Spring is in the air. It’s the season for properties to begin hitting the market in earnest. I think we’ve seen the last of the snow, so by the time little green plants start peeking out of the ground you should be prepared to hit the open house trail if you’re in the market for a new home. 143 new properties have hit the market since January 1, but 96 of those came on this month. It’s clearly getting ripe around here. I’m pleased to say I have a number of new homes hitting the market as well. Four this week, a couple next week and hopefully several more over the next month or so. I’m pretty excited about this newest batch of homes – they’re all exceptional values and beautiful. I have open houses all weekend and even a Commuter Open House on Monday for those of you with a little time when you get off the train on Monday. In no particular order, I’ll give you a brief run down on each of them and some of my favorite photos from the shoots. By the way, if you’re in the market, or even just considering it, you might want to sign up on my website as I have some super cool tools that the average home buyer will find quite useful. Ever been scrambling around on a Sunday (lacking the appropriate caffeination) trying to pull open house info from the Boston Globe, Boston.com, some random real estate website, etc? 45 minutes later your hunched over your computer furiously loading all the properties into Google maps and cross-referencing the open house times? No more! Check out my open house search tool. Just plug in your parameters and viola! you’re in business. all the available open houses are magically delivered to your screen, mapped and chronologically ordered. Pretty cool, eh? Sign up for an account for lots of other goodies. Anyway, the task at hand. The smallest of my three new homes is a loft-like condo in The Brewery District adjacent to Stony Brook station between Boylston and Porter. As described in MLS:

 

 

Perfection. Design, efficiency and location. Brewery District loft steps from Stony Brook Station. Total renovation from basement to roof. High-efficiency heating and point of use, on-demand hot water for kitchen and bath. Amazing insulation in walls and roof. Incredibly well thought out design including cabinetry, and built-in oak/aluminum wardrobe. Roof rights and nice rear deck. This is a great space to just sit and enjoy the light and quiet – it has a certain Zen quality about it.

These descriptions aren’t as easy to write as you think so keep that in mind. Criticism welcome as long as it’s accompanied by a suggestion. This unit is seriously wonderful. It’s going to make some one very happy. I sold it several years ago at Arthouse and they had to pry it from my kicking and screaming then too.

 

 

This is the perfect starter pad – not just because of the price point, but it’s been renovated really well. Way better than what is typical for a unit like this. Over insulated, thermal panes and steel doors make it efficient, but also really quiet. The look of the ceiling is obviously cool but check out the Miele washing machine/dryer. Under sink you’ll find a point-of-use, on demand hot water system. It runs the kitchen and the bath. Sweet! Open house Sunday April 2, 1:30p-2:30p. I’ll be having a commuter Open House on Monday April 4th, 5:50p-7p.

Next on the list is a single family home on 30 Neillian Crescent, on Moss Hill in Jamaica Plain. This home is one of the best values on the Hill in a long time. It may not be the cheapest ever, but it’s definitely priced right – especially considering the condition:

Beautiful open-plan home in highly desirable neighborhood. New kitchen w/SS apps and large prep space. Guests can sit in dining rm and chat w/the host or lounge in living rm in front of fireplace. Picture window looks out over quiet street of well-maintained homes and enormous corner lot. Each bedrm is bigger than the next with a large master facing the rear of the home. Huge, open family room with direct-entry garage and 3/4 bath. Short walk to Larz Anderson Park. Short commute to Med area.

 

30 Neillian Crescent Open Houses Sat April 2, 12-1p & Sun April 3, 1:30-2:30p

 

 

Finally, last but not least is 41 Bournedale Rd, Jamaica Plain. This is the Woodbourne Neighborhood. There are a handful of duplexes just like this one in the “Bourne” neighborhood and I’m a big fan of the layout. They have kitchen, dining and laundry all in the back with a door to the back porch and yard. There’s a tiny hallway separating the dining area from the living room. On one side of it the designer snuck in a built-in hutch. It’s a nice little surprise when you come around the corner. The living room has a wood burning fireplace and a set of stairs that gently curve upstairs out of site. Very cute. My favorite thing upstairs is a cozy reading room just off the master bedroom. I’d spend a lot of time there if it was my place. Here’s what I wrote on the MLS:

Charming 2 story home w/perfect plan. Property has feel of a house rather than a condo. Open kit/dining room opens to covered porch. Enjoy your morning coffee listening to the birds chirp in the wooded yard. Granite counters and stainless steel appliances. Breakfast bar separates kitchen from dining room with built-in hutch.Walk to T, conservation land, shops and restaurants. Ask about Forest Hills Initiative for exciting information about area future development.

Somewhere Hipsters are gathered around expensive beer, reading these out loud and making fun of me. So be it. Come by this Sunday 3rd and we can have coffee together on the back deck from 12-1p.

 

 

[caption id="attachment_1071" align="aligncenter" width="567" caption="Sunroom/reading room off the master bedroom"][/caption]

 

Last year I attended a couple rather tense and sometimes heated meetings regarding the potential development at the corner of Green and Amory Streets in Jamaica Plain. This writer is of the opinion that The plan by Chris DeSisto of Maplehurst Builders was outstanding – at least in regard to the drawings, renderings and concepts shown that night in the E13 community room. If I remember correctly the DeSisto said the project would consist of roughly 13 units atop a commercial retail space. The community chimed in on what types of stores they would like to see including a cafe and an art supply store (personally, I think art supplies would be awesome, but question how viable this would be at this location.) There was to be parking below for the residential as well as a indentation to the sidewalk on Green allowing for, I think, three more cars to park short term during the day to patronize the stores, and then for the public in the evenings. It was a well thought, attractive and impressive plan. Unfortunately, the lot is still empty with nary a rock out of place.

The project seemed to get through all the usual complicated hurdles such as the JP zoning committee and the BRA zoning board. The Maplehurst website shows the last news on the project as being a lawsuit filed by Carlysle Engineering late in June at the Superior Court.  Personally I’m hoping that the recession and the complications with the less than popular Carlysle Engineering hasn’t stopped this project completely. The Brewery District desperately needs the Amory Corridor to be developed. The existing junkyard look of the stretch from Green St. to the Foundry Lofts is terrible for the neighborhood. Even the anti-gentrification folks couldn’t argue that improving this length of Amory could only do good for the neighborhood. The billboard on the lot ajoining 154-160 Green St. came down a few weeks ago as well. It previously had a sign stating that there was future commercial space for rent by Denenburg Realty but there is nothing about it on the comapany website currently.

Just down from these projects, across the Green St. and adjacent to the T station is a new building that appears to be for various commercial offices and such.

It’s fairly plain but a fairly attractive piece of architecture. It’s clear that this side of the tracks is less afraid of a little modernization. The new building in the area seem to be trying to mesh fresh, clean lines with brick to call out to some of the historic buildings nearby.

It is my distinct hope that this area will continue to develop with this unorthodox Boston architecture as I am tres bored with the 1800′s! There I said it.