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Desirable Beacon Hill condo just steps away from the Fleet Center

Looks like somebody needs to update their Boston real-estate boilerplate:

Go for stroll along "The Charles", walk to the Fleet center, Haymarket square, the North End, Boston Common, the state house, etc.

"The Charles?" Please, even Beacon Hill isn't that formal anymore, everybody just calls it "The Chuck."

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Comments

Check out Dino Radja and the rest of the Celtics at the Fleet Center. Visit your felon cousin at the Charles Street jail. Rent some VHS tapes at Mike's Movies. Underage drink at the Shangri La. Beacon Hill has it all! Time machine not included.

Once the Big Dig is complete and there's no more congestion in Downtown Boston.

I'm headed out to the Aku Aku after I catch a game at the Shawmut Center. Ray Bourke and the guys are going to do it this year I think.

Well, at least they didn't call it "The Boston CommonS"!

Only more snarkily.

Last time it sold there was no Fleet Center only the original Garden. So they just think they are catching up.

Hard to remember that RE prices in Boston were kind of depressed 26 years ago.

$115k in 1991. $210k adjusted for inflation. Bottom of the market, yes. The DJI has done about the same since then, of course.

For having had shelter for 26 years. And somebody just might give it to them. How desperate is somebody to live in Beacon Hill to reward somebody with almost half a million dollars for doing nothing?

Seriously, the guys from The Big Short are my heroes on a par with Ted Williams and Casey Kasem.

I find the "bonus" and "reward" language somewhat odd.

Let's say there are two identical apartments in a building. Apartment A was purchased in 1971 for $20,000. B was purchased in 2013 for $550,000. They are both for sale for $600,000.

Are you suggesting that if I buy A, I'm 'rewarding' someone who doesn't deserve it, whereas if I choose B, I am not doing that?

As for 'doing nothing', had the market gone the other way, and someone who bought at $500,000 and is now desperately trying to sell at $350,000, would you be using symmetrical language, as in, "buyers trying to screw the poor homeowner who did nothing wrong?"

I would mock the owner for paying $500,000.

And you raise a good point with the A vs. B thing, and you are absolutely right.

for buying a widely-traded commodity at market price?

Absogoddamnlutely.

"The market is inefficient"

does mean the same thing as,

"The market doesn't value things the same way I do. "

26 years ago, the sellers put up an amount of money. Specifically, enough money to buy an apartment in downtown Boston. Now, when they sell, they will receive an amount of money. Specifically, enough money to buy an apartment in downtown Boston. The numbers on paper look different, but they don't end up any richer than when they started.

Like I say, it's worth $0 if it's not for sale, since you're not going to live in a refrigerator box.

But why would they buy an apartment in downtown Boston after selling the place they already have? This new place have no stairs or something? Are they old?

I think a lot about this stuff because my parents bought a house in 1998 that they really couldn't afford. I even pointed it out repeatedly: "Everybody down here has two incomes and two vehicles, and we have one of each of those things." But, of course, I was a stupid idiot 14-year old, and now my parents (who I love and appreciate very much) are divorced, and I really blame a lot of that on said home purchase.

Without being privy to the specific finances of either of my parents, I'm not convinced that they have a ton of money to live on now that they're both on the wrong side of 60. The house appreciated greatly in value in five years, but how greatly? The life lesson I get from all this is never marry and never overspend for shelter.

I worry about money. I guess I use UH to project that.

I encourage you to draw conclusions about significant things from an analysis of data, not a single anecdote.

The life lesson I get from all this is never marry and never overspend for shelter.I worry about money. I guess I use UH to project that.

A professional could help you sort this out.

Interest rates on home loans were running 11-12% in 1991

Nobody would give you a mortgage unless you had worked for the same employer for at least two years.

Three or more if you were black or female living alone.

In 2012 my recently-widowed mother had to prove a 3-year income stream or no-one would give her a mortgage. The switch from paychecks to pension meant no history, as the banks defined it. She couldn't get a loan for an amount she had sitting liquid in the bank.

So she paid cash instead. Her banker was humiliated (and not a little put out by the sudden hit to the size of the portfolio she was managing).

On the upside, there was little competition for the house because nobody could get a freaking loan. Stupid, stupid times. Obviously 2005 was also a stupid time but there has to be a happy medium.

She couldn't get a loan for an amount she had sitting liquid in the bank.

Yes, please give me free money in the form of interest. Finance your home purchase through the Bank of Will.

They forgot to tout how you can walk just a few blocks and see Ted Danson, et al taping Cheers.

So few sq ft, so many dollars, street level.

Ew.

Haymarket Square?

Does anybody call it that? Really?

Haymarket it's walking distance

You and Adam have inspired me.

When I win the Powerball, I will buy up all property and development rights on both banks of the Broad Canal.
I will then exploit the hell out of it. Since it will be the trendiest, hippest, contrived, arbitrarily-defined new little district, I shall rename it.

Henceforth it shall be known as "The Chuck"

Naturally, to best (most selfishly) exploit it, most of it will be private/exclusive - a teeny gated community, security scanners, locks.

I will probably have to allow public access to some (small as possible) portion - probably along the immediate water frontage.

I think I'll put a small restaurant in the free access section. I'll keep the genre simple - cheap cut of steak, karaoke, and cheap wine from Trader Joe's.

This restaurant will be called Keyless Chuck.