Perils of renting in Davis Sq/Somerville (Boston Globe)?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Hi, is this consistent with your own observations about the rental market around Davis Sq? Could any real estate person comment on this?

"With the vacillations and the range in prices, “I’ve never seen a rental market like this in all my 20 years of renting real estate,” said realtor Irene Bremis."

http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/somerville/2009/09/the_summer_switchover.html

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Kind of inevitable. There's just less money to go around in the first place.

I wonder how Bremis is doing with that enormous condo complex near Teele. They're asking $400k for a condo according to their signage, and I never see any lights on in there.

[leko.livejournal.com]

The 4 comments in that article are pretty ill-informed...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

It's a very interesting topic, although the article sums up its own circularity at the end with the assertion that the market will sort itself out. I believe it will.

My observation this summer was just as the article described:

Real estate prices were often down, but not as far as I would have liked them to be, and rental prices were all over the place. There were some amazingly crappy apartments (for rent or for purchase) going for big money, and some great deals, especially in rental.

My theory is that the market principles can be extended beyond Somerville. Unlike Manhattan, which is surrounded by a physical barrier containing stratospheric real estate prices, there is no such barrier around Somerville, other than a psychological one. We've already seen development in areas of Medford (the Kennedy? School Condominiums) and the transit oriented development at Wellington Circle. More choices are a result of an overheated Somerville market, in my opinion, as is the call for more public transportation (the green line extension).

So yeah, I think the market will sort itself out. I'm just glad for now that there are an increasing number of options.

[sonofabish.livejournal.com]

I was looking for new digs this summer, going from a roommate situation to a 2 bedroom for me and my new family. I found rents all over the place. Some landlords wanted to party like it was 2005, when property values were sky-high and landlords could ask for both kidneys for a security deposit and people would be carving them out with rusty butterknives.

But others had more... realistic expectations and I was amazed to find semi-decent places for under $1000. I ended up in a place in Winter Hill for $1000/month, heat/hot water/cooking gas/parking space included. It's not the greatest place ad a bit of creative decorating has been necessary, but all in all, I'm really happy with the place.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I looked at about 20 apartments for rent (2-4 br, $1700-$2300) in June and July, and the average quality was pretty disappointing. I'm pretty happy with where I ended up (big 2br for $2000, talked down from $2200) but it wasn't an obvious grab. And there are two other units in this building (four units total) that have been on the market since early July that are still vacant. I think landlords really overestimated the Sept 1 rush.