
This three-family home on Robert Street in Roslindale and a single-family English Cottage Style home on the same property lot were recently converted into condominiums. The 1,100-square-foot single-family home is currently being marketed for sale at $309,000.
A longtime landlord in Roslindale, Karla Fleming, 47, rarely had trouble with her tenants so she never seriously considered selling her rental units.
But when tenants in the three-family and single-family homes she rents on Robert Street indicated they were planning to move, and another tenant expressed interest in buying a unit if she was willing to sell, Fleming had to decide her next move.
Fleming opted to attend a workshop last summer on converting multifamily homes into condominiums. Soon after attending the workshop, organized by Innovative Moves Real Estate in Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Fleming contacted her attorney.
Now, after spending an estimated $12,000, mostly on legal and other fees, and after virtually no construction and renovation, Fleming’s rental units, which she has owned for 21 years, have been smoothly converted into condominiums.
Today, one of the condominium units in the three-family home is under agreement, and the single-family home hit the sales market this weekend.
“I really feel good about these conversions because it offers homeownership opportunities to a wider range of people who would otherwise not be able to get into the housing market in Roslindale,” said Fleming, who also lives in Roslindale.
If attendance at condominium conversion seminars is any indication, more and more people are taking the path that Fleming recently took, or at least considering it. The economic downturn does not seem to be deterring Boston homeowners, particularly those in Roslindale and Jamaica Plain, from doing condominium conversions.
“There’s more interest in it [condo conversion workshops] than ever,” said Janice Williams, marketing director of Innovative Moves.
While some housing advocates lament the loss of rental units in a tight market, owners like Fleming who are choosing to convert their units maintain that the conversions give more people a stab at homeownership.
Avi Davis, broker/owner of Innovative Moves, said he has encountered homeowners who want to convert properties to make it more affordable for their friends to buy a home.
Condo conversions can also make it more affordable for senior homeowners to remain in a neighborhood because of the lower property tax burden and shared maintenance costs.
“There are older people who don’t want to be displaced,” said Davis, explaining that some seniors choose to convert their properties and move from the upper floor of a multifamily home to the first-floor for easier living.
The free workshops, which are usually led by a real estate lawyer who explains the process, financing, pitfalls and advantages of converting multifamily homes into condos, have drawn up to 50 people a session, and typically attract 25 attendees.
Property owners from Roslindale, West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Newton, Dorchester, Stoughton and downtown Boston have attended workshops in the past, said Williams.
The real estate company has been doing the workshops for more than two years and tries to do them on a quarterly basis, rotating between Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury.
Davis acknowledged that there was a “pause” in condominium activity after Sept. 11, but in the four months after the terrorist attacks, condominium values in Roslindale have shot up, he said.
The Next Wave
Just how many two- and three-family homes have been converted into condos over the last few years is difficult to pinpoint because homeowners aren’t required to get special permits. However, Boston homeowners are required to file a master deed with the registry of deeds and pay a tax known as the Treggor Tax. The tax is $500 per unit with the first unit being free – which means an owner with a three-family home would pay $1,000.
The city collected $619,000 in Treggor Taxes last year, up from the $592,000 collected in 2000. That would indicate that more property owners are choosing condo conversions. Using those figures, less than 1,238 units were converted to condos in 2001, while less than 1,184 were converted in 2000.
Neither the city’s Department of Neighborhood Development nor the Boston Redevelopment Authority could provide information on how many two- and three-family homes have been converted, and a spokesman for the Inspectional Services Department did not return a call by Banker & Tradesman’s deadline.
However, the rise in condominium prices and in some cases unit sales in Jamaica Plain, Roslindale and West Roxbury indicate there is greater buyer demand for condo, which would persuade landlords to go ahead with conversions.
A quick survey of Roslindale condo listings in the first six weeks of this year compared to the same period last year shows that condominium listings doubled.
In the first six weeks of this year, there were 10 condominiums listed for sale, with eight of them being recently converted units. During the same period last year there were only five, said Davis.
Prices have also gone up about 35 percent during the first six months of 2002 compared to a year ago from an average condominium listing price of $166,379 to $224,380. This year’s condominium listing prices have shifted to mirror the single-family sales prices of last year, said Davis.
To understand condominium conversions of two- and three-family homes in Boston neighborhoods, it may be important to look at the history.
Condominium conversions in Boston neighborhoods appear to have occurred in waves, starting with Jamaica Plain in the mid-1980s. Two- and three-family homes started being converted between 1985 and 1989, said Davis.
Then condo values in Jamaica Plain started to drop in the early 1990s, declining by as much as 40 percent. As the economy started to recover, a second wave of condo conversions started taking place in Jamaica Plain in the mid-1990s.
The conversion fever started to spread into neighboring communities like Roslindale, but the real condo conversion boom in Roslindale occurred just last year, according to Davis.
“There has been a wave of condo conversions in Roslindale for the last 14 to 15 months,” said Davis. “And I predict there will be a major condo conversion next in West Roxbury.”
In Roslindale, condo sales jumped almost 52 percent from January through November of last year compared to the same period in 2000, according to The Warren Group, parent company of Banker & Tradesman. Ninety-seven condos were sold through November of last year in Roslindale, compared to 64 through November 2000.
Median prices for condos in Roslindale also increased 24 percent during that same period. The median price for a Roslindale condo last year was $180,000 compared to $144,600 the prior year.
In West Roxbury, condominium sales have hovered around 140 to 145 since 1999 during the first 11 months of each year. Median condo prices in that neighborhood rose as well, although not as steeply as in Roslindale. The median price for a condo increased almost 19 percent from $135,000 through November of 2000 to $160,500 through the same month last year.