
Even retirees have started getting in on the act. "People are retiring from other parts of the country to enjoy the Boston lifestyle and, in many cases, revisit their college days by coming back," says Sara Rosenfeld, senior vice-president of Brookline's Coldwell Banker-Hunneman branch. "A lot of condos going to post-55 buyers who are financially set." The demand for condos has fueled conversions of what formerly were rental units, and Rosenfeld says that condo sales now actually outpace sales of single-family homes in Boston. (And they appreciate at a rate of 26 percent, according to the Greater Boston Real Estate Board.)
Condo fever is sweeping surrounding towns as well. The city formerly laughed off as "Slummerville" is so hot that DeWolfe New England recently placed a 5800-square-foot Davis Square condominium on the market for $1.4 million. Yes, you read that correctly: $1.4 million. For a condo. In Somerville. Even on the back side of Teele Square, which is a 15-minute hike to the nearest Red Line stop, an elderly triple-decker on Farragut Avenue is being converted into three condominiums. The top unit recently sold for $289,900. About five years ago, that sum would have purchased the entire house.
Also, Jason Gay discovers the price of location with Stop the insanity!
from August 27, 1999
People like Newman, who deal with the apartment market, feel the effects of that kind of activity. "A lot of what's available is going to condos now, and that depletes the supply of apartments," he says. "So little is new that what's available is what's already there -- and those are going condo."
The buying boom may remain a curse for renters: condos deplete the total number of available units, and huge mortgages increase the cost of the remaining rentals. Consider this: according to the Warren Group, the median purchase price for condominiums and houses in Boston was $169,500 in 1995. By this year, the median purchase price had jumped to $300,000.
This doesn't mean you can't find an apartment, of course. Not quite. But make sure you've got a healthy bank account and a fabulous credit history before you go out hunting for a new home. And remember: landlords in this market expect to be wooed -- and they set the terms. You're the ultimate blind date, and your intended is hoping for a doctor or lawyer, so be prepared to prove that you're loaded.
Michael O'Donnell wasn't loaded, but he was desperate. When his old apartment burned down in June, he and his roommates took to sleeping on friends' couches while searching for a new pad. "I literally called every realtor in the phone book, in order," the 23-year-old graphic designer remembers. "I said immediacy was our number-one priority, and second to that was a place for $1000 to $1500. Most people just laughed at me."
Few offered to show him apartments, and those who did tried to steer him out of the city entirely -- to places like Medford, which wasn't appealing because he didn't have a car. After a few weeks, one agent made an appointment to show a place in Lower Allston, on the other side of the Mass Pike. O'Donnell and his roommates "made a point of wearing shirts, being well-spoken non-keggers." But the landlord wasn't impressed: he insisted on co-signers for all three roommates. Once the signatures were gathered, there was the issue of cash: first and last months' rent, plus security deposit and realtor fee, each a full month's rent. Though the total was the equivalent of putting five percent down on a $120,000 house, they coughed it up.
After a month's effort, what did that $6000 get them? A two-bedroom apartment in a warehouse district that's a 15-minute walk from the nearest subway stop. O'Donnell's room doesn't have a closet and appears to have been created by walling off a portion of another room. But he probably would have settled for even less. "We were in a rush," he admits. "We took the first thing we saw."
Which is exactly what rental agents are now urging renters to do. "The urgency is there," says Polivy. "If you see something you like, take it -- don't hesitate." She knows that's what a cynic might expect her to say regardless of the season, but it's about the only advice she can give for those who want a place in the city.
In the meantime, if you already have a place to live but want to find a better apartment, realtors have two words for you: stop looking. At least for now. At this point, Imperato thinks it's wise to sit tight for another year and then start as early as possible, treating your search like a job. If a whole year seems an eternity, tough it out for a while anyway. "Wait as long as you can, at least into the winter," says Martha Werman, owner of the Cambridge-based Apartment Gods, "so that the prices will go down, even if availability is less as well. The second season will heat up in January and February, so things may come up."
Newman isn't sure how much good that will do, though: "Even a 10 percent change [in the number of open units] would not help at all." There are at least that many people looking, he says, and because of that, rents won't drop. And he's not sure that's a terrible thing. The only way to change the forecast now would be to slow the boom. "If the economy weakened, it would help everybody in prices," he says, but at what cost? "I remember '91-'92, when no one could find jobs, and college enrollment was down -- but there were plenty of apartments."
In other words, be careful what you wish for: a cheaper apartment doesn't help much if you don't have a job to pay for it. Rosenfeld isn't expecting any such thing to happen soon, anyway. "Historically, there's a cycle in prices, but I don't see any drop coming," she says.
BACK BAY. Fabulous. 1 BR, wood floors, covered parking. $5000.
So get used to it. Instead of looking for signs of eventual relief, embrace the horror.
Ryan Anderle had no choice but to adopt that Zen-like attitude when he and two friends moved here from Milwaukee in June. Though they had been searching online for an apartment since the winter, Internet brokers were demanding what he calls "insane amounts of credit," so the guys -- all artists -- moved here on faith. They settled into a hostel and then hit the ground running in search of a permanent space.
The first potential landlord wanted proof of $75,000 annual income -- not possible. The deal they eventually scored elsewhere was almost easy by local standards: only three months rent up front, plus a few fees, and a piddling single co-signer. Even so, this wiped them out for a while; though all three found minimum-wage jobs, the two weeks between moving into their apartment and getting their first paychecks was pretty bleak. "We got down to eating one meal a day," says Anderle. But at least they were eating that meal in one of the three small rooms that they will call home for the next year.
For them, taking a risk paid off. But I'm not that kind of guy. I don't do extreme sports -- no bungee-jumping off a cliff for me. And doing the apartment-hunting equivalent holds no appeal. A long, hard look at the rent crisis in Boston has given me a new perspective: flies notwithstanding, my landlord doesn't look like such a bad guy, and the peeling paint above me just means there's a roof over my head.
I signed the lease.
David Valdes can be reached at valdesgreenwood@worldnet.att.net.
