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Comments
glurrrp
that's pretty scary. isn't there an ordinance against keeping condors in jp?
I violated the first rule of Monday-morning journalisming
No headlines before coffee. Fixed.
Cool. You can see everything
Cool. You can see everything through those windows.
come to think of it
we could use a few more condors in allston--keep the rat population under control. jp: forward thinking with prehistoric birds
that's no way
to talk about BC/BU students
It is illegal to traffic in endangered species
The California Condor is a critically endangered species and no one should be buying or selling one, even at a >$1million price.
This is a bit click-baity
The building was $1M. Then an addition was constructed, and the interior rehabbed (how much, hard to say).
As compared to other JP triples, this triple decker seems to be unusually large, with an unusually large yard.
Average size
The units, absent the addition, were average size. The yard is exceptionally large.
It's no the size of the unit
It's what you do with it.
Outrageous!
I can't believe the City would allow someone to take the risk of purchasing an older building, spending money to fix it up, and attempt to sell it at a profit! That's not fair! We need a law against this!
The only surprising part of the story
was the part where the developer bought the entire building and grounds for less than $1.4 million, a year ago. Either the place was about to be condemned as a teardown, or somebody got the mother of all sweetheart deals--even a crappy, 50-years-out-of-date triple decker in that part of JP would fetch closer to $2 million, just on the expectation of what you could make doing a 3-month renovation and condo-ification.
Reason for the sale
The owner died. Whoever inherited the building wanted to sell it. The only thing that prevented them from immediately selling it is that there were leases.
Unfortunately the folks who inherited the building refused to sell to the tenants and instead chose a developer.
Atlas Shrugged was not meant to be an instruction manual
any more than 1984 was.
Take that however you like it, it's probably not far from the truth.
The addition is really nice.
The addition is really nice. Maybe this will help inspire other developers to actually make their projects look better than cookie cutter cheap crap? This shows there is consumer demand for nice looking new construction, even if its just an addition.
Reading the article and the
Reading the article and the work put into the building and premises, doesn't seem that crazy. Kind of a click bait article.
watcha gonna do
That sounds about right for a brand-new 3-bed 2-bath with yard, off-street parking, high-end fixtures in that part of JP. Even if it doesn't mentally square with "triple decker."
Been telling anyone who will listen
for some time now that triple deckers are going to become 'luxury housing" around here in the coming decades. Everything being built in the recent past, present, and future are giant dorm-like monstrosities housing hundreds of units in a building. While this new construction at the present moment is marketed as "luxury" and sold to hungry tech-bro idiots, It will surely become the slums of the future: run down, falling apart from terrible craftsmanship, maintenance deferred with 100 parties squabbling in large homeowners association meetings that degenerate into screaming matches over color schemes. Triple deckers will offer more space, nostalgic styles, yards, parking, etc etc etc, all in compact neighborhoods that don't elicit the feeling of soviet prison blockades. Think of it....buildings with varying facades! Crown molding! Wainscoting! Paint!
A million bucks for one level of a triple-decker will be the norm soon enough, get used to it folks.
Triple decker living
Been there, done that. Never again. With only 3 units the dynamic of 2 ganging up on 1 is easy. Especially if one owner is an alcoholic and the other is the "My daddy only buys the best" sort of person. The one alternative to condo hell in a triple decker is to hire a building manager. No one need worry about equitable distribution of common work, such as snow shoveling. If disputes arise their can be a neutral party who makes decisions. That helps stopping insane owners who do things such as throwing out Condo Association bank statement.
Massachusetts real estate law
Massachusetts real estate law could use a ton of modernization to keep these property values up-to-date. The assessment published and levied by the city right now is for January 1, 2017. That's almost two year old. That long delay was probably helpful for assessors in the 1700s, before long-division was invented, but doesn't make much sense today.
Go talk to the assessing department
They post all assessments from a year ago (so the new ones coming out in a week or so are actually based on Jan 1 2018. You can't do these "live" or "real time" - they all need to be done as a snapshot so that it's fair for the all taxpayers (unless you want to change to a time of purchase system like CA - which has its own drawbacks).
And the assessing department will tell you straight up - for logistical reasons they shoot to assess all residential property about 10% low. Get too close to the actual price and you'll be overwhelmed with abatement requests - do it at 90% - since the system is proportional it's perfectly fair and the assessing department can work on more important issues (like valuing commercial properties - which is extremely complicated and far more important for revenue as commercial generates 60% of the property tax income for the city. Plus they are more inclined to seek an abatement).
It's probably closer to 80%.
And if you get a permit to demolish/refurbish, they will be right out there to check things out and give you a new number. Trust me on that one.