Forbes comes out with its “up-and-coming” list of neighborhoods. (I originally called it their “best and worst” list, but that’s even more inaccurate.)
These types of studies are very weak when it comes to hard data. Take their results with a grain of salt. All it does is give people something to talk about around a water cooler, and give politicians something to crow or complain about.
Having said that – guess which Boston neighborhood is the #7 worst place to buy a home in America?
Mission Hill!
Here’s their methodology, which basically just measures price appreciation over the past three years, as if that’s a good way to determine whether or not a neighborhood is a good place to live.
For 20 of the largest metropolitan areas in the country, OnBoard [their data company] gathered the median home prices from 2003 to 2005 for all the ZIP codes the U.S. Postal Service associates with each city. We tossed out ZIP codes that had fewer than 30 sales in any year during that period because they would not reliably show trends. We then searched for the best performing and worst performing in each city since 2003 and determined the neighborhood or neighborhoods primarily associated with each ZIP.
ZIP Code: 02120
Neighborhood: Mission Hill
2005 Median Sales Price: $412,750
Total Price Appreciation 2003 to 2005: -14%
Appreciation for New Homes: NA
Appreciation for Existing Homes: 7.2%
Mission Hill has battled a reputation as a crime-ridden neighborhood, which perhaps has kept it from burgeoning. But recently, new condos have emerged and old apartment buildings have been rehabbed, which should put upward pressure on prices.
Complete details: Best And Worst Neighborhoods To Buy A Home – By Sara Clemence, Forbes.com
Newcomers upscaling the Hill; Once-dangerous neighborhood aims to turn image around – By Paul Restuccia, The Boston Herald
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