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House Hunting
Sep. 8th, 2012 10:47 pmI was in Cambridge (MA) a few weeks ago. While there, I was able to hang out with some friends, and have some woefully needed 'alone time'. I also realised that Cambridge has changed a lot since I was a youth (of course, I've changed as well). It came to my mind, I think sometime when I was at The Asylum, that I could live here again.
I've never purchased a house before, and frankly, I find the entire concept daunting. I have however, saved up a metric fucktonne of cash, so I can slap down at least 20%, and be OK. My parents are pushing me to do a 15yr mortgage, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that. The difference in monthly payments is large enough to give me anxiety should something happen with my employment status.
I'm looking at modern lofts (either in modern buildings, or converted from old factories — I like giant windows and brick) in Cambridge and the surrounding areas (BOS/Somerville/etc), small enough for me to maintain by myself, but large enough for parties and/or sleep-over guests (ahem). The places I've been looking at are around 1100-1800 sqft, which, if a true loft, is GIGANTIC. I think however, I'd install 'real' walls for a bedroom space, as I hate the idea of exposing my bed/sleeping area to guests (unless they are 'special guests' ;-)). Ideally, I'd like to be in the Kendall Sq area, but anywhere within a few blocks of the Red Line is all good. I'll keep my car/bike, but I'd like to do the majority of my local travel through the public transit system. Internet connectivity is obviously a HUGE deal for me. My current provider is quite fast, and anything slower would simply be a non-starter. FIOS (or similar FttH) would be preferable, but I don't know their rollout situation in the area.
I think I also want a kitteh again =)
I also need help: What neighbourhoods should be avoided (ie, kinda dodgy — I have shiny things. I would like to remain in possession of them)? Are their hyper-local taxes? As a renter, I wasn't aware of anything like that. In Greenwich, we're taxed simply living on the street we do (the tax is actually covering private refuse hauling, water, etc). This is in addition to property taxes/city/state taxes. Anything else I should know?
I've never purchased a house before, and frankly, I find the entire concept daunting. I have however, saved up a metric fucktonne of cash, so I can slap down at least 20%, and be OK. My parents are pushing me to do a 15yr mortgage, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with that. The difference in monthly payments is large enough to give me anxiety should something happen with my employment status.
I'm looking at modern lofts (either in modern buildings, or converted from old factories — I like giant windows and brick) in Cambridge and the surrounding areas (BOS/Somerville/etc), small enough for me to maintain by myself, but large enough for parties and/or sleep-over guests (ahem). The places I've been looking at are around 1100-1800 sqft, which, if a true loft, is GIGANTIC. I think however, I'd install 'real' walls for a bedroom space, as I hate the idea of exposing my bed/sleeping area to guests (unless they are 'special guests' ;-)). Ideally, I'd like to be in the Kendall Sq area, but anywhere within a few blocks of the Red Line is all good. I'll keep my car/bike, but I'd like to do the majority of my local travel through the public transit system. Internet connectivity is obviously a HUGE deal for me. My current provider is quite fast, and anything slower would simply be a non-starter. FIOS (or similar FttH) would be preferable, but I don't know their rollout situation in the area.
I think I also want a kitteh again =)
I also need help: What neighbourhoods should be avoided (ie, kinda dodgy — I have shiny things. I would like to remain in possession of them)? Are their hyper-local taxes? As a renter, I wasn't aware of anything like that. In Greenwich, we're taxed simply living on the street we do (the tax is actually covering private refuse hauling, water, etc). This is in addition to property taxes/city/state taxes. Anything else I should know?
