Inman Square: a Perfect Place to Buy or Sell a Home
Inman Square is a desirable area for a number of reasons. First, you have the main drag, Cambridge Street, which is loaded with restaurants, coffee shops, a hardware store, and lots more. Next, it's a really well-located square that is close to a lot of other cool areas - walking distance to Union Square (and the green line extension), MIT/Kendall Square, Harvard campus, and Central Square. So while Inman Square is great, if you down to walk or bike, within about 15 minutes you can get to many other desirable parts of both Cambridge and Somerville.
What is your specific real estate need in Inman Square?
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Selling a Single Family in Inman Square · Selling a Condo in Inman Square · Selling a Multi-Family in Inman Square · Selling a Development Opportunity in Inman Square
Buying a Single Family in Inman Square · Buying a Condo in Inman Square · Buying a Multi-Family in Inman Square · Buying a Development Opportunity in Inman Square
Selling a Single Family in Inman Square
If you own a single family in Inman Square and are thinking of selling, understand that there are different levels to what you may have on your hands. On one end is the small single family - often a cottage or attached rowhouse, most frequently 800-1250 square feet. Usually they are 2 beds or a tight 3 bedroom home. These tend to sell on the lower end range for single families in Inman Square but still have a very healthy price per square foot.
Next you have your middle ground starter homes for families - these are usually 3 or 4 bed homes with about 1500 to 1800 square feet. They are often in good, but not great condition and have small-ish lots. With proper preparation and staging these homes typically sell in one weekend but the key difference between getting a good price and getting a great price is the preparation part. It is shocking how much $10k to $20k worth of work can do for some of these small-ish single family homes when it comes to return on investment.
Finally you have your high end homes - these tend to be 2,200 square foot plus and typically have 3 to 4 bedrooms and are in excellent conditions, on nicely sized lots, and on quiet, side streets. They often sell for the highest prices but sometimes they can take a bit longer to sell. For these single families, it’s important to have a strong understanding of value when it comes to your home so you know when it’s totally reasonable and normal to wait for the right buyer to come and when there’s a sign you are overpriced.
If you have a single family home in Inman Square that you are considering selling, give me a call for an initial consultation. My cell is 617-833-7457!
Selling a Condo in Inman Square
If you are thinking of selling your condo in Inman Square, Cambridge, there are multiple factors that will impact how you go about preparing the unit for sale as well as how you’ll want to think about pricing the unit and ultimately where your property is likely to sell for.
The first thing you need to look at is what type of condo do you have? If you own a condo in a large building, it’s best to get in touch with management before selling (this is something I typically do for all my clients), so you can better understand the current HOA landscape. For example, are there any ongoing or upcoming special assessments? Any legal disputes with someone inside or outside the condo? Have there been any issues with financing?
All of the above are potential bombs that could go off during a transaction and you want to get ahead of these BEFORE you get to the point where you are listing your property. Now more than half of all condos in the Inman Square area tend not to be in large buildings but instead tend to be two or three unit associations. Many of the above questions still come into play but but most likely you already have an answer to a lot of these potential questions that prospective buyers will most definitely bring up.
Next is the unit itself - what condition is your unit in and what kind of work must be done to get it ready for a sale? Virtually every condo I encounter, whether it’s in Inman Square or elsewhere requires work. The question is how much work is needed that you’ll actually see a positive return on? I will walk through your unit and ensure we do the right work to maximize your resale value.
Selling a Multi-Family in Inman Square
If you are considering a sale of your multi-family in Inman Square, there are a number of items you will want to consider. Here are a few (but not exhaustive list) of items I consider when thinking through a sale of a multi-family:
Should the units be delivered vacant or with renters in place? This will depend on many factors including unit condition, lease vs tenant at will agreements in place, current rental amounts, time of year you are selling.
What updates, if any should be made to the property? Depending on the location, condition, and layouts of the units it sometimes makes sense to make serious updates; other times it makes sense to go with light touch updates and sometimes it makes sense to do nothing.
What time of year should you sell? Generally the best time to sell a multi-family is April through June time frame, but there are often other factors that could change what makes sense for you in terms of timing - for example you may have your own timing considerations or perhaps you are completing a reverse 1031 exchange in which case you may have a limited time to close on your current multi-family
Pricing - how you price is dependant on the high-level multi-family marketplace in Cambridge but also the hyper local Inman Square marketplace. In other words, what other multi-families are you competing with? What other multi-families in Inman Square recently went under agreement or sold? These data points will help guide us to a price point that will help draw in interest and drive price up as much as possible.
If you are thinking of selling your multi-family in Inman Square, give me a ring at 617-833-7457!
Recent multi-family that I helped a client sell in Inman Square:
106 Beacon St: My seller client had lived in this 3-family for multiple decades. Virtually all her retirement income was tied up in this property so it was critical that we received the absolute best return on the sale of this property. With my deep knowledge of the Somerville multi-family market, I was able to explain the layout tweaks an investor could make to each unit to bring in almost DOUBLE in rent for each unit. That ultimately resulted in a strong offer north of $1.7M, a very solid price per a unit for three units in so-so shape! The seller was thrilled with the outcome and now lives outside the city with family members!
Selling a Development Opportunity in Inman Square
As of this writing (12/11/2025), it isn’t so easy to position two families as condo conversion projects geared towards developers in Inman Square, Cambridge, at least for most scenarios.
On the other hand, if you have a large lot - I would say 5,000+ is where it starts to get interesting and closer to 10,000+ is where it gets really interesting, you may want to reconsider selling your multi-family as a straightforward buy and hold investment.
At that point it may make serious sense to reach out to someone like me to help figure out how best to position your property and the development potential to maximize your resale. In many scenarios, larger lots can result in resale values that are 20 to 100% higher than they would be if you sold it as a straight buy and hold investment to a traditional landlord buyer.
If you are in this position, please give me a call at 617-833-7457 and I can walk you through the process and my approach!
Buying a Single Family in Inman Square
If you’re thinking of buying a single family in Inman Square, it’s really going to come down to what specifically you are looking for. What I mean, is in 2025, 7 single families sold close to Inman Square, Cambridge and of those they really are broken down into very different categories.
First, you have your small houses - these are generally 900-1200 square feet homes. In Inman Square there are a mix of small detached singly family houses as well as attached rowhouse type single families. Either way, as of this writing (12/10/2025), I would budget around $900k to $1M for something like this. They often have just 2 beds or a 2 bed plus office/kids room type space.
Next up is what I refer to as the Inman Square “starter home” these are where you more typically will see 3 or 4 bed homes, typically in good condition, but often times not high end and on the smaller side. For these sort of homes, I typically see square footage of around 1400 sq ft to 1800 sq ft and they are most frequently either 3 or 4 bed homes. Often times parking is non-existent or the property may come with one small space or two very tight spaces. These single families in Inman Square typically go for $1.5M to $1.9M range.
Finally, you have your high-end single family market in Inman Square. These homes tend to have 3 or 4 bedrooms, but the square footage starts to be larger - more like 2,200 sq ft all the way up to 4,000+ square feet. These homes to have excellent finishes throughout and are in extremely good, turnkey condition. They also are often on quiet, tree-lined streets and tend to have larger lots. These homes often start around $2M and can go up to $4M+ on the extremely high end.
So if you’re considering a single family home purchase in Inman Square, let’s hop on a call and we can figure out what is possible given your budget and home goals! My cell is 617-833-7457!
Buying a Condo in Inman Square
While many areas around Cambridge are full of large condo complexes with 30, 50, or even more units in a building, a large chunk of condos in Inman Square tend to be of the 2 or 3 family variety. So if you prefer a small association with just one or two other neighbors, targeting a condo in Inman Square could be a wise choice.
In terms of what you can get for your money in Inman Square, here’s how I think of things based on 2025 data and my personal experiences:
Generally for between $600k and $750k you will be looking at either a 1 or 2-bed condo and most of the time the unit will be what I call investor quality. Think of your typical unit in a 2 or 3-family that has not been updated to “owner occupied quality” - meaning oftentimes the kitchens aren’t updated or updates cut corners. Same goes for the bathrooms. Oftentimes laundry is in the basement for these units and oftentimes there is no central A/C. Square footage is typically 500-800 square feet at this price point. If you are on a tight budget and your goal is to get into the market and be in an incredible Cambridge location, these are a great place to start.
The next chunk of condos I see in Inman Square is roughly $900k to $1.1M, generally this is where we start to see nicer 2 bed 1 bath units, with updated kitchens and bathrooms. Central AC and laundry in-unit becomes more typical as does parking. Square footage starts to go up around here, usually I see around 900-1250 square feet. Overall the units tend to be in better condition and well cared for.
In the $1.2M to $1.5M range we start to see more units that are 2 bed 2 baths, 3 bed 2 baths, and occasionally 3 bed 3 baths. In this price range, I see some units that remain around 900-1250 square feet and are really, really nice throughout (as-in large quartz islands, true ensuite bathrooms with lots of nice finishing work, etc) as well as some units that are more like 1500-1600 square feet.
Finally on the high-end in Inman Square I typically see condos in the $1.8M to $2.2M range, these tend to be large condos that are 1,800-2,400 square feet, with 3 to 4 bedrooms, and in excellent condition throughout with an excellent layout as well.
If you are thinking of buying a condo in Inman Square, but you’re not sure where to start - give me a call! My cell is 617-833-7457!
Buying a Multi-Family in Inman Square
There’s quite a wide range when it comes to multi-families in Inman Square. This is a very interesting part of Cambridge because there is a mix of two and three families as well as some larger 4 to 12 unit properties. There are also a good chunk of 3+ multi-families that are mixed use with commercial on the first floor and residential on the upper floors.
Generally rental numbers (and as a result sales numbers) are high close to Inman Square. As you move towards East Cambridge on Cambridge Street, rental and sales numbers tend to go down, so keep this in mind as you evaluate properties in the Inman Square area.
I would advise buyer clients to pay particular attention to layouts in Inman Square. Why? There are quite a few multi-families here with low ceilings or “bedrooms” that can only fit a twin bed. You have to be careful when evaluating the rental numbers for these property types - the reality is rooms with twin beds are not seen as bedrooms by most renters and the result is lower rental numbers. Lower rental numbers means the property is worth less, so if you are counting bedrooms that most renters don’t count as bedrooms, you are likely adding to much value to a property where the value may not exist.
If you are thinking of buying a multi-family around Inman Square, Cambridge and want to ensure you don’t overpay and make a “good buy”, give me a call and I am happy to talk through your investment goals! My cell is 617-833-7457.
Buying a Development Opportunity in Inman Square
I find the most common flavor when it comes to development opportunities close to Inman Square is to find a 2-family property, which is in poor condition. The properties need to be purchased at a great price, completely gut renovated, and then converted into condos and sold off. The most typical layout is the basement plus the first floor becomes the first unit and the second plus third floor becomes the second unit.
In recent years this 2-family condo conversion play has become much more challenging to make work - mainly because multi-family sales prices remain high in Inman Square, interest rates are high, building costs are high, and luxury condo prices have softened a bit. The result is developers really need to find a needle in a haystack to make the numbers work in and around Inman Square as of this writing (12/11/2025).
Having said that, I scout multi-families in Cambridge every single day and if a multi-family opportunity comes up where it looks like the numbers could work, there’s a good chance I will find it before most anyone else. If you are looking for a two family flip OR a much bigger development play in Inman Square, Cambridge, give me a call and I will keep you posted! My cell is 617-833-7457.
Read more about the selling and buying services that I can provide here:
Above are samples of properties I’ve helped clients sell or buy. Read more about my past work here.
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