Centers And Squares
Welcome to Centers and Squares
As a Cambridge real estate agent, the city squares of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford and the town centers of Arlington, Watertown and Belmont, Massachusetts are my home turf. And as a lifelong New Englander who’s lived within twenty miles of Boston most of my life, I can introduce you to other nearby towns as we search for your new home. If you’re planning to sell your home in Cambridge, MA or nearby you’ll find plenty of info about the home selling process here too. Questions? Send me an email or call me at 617-504-1737.
Cambridge Properties Sold In September 2010
Welcome to the Cambridge Real Estate Report
Here’s a quick recap of Cambridge properties sold in September 2010.
Cambridge Real Estate On the Market – September 30, 2010
Plenty of sellers waited until September to put their properties on the market in Cambridge. On September 30, 2010 there were 403 residential properties listed for sale in Cambridge – 84 more than a month before. Asking prices ranged from $179,000 to $4,450,000. The median asking price was $689,559. Properties had been on the market an average of 108 days.
Cambridge Properties Sold in September 2010
54 residential properties sold in Cambridge during September 2010 – that’s fewer than half as many sold in August. September sales reflect properties that went under agreement during the long hot summer. Let’s hope that cooler temperatures bring renewed activity to the Cambridge real estate market. Sales prices ranged from $188,000 t0 $2,700,000. These properties had been on the market an average of 82 days.
8 single family houses sold in September 2010 for prices ranging from $438,000 to $2,700,000. Average days on market was just 37 and these houses sold on average for 94% of asking price. The median sales price was $627,000.
42 condos sold in Cambridge last month for sales prices from $188,000 to $805,000. The median condo sales price was $413,750. Condos sold on average for 97% of the asking price and were on the market an average of 86 days.
4 multi-family houses sold in September for sale prices from $605,000 to $930,000. Average days on market was 125. These properties sold for 95% of asking price on average.
The total value of Cambridge properties sold in September 2010 was $28,497,200.
Information about Cambridge properties sold in September 2010 from MLSpin.
Last month’s numbers:
Cambridge Home Sale Report August 2010
SEARCH FOR CONDOS FOR SALE IN CAMBRIDGE MASS
SEARCH FOR SINGLE FAMILY HOMES FOR SALE IN CAMBRIDGE MASS
Battle Road Open House 2010
Daniel Chester French Minute Man Statue in Concord
Battle Road Open House 2010 On Saturday, September 18, 2010 the Minute Man National Park held a day-long open house. Battle Road Open House and Historic Trades Day provided a rare opportunity to visit almost a dozen Colonial-era houses, most of which are typically not open to the public. It also was a perfect day for kids with re-enactors demonstrating crafts and trades including blacksmithing, carving, rope making and more. And it was my chance to be a tourist in my own backyard.
This was the second Battle Road Open House day. Let’s hope they’ll make it an annual event.
The open house day was an old house enthusiast’s dream – a chance to see and compare so many houses of the same period.
Since I grew up in Concord during the years that the Park Service was acquiring much of the land and houses that make up the park I had some misgivings too. It wasn’t easy for home and business owners to have no say in the matter when the park was acquiring properties. But now, when open land is so often threatened by development, its’s wonderful to see the fields that line the Battle Road preserved. If we could just do something about the overhead wires – and the airport!
But I gulped when I realized that the parking area near Meriam’s Corner was the site of the former Willow Pond Kitchen. I worked at the Willow Pond for years – a time when the owner, Peter Sowkow, was battling with the NPS to keep the Kitchen open. It was a sad day when the restaurant closed.
One of the Park Rangers at the Meriam House showed me a vintage photo of the Willow Pond Kitchen that they keep in the office. It predates the time when I discovered the Willow Pond but so little changed there over the years it looked very familiar. The image is included in the slide show below.
I managed to see all but the two houses that are open regularly during the year, the Hartwell Tavern and the Wayside. Here’s the rest of the Battle Road Open House tour:
Jacob Whittemore Housein Lexington was built in the early 1700s and extensively renovated in the 1780s. On April 19, 1775 seven members of the Whittemore family fled the house as the battle drew near.
Captain William Smith House in Lincoln Captain Smith was commanding officer of the Lincoln Minute Men. He was also Abigail Adams’ brother and “Abigail Adams” greeted us at the door. The house was built in 1692 but restored by the Park Service to its appearance at the time of the Revolution.
Noah Brooks Tavern was built in 1798 on land that had been in the Brooks family since 1656. Though it postdates the Battle the NPS has kept the house because it is one of several owned by the Brooks family who owned adjacent farms. This spot became know as Brooks Village. The tavern was a popular gathering spot and remained in business until the 1850s. For part of the day Scottish Highland Cattle grazed in the fields outside the house.
Joshua Brooks House next door was also built just after the Revolution in 1779. The family ran a slaughterhouse and tannery across the street. At the time of the Revolution Joshua and his family lived in an earlier house on this site. Their son Joshua was a Minute Man.
The Job Brooks House across the street dates from 1740. Job Brooks was a farmer and a currier at the Brooks Tannery. Today the National Park Service uses the house to store the Park’s archival collections. There was an amazing sampling of artifacts found around the Park on exhibit in the house on Saturday.
Samuel Brooks House Parts of this house date to the 1690s. For 300 years, until the NPS purchased the house in 1963, all of the owners of the house were related in some way to the Brooks family. Outside the house, in the field out back. a Concord blacksmith demonstrated his craft.
Meriam House in Concord Meriam’s Corner was an important site on April 19, 1775. Here the Colonists lay in wait for the British soldiers and shots were fired. Two British soldiers died. The Meriam house, built in 1705, sits back from the road – a classic New England setting. It is one of the houses that is open on occasion during the year.
Barrett’s Farm On the other side of Concord, some two miles from the Old North Bridge, is the house of Colonel James Barrett. The British searched Barret’s house on April 19th but the artillery and ammunition they hoped to find had already been moved. The Barretts lived in the house for its first 200 years and then the McGrath family lived here for the next 100.
Today the Colonel Barrett house is in the midst of an extensive restoration after Save Our Heritage acquired it. Legislation has extended the Park Service’s boundaries to include the area around the farm. The open house day provided a fascinating look at a restoration in process.
Buttrick House It was Major John Buttrick who gave the first order to fire on the British. His house is close to the Old North Bridge. The two minute men killed at the bridge were brought to the house.
The Buttrick House was my last stop on the Battle Road Open House tour. It was closing time and the ladies were putting away the 18th century style dresses they had on display.
I took the trail down to the Old North Bridge and walked to the Old Manse. The house is maintained by the Trustees of the Reservation and I managed to catch the last tour. Afterwards, our guide encouraged us to pick some Concord grapes from the old vine aside the house – a marvelous end to a busy day.
More House Museum Monday Posts
The Battle Road Open House in Minute Man National Historic Park included houses in Lincoln, Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
Belmont Properties Sold In September 2010
Belmont MA Real Estate Report
The numbers are in – here’s the monthly recap with the Belmont properties sold in September 2010.
Belmont MA Properties for Sale
99 residential properties were on the market in Belmont, MA on September 30, 2010 priced between $164,900 and $4,800,000. These properties had been on the market an average of 89 days. There hasn’t been an increase in inventory in Belmont this year – the number of properties on the market at the end of September is exactly the same as last year.
Belmont Properties Sold in September 2010
11 Belmont properties sold during the month of September 2010. Properties sold for an average of 96% of asking price and had been on the market an average of 198 days. That shows how averages can be a bit misleading – days on market for properties sales that closed last month ranged from 7 to 751.
7 single family houses sold in September for sale prices between $320,000 and $1,200,000. The median price was $606,000. Average days on market was 88 and houses sold for an average of 97% of asking price.
4 condos sold in Belmont in September 2010 for prices between $330,000 and $975,000. The median price paid was $619,500. Condos sold for an average of 98% of the asking price. Two of the condos were at the Woodlands and had been on the market for close to two years or more.
No Belmont multi-family sales closed in September.
Total value of Belmont properties sold in September was $7,193,000.
Also see:
BELMONT Home Sale Report August 2010
Info about Belmont propeteis sold in September 2010 is from MLSpin.
Antique Boot Scrapers
Antique Boot Scrapers at the Emerson House
Antique Boot Scrapers One of my favorite things to find outside an older house is a vintage bootscraper.
Many a New England front porch or granite threshold has a wrought iron or cast iron boot scraper or two.
Older boot scrapers were simply designed like the pair at right at the Emerson House in Concord.
Victorian versions are more ornate and eventually figural versions such as a Scotty Dog or Dachshund were produced.
But give me the simple lines of an early bootscraper outside an old New England house.
More House Parts We Love
Crawford Street Cambridge Condos
Crawford Street Condos in Cambridge
Crawford Street Cambridge Condos Cambridge real estate buyers looking for a one-bedroom condo close to Harvard or Central Square will want to check out any available condos at Crawford Court.
The three-story yellow brick buildings of Crawford Court Condominums line both sides of Crawford Street. It’s a convenient Mid-Cambridge location – close to Central Square, Harvard Square and Inman Square.
Crawford Street Cambridge History
Crawford Street was laid out in 1924 between Chatham Street and Broadway. In 1925 six twelve-unit buildings were built. The buildings were designed by Silverman, Brown & Heenan, architects who designed a number of Cambridge buildings in the 1920s.
A nearby Cambridge Historical Commission sign notes that here is the “site of a fortification erected to protect the Patriot encampment from attack by the British Army” at the beginning of the Revolutionary War in 1775.
Crawford Street Condos Feature:
- Almost all are three-room one-bedrooms
- Most are 530 to 600 sq.ft.
- Eat-in kitchen some with original glass-fronted cabinets
- Living room
- One bath
- Hardwood floors
- On street parking
- Heat and hot water included in the condo fee
- Professionally managed by the Niles Company
- Resident super
- Association owned guest suite for visitors
- Common laundry and storage in the basement
- Pet friendly
- Common area for grilling
Crawford Street Cambridge Real Estate Sales
Several one-bedroom condos have sold at Crawford Court this year for sale prices from $295,000 to $320,000.
If there are condos available on Crawford Street they’ll appear below. Click on the small photo for more information and additional photographs.
Crawford Street Cambridge Condos at Crawford Court Condominiums are located at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Crawford Street, Cambridge, MA 02139.
Watertown Properties Sold In September 2010
Welcome to the Watertown Real Estate Report
Here’s the first of the monthly real estate reports – a recap of Watertown properties sold in September 2010. Keep in mind that sales closed in September were properties that typically went under agreement in July or August. Judging by the numbers, real estate sales were slow in Watertown this summer.
Watertown Properties On the Market
161 properties in Watertown were listed for sale in the MLS on September 30, 2010 priced between $199,900 and $1,375,000. Plenty of new listings came on for the fall market – our September tours of properties new to the market were marathons – two weeks in a row we visited more than 20 properties on tour.
Watertown Properties Sold In September 2010
Total value of Watertown properties sold in September 2010 was $$5,857,000
See Also:
Watertown Home Sale Report – August 2010
Cambridgeport History Day 2010
An If This House Could Talk Sign from the 1st Cambridgeport History Day in 2009
Cambridgeport History Day Clearing skies are predicted for tomorrow’s Cambridgeport History Day.
Charlie Sullivan, Executive Director of the Cambridge Historical Commission, will again lead a two-hour tour of the history of the Cambridgeport neighborhood. The tour begins at Dana Park at noon.
One of my favorite features of last year’s celebration of Cambridgeport history was the If This House Could Talk project. Homeowners created more than 70 signs with info about their house’s history.
Cambridgeport residents, businesses and non-profits have been invited to display signs in front of their properties. The If This House Could Talk signs will remain on display until 5 pm on Sunday, October 10th. It’s a wonderful week to walk around Cambridgeport.
Here’s a map of 2010 If This House Could Talk sign locations.
Other events on Cambridgeport History Day on Saturday, October 2, 2010 include:
- An exhibit at Gallery 263, 263 Pearl Street: My Cambridgeport: Personal Maps of the Neighborhood
- Activities for the kids and family at Dana Park from 2 to 5
- A potluck dinner from 4 – 7 pm hosted by the Cambridgeport Neighborhood Assoc with music by the Bagboys
More information about Cambridgeport History Day can be found on the Cambridge Historical Commission website.
54 Trowbridge Street Cambridge -Townhouses Near Harvard Square
54 Trowbridge St - Cambridge Townhouse Complex
54 Trowbridge Street Cambridge -Townhouses Near Harvard Square There are seven townhouse condos in the complex at 54 Trowbridge Street in Cambridge. Trowbridge is a lovely mid-Cambridge street – across from the Cambridge Public Library and just a few blocks from Harvard Square.
These spacious, lofty townhouses were designed by architects John G. Williams and Kyu-Sung Woo and built in 1986.
54 Trowbridge Street Townhouse Condo Features
- Three bedrooms, two baths
- Four levels
- Wood burning fireplace
- Fenced outdoor space
- Roof deck
- Central air conditioning
- Garage with direct access
- In-unit laundry
54 Trowbridge St Cambridge Real Estate Sales
The most expensive sale to date in the complex was for $831,000. The most recent sale was in 2008 when a townhouse sold for $745,000.
If there are available townhouse condos at 54 Trowbridge Street they’ll appear below. Click on the small photo for additional info and more photographs.
54 Trowbridge St Cambridge MA 02138 real estate sales info from MLSpin
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