While we could have afforded an appropriate Worcester home in 2015, the market is out of reach for us in 2022.
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Before I was hired to be WBJ’s editor back in 2015, my family and I were renting in Springfield, from which I was commuting to work at Hartford Business Journal. At the time, my wife Sarah and I were already looking in the communities outside Springfield to buy a house, hoping to settle our family down for the long term.
When WBJ offered me the editor position, I was a little bit surprised, and we didn’t quite know how to adjust our life plans. While Sarah and I flirted with the idea of relocating to Worcester, we decided to simply move further east but stay near Springfield, to still be near our kids’ friends, therapists, and support system. We ended up buying into Wilbraham, which is well outside Central Massachusetts.
This turned out to be a huge mistake because 1) once we moved our children out of their school district, we might as well have moved them 20 towns away, and 2) while we could have afforded an appropriate Worcester home in 2015, the market is out of reach for us in 2022.
WBJ pays me a good salary, but it is basically the only source of income for our family, which includes five children and three dogs, all of whom need their own space. Whenever Sarah and I discuss moving, we search for homes with at least five bedrooms. Mass. has very few affordable homes fitting that bill, and seemingly none of them are in Greater Worcester. Notably, in pre-COVID 2020, we made a full-faith effort to move into the region, but it turns out the only options were an historic home at the busiest intersection in Hubbardston or a rundown house with a lot of garbage in the yard in Southbridge. Worcester was out of the question, and even the few options in Leominster weren’t doable.
It’s such a shame, too, because I’ve fallen in love with Worcester. The businesses, the culture, the people make me feel like this is right where I need to be. Sarah and I would love to build our lives here.
In the Jan. 10 print edition of WBJ, you’ll find Katherine Hamilton’s story “Luxury” on how developers in Worcester are catering to the higher-income Boston crowd, which is pushing lower-income residents into unaffordable positions, often forcing them to move places like Southbridge, Webster, and Spencer. I’ve never been priced out of my home, but I can certainly empathize. There’s much to like about all the outside investment pouring into Worcester over the last several years, but at some point that will have to reckon with what we are losing, too.
