What Are the Cheapest and Most Expensive Single Family Home For Sale In Your Town? (Newton: real estate, 2015)

[BostonMike7]

Two houses in my neighborhood recently sold for mid 600's, with dumpster showing up the day after closing followed by a total gut job and several months of contractors pouring in.

[id77]

Originally Posted by Japanfan1986

I thought this would be an interesting thread to show the range of homes for sale in your area. What made me think of it though was my current town (Waltham) and the extreme shortage we have of SFH.

Case in point according to Realtor.com there is exactly ONE SFH for sale currently in Waltham that is non-contingent.

Cheapest/Most Expensive: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...1_M38758-82180

Boston is too varied to include as a single monolithic whole so I'll just go with my zip code within it:

Cheapest (per Redfin): $535k (1 bd/1 ba 475 sq ft)
Most Expensive (per Redfin): $10.55 million (4 bd/4.5 ba 4810 sq ft)

Median sale price is $1.32 million. There are no SFHs...wait, there is 1: https://www.redfin.com/MA/Boston/5-L...6/home/9262857 ($2.499 million, 3/2, 2138 sq ft).

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Two houses in my neighborhood recently sold for mid 600's, with dumpster showing up the day after closing followed by a total gut job and several months of contractors pouring in.

Can someone explain the math to me? I spent $225/square foot remodeling my house a decade ago and I was paying $35/hour New Bedford labor rates with materials cost half what it is now. Are these really total gut jobs or are they just doing a kitchen, a bath or two, upgrading flooring, and giving it a professional paint job? The only total gut job going on near me is a historic house that sold for less than the value of the land because it couldn’t be torn down. The buyer is DIY and it’s been an unoccupied work in progress for a couple of years.

Dumpsters here are usually a kitchen & bath remodel. If you have to do windows, doors, wiring, insulation, plumbing, and HVAC, people just knock it down and start over.

[scorpio516]

Worcester SFH:

low: $137k
Highest: $799k

Shrewsbury SFH:
350k to 1.8M

West Boylston? None for sale.

[charolastra00]

Marlborough


Low: $350K: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...pid/?mmlb=g,19 (3 bed/1 bath, next to a condemned house that has not been replaced after burning down last year)


High: $720K: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1...56525567_zpid/ (4 bed/3 bath updated colonial)



Like everywhere, inventory is really low and prices are runaway. Pre-pandemic, I looked at this building at a unit with much nicer finishings (no carpet, for instance) and on the top floor so the windows didn't look into neighboring apartments. In fall of 2019, that condo was listed at 280K and it was one of the more expensive condos in the city. This less desirable unit is currently listed for 345K.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Can someone explain the math to me? I spent $225/square foot remodeling my house a decade ago and I was paying $35/hour New Bedford labor rates with materials cost half what it is now. Are these really total gut jobs or are they just doing a kitchen, a bath or two, upgrading flooring, and giving it a professional paint job? The only total gut job going on near me is a historic house that sold for less than the value of the land because it couldn’t be torn down. The buyer is DIY and it’s been an unoccupied work in progress for a couple of years.

Dumpsters here are usually a kitchen & bath remodel. If you have to do windows, doors, wiring, insulation, plumbing, and HVAC, people just knock it down and start over.

One was a total gut job. Every room was touched along with a fancy open-concept kitchen and finishing the basement. Was taken down to studs with new electrical. I toured the house during the open house, and was invited in by our new neighbors. They are still pouring money into it but it ended up being a very nice house.

2nd house is still under construction. From what i can tell, it's a kitchen, but they took out a dividing wall and put in a cathedral ceiling over the kitchen/living room area. Not a cheap job considering the wall they took out was load-bearing. It's also at least one bathroom. Still ongoing, but my wife knows the new owners, so I assume i'll get to check it out down the road.

About 5 years ago, a house in the same neighborhood sold for $350K. It was a gut job in the sense that they took the entire roof off the house and left up 4 studded outer walls on the foundation and started over. Essentially they built a new house on the existing foundation. Beautiful house today.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by charolastra00

Like everywhere, inventory is really low and prices are runaway. Pre-pandemic, I looked at this building at a unit with much nicer finishings (no carpet, for instance) and on the top floor so the windows didn't look into neighboring apartments. In fall of 2019, that condo was listed at 280K and it was one of the more expensive condos in the city. This less desirable unit is currently listed for 345K.

That unit is already at 96 DOM and the full text say no renting so finding an interested buyer is going to be tough. Reckon it sells for a lot less than 345k and they will eat a lot of HOA fees.

[G-fused]

Remember when being a millionaire was the almost impossible dream? Man, that evaporated fast!

When someone has to qualify for a $1 million mortgage to get a middle class home in decent shape that is somewhat near the city - man, that is just insane.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

One was a total gut job. Every room was touched along with a fancy open-concept kitchen and finishing the basement. Was taken down to studs with new electrical. I toured the house during the open house, and was invited in by our new neighbors. They are still pouring money into it but it ended up being a very nice house.

Having done one of those on a smaller scale, I still don’t understand the math. You’re describing $400k+ worth of remodeling paying inside-495 labor rates. So they have well north of $1 million into the house. How does that compare to similar houses in the neighborhood? I’m assuming that it also needed windows & doors plus the usual remediation of problems that pop up every time you open up a wall.

[Japanfan1986]

A new cheapest champion in Waltham: https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...1_M43059-68422

Last purchase for $375K in May 2017. Now selling for $619K.

The unfortunate thing is, I could totally see someone buying it quickly.