This sounds a bit too familiar not to leave a comment.
Newton is most likely filled with aging, (widowed) older ladies, who rent out part of their house. The only way you can afford owning there is if you have moved in before 1945.
We just moved from Newton to New York City and part of the reason was the inability to ever own anything in an area that we liked and second our 73 year old landlady who lived above us. She neglected her house in such a way, that our furniture was slowly sliding to the right side of every room because the structure on that side was completely rotten.
Before I knew it, I was washing her windows, her curtains, changing light bulbs, testing fire extinguishers, shoveling snow, raking leaves. And we were paying RENT!!!!! Her kids came by once a year and left it all up to us. We even carried all the emergency numbers in case we would find her....
It is refreshing to have a younger couple as landlords now, who care about their brownstone and their tenants. They even do our trash. But after our previous experience I will probably stay paranoid for a while longer.
