Years ago I was priced out of the house I had owned for 20 years in suburban Boston.When I arrived it was a middle class town and mine was a middle class house in a middle class neighborhood. But then the neighborhood got hot and houses like mine were being bought,torn down,and $2 million McMansions (on 1/4 acre lots) appeared in their place.
I just looked up my old address where I lived on the beach for 15 years, I got away paying $300.00 a month for my ancient beach shack with homemade windows and no screens, made of single layer boards, floor and ceiling, no studs, no insulation, just boards without heating or cooling since it wasn’t needed on the water in San Diego, it was where they had parked the carriage in the late 1800s and was very ‘Rockford files’ like in people marveling at how I could have such a choice place on the water, seemingly immune to codes and pricey real estate realities.
The new property owner finally got through the coastal commission process and got permission to build on the land and he built a nice house on it after tearing down my little shack, the 2023 property taxes on the house were $42,000.00.
I wonder what the owner of that house gets from the government that is so different from someone paying $2500.00 a month apartment rent in that community.