The tyranny of location, location, location
Anybody who has ever gaped at the astronomical price tag for some modest starter home in an upscale Boston suburb has surely had this thought at some point.
The schools in Sudbury, Winchester or Weston, or you fill in the town, are surely great, but if I took the same cramped Cape and moved it 20 miles west, I'd shave off half the price or more.
A case in point is Coldwell Banker's survey of the most and least affordable towns in the Bay State, as measured by average selling price.
The average price for a four bedroom, two bath home in Springfield is $133,404, making the city the most affordable community in the Bay State to buy in, according to the real estate firm.
But now take the same house and transport it 70 miles or so east on the Massachusetts Turnpike to Weston and you'll get a much different price.
In Weston, this basic, middle class home is likely to fetch $1.2 million. It not only makes Weston the priciest town in the state to buy, but the eighth most expensive in the country.
OK, you can play this game with any number of towns - Wellesley versus Natick, Winchester versus Medford, or Hingham verus Weymouth, to mention a few more likely pairings.
But sadly, location counts for a lot more than we should let it.
