Open Houses In Salem This Weekend…Really???

It doesn’t strike me as the best use of a seller’s agent’s time, but Salem’s a great place to spend a holiday weekend.

Check out these digs:

2 Riverbank Road
Salem, MA 01970
Beds: 3/Baths: 1.5
SQ.FT.: 1755
$ 414,900
Open House: Sunday, August 31, 2008 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

55 Ocean Avenue, #1
Salem, MA 01970
Beds: 2/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 1168
$224,900
Open House: Sunday, August 31, 2008 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM

92 Derby Street, #3
Salem, MA 01970
Beds: 2/Baths: 2
SQ.FT.: 992
$262,000
Open House: Sunday, August 31, 2008 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

New Listings and Beverly Afternoons

Boston Sweet Digs Home

Labor Day Weekend Open Houses: $1mil and up

It seems househunters can only count on mega-million dollar open houses on holiday weekends. I guess in these cases, it’s worthwhile for agents to spend a few hours of a holiday weekend doing crossword puzzles in an empty house rather than at the beach.

For those who happen to have a million bucks to spend, it’s great news. This Labor Day weekend, you probably won’t be jostling for space at the few houses that are showing. Below, find two houses open for business on Sunday and one million dollar plus condo that wasn’t holding an open house as of this writing but that might be worth visiting later on. All of these homes have had price reductions, signaling that these sellers are motivated.

9 Francis Street
Brookline
BEDS:7/BATHS:5.5
SQ.FT:5468
$1,350,000
O.H. Sunday August 31, 1- 2:30 PM

151 Gardner Road
Brookline
BEDS:4/BATHS:2.5
SQ.FT:2,237
$1,050,000
O.H. Sunday, August 31, 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM

2420 Beacon Street, WH, PH,#1
Brighton
BEDS:2/BATHS:2.5
SQ.FT: 2,094
$1,299,000

What’s New in Brighton, Brookline

Sweet Digs Boston Home

New Listings and Beverly Afternoons

We just had lunch yesterday at the What’s Brewin’ Cafe, a little coffee shop with some great sandwiches and even better salads. It’s on Cabot Street, about two blocks from the Beverly Common, the Beverly Library, and Montserrat College of Art, which explains all the piercings and guitars and skateboards. I love those nutty kids.

The common is two blocks from Dane Street Beach. Dane Street isn’t the Caribbean, or even Wingaarsheek in Gloucester, but when when it’s right down the street, it’s kind of hard to complain about.

It could be yours, too.

216 Common Lane
Beverly, MA 01915
Beds: 3/Baths:3
SQ.FT.: 3024
$735,000

8 Devon Ave, #2
Beverly, MA 01915
Beds: 1/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 583
$149,900

17 Sumner Street
Beverly, MA 01915
Beds: 2/Baths:2
SQ.FT.:2000
$ 330,000
5 Best Labor Day Mini-Vacations In (or near) Salem

Boston Sweet Digs Home

5 Best Labor Day Mini-Vacation Destinations in (or near) Salem

How do you save gas and still get that much-needed R&R?

Vacation closer to home.

The price of gas is down, but it isn’t good, and I’m still thinking really hard about building a biodiesel reactor and getting an old VW —I have my eye on one of the tiny little pickup trucks. And what’s the point of riding your bike to work when you burn a dinosaur driving — or, worse, it turns out, flying — somewhere?

1. Stay at the Hawthorne in Salem, or find a B&B in Magnolia (Gloucester). The Hawthorne will put you right near Derby Wharf and the Common, and directly across the street from…
2. The Old Spot. Think Matt Murphy’s in Brookline, except they let you sit down to drink, and you don’t have to sell a kidney to get an order of pate. And there is no greater force for good on this earth than the artisan chocolate cake at The Old Spot.
3. Derby Wharf is as nice a slice of touristy-historic New England as you’re going to get anywhere else, only Salem is a 25 minute train ride from North Station. I’m including the House of the Seven Gables and the ship Liberty anchored there. Look at the little streets of tightly-packed homes and pricey condos with bad parking while you’re there, and try not to get homesick for Boston.
4. The Willows. I have to admit, we haven’t made it over there in the summer. We’re the kind of artsy weirdos who prefer the stark emptiness of a little seaside amusement park in winter, Icelandic murder mysteries, and black t-shirts. But many of our friends who grew up around here are a little bit in love with the Willows. So buy the kid an ice cream cone and walk around for a while.
5. Gloucester and Newburryport. One of the great things about doing Salem is that Manchester’s Singing Beach—and upscale downtown shopping area— is right near the depot, and Gloucester is a 30 minute ride. At the Beverly Depot, the Newburyport/Rockport lines diverge, and while they are less frequent than trains to the city, you can easily get to both places. And both places have amazing beaches and restaurants and plenty to do if you’re up for some aimless wandering.

Fannie, Freddie, and the Glorious People’s Revolution

Boston Sweet Digs Home

What’s New In Brighton, Brookline

What’s the latest in Brighton and Brookline?

• A new 57-unit condo development at 1501 Commonwealth Avenue is one step closer to becoming reality.
• Brookline is getting some new surveillance cameras, courtesy of the Department of Homeland Security. It’s a good thing because the town is such a notorious hotspot of criminal activity.
• A new ordinance has been proposed for Brookline banning bikes on sidewalks.
• The controversial St. Aidan’s condo project of 39 market rate and affordable condos and 20 low-income rental units continues construction but now early Saturday mornings.

And new on the market in Brookline and Brighton this week are several large houses and condos, each boasting three to four bedrooms:

47 Craftsland Road
Brookline
BEDS:4/BATHS:2
SQ.FT: 2095
$1,200,000

323 Tappan Street, #6
Brookline
BEDS:3/BATHS:2
SQ.FT: 1269
$569K

79 Gibbs Street, #2
Brookline
BEDS:4/BATHS:2
SQ.FT: 1585
$749,900

23 Brooksdale Road
Brighton
BEDS:3/BATHS:2.5
SQ.FT: 1500
$559K

45 S. Crescent Circuit
Brighton
BEDS:3/BATHS:2.5
SQ.FT: 2,200
$619K

Starter Home, Schmarter Home
Sweet Digs Boston Home

Hitting the Links

• Someone shaved the DoubleTree. [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
• Mel Gibson is hanging in the South End; that’s how he rolls. [The Beantown Bloggery]
• James Hook and Company re-opened to the public. [Boston Restaurant Talk]
• Chinatown has a new art gallery. [The Chinatown Blog]
• Circle Cinemas is no more. [Loaded Gun]
• Radar guns on the Green Line. Don’t laugh; they do it in the New York subway, too. [Universal Hub]
• If this woman can’t take the time to learn about child-rearing paraphernalia, is she going to take the time to learn about basic child care? [The Boston Globe]
• At least mortgage fraud only cost us a billion dollars. [The Real Estate Bloggers]
• Some pics of the Boston W Hotel and Residences. [Boston Condo Blog]
• A hotel made of hipping containers. I wonder if they were new or re-cycled containers. [Inhabitat]
• The Times mentioned Dot residents buying foreclosed properties to prevent further urban decay. [The New York Times]

Dine and Dash: South End and Aquitaine

Boston Sweet Digs Home

“Starter Home,” Schmarter Home

I’ve always had a problem with the term “starter” home. I’ve been in one version or another of a “starter” home for the last twenty years and I’ve always been happy, never thinking I had to trade up to bigger, better, or newer.

In other countries, the starter concept doesn’t even exist. There’s never the ever-present idea that homeowners have to move up, and up, and up. Instead, people buy houses they can afford, and they spend their lives there. There is no consumeristic notion to buy a small place while saving for anything bigger, increasing the size until everyone ends up with McMansions.

This is a relatively new attitude. Remember, the average size of a family home in 1950 was only about 983 square feet. I wonder if the continual American quest for bigger and better, “great rooms” and vaulted ceilings, is in part responsible for the reprehensible mess we find ourselves in with the foreclosure crisis?

There was an interesting discussion about the starter home phenomenon on Boston Real Estate Now recently. Commenter “Miko” suggested that she and her husband had made more than $150,000 in the last four years by buying, fixing up, and selling two “starter” homes. She reasoned she would have wasted money in rent in all those years and could never have afforded her dream home without “starting” somewhere.

But think about the waste in moving twice in four years. Aside from the doubtful premise that anyone is going to be making out financially these days, think about the transaction costs, moving costs, renovation costs. Constant moving is wear and tear on the planet and wear and tear on the soul.

More in line with my own thinking was the commenter “Walthamolian”, who said it better than I could:

“I think the “starter” home is pure myth. There’s all sorts of people in the world that need all sorts of housing. Not everyone is following the path of buying a small house, then having kids and buying a big house in the ‘burbs and then moving into a city condo when retired. With our economy changing, our mindset should also change. Many of these houses (few bedrooms, 1 or 1+1/2 ba) are fine for decades. I’d like to see the term “starter” die.”

And so would I.

Below, check out three “starter” homes where you could conceivably live out the rest of your life:

145 Chiswick Road, #3
Brighton
BEDS:2/BATHS:1
SQ.FT: 1080
$348K

648 Washington Street, #5
Brookline
BEDS:2/BATHS1
SQ.FT: 1,101
$449K

798 Heath Street, #1
Brookline
BEDS:2/BATHS:1
SQ.FT: 935
$337K

Brookline, Brighton Archives

Boston Sweet Digs Home

Hitting the Links

• Michael Phelps plans to purchase some sweet digs in Baltimore. He also plans to buy the athletic club where he was discovered. [Zillow Blog]
• No joke: Overstock.com sells houses. [The Real Estate Bloggers]
• Does new construction help or hurt values for the rest of an established neighborhood? [Boston Real Estate Now]
• The T to display some huge ads around town. 180′ by 20′ huge! [John A Keith]
• “I felt the house needed to have some dignity to it” is such an odd comment from a woman who lives in a 56,000 square foot home. [The Real Estalker]
• We seem to be having issues with Downtown Crossing. [The Beantown Bloggery]
• Why buy a parking spot for $100,000 in the North End when you could pay off 2500 parking tickets instead? [Boston Daily]
• Some interesting debate on Harvard’s latest purchase as it attempts to buy the rest of Allston. [Allston Brighton Community Blog]
• Some Hip-Hop houses hitting the market. [Forbes]
• This isn’t really a fixer-upper; based on the MLS pic, it’s a burn-to-the-ground-and-start-over. [It's Lovely! I'll Take It]

Dine and Dash: South End and Aquitaine
Boston Sweet Digs Home

Dine and Dash: South End and Aquitaine

For Sunday’s Dine and Dash we chose another close-to-home route simply because found an open house at an apartment on Shawmut we’ve been dying to visit, but never really had the chance. The rest of the open houses are in the nearby Eight Streets area, a name I never heard used except in reference to the neighborhood association.

We’ll have brunch at Aquitaine, a stunning French restaurant on Tremont Street. I’ve never been to Aquitaine because I assumed it was out of my price range. The dinner menu, although not too bad for French cuisine, lists prices out of my comfort zone, but today I realized the brunch prices are reasonable. Most plates are under ten dollars, with nothing exceeding fifteen dollars. They even offer a $9.95 fixed-price brunch, but only on Saturdays

48 Dwight Street, #3
South End, 02118
Beds: 1/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 584
$395,000
Open House: Sunday, August 24, 11:30am – 1:00pm

33 Dwight Street, #1
South End, 02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 2.5
SQ.FT.: 1485
$939,000
Open House: Sunday, August 24, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

9 Hanson Street, #3
South End, 02118
Beds: 2/Baths: 1
SQ.FT.: 692
$549,000
Open House: Sunday, August 24, 2:00pm – 3:30 pm

And the one we put off for far too long:

308 Shawmut Avenue, #2
Beds: 1/Baths: 2
SQ.FT.: 650
$499,000
Open House: Sunday, August 24, 12:00pm – 1:30pm

Chinatown and the Combat Zone
Boston Sweet Digs Home

Image source

Open House: 4Br Bedford Home

Open House Date and Time:
Sunday, August 24th, 2-4pm

240 Davis Rd
Bedford, MA 01730

Seller’s Comments

Coffee shop of choice: Starbucks on Great road, less than 2 miles away

Favorite places to go: The Bedford library is a rich source of not only books, but for cultural events/shows; Bedford town playground and school playgrounds (Davis school is 1/2 a mile away, and Lane school is only minutes away); shopping options abound with the Burlington Mall and Wayside Commons just north on Rt. 128/95, Lexington town center, Concord Center, and Nashua’s Pheasant Lane Mall and Daniel Webster Highway is only 30 minutes away up Rt. 3 North.

Favorite restaurants in the area: Dayla’s is only a mile away and serves a gourmet Mediteranian-flair menu that is perfect for a special evening out. Other Bedford favorites include The Great Wall (Chinese), Lemon Grass (Thai), Luigi’s (Italian), Brueger’s Bagels, and Pizza Express. Nearby Burlington provides a huge array of dining options, from our favorites Macaroni Grill, Outback Steak House, Not Your Average Joe’s, Chili’s, Rainforest Cafe to upscale dining at Legal Seafood and the Capital Grill.

Best features of the home: The family room’s cathedral ceiling, skylights, and picture window provide lots of sun all day long, making it roomy and comfortable place to spend time. The fenced, private back yard is a wide open lawn that is great for having barbeques, playing soccer, volleyball, croquet, frisbee, baseball and is a perfect place for keeping outdoor pets safe! The master bath’s cathedral ceiling and skylight provide lots of natural lighting and a roominess that starts each morning with a feeling of luxury.

Favorite room: The family room’s high ceilings and many windows always make it a welcome place any time of day. Sitting right off the kitchen is a great location that lets you watch TV from the kitchen, watch the kids while they play, and entertain guests.

Any remodeling since last purchase?: The front door and back deck door were replaced at the end of 2006; the family room carpet was replaced less than 2 years ago. We also added central AC, repaved the driveway, replaced wooden fence to the list.

Most romantic spot: Cozying up on the couch in the family room at night and looking at the stars out of the arched window in the cathedral ceiling. Bedford is only 30 minutes away from Boston and provides easy access north and west of Boston for lots of elegant dining choices.

What’s in the neighborhood: Lots of families, a large variety of different ethnic restaurants, great nearby shopping.

What I will miss the most: Family nights in the family room, playing games, reading, and relaxing in front of the TV