I hope you never have a family member with mental illness.

People making median salary are not the ones buying houses, simple.

The only kind of post that will get the people on this sub to stand up for landlords 😂

The people making $129k household income did not buy their house in 2023. They likely bought in 10, 20, 30 years ago. If you look at most of these towns, there's barely any housing stock even on the market. Owners aren't yet willing to take the hit the mortgage interest rate increases gave to their property values, even if the house is worth ten times what they paid in the 80s or whatever. Even owners who want to downsize and stay in the area aren't because the smaller homes and condos people would normally downsize to are in extremely short supply.

Basically, if you didn't already get into the market a while ago, you're screwed for the foreseeable future here. $129k isn't 3br house money in Greater Boston anymore unless you win an affordable housing lottery. It's 2br apartment in a triple decker income now. The issue is fixable, but much of the power to change things is in the hands of people with a vested interest in not doing that.

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>The report by a national nonprofit called Up For Growth found Massachusetts needed to build 100,000 additional homes per year to keep up demand in recent years. It also found the shortfall doubled between 2012 and 2019.

We've built less and less homes every decade since the 80's, even as we kept adding more and more jobs.

Opinion:

1/2 million dollar income, but refuses to pay rent. Gets evicted for nonpayment, but does it again repeatedly at several different apartments.

Yep, that's a deadbeat.

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There's plenty of houses you can score at that price point in reasonable locations, especially if you know where to look. In Athol you can go cheaper.

1400 for a mortgage? What? Yeah if you wanna live out in Athol or the middle of Fitchburg.

Blows me away to see the median house price went up by $100k+, up to $360k+, in dinky 'ol Leominster where the median household income was $63k in 2020. I know there's a commuter rail here to Boston so it's at least a bit more attractive, but that's probably a 1.5+ hour commute each way.

Agree, Merrimack valley area you can still snag something more affordable and I love the area.

This is the reality of the situation... it's not "income" that is driving this, it's "wealth". And if you don't come from it, you lose.

I think normal people are struggling to pay rent and the rich are the ones paying over a million for a 3 bedroom home

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I see exactly 3 places on Zillow going for less thank $500k, but that's more than I've seen elsewhere. Thanks, I'll keep an eye on this.

Because regardless of if I believe the shooting was justified ( which it was) I still think it’s a tragedy. Like I said, Iknow the family. More than I am willing to say. But I just don’t blame the police. People expect WAY too many things from the police. How else would the police have responded? Barricading the house? It’s impossible to say, but if you aim what appears to be a gun at police, your gonna die. If you aimed a gun at ANYBODY who is armed, your gonna die. It’s as simple as that. The real blame is on the state/federal government, for not providing the appropriate resources to people struggling with mental health.additionally, police ARE NOT trained extensively in this field. The only training that is sufficient to deal with this is to earn a PHD in psychology (still not enough)

If you bought last year, a $350-400k house is $1400-1600/month for principal and interest. The Merrimack valley area has plenty houses like that, just need work. Taxes and insurance add $400/month.

With today's interest rates, closer to 2k before taxes and insurance.

The minimum price for a 2 bed 2 bath I've seen is $2000/month, closer to $2600 if your building got bought or you're in a nicer area and don't want a shit hole.

$500 less a month to live somewhere, about $500 a month retained in equity. More bedrooms, usable land you own, a permanent end to yearly housing insecurity and shitty landlords that salivate at your money.

More people have a lot of money than you may think.

Why would you wish condolences? Thats insulting considering your argument, this person was mentally ill. Police are meant to be trained to deal with these situations, they aren't random people off the streets. The situation did not need to end this way.

You can find a solid 1BR in metro West for those prices if you know where to look. Obviously, it'll be higher if there's a family involved.

Rents on the south shore are 2-3.5k per month. I don’t know where rents are that low.

Only vegan rich or any sort of rich?

The last time I was in the housing market I had the same question. I was looking in a fairly affluent bedroom community to Boston which also has an excellent school system -- so prices were high even then.

The answer from my realtor: most of the houses at the top of the market are bought with cash.

You'd think the morally bankrupt would at least be smart enough not to get caught but even that is asking to much.Maybe prison will offer how not to be stupid classes.

Rent these days is about 16-1800/mo without utilities if you're lucky. Mortgages can be had around 1,400.

Granted I haven't done the math in a few years, but in most cases I found that a mortgage was only cheaper than rent if I took a 40 year loan, which seems insane to me. There's a good chance I won't even live that long.