Winter Banter and General Disco 2

[DavisStraight]

2 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

Best thing anybody could have done in Boston. Buy a triple decker for 500K, make each floor a 500K+ condo. 1 mil+ profit. 

 

 

You're a little high on your numbers but that's right. They tried that in Worcester and it didn't work.

[SouthCoastMA]

Just now, CoastalWx said:

I'm just amazed how it seems very few do a thorough budget. I included things like oh shit money and some play money too.  When you do that, that home in Weston turns into a home in Weymouth. LOL. 

Spreadsheets. Not sure how anyone could budget without one tbh, or something comparable

[CoastalWx]

2 minutes ago, DavisStraight said:

You're a little high on your numbers but that's right. They tried that in Worcester and it didn't work.

I might be low, ask Jay in Dorchester. These guys would just build over crooked 100yr old buildings and not give a crap. 

[ORH_wxman]

7 minutes ago, CoastalWx said:

I'm just amazed how it seems very few do a thorough budget. I included things like oh shit money and some play money too.  When you do that, that home in Weston turns into a home in Weymouth. LOL. 

I always said that personal finance/budgets should be a required course in high school....so many have no idea how to manage finances and its what gets people into trouble.

[wx_observer]

It looks like I-190 / I-395 beltway is heading in the direction of what I-495 beltway used to be, and worth looking at in terms of investment over time.  Worcester has been trying to revamp itself as far as an urban area, and the nearby towns are worth looking into.  Even in this area, a 1000 SF home in good condition can be priced close to $300K right now.

You can so quickly get into a world of hurt if you buy a home near the top of what the bank is willing to lend you.  S&**T happens, life happens, and real life is way more expensive than the formula the bank uses.  I'm thankful I was so conservative, and I sleep much better at night.   

[CoastalWx]

Bit of a way back when thought here, but I'm amazed how 495 has changed. I remember going to my Uncle's house in Shrewsbury and 495 was one of those roads that was a ghost town. Might as well have been I-80 in Wyoming. Now it's bumper to bumper from Middleboro to Methuen on rush hour days. 

[Baroclinic Zone]

Just now, CoastalWx said:

Bit of a way back when thought here, but I'm amazed how 495 has changed. I remember going to my Uncle's house in Shrewsbury and 495 was one of those roads that was a ghost town. Might as well have been I-80 in Wyoming. Now it's bumper to bumper from Middleboro to Methuen on rush hour days. 

I'm going to date myself but I recall when they opened up the stretch of I-495 between i-95 and Rt 24.  We used to have to travel down RT 106 thru Easton in order to get to my Aunt/Uncles place on  the Cape.  Brand new highway. 

[Heat Miser]

6 minutes ago, wx_observer said:

It looks like I-190 / I-395 beltway is heading in the direction of what I-495 beltway used to be, and worth looking at in terms of investment over time.  Worcester has been trying to revamp itself as far as an urban area, and the nearby towns are worth looking into.  Even in this area, a 1000 SF home in good condition can be priced close to $300K right now.

You can so quickly get into a world of hurt if you buy a home near the top of what the bank is willing to lend you.  S&**T happens, life happens, and real life is way more expensive than the formula the bank uses.  I'm thankful I was so conservative, and I sleep much better at night.   

I grew up in sleepy little Berlin. I'm shocked at the development happening around both the 290 and 495 on/off ramps.

[CoastalWx]

1 minute ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

I'm going to date myself but I recall when they opened up the stretch of I-495 between i-95 and Rt 24.  We used to have to travel down RT 106 thru Easton in order to get to my Aunt/Uncles place on  the Cape.  Brand new highway. 

When was that? The only one I remember was back in the 90s when they called it "Rt 25" and brought it to the Bourne Bridge.

[Baroclinic Zone]

1 minute ago, CoastalWx said:

When was that? The only one I remember was back in the 90s when they called it "Rt 25" and brought it to the Bourne Bridge.

Think it was in the late 70s, early 80s.

Edit, I just found year.  1982 it was completed.

Yeah, I recall RT 25 as well.  The story behind that is fascinating.  It makes that huge arcing loop because of the Farm that is adjacent to the road.  The owners fought and won.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massachusetts_Route_25

[PhineasC]

37 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

I always said that personal finance/budgets should be a required course in high school....so many have no idea how to manage finances and its what gets people into trouble.

Also the difference between a thousand, a million, a billion, and a trillion. Would help ignorant young voters understand what is meant by “tax the rich” and “this proposal will cost 30 trillion dollars.”

[Whineminster]

33 minutes ago, Heat Miser said:

I grew up in sleepy little Berlin. I'm shocked at the development happening around both the 290 and 495 on/off ramps.

I moved to Westminster in 2012 from Natick and the building has been crazy out here.  New colonials everywhere.

[HalloweenGale]

52 minutes ago, wx_observer said:

It looks like I-190 / I-395 beltway is heading in the direction of what I-495 beltway used to be, and worth looking at in terms of investment over time.  Worcester has been trying to revamp itself as far as an urban area, and the nearby towns are worth looking into.  Even in this area, a 1000 SF home in good condition can be priced close to $300K right now.

You can so quickly get into a world of hurt if you buy a home near the top of what the bank is willing to lend you.  S&**T happens, life happens, and real life is way more expensive than the formula the bank uses.  I'm thankful I was so conservative, and I sleep much better at night.   

I was looking at apartments out towards ORH and the surrounding areas to the east. I've got to get off the cape. I have a great-aunt who lives in Shrewsbury (funny enough, I've never met her. If I had, then I must've been a baby) I'd even go to the Brockton area.

[ORH_wxman]

58 minutes ago, wx_observer said:

It looks like I-190 / I-395 beltway is heading in the direction of what I-495 beltway used to be, and worth looking at in terms of investment over time.  Worcester has been trying to revamp itself as far as an urban area, and the nearby towns are worth looking into.  Even in this area, a 1000 SF home in good condition can be priced close to $300K right now.

You can so quickly get into a world of hurt if you buy a home near the top of what the bank is willing to lend you.  S&**T happens, life happens, and real life is way more expensive than the formula the bank uses.  I'm thankful I was so conservative, and I sleep much better at night.   

ORH is eventually going to explode in value. They've "skillfully" managed to keep themselves a low-cost dump through the years, but it's becoming hard for even them to stop the tide coming in from the east. It's already getting really expensive in places just east of them like Shrewsbury, Boylston, etc. If they could ever fix the downtown area of ORH, the city real estate is primed to like double or triple in value over the next 2 decades. Biggest problem right now with the city is that the downtown area is still a dump and the places anyone wants to visit with bars/restaurants are usually east of downtown on Shrewsbury street....though it will be interesting to see how the new ballpark for the AAA team changes things.

 

[HIPPYVALLEY]

2 hours ago, HoarfrostHubb said:

What sort of annual income does a family need to be able to legitamately afford a $500-600k house?  I'm not even close.

 

Yeah, it’s ridiculous.

I will say since Covid created the rush to buy houses in the country, even blue collar Greenfield properties shot up in value.

I guess being the hub of the county and having Amtrak here helps but my modest little house increased 20% in value.I guess being the hub of the county and having Amtrak here helps but my modest little house increased 20% in value.

All of this really sucks for first time homebuyers though.

[HoarfrostHubb]

9 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

ORH is eventually going to explode in value. They've "skillfully" managed to keep themselves a low-cost dump through the years, but it's becoming hard for even them to stop the tide coming in from the east. It's already getting really expensive in places just east of them like Shrewsbury, Boylston, etc. If they could ever fix the downtown area of ORH, the city real estate is primed to like double or triple in value over the next 2 decades. Biggest problem right now with the city is that the downtown area is still a dump and the places anyone wants to visit with bars/restaurants are usually east of downtown on Shrewsbury street....though it will be interesting to see how the new ballpark for the AAA team changes things.

 

That Canal District is super fun.  The restaurants etc in that area are quite enjoyable.  Crompton Collective, Worcester Public Market are fun too.  Kelly Square is so different now

[HoarfrostHubb]

28 minutes ago, Whineminster said:

I moved to Westminster in 2012 from Natick and the building has been crazy out here.  New colonials everywhere.

Strangely, construction in Hubbardston almost has come to a halt in the last 15 years or so.  Such a huge percentage of the land is owned by the state.  Rutland, Westminster, Templeton all have tons of houses going up

[HoarfrostHubb]

1 hour ago, Baroclinic Zone said:

I'm going to date myself but I recall when they opened up the stretch of I-495 between i-95 and Rt 24.  We used to have to travel down RT 106 thru Easton in order to get to my Aunt/Uncles place on  the Cape.  Brand new highway. 

Same here.  When I was in HS, a friend of mine rebuilt an old Ford Galaxie with a 7 liter engine.  He took me for a ride in it on the yet unopened part of 495.

We saw 140 mph on the speedo.  The engine was doing fine, but the aerodynamics of that brick limited it.  Fastest I have ever been that wasn't in a plane 

[Great Snow 1717]

2 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Bit of a way back when thought here, but I'm amazed how 495 has changed. I remember going to my Uncle's house in Shrewsbury and 495 was one of those roads that was a ghost town. Might as well have been I-80 in Wyoming. Now it's bumper to bumper from Middleboro to Methuen on rush hour days. 

...bumper to bumper traffic till  495 meets 95....well before the pandemic that is.  Weekend days during the summer are also bumper to bumper.

[wx_observer]

23 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

ORH is eventually going to explode in value. They've "skillfully" managed to keep themselves a low-cost dump through the years, but it's becoming hard for even them to stop the tide coming in from the east. It's already getting really expensive in places just east of them like Shrewsbury, Boylston, etc. If they could ever fix the downtown area of ORH, the city real estate is primed to like double or triple in value over the next 2 decades. Biggest problem right now with the city is that the downtown area is still a dump and the places anyone wants to visit with bars/restaurants are usually east of downtown on Shrewsbury street....though it will be interesting to see how the new ballpark for the AAA team changes things.

 

Agreed--what you see when you drive through downtown on the highway is a combination of heavy industrial uses, and dense multi family properties that have generally been poorly maintained.

It's too bad though.  The city has several noteworthy universities, good highway access, and a growing medical and technology presence. Shrewsbury St seems to have pulled off a fairly cohesive uplift, and there are still some nicer residential areas on the periphery of the city.  I've seen quite a bit of investment in renovating homes in these neighborhoods, but the residential areas downtown are so hard to resolve without dealing with genuine issues of poverty there.  Hopefully they will incorporate meaningful neighborhood improvements when building the ballpark.

Wonder what happens with real estate if enough people from Boston / Metrowest shift to remote working long term...

[ORH_wxman]

1 minute ago, wx_observer said:

Agreed--what you see when you drive through downtown on the highway is a combination of heavy industrial uses, and dense multi family properties that have generally been poorly maintained.

It's too bad though.  The city has several noteworthy universities, good highway access, and a growing medical and technology presence. Shrewsbury St seems to have pulled off a fairly cohesive uplift, and there are still some nicer residential areas on the periphery of the city.  I've seen quite a bit of investment in renovating homes in these neighborhoods, but the residential areas downtown are so hard to resolve without dealing with genuine issues of poverty there.  Hopefully they will incorporate meaningful neighborhood improvements when building the ballpark.

Wonder what happens with real estate if enough people from Boston / Metrowest shift to remote working long term...

I lived for years (and grew up) on the northern side of the city which is generally pretty nice (and so is the western parts around Tatnuck Square and Worcester St College...straight northern ORH near Indian Hill/Greendale/Burncoat area is a little more blue collar than west side but still pretty nice).

But yeah, they never have addressed actual downtown. Hubbdave mentioned how the canal distrcit is making a comeback too which is nice....but this is pretty localized. The new stadium will be near there, so hopefully it helps expand the growth. They really need to revitalize Main Street between like the Police station and Hanover Theater over to Pleasant St south of Park ave. So much of that is still pretty dumpy. They've made slow progress, but there is a ton of potential there.

[Typhoon Tip]

2 hours ago, ORH_wxman said:

ORH is eventually going to explode in value. They've "skillfully" managed to keep themselves a low-cost dump through the years, but it's becoming hard for even them to stop the tide coming in from the east. It's already getting really expensive in places just east of them like Shrewsbury, Boylston, etc. If they could ever fix the downtown area of ORH, the city real estate is primed to like double or triple in value over the next 2 decades. Biggest problem right now with the city is that the downtown area is still a dump and the places anyone wants to visit with bars/restaurants are usually east of downtown on Shrewsbury street....though it will be interesting to see how the new ballpark for the AAA team changes things.

 

Plus ...10 years ago I knew some who live(d) in that area down there and were warning to bar- the windows of your car - not just alarm the vehicle... heh.   Crime and recidivism therein was running amok ...don't walk alone late at night either.

is that still like that?

But it's true about the real-estate greed tsunamis curling over the horizon from the east.  It follows the Earthquake of demand...and as demographics expand and layouts took over places like Acton to Sudbury and Littleton ...the between 495 and 128 region during the late 1970s through 2000, the 'ring' over development moved west.   Everyone along or east of that boundary ...goes from too much for housing to down right amoral economy -

If you prorated every solid state material in a house on Arlington Heights... the nails are 1,000 bucks a pop ... kidding but point taken.

I live in a small house I bought here in Ayer ....too many years ago. I never intended to live here this long.  I thought I'd had saved and moved up salary-wise, ...met a nice women... all that. 

I'm still here ... eh hm, but, about 5 years ago, I started getting these texts if not phone calls from random inquiries.  "High, we're real-estate developers interested in your area - is there any interest or are you considering a relocation and seeking a way out of your mortgage" -   come to find, Ayer's housing market has appreciated some 35% in these 10 years...   I mean, I have fixed this house up when I could afford.  But man, even small-ish projects get into the Ben Franklyn''s pretty fast - if you gotta replace a window...and the frame is rotten, it's like 1200 boom.  I replaced the back roof -was supposed to be a shingle replace, but the guy put his toot through it and "strongly" recommended new ply - so... it's smaller scaled roof...still... ended up being 4500... Then the foundation field stones had to be repointed ...and that ended up with a girder system... 7500...  I did the floors to make girls like want to actually enter the home - it didn't work.. but, that ran 2200 ... I mean this shit adds up... wait what am I talking

So anyway these outfits want to buy this property outright cash... but I'm in limbo between continuing to fix it and doing that and getting out of Ayer and selling it for more if I can.  I don't have anything about this town that I hate, but this house is next to a main rail for both freight and commuter... I mean, it's right there out the window across the street.   Can do without the coupling 100,000 tons of steal thunder and the bed rocking at 3am... Least I know I can get out of this mortgage probably at any time...and even make a small amount.

[DavisStraight]

53 minutes ago, ORH_wxman said:

I lived for years (and grew up) on the northern side of the city which is generally pretty nice (and so is the western parts around Tatnuck Square and Worcester St College...straight northern ORH near Indian Hill/Greendale/Burncoat area is a little more blue collar than west side but still pretty nice).

But yeah, they never have addressed actual downtown. Hubbdave mentioned how the canal distrcit is making a comeback too which is nice....but this is pretty localized. The new stadium will be near there, so hopefully it helps expand the growth. They really need to revitalize Main Street between like the Police station and Hanover Theater over to Pleasant St south of Park ave. So much of that is still pretty dumpy. They've made slow progress, but there is a ton of potential there.

The Multi's are on fire, investors that bought in Boston have expanded to Worcester, a nice three family will go for over 500k, I think you're talking about single families and I agree but its a crazy market for multis.

[STILL N OF PIKE]

Mentioned to a childhood friend of mine about how penny stocks have exploded , he bought 30 Grand worth of some stock BRAV many many years ago and it tanked about 90-95% for years and he wrote it off as a loss . After I spoke to him , he messaged me that BRAV was up 650% this month and he is in the green with initial investment . Only problem is he holds those shares now in a Merrill account and they won’t let him trade penny stocks , he opened TD Ameritrade last nite to transfer , but it takes 3-5 days to complete transfer lol . He’s going nuts .

[wx_observer]

1 hour ago, Typhoon Tip said:

10 years ago I knew some who live(d) in that area down there and were warning to bar- the windows of your car - not just alarm the vehicle... heh.   Crime and recidivism therein was running amok ...don't walk alone late at night either.

is that still like that?

 I think that the Main South area is still pretty rough..and some areas in Lincoln St / Lower Burncoat / Vernon Hill.  

1 hour ago, Typhoon Tip said:

this house is next to a main rail for both freight and commuter... I mean, it's right there out the window across the street.   Can do without the coupling 100,000 tons of steal thunder and the bed rocking at 3am...

Kind of sounds like a good incentive for moving!  I remember having a train yard behind my apartment in Framingham years ago, and the vibrations from the trains felt like heart palpitations.  That being said, it was pretty wild to watch them use something that looked like a jet engine to clear snow from the tracks.  But yeah, there are a lot of sharky real estate investors, and all it takes is a few other neighbors to sell to them to really change a neighborhood, for better or worse.  Being right near the commuter rail, probably a larger residential or mixed use building.

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

Stupid question, but what will I use to make sure my stocks sell if they drop below a certain price?

[bch2014]

39 minutes ago, TauntonBlizzard2013 said:

Stupid question, but what will I use to make sure my stocks sell if they drop below a certain price?

Not sure what brokerage you use but this is traditionally known as a "stop loss" order. You set a price and the stock automatically sells if the price crosses that threshold. Though, if it gaps down to that price on the open, you will get whatever price it opens at (instead of your stop loss price).

[TauntonBlizzard2013]

17 minutes ago, bch2014 said:

Not sure what brokerage you use but this is traditionally known as a "stop loss" order. You set a price and the stock automatically sells if the price crosses that threshold. Though, if it gaps down to that price on the open, you will get whatever price it opens at (instead of your stop loss price).

I’m on td Ameritrade.... looks like I have a stop market, same thing?

[TalcottWx]

6 hours ago, CoastalWx said:

Sully McMafia, or Vinny Boombatz

C.G.

[TalcottWx]

I just switched from Robinhood to Charles Schwab. Feels older but more reliable. Very mad about a few things RH did