I don’t necessarily dispute the overall premise of your post, but I do have a few thoughts.

First, median prices (as mentioned in the Globe article) are almost irrelevant, as they are greatly affected by the mix of homes sold. Any home buyer should know this, and should spend more time looking at price per square foot (tempered by additional factors such as parking, outdoor space, quality of the home, etc).

Secondly, as the article itself points out, Cambridge is a more “diverse” town (from the perspective of housing stock), so comparing all of Cambridge to all of Brookline is a bit of a simplification. A more specific comparison, for example, might be to compare the Harvard Square area to Coolidge Corner.

Lastly, you left off several factors that fall in Cambridge’s favor. The first is access to major highways, and the general ability to “get out of town” (Brookline’s traffic is much worse). Then there is proximity to the river and all of its recreational opportunities (Head of the Charles, sailing, etc).

And I disagree that Brookline is more accessible by T. Yes the green line is more spread out, but it is also many times slower than the red line. My wife works downtown, and we have calculated that even living at the end of Cambridgeport, a 10 minute walk to the T, it would be quicker for her to get into Boston than were we to live a 5 minute walk from Coolidge Corner.

Hello bike2work,

Great points… I knew I would hear from someone about the T because the green line can be maddeningly slow! On the other hand, not having a car, I would take a slower T that is right across the street over a fast subway and a 10 minute walk solely because of the grocery bag factor. (Add in snow, sleet and rain as well.) Access to highways is about equal in my book because there are parts of Cambridge where it takes quite a while to get to major arteries. I’m also not completely sure how much more diverse the housing stock is in Cambridge, since Brookline has its share of small condos, two-families, and even a few triple-deckers.
I do agree that Cambridge’s quick access to the Charles River is a major plus, but not sure if it overrides a more mundane but more useful park across the street for early-morning dogwalks.

But who am I kidding? I’m not really expecting to change anyone’s mind. Once a person chooses either side of the river, they rarely go back. Fortunately, for us, the quality of life in both Cambridge and Brookline is something to make other towns and cities around the country envious.

You are right…in the end it does come down to personal preference, and they are really more alike than different in the big scheme of things.

I think their similarity is partially the fun of the debate!

Pamela,
Enjoyed reading your perspective and others comparing quality of life in Cambridge vs Brookline, but some readers might be interested in more data behind this colorful but misleading assertion:
“In Cambridge, several single-family houses sold for less than the assessed value; in Brookline, a house would have to be ravaged by fire for that to happen.”
As shown on this blog post, The Real Estate Cafe has been tracking sales below assessed value in Greater Boston for some time:
Part I: Housing slump hits Cambridge: 1 in 3 single family homes selling below assessed value

If you publish a response, I would be glad to link to it; and as long standing real estate consumer advocate welcome you and the entire Redfin to Boston.

Thanks Real Estate Cafe for keeping me in check! My perspective is skewed in that my focus is on the “lower” end of the market — (in Brookline, that means less than $1 million). In my experience, it’s less common to find these properties (condos and houses both) selling for less than assessed value, unless the property has some obvious defect. But I would love to hear your numbers on these! Thanks again!

“some of your readers might be interested” or just some guy and his smug sense of superiority?