There's Nothing Plain About Jamaica Plain
Not much of a photo I know. It's the only one I could pull from the realty web site. This is a picture of the porch on the first house I owned in Boston. The house was older, built in 1910, and needed quite a bit of work. I never really liked this house. The main reason for purchasing it was the fact that it was in a very gay neighborhood. At the time I moved in, there were 4 gay households on the street out of about 10 houses total. The surrounding streets had there share of gay folks as well. Our neighborhood had it's own contingent in the Boston Gay Pride Parade. We called ourselves BAGAL - Bourne Area Gays and Lesbians. BAGAL held monthly potlucks and threw parties for holidays and special events. We had a map of the neighborhood created with every gay or lesbian household colored in pink. There was a lot of pink.
I bought this house in 1995 for 125,000. I just found out it sold in at the end of November 2007 for $427,500. Pretty amazing for a one bath, three bedroom (sort of - one bedroom had no closet) house. Of course I made a profit as well when I sold eight years ago. But it just never ceases to amaze me what people will pay for houses in this and certain other parts of the country.
To all you folks still in Boston - having lived and owned houses in both the eastern and western parts of this state, I can honestly say the western part is way more beautiful, more fun, and more economical. But maybe I shouldn't tell you that.
Comments
For the record, even here in the boonies, real estate is going up at an alarming rate.
There are farms around where I live and it is more rural than Boston but it's not totally out in the woods or anything.
People in CA drive that far each way to work a lot of times, so I guess it can be done.
Do you get to the ocean much?
You also had a small side yard the size of a postage stamp (ok I exaggerate) which was also very uncommon for JP or even Boston for that matter.
JP itself is kind of a cool place to live - kind of like Northampton - with a lot of shops and restaurants to spend the day walking around browsing (or shopping).
However, what you get in a house and land for $400k in the Boston area vs $400k in WMass is a huge difference!
I love the energy in Boston but I love WMass so much more for the green grass and the clear sky at night. You can't even see the stars at night in Boston because of all of the smog.
I could go on and on...
That porch had great sunlight Rubye Jean. Not much of a view however. I used to get to the ocean more when I lived in Boston. There was a ferry there could get you to Cape Cod in 90 minutes. I only get to the beach now about once or twice a year when I head out to Provincetown on the end of the Cape. It's about a 3 hour drive from here.
Yes, Blondie I agree that JP was kind of a cool place to live. But it was way too urban for me. I would pick Northampton any day over JP.