A Guide to Buying a Downtown Boston Condo
As anyone who lives in the Boston Midtown will tell you, it is truly a place like no other. The tech industry beckons with its surfeit of good paying jobs, the restaurant scene rivals that of any world capital, oh—and where else can you ski in the mountains one weekend, and then see a top notch professional sports team the next?
Downtown Boston Condo Prices
So while it’s not hard to understand why so many people are clamoring to buy a home Downtown/Midtown Boston, those incredible perks are offset by one major drawback—a sky-high real estate market.
And when we say sky-high, we mean sky-high: The average price for a Boston Midtown Condo in the 4th Q of 2018 was $1,997,734. The average asking price for a Boston Midtown condo in 2019 is $3,483,402
Not only are prices high, but because the Boston condos for sale prices are among the hottest real estate markets in the country, competition to purchase properties—even at mind-blowing prices—is intense. All 10 of the cities identified in a 2017 CoreLogic study as having the nation’s most competitive bidding wars for prime real estate. However, as of late 2018 and the start of 2019 the market has shown signs of a slow down.
High home prices paired with high competition and equals a pretty insane housing market to enter. Which you probably already knew, but still, it’s worth detailing how we got to here. And while the Boston downtown condo market has showed signs of cooling, the competition isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon, so it’s best to know what you’re in for ahead of time.
Facing Boston Midtown Housing Competition
As noted, if you’re thinking about Boston condo hunting in the Midtown area, competition will affect every stage of the homebuying process, from finding the most desirable neighborhood through the closing. While most young professionals would love to settle on a trendy block with great amenities, the reality is that first-time homebuyers are generally forced to be flexible about location.
For example, house hunters who may have never previously set foot in a West Boston neighborhood, such as Charles River Park, are now buying homes there. They’re also venturing into towns previously thought of as too out of the way, such as Charlestown, which is less than 10 min outside of Midtown Boston, and has a direct ferry connection to the city.
Yes. It’s crazy. Because of the intense competition in the Boston Midtown Area condo hunters are always on the lookout for useful intelligence that might give them an edge.
How to Get the Edge
Just what might give you that edge? You could try avoiding a bidding war by identifying a property to buy before it hits the market. Ways to go about this include finding properties that aren’t listed by scouring this website and local social media groups, walking around neighborhoods and asking friends and family who live there if they know of imminent sales, and working with an agent who has a solid network.
Or you could try convincing owners to sell. If you already rent a condominium in the Boston Midtown area and love it enough to buy it, let your landlord know you’re interested in making an offer. Sometimes people are able to purchase homes from their landlords that they would not have otherwise been able to afford, because the landlord was willing to accept their offer to save themselves the trouble of fixing up the home and listing it.
Conclusion
While those methods aren’t always a guarantee, they could (in conjunction with pursuing other Boston condos for sale in the more traditional route) can ease up the stress of the Boston condos for sale competition just a bit.
