<p>My mother’s house is probably worth about $700K-$800K but could really use about $100K to $150K in repairs and updates. A lot of the value of her place is the location and school district. Newton is really a great place to raise kids.</p>
<p>Brighton is not a suburb of Boston, but a neighborhood within the city of Boston. The other two are suburbs, with Brookline being closer to the city and thus more urban. If one needs to take the school systems into account, then Newton and Brookline are superior than the Boston public school system.</p>
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<p>I wouldn’t recommend it…especially if you’re a racial minority. When I had to go there for academic research/work, I had many troubling encounters with local hoodlums tossing racist epithets in my direction and even some threats of physical violence. </p>
<p>When I later conferred with friends more familiar with that area of Boston, they thought I was nuts to even go there and also warned me that it was infested with local hoodlums looking to mug folks…especially racial minorities and a center for Boston’s old Irish-American gangs…in short…one of their “Mob lands”. </p>
<p>It all clicked when I connected some of the racist epithets tossed in my and some friends directions with the contentious angry bitterness of the local Irish-Americans over the '60s era busing issue…a bitterness which was still prevalent in the early-mid '00s when I heard/read about the epithets tossed at some friends…especially if they happened to be Latino or African-American.</p>
<p>I never had problems with Southie and this was in the 80s. Charlestown wasn’t a place you went to if you were black but I used to go there to visit from time to time. I think that Charlestown was invaded by yuppies many years ago and haven’t heard about racism issues there.</p>
<p>My son said he is reading this thread…thanks for all of the additional information and opinions!</p>
<p>Southie and Charlestown are both in the process of gentrifying. Charlestown is really mixed right now with very high-income areas and very low-income areas and Southie real estate values are going up.</p>
<p>Cobrat, the busing-related riots and bombings and so forth were in the mid-70s, right around the bicentennial.</p>
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<p>Exactly… several mega-corporations are moving their headquarters to Southie. There are areas you don’t want to be in yet, but otherwise, real estate is hopping. After looking at almost two dozen places, D1 finally found what she wanted… before it even made it on the market and made a bid. She won over another bidder, who was also bidding before this place was even listed. Lots of tear downs and new construction, but even with the new construction, some are better than others. I’d say in this economy, a 4% increase in appraisal in one year is not bad.</p>
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<p>The whole Fort Point/Waterfront area has been growing quite a lot as well. A lot of new restaurants and places to go and things to do at night.</p>
<p>I would also say that it depends on what your son is planning on doing in terms of commuting. I would not personally rely on the green line, particularly the B line, particularly if working a 9-5 job (and that’s what he’d get in Brighton). That would guarantee that I’d start most days off in a bad mood.</p>
<p>Son is looking at a house in Brighton today.</p>
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<p>While busing and the problems took place in the '60s and '70s, there were still plenty of longtime Southie residents who were bitterly griping about it in 2000-2005…some to the tune of racist epithets tossed at me and several non-White friends. </p>
<p>Even recalled reading in the local Boston newspapers about how such attitudes were still affecting local neighborhood/Boston politics/education in the early-mid '00s.</p>
<p>Son looked at a house today…it already has an offer on it. But at least he learned a little. </p>
<p>He has been pre-approved for his mortgage, so if he does get lucky and finds a house he likes that he can afford, he is ready to deal…</p>