Population slightly down in MA 2022 (Boston: housing market, suburbs, child care)

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

The thing is that just because you manage to purchase a property through affordable housing (like you're advocating for), doesn't mean you are going to fit in. You need a higher income to fit in, housing is only one aspect.

I'm guessing there are some people who don't care about fitting in. I don't have an issue with the 55+ community thing and the apts that go for 400k. If someone wants to buy a condo or an apt on a nicer town then ok sure. I do get annoyed by this concept of affordable housing where someone will be buying a house for 300k that would normally be 700k.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

The thing is that just because you manage to purchase a property through affordable housing (like you're advocating for), doesn't mean you are going to fit in. You need a higher income to fit in, housing is only one aspect.

I personally have never purchased property thru an affordable housing program. Albeit, I've purchased 'affordable' priced homes compared to the prices of other homes in 'elite' towns. Elite town or not, when is it ok to treat another human being like a piece of cr*p just because they are 'only' a dry cleaning shop owner vs this condescending woman who was prob 'just' a multimillionaire housewife with some serious narcissistic behavioral issues? I'm glad I don't 'fit' in with that.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I'm guessing there are some people who don't care about fitting in. I don't have an issue with the 55+ community thing and the apts that go for 400k. If someone wants to buy a condo or an apt on a nicer town then ok sure. I do get annoyed by this concept of affordable housing where someone will be buying a house for 300k that would normally be 700k.

It makes sense in the resort towns. There’s nowhere for the locals who work there to live. They do it at the Colorado resorts. If a developer is building luxury condos, they have to set some aside for the locals. They're generally ground level or no view/north facing. Their deed restricted. You have to work full time in the town. You can only rent to locals. No AirBnB. The towns are also building locals-only apartments with the same rules. They're also deed restricting new construction from AirBnB. Some towns are slapping an AirBnB on property transfers.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I'm guessing there are some people who don't care about fitting in. I don't have an issue with the 55+ community thing and the apts that go for 400k. If someone wants to buy a condo or an apt on a nicer town then ok sure. I do get annoyed by this concept of affordable housing where someone will be buying a house for 300k that would normally be 700k.

Yes, the concept of it is as annoying as anything when there are folks out there who 'cheat' the system to get one. The folks who do buy the $300K ones cannot make a profit on it when they sell. It will never be sold at market rate or what the $700K ones would sell for. They certainly aren't going to get rich on the opportunity if that makes you feel any better about it.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Yes, the concept of it is as annoying as anything when there are folks out there who 'cheat' the system to get one. The folks who do buy the $300K ones cannot make a profit on it when they sell. It will never be sold at market rate or what the $700K ones would sell for. They certainly aren't going to get rich on the opportunity if that makes you feel any better about it.

It doesn't really.

I just think the bigger picture is that there is a problem with greater Boston housing market. If affordable housing has to be built in every town that is a problem. There also doesn't need to be affordable housing in every MA town but here we are because I guess that's only fair.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

It doesn't really.

I just think the bigger picture is that there is a problem with greater Boston housing market. If affordable housing has to be built in every town that is a problem. There also doesn't need to be affordable housing in every MA town but here we are because I guess that's only fair.

It is pretty silly when you think about it that this is what its come down to with housing in this state.

[redplum33]

Originally Posted by msRB311

This looks like a great affordable house for someone:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3...58521320_zpid/

In a suburb.

The problem has become people want fancy affordable homes in the nicer suburbs. It's funny how entitled people have become.

That's a trailer.

[MtPleasantDream]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

I think you're mistaken if you think teacher quality has much correlation with educational outcome. The blue chip suburbs could hire new grad state school education majors at the bottom of the pay scale and the outcome of those children would be pretty much identical.


There are 3,300 METCO students. If you want an impact to the 54,000 in Boston Public Schools, you move the decimal point. Plus the other couple hundred thousand public school students in cities like Springfield, Holyoke, Lawrence, New Bedford, Fall River, Brockton, ....

Of course teachers are not everything, but they do have a big impact. Especially for those who have uneducated parents, a good teacher can be their role model and a source of inspiration.

Particularly, teachers who are stuck in "bad schools" tend to give up and become indifferent, so they also need some motivation to better themselves. By rotating teachers, we build bridges for different schools to learn from each other too.

My high school had a very enthusiastic chemistry teacher, and eventually quite a few top students of my class chose to study chemistry in college. At least three of them got a PhD in chemistry (I don't keep in touch with all of them, so there could be more.) On the other hand, the biology teacher was close to retirement and cared less. So as a result, few top students were biology majors. I was interested in biology, but was more or less discouraged by that teacher. Then I studied engineering, which may have been a good thing, but that is not the point.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by redplum33

That's a trailer.

A trailer in a 55+ community! So not just anyone can purchase that.

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

It makes sense in the resort towns. There’s nowhere for the locals who work there to live. They do it at the Colorado resorts. If a developer is building luxury condos, they have to set some aside for the locals. They're generally ground level or no view/north facing. Their deed restricted. You have to work full time in the town. You can only rent to locals. No AirBnB. The towns are also building locals-only apartments with the same rules. They're also deed restricting new construction from AirBnB. Some towns are slapping an AirBnB on property transfers.

Same deal here in Hilton Head, but no SFH are involved.