Life in an Expensive Treehouse
Although I’m a fan of winter and cold temperatures, I do find spring, summer and fall to be more visually appealing. Aside from the few hours after a heavy wet snow – where the snow clings to every bare tree branch and the ground has been untouched by foot prints or dog urine – winter is typically not pretty. And if you live in the city it’s even worse when the snow along the sides of the roads turns black.
But even though I know the bright green leaves on the trees are a sign of unbearable 95-degree heat and humidity to come, I still get excited about it. Although there is one small downside to it.
You see, I lucked into the best staff-member office at Harvard Law School. It’s on the top floor of the schools’ newest building (meaning operable windows, individually controlled central-air, modern features, etc…). Even as a shared office, it’s larger than all of my co-workers offices. I have a 16-foot wrap around desk made of real world (not laminate) with an entire wall of wooden built-in shelves. The best part is the view in the winter – my office overlooks the Law School Yard (called Holmes Field). It really is beautiful. But come spring, that all changes. The huge trees fill with leaves and I’m left in an office that feels like a treehouse. I still get sunlight because I’m right at the tree tops. But I can’t see the ground at all.
On an unrelated note – the Boston Globe today ran a report on housing affordability in Massachusetts. Between 1999 and 2004, the entire eastern half of Massachusetts became un-affordable (ecxept New Bedford…and if you’ve been there you’ll know why).
Apparently, financial institutions say your home price should not exceed 2.5 times your annual salary before it is considered beyond affordable. Well, in nearly all of eastern Massachusetts, home prices are at least 6 (six!) times people’s annual salary (the rest of the state is around 3-5 times annual salary). Even scarier is that Massachusetts already has one of the highest household income levels in the country (after New Jersey and Connecticut). Which means that if the national household income was used…we could approach housing 10 times higher than income. EEK!
Something is wrong here with this equation.
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