Real Estate, or, I’m Warnin’ Yeh!

This state is ridiculous. Not only is it one of my most willing states in the nation to infringe upon its citizens’ rights, it manages to do so at the highest possible cost to the citizen. That’s right, Boston is now officially the most expensive city in the nation. Yep, we beat out San Francisco and New York. Talk about dubious honors.

What’s one of the prime factors for determining the expense of the city in question? Housing costs. I’ve already ranted about the real costs of overly-expensive housing for this state with a focus on the loss of our biotech/medical industry as a result. Now we’re seeing that not only are graduates of the many Boston-area colleges and universities not staying on in our city, but many other young professionals are taking to the hills as well. Why would they stay? They can’t afford condos or houses with the salaries they’re being offered, since pay rates haven’t kept pace with housing costs. I know many people who commute from New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island because they couldn’t afford housing in Massachusetts. Of course, with gas prices on the rise (thanks to ExxonMobil for profiting from the peoples’ fear) their commutes are as expensive as their mortgages. Who, other than an idiot like me who just got a new job at an exciting company, would put up with this crap?

The thing that people refuse to understand is that losing the young professionals, losing the doctors and losing the skilled-knowledge workforce will lead this state into a massive recession. We will lose all the industry that has traditionally kept us afloat to states where costs are lower and corporate taxes as less abusive. The fact is, Boston is the most expensive city in the nation and Massachusetts is the only state in the union to have lost population last year. These are bad signs, folks. It’s time to bring back those bumperstickers that read: “Will the last person to leave Massachusetts please turn out the lights?”

I guess on the poisitive side, when this state spirals into the red I might be able to afford a house.

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 08th, 2005 at 11:26am and is filed under Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.