Photo: 16 Troy Road.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven-plus days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 91 Channing Rd., Cape-style Colonial (1942). Sold: $639,900. Listed at $649,900. Living area: 1,212 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths. On the market: 76 days.

• 249 School St., Colonial with Dutch gable elements (1929). Sold: $1,381,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 3,044 sq.-ft. 12 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4.5 bath. On the market: 61 days.

• 33 Gilbert Rd. #1, First-floor condominium (1925). Sold: $490,000. Listed at $449,000. Living area: 1,065 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 62 days.

• 16 Troy Rd., Cape (1950). Sold: $651,000. Listed at $649,900. Living area: 1,306 sq.-ft. 5 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath. On the market: 74 days.

• 100 Clairemont Rd., Extended Colonial (1930). Sold: $1,225,000. Listed at $1,250,000. Living area: 3,281 sq.-ft. 11 rooms, 5 bedrooms, 4 baths. On the market: 120 days.

• 10 Holt St., Townhouse condominium (2004). Sold: $850,000. Listed at $799,000. Living area: 2,550 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bath. On the market: 57 days.

• 46 Lewis Rd. #2, Walk-up condominium (1924). Sold: $470,000. Listed at $425,000. Living area: 1,182 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1 baths. On the market: 50 days.

How does any firm get someone other than their top line executives to move to Boston?

Let’s says mid-level manager Jolene Hightech is moving the family from Huntsville, Alabama (where the percentage of high tech workers in the labor market is second only to Silicon Valley) for a job in Cambridge and decides Belmont is perfect to relocated to because the fabulous schools and a quick commute to work.

In a gated community in the Alabama tech town, they were residing in their less-than-a-decade old 4,000 sq.-ft., four bed, four bath Federalist-style abode on Thayer Street. The amenities are numerous; a formal living, dining room and library – known as “the great room” – with hardwood floors opens to a big kitchen with access to the back patio. Upstairs is the master bedroom suite with a “Glamour Bath.” Homeowners can enjoy outdoor living in the covered front porch after parking their three cars into the garage. Across the street are two parks, a main clubhouse (it is a gated community) with an Olympic-sized pool, “and the neighbors who are all most kind, considerate, and friendly.” It is the South, y’all. 

The price tag in ‘bama: $650,000. 

So Jolene comes to one of the many friendly Belmont salespeople and says, “What can I see in the $650,000 price range?

$650K will get you this in Huntsville, ‘Bama.

and this in Belmont, Mass.

How about a 65-year-old post war framed Cape – with original wallpaper – in which the entire house could fit into the Huntsville’s “great room?” The bad news; there is only one bath room for the entire household. The good news, it’s inside. There is a chance that Jolene could carve out a study on the first floor but that would require sacrificing a bedroom that was cubby cornered next to the living room. And while there isn’t a pool nearby, the commuter rail is a dependable wake up alarm as it rumbles by at 5 a.m. 

Kitchen on Troy Road, Belmont, and …

… kitchen in Huntsville.

Seriously, how do salespeople in Belmont convince transplants what they are obtaining is anything close to what they are leaving? That’s a mystery to me.

The “great room” in Huntsville.

The study/bedroom in Belmont.

What needs to be done is convince developers to build mid-priced housing in the suburbs so inventory in this much needed sector can grow. But all the news in Boston and eastern Massachusetts is that luxury, high-end developments – such as the new multistory towers in downtown Boston and the Fenway and around the transportation hubs in nearby communities – are the only thing anyone wants to build, a segment of the market that has adequate supply.

And now you know why high tech jobs are migrating to North Carolina, the northwest coast of Florida and Alabama. 

Outdoor living in Huntsville, (you can see the Olympic-sized pool and two parks from here.)

And in Belmont.

Photo: 68 Richmond Rd. 

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven-plus days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 68 Richmond Rd. Brick and frame Garrison Colonial (1937). Sold: $1,157,500. Listed at $1,179,000. Living area: 3,180 sq.-ft. 9 rooms, 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. On the market: 55 days.

Real estate is really about location. Not to say that the Garrison Colonial on Richmond wouldn’t have sold for a million plus dollars. In fact, this Depression-era building has a lot going for it – with the exception of the center-island stovetop  – from the period detail, new features (beautiful fireplace), the size (3,000 + square feet with a built-out basement), a traditional floor-plan and the wonderful wall painting that greets visitors. 

But it was likely begin on the sunny side of Belmont Hill and having a view of Boston from the third-floor suite (as you gaze out of, what, that roof outcrop is not a dormer or a widow’s walk. Go figure) in addition to the great lack of supply out there which resulted in this house selling for a quarter-of-a-million dollars greater than the town’s assessment. Not a bad investment since the last time the house was sold 11 years ago for $690,000.

Photo: 37 Bartlett Ave.

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 20 Winter St. Brick Ranch (1961). Sold: $650,000. Listed at $649,000. Living area: 1,248 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 75 days.

• 37 Bartlett Ave. Framed Colonial (1905). Sold: $540,000. Listed at $579,000. Living area: 1,334 sq.-ft. 6 rooms, 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. On the market: 208 days.

• 103 Shaw Rd. Custom-crafted Ranch (1955). Sold: $815,000. Listed at $809,900. Living area: 1,562 sq.-ft. 7 rooms, 3 bedrooms, 1-full, 2-half baths. On the market: 71 days. 

Three reasonably priced homes, all below Belmont’s median house value of $850,000, sold this week.

For two, the ranch on Winter and the old Colonial on Bartlett, the final sales price was less than 10 percent from the town’s assessed value: The Ranch sold for $650,000 with an assessed value of $592,000 (about nine percent) and the Colonial bought for $540,000 with a town valuation of $494,000 (right at eight-and-a-half percent).

The outlier this week was the custom ranch on Shaw Road in the Shaw Estate’s neighborhood, which has seen house prices bumped up by a smattering of “McMansions.” The final sales price was $815,000, exactly 20 percent greater than its valuation of $652,000.

While hardly a representation of the entire residential market, could this be a harbinger of a more reasonable sales season where values closely relate to true valuations or is that the impact of the snowiest winter ever with buyers staying on the sidelines?

Come back in July for the answer.

Photo: The ugliest residential building in Belmont. 

A weekly recap of residential properties sold in the past seven days in the “Town of Homes.”

• 92-94 Baker St. Concrete multi-family (1971) Sold: $744,000. Listed at $699,000. Living area: 2,688 sq.-ft. 12 rooms, 6 bedrooms, 2 full, 2 half baths. On the market: 42 days.

There is only one addition that could improve the esthetics of the multifamily sitting near the corner of Hittinger and Baker streets, and it comes at the end of a timing fuse.

The Baker Street two-family apartment building is Belmont’s ugliest residence. It’s a concrete block of nothingness that, unfortunately, plays into the area’s industrial vibe.

Certainly residents will say the equally deplorable condo tower in Cushing Square (built around the same time), the apartment blocks on Lexington Street or some of the Hill’s new upscale “McMansions” – we’ll get to them soon enough – are equally as awful. And I am not just speaking from a Belmont perspective: this eyesore would be inappropriate in any community, be it Belmont, Lexington, Somerville, Malden or Dorchester.

The building is so unappealing the salesperson could not find a single photograph for the sales portfolio that didn’t create an impression that the structure was anything than a wing of a prison complex. I guess the best photo is one which the evergreens shields the unsightly image from the public.

The exterior’s unlovely coldness is equalled inside with boring square blocks for rooms with a lone interesting architectural detail, a fireplace without any depth or volume. Everything is flat and dull – windows flush to the wall, doors that are more like panels – although the living and bedrooms do have wood floors. It’s a building that demonstrates an architect who never attended to spend even the most minuscule effort on this structure.

This building demonstrates the ethos of modest housing development in the 1960s and 1970s: build it cheap without regard or thought to whoever would be the resident. Blame the contractor and town officials at the time for allowing the construction of this abomination to occur.

Yet, this afterthought sold in just over a month at nearly $50,000 more than its original list price. People saw beyond the hideous nature of the structure to purchase it, so it won’t – hopefully – be demolished. And this is a good thing. It’s ugly, inappropriate and, more important, affordable. Because of its unappealing look, it will never reach the same rent or price of a similarly-sized unit in a two-family on, let’s say, Hammond Road. 

Even if this building remains an apartment or is converted into condominiums by an off-site owner, these units will allow a couple or a young family to get their toes into a town that doesn’t have many reasonably-priced housing outlets for those seeking a safe place to live with a (still) good school system.

So let’s take the good with the really horrible, horrifically bad.