10 WORST Massachusetts Cities For First-Time Home Buyers

Here's a quick question for my fellow Massachusetts residents: Are you getting ready to, or are already in the process of, buying your first home? Consider yourself lucky if you're doing it in Berkshire County.

As many of you know who have already gone through the process, buying your first home can be a very long and complicated process during which your stress levels reach maximum overload.

The reason that I mentioned Berkshire County first-time home buyers should consider themselves lucky is because NOT ONE SINGLE town in Berkshire County made the list for WORST cities in the country. But plenty of other Bay State towns did. Oh yes.

Our favorite reliable personal-finance strategists at WalletHub recently released their report on the Best & Worst Cities in America for First-Time Home Buyers and, let's get this out of the way right now, no Massachusetts cities made the "Best" list.

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WalletHub looked at 300 American cities (small, medium, and large) and compared them across several key metrics including crime rate, cost of living, affordable housing, real-estate tax rate, and much more to come up with the results.

Ten Massachusetts cities (of varying sizes) shaped up to be some of the worst locations in the country to buy your first home. Out of the 68 big cities ranked, Boston came in near the bottom at #60.

As far as midsize cities are concerned, Massachusetts didn't do to well there, either. All 3 medium-size cities landed in the lower reaches of the list: Worcester (#79), Springfield (#80), and Fall River (#94). That's out of 100 midsize cities.

Things continue on that downward path as we move on. Out of 132 small cities, SIX Massachusetts towns placed in the bottom third of the rankings. And here they are: Quincy (#101), Lowell (#102), Brockton (#104), New Bedford (#105), Lynn (#115), and Cambridge (#124).

The point is, even if you've never purchased a home before, you surely know that it can be stressful. Don't add more stress to an already difficult process. Research, plan, consider and find yourself a reliable real estate professional to help you.

Visit WalletHub's website here for the full rankings. It's pretty comprehensive. Thanks to WalletHub for doing all the hard work once again!

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