should you rent or buy in Boston

In Boston there is everything from the rooming house to the condo and home owner, with enough interest each type of property to make each a hot commodity in today’s market. Each has it positives and negatives for which must be dealt with in their own time.

Deciding what is best for oneself or ones family is based on a number of factors which include the amount of space required, the costs involved, desired location, and how involved in the maintaining of the property.

In certain parts of Boston especially in parts that are in the process of gentrification (or as I would like to say it “Yuppification” since it is the Yuppies that are the ones fueling the gentrification in Boston) both the rental market and the housing market are neck and neck in the way of the overall costs regardless of how many different costs there are.

If you are in need of a three bedroom unit where you would prefer to live has everything to do with whether you should rent or buy since the location of the rental unit could be the same as or above what you would pay for a mortgage. If money is at the heart of whether you rent or buy it would be wise to sit down and sort out your finances to see in what parts of the city you would be capable of doing either based on your individual needs and what you can afford to pay for a rent or mortgage.

When deciding to rent or to buy you will also need to determine how much money you need to allocate for your savings if you are trying to save money so that way you can determine what to do especially since owning means that you may end up having to use the money that you are trying to save on the property to maintain it if you choose to buy making a rental unit more attractive as long as the location you choose to live in has what you feel to be a reasonable rent.

If saving is not a top priority, if you qualify for a mortgage you may be better served if you buy a home or a condo especially if the upfront costs with signing a mortgage are somewhat close to what you would pay upon signing a lease agreement, which is in most cases first, last and security deposit for an apartment if you don’t go through a management company or realty company for an apartment.

Depending on the type of and how much of a commute you are willing to accept you both options may appeal to you. I know people on both sides on the issue of commuting when it comes to deciding whether to rent or buy, and for the most part the reasoning behind commuting one way versus another way is pretty much the same. When it comes to people who choose to drive everyone I know regardless of renting or owning say they don’t want to be on someone else’s schedule for commuting, when it comes to public transportation they say it is to save money depending on the length of their commute.

Commuting in general most people have to do it for work, it is just a matter of how far you are willing to accept or may be forced to accept given your individual needs, how much you are looking to save, how much you can afford and how much work you want to do in regards to dealing with the maintenance of the property. However the only real difference with maintaining the property is that if you are renting, general wear and tear causing breakage of something for property related, the owner of the property has to fix it but if you intentionally break something it is like a store you break it you bought it.

The MBTA has been toying with the idea of combining the Shirley and Ayer commuter rail station for a few years now. it is to the point that it made it into the capital improvement plans for the Fitchburg line proposed through the next decade.

The proposed site for the combined station would be at the main entrance to what use to be Fort Devens which is now just Devens. The MBTA should seriously consider this due to the fact that a major pharmaceutical company just broke ground on a 750 million dollar project to build a manufacturing plant for the company that would employ 350 people to start with.

There is no way the MBTA can get all of the people who would be commuting there to take the train there on a daily basis but it does warrant the combined station to be there along with more and better service to that area. The MBTA would end up making out on the deal by getting people who are currently commuting to Devens who have to drive there due to a lack of access through public transportation but would prefer to use public transportation.

The MBTA, if combining the Shirley and Ayer Stations should think about offering bus service between the station and various points in Devens but if there is a regional bus company already in place then they should think about entering a contract that give supplemental service or dealing with a specific part of the service area.

commuter rail ideas sent into the rider oversight committe last june

The commuter rail has many advantages over driving but it isn’t as cost effective as it could be if it were not for the years of neglect in favor of expansion and if the MBTA really took the time to look at what is wrong with the Commuter rail system.

• The MBTA with regards to capital improvements for the commuter rail should look at the companies that run along the rail beds of the different lines to see if they need to expand and if the expansion could be done at the existing location with being able not to just abut the rail bed but lease the air rights over and abut on both sides of the rail bed to help them expand. Do this in an attempt to divert money from capital improvements to commuter rail expansion while looking to see if the companies that will abut the new rail bed would consider expanding over and onto both sides of the rail bed to make it more cost effective for both the MBTA and the companies looking to expand . Along with attracting businesses to locate close enough to the station being built for it to beneficial to both the companies and the MBTA in an attempt to split the cost of the expansion.
  
• The commuter rail has an aging fleet of engines and rail cars that are slowly becoming unusable due to the age and the equipment being rebuilt repeatedly to the point that some equipment cannot be rebuilt any more along with toughening environmental laws. The MBTA should think about adapting an advertising idea that they have been using on the local bus lines. Where the commuter rail can be seen from the skyscrapers and runs along the various highways and through cities and towns, with the trains being visible for a good stretch, make them mobile billboards like what the MBTA did with the buses by wrapping them in the advertisements. In this case wrap each rail car in an advertisement whether each car has its own ad or the whole train being used for a single ad. If this is actually able to make money then put that money directly into the commuter rail system to buy new equipment to replace the aging equipment.

massachusetts North - South Rail link

North – South rail link

The idea for The North – South Rail Link to connect Boston’s North and South Stations has been around since both stations have been open. If done correctly it should allow people to make direct connections for trains at either station or make a direct connection for the airport rather than going out of their way to make the proper connections for the airport.
Here are my suggestions:

· With regards to having a direct link between North and South Stations, find a way to connect them directly even if it means a new subway line or a branch of an existing subway line that goes direct between stations. Set it up so that the connection allows people to make direct connections for Amtrak service and Silver Line service to Logan International Airport.
· Set up the connections up as independent commuter rail lines that cut across the various existing lines similar like how Routes 128 and 495 go north and south around Boston in a semi-circular fashion. Also design it to be cost effective for everyone and would permit the passengers to go back and forth in a timely fashion comparable to driving when possible.
· Where possible, expand subway lines to meet up with more of the commuter rail lines or to connect with more commuter rail stations on each line. Find a way of doing this that would be cost efficient and would have the potential draw more riders.
· Set up the link or links in a way to help alleviate any potential bottlenecks caused by an emergency situation that would have people looking to leave the city any possible.