And my neighborhood's considered middle/upper-middle class! :eek:

12 years ago when my parents bought our house, I think it was a little over $300K. Cost of living back then wasn't nearly as bad as it is now.

3 bedroom homes in Hawaii Kai, Aina Haina, and Kahala (East Honolulu) start at $600-700K!

That's a 1 bedroom condo in my Los Angeles 'hood.

I have a friend who lived in Laurel Canyon and it was a nice 3 bedroom house but it was really nothing special, other than the fact that it was worth 1.2 million. The prices over there are sick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wellesley%2C_MA

Wellesley is great. the rest of MA: WAY TOO LIBERAL

Sounds like Connecticut. :rolleyes: 3BR houses in Norwalk start at $700K. In Stamford, that would get you a condo; in Greenwich, that would get you a closet. The closer you get to NYC, the more you pay.

Anyway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwalk%2C_Connecticut

One of my dearest friends in college was from Bolton, Mass and when he graduated he got a job back "home" and rented the most adorable little carriage house behind a mansion in Wellesley. I went to visit him and fell in love with that area.


PS: Massachusetts people, help me because I'm having a brain jam! When we lived in Portland, ME, we'd occasionally head down to Mass for the weekend and I remember one of the first towns we'd go through once we crossed into Mass from NH had a name that was pronounced completely differently than it was spelled. I can't remember the name, and it's bothering me. Can anyone help me out?

Gloucester (pr. Glosster)?

There's Gloucester, Worcester, Westborough - any of those work?

Wellesley is a great town, if you can afford it; the whole Newton/Wellesley/Weston/Brookline/Chestnut Hill area has gone way up in price, and you (along with your significant other) have to be making pretty good money to afford a home in the area.

As far as CT - aephi alum, you're right, housing prices have shot way up there. My parents were pretty smart (and lucky) with their house. My dad is a contractor, so he was able to build in an area where there wasn't too much development. There were dirt roads when we first got there. Eventually the area sprouted up, a golf course moved in, and the value of their home has gone up by a good amount. It doesn't help when tax season comes along, but when they decide to retire and scale down, it will be a nice turnaround on the sale.

When I was looking to buy, I definitely saw listings in Boston in that price range for a 1 bedroom. I definitely had to rethink the streets I wanted to live on!

And just the way I like it!

Condo prices in Boston/Brookline are such a wake-up call. You can find some good places for good prices if you look long enough, but it's definitely discouraging. Even rents are insane.

As far as the liberal part - between being a Yankee fan and a Republican, I'm pretty much used to being in the minority here. I still love the area.

Yeah my rent in Allston was out of control. Although I now have to laugh b/c my mortgage payment in what I consider a better location is less than my rent. But adding in condo fees and property taxes, it all evens out.

I recently heard that Van is the most expensive place in Canada and fifteenth in a list of selected countries. I don't know where Toronto ranks in the world list, but the average home is slightly over $300K in the "416." (inner "suburbs" (the old North York, Etobicoke, etc...) and the city)

ETA: I grew up in North York, Ontario, which until 1998 (when it amalgamated with the City of Toronto), was a separate municipality.

Population: 650,000

Demographics:

White: 53.2 %
Chinese: 11.4 %
South Asian: 9.0 %
Black: 8.7 %
Filipino: 3.4 %
Latin American: 3.2 %
All Others: 11.1 %

North York does not give the cost of an average single family home or average family income, but I would guess that it is slightly higher than the average in all of Toronto. I checked the ) Multiple Listing Services site and most of the homes were at least in the 350Ks. North York is also home to Jane and Finch an area of the Greater Toronto Area that has a reputation of being underprivileged and violent and The Bridle Path , where homes are in the millions (this area is reputed to be "nouveaux riche" opposed to the "older" money of Rosedale .

Schools in North York include: A.Y. Jackson Secondary (Grades 10-12); Earl Haig Secondary (9-12); Claude Watson School for the Arts (Grades 4-12, with the high school division (Grades 9-12) located in the same building as Earl Haig); The Crescent School (all boys' day school); Highland Junior High (Grades 7-9); Zion Heights Jr. High (7-9...both Highland and Zion Heights have ranked high in the Grade 9 standardized math tests); Cummer Valley Middle School (6-8), St. Joseph Morrow Park High School (girls' Catholic high school, Grades 9-12), Brebeuf College (boys' Catholic high school, 9-12) St. Agnes Catholic School (elementary, JK-8) and Blessed Trinity School (JK-8). Public schools in North York are usually JK-5/JK-6 for elementary schools, 6-8 or 7-9 for intermediate and 9 or 10-12 for high schools. There are some JK-8 schools (aka "elementary and middle schools") in areas where there aren't many tweens. All public schools are now under the Toronto District School Board (North York, like the other cities that eventually amalgamated, had its own board. They were allowed to keep the school division system rather than change to the JK-6/7&8/9-12 system that is used in other parts of Toronto). With the exception of one or two, Catholic schools in North York are funded the same way as public schools. The school are all JK-8 for elementary and 9-12 for high schools. Elementary schools choose whether they want their students to wear uniforms, but all high schools require them (AFAIK, anyway). The schools are under the Toronto Catholic District School Board (formerly the Metropolitan Separate School Board.

I suspect you could say that just about in any major urban area when compared to the cost of housing there.

When I think of condos, I always think of an old joke:

Q: What's the difference between a condo in (fill in the blank) and AIDS.

A: Some day you may be able to get rid of AIDS.

In reality, there are some good things about condos, but you need to take into account any additional fees (maintenance, organization fees, etc.), and always be aware of what the resale market is.

Vancouver is a Canadian city in the province of British Columbia. It is the largest metropolitan centre in western Canada and third largest in the country.

The city's population is 545,671 and that of the metropolitan area is 2,186,965 (2001 census). [1] Vancouver is one of the cities of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and of the larger geographic region commonly known as the Lower Mainland of BC. The mayor is Sam Sullivan, NPA (see List of Mayors of Vancouver). The Port of Vancouver is significant on a world scale, and Vancouver is also the third largest film production centre in North America after Hollywood and New York. Vancouver will be the host city for the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2006 United Nations World Urban Forum and the 2007 Memorial Cup. Vancouver will also host some games for the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup.


More about Vancouver...

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...er-westend.jpg

And that is exactly why I'm fleeing Los Angeles as fast as my poor little feet can take me! I refuse to pay $600,000 for something approximately the size of a closet. Sigh.