Car Free — And the Living is Easy

One of the coolest things about Boston is the ability to live CAR FREE. It’s a joy that all those poor surburbanites sitting in traffic for hours to inch home to their rapidly-depreciating McMansions will never understand. Living car free means no struggling to find parking spaces. It means no excise taxes, no car insurance bills, no car repair bills, no gas bills. It means not having to worry about your car getting damaged or stolen. And it means you don’t have to worry about joining a gym, because you get so much exercise walking around that you don’t need one. Sure, living in the city means you may come home to an apartment the size of a closet, but at least you’ve got less to clean, furnish and heat. If you ask me, that’s a pretty good trade-off.

Part of the joy of city living is the ability to walk to work. As a matter of fact, Sperling has named Boston the third most energetic city (after San Francisco and San Diego), partly due to the fact that Boston has one of the highest rates of walking to work of all the cities they studied. Meanwhile, lots of us rely on public transportation. In Brighton, 47 percent of the population drives to work, but 36 percent use mass transit, much higher than the national average of only 15 percent. According to the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 69 percent of Brighton residents walk to their destinations for daily tasks. Try doing that in Natick.

Okay, so why am I going on and on about city living and mass transit? Simply because outside unaffordable areas like the Back Bay and South End, Brighton and Brookline offer some of the best opportunities to live in a city environment, car-free, but for a mere fraction of what you’d pay in, let’s say, the North End! Check out these properties, right on the T line, where, if you work in downtown Boston, Cambridge or the Longwood Medical Area, you could walk, take the T or bike to work!

1070 Beacon Street, no. 6C, 1,144 square feet, $429K — This place is well-located and loaded with charm. I notice that although it is a coop, it is priced in a range that would be comparable to a condo of this size in Brookline.  (Shouldn’t it be much less?) Anyway, great thing about it, it’s right across from the Hawes Street T stop on the C line.

915 Beacon Street, no 2, 1102 square feet, $419K. — Here’s another stylish place right across from the St. Mary’s stop on the C line. It’s also an easy walk to Longwood and Kenmore Square.

1258 Beacon Street, no. 6, 2698 square feet, $995K — Looking for luxury? Here you go, a huge Park Avenue-style apartment for less than one million. And it’s right in the city, across from the Coolidge Corner T stop on the Green line.

117 Sutherland Road, no. 117, 3,300 square feet, $799K — Unusual for Brighton, it’s a huge, exquisitely-maintained townhouse, just a block from the B line, but within easy walking distance of the C and D lines at Cleveland Circle.

84 Strathmore Road, no. 2, 711 square feet, $274,9K — Right in the heart Cleveland Circle, this unit is in a very well-maintained building with 3 lines to choose from.

147 Kelton Street, no. 5, 1000 square feet, $350K — Right across from the Warren stop on the B line, this condo is also just a five minute walk to St. Elizabeth’s and an easy bike ride to Coolidge Corner. And if you insist on having a car, there is garage parking too.