Either-Or: A Spacious Milton Colonial vs. a Slick Cambridge Condo
It’s amazing what a few miles will do to the market. This month, we compare a cool-toned South Shore home with a whitewashed two-bedroom near Harvard.
Photo by Joan Pearsall, Best View Imaging, Courtesy of Mary Beth Grant, Coldwell Banker (Milton); Photo by Matt Delphenich (Cambridge)
9 Cape Cod Lane, Milton | Sale Price: $930,000 | 5-7 Rutland Street, #7/2, Cambridge |
$879,000 19 2,441 square feet 3 1.5 | Asking Price Days on Market Size Bedrooms Bathrooms | $899,000 82 1,207 square feet 2 1 |
There’s nothing crisper than a fallen leaf on a November day—but these recently sold homes come close. The first, a stone-front Milton three-bedroom, wooed buyers with its fresh white and pale-gray walls offset by warm grasscloth wallpaper; marble-appointed kitchen with two island breakfast bars; and oversize living room fireplace. It’s no wonder the previous homeowners accepted an offer within a few days, and for more than $50,000 over asking.
Travel north to Cambridge, and you’ll find another home with a stunning grayscale palette that sold for $930,000. That’s about where the similarities end, though: Half the size of the Milton single-family, the two-bedroom condo between Harvard and Porter squares features a butler’s pantry lined with quartz counters, a kitchen jazzed up with beadboard paneling, and custom bookcases, all packed into about 1,200 square feet. It just goes to show: It’s possible to find a home with designer finishes in the city or the close-in ’burbs for under a million bucks—all you have to decide is how much space you really need.