April 23, 2008
Beach, Beach, Beach….
Listen, I know you don’t want to be at work today, you know you don’t want to be at work today, and chances are your boss knows you don’t want to be at work today. Even your boss doesn’t want to be at work today. When are we all going to come together and cast off this self-imposed oppression!
For most of us, when we’re between sixty-five and seventy years old, if we’re lucky.
I greeted the older couple who live on the point near our house, and while H. gave me a shovel full of onions from her garden, we were both distracted by the water’s glare. She and her husband lived on that point, watching half of their “yard” disappear and reappear with the tides, for twenty-seven years.
(They have their own patch of sea lavender. Sea lavender! You can’t grow sea lavender unless you have a place that gets covered by brackish water every day. Who has sea lavender?)
She said, “My God, we’re so lucky.” And by that, she meant they spent their money on a place they could have forever. I’m sure they never expected to make a million bucks on their modest investment.
And that’s a lesson.
Even as the market dips, my neighbors confirmed that real estate investments perform best over the long term.
Here are some open houses to check out this weekend:
25 Brimbal Avenue in Beverly is a big house in the Montserrat neighborhood. I have no idea what keeps Montserrat houses within range of a lot of first time buyers, but this one’s 2000 square feet on a good size lot. It’s within walking distance of the train, common, and more than one beach. To boot, Beverly has a decent bar and restaurant scene. Sunday, April 27, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
14 Dearborn Avenue -also in Montserrat. This massive Bungalow for $349k is only $93 per square foot! The lot is small, but it would be a great place to raise a family, with plenty of room for a home office. Sunday, April 27, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM
6 Cliff Street in Beverly’s Goat Hill area. It’s next to a giant park with unreal water views, and it’s only $321k. It’s also just over 1100 square feet, like ours. It costs more per square foot, but heat is cheap, and we never run the a/c because we’re right on the water. I think the selling agent expects to turn this one over for a quick commission after a slow winter, so don’t wait — you might not have another shot at this great neighborhood just a couple blocks from the Depot. Sunday, April 27, 11:00 AM-2 PM
More form Mike Martin on Beverly and Salem
