If you live at Royal Crest, you already know the property is slated to come down. North Andover’s Select Board approved development agreements for a six-phase mixed-use redevelopment of the 76-acre site, with roughly $9 million in community benefits and a required plan for residents who are displaced.
That’s a lot to absorb when it’s your home. It also means something practical. At some point you’re going to move whether you planned to or not. If you’re going to move anyway, you may as well know what your options are, including the one nobody at a leasing office will walk you through.
We’re a local mortgage broker. This is a straight look at what buying in North Andover costs, what it takes to get there, and when the better answer is to rent somewhere else for a while first.
What We Know About the Redevelopment
Here are the facts as they stand, without speculation about timing we can’t verify:
- Royal Crest is 588 units on 76 acres, originally built in 1970. It’s the largest apartment community in the area.
- The property sold in December 2025 for $254 million to an ownership group led by Merrimack College. Princeton Properties manages it.
- The Select Board approved development agreements for a six-phase mixed-use redevelopment.
- The approvals include roughly $9 million in community benefits and a required plan for displaced residents.
Phased means it happens in stages rather than all at once, so residents in different buildings will face different timelines. If you want your specific date, the property management office and the town’s planning department are the places to ask, and we’d encourage you to ask early rather than wait to be told.
What this changes for you financially is timing. A phased move gives you something most renters never get, which is advance notice. Buying a home takes 30 to 45 days once you’re under contract, and getting your finances ready takes longer than that. Knowing a move is coming is the single best time to find out where you stand.
What You’re Paying Now
Royal Crest offers two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments only, ranging roughly 885 to 1,450 square feet. Individual units listed on August 10, 2026 included two-bedrooms at $2,444 and $3,659 and three-bedrooms at $3,245 and $3,620. Those are separate listings rather than a published range, so treat them as examples of what specific units ask.
Laundry is in shared community facilities rather than in your unit, which is standard for a 1970 building and is one of the everyday differences people notice most when they move into a place of their own.
Resident reviews across platforms are mixed. Google reviews aggregated through Birdeye showed 3.6 out of 5 across 449 reviews on August 10, 2026, and ApartmentRatings showed 3.4 out of 5 across 238. Maintenance staff score well, at 4.7. The recurring critical themes concern the age and condition of the buildings and enforcement of community rules. For a property built in 1970 and now approved for replacement, the condition comments are close to what you’d expect.
What Buying in North Andover Costs
Let’s be direct. North Andover is expensive, and a single-family house is probably not your first purchase. The MLS median for a single-family home was $990,000 in April 2026, with only five active single-family listings in the whole town.
The realistic entry is a condominium, and here the numbers get much friendlier:
- Median condo price: about $412,000
- One-bedroom condos: around $304,000
- Two-bedroom condos: around $435,000
- Three-bedroom homes: around $730,000
That jump between a two-bedroom and a three-bedroom is close to $295,000, which is the wall most North Andover buyers run into. If you’re in a three-bedroom at Royal Crest, this is the hardest part of the conversation and it’s better to have it now than in a rush.
Two Places Worth Looking At
Two condominium communities in town are where most first purchases in North Andover happen:
- Meadow View, 5 Walker Road, 168 units built in 1968. Recent sales ran $235,000 to $350,100 with a median around $304,000 and condo fees near $363 a month. A one-bedroom was listed at $268,000.
- Kittredge Crossing, 180 Chickering Road, 126 units built in 2003. Sales ran $242,068 to $460,000 with a median around $450,000 and fees near $406 a month.
Compare a $304,000 condo to a $2,444 two-bedroom rent. That’s not a promise that buying is cheaper, because the fee, taxes, insurance and your down payment all move the number. It does mean the comparison is a real one worth running, and we’ll run it for you at no cost.
The Commute Question Nobody Mentions
North Andover has no commuter rail station. Service to the old station ended in 1974 when the town declined to renew its subsidy, and it never came back. A feasibility study for a new station at Osgood Landing went to the Select Board in 2025, with no implementation timeline.
So if you commute to Boston by train, you drive to Lawrence, about two miles away, which is Zone 6: 63 to 65 minutes to North Station, $10.50 one way or $340 a month, with parking at $4 a day. Andover’s station is Zone 5, a little faster at 56 to 58 minutes, $9.75 or $311 monthly.
This matters to a buying decision because it applies wherever you land in North Andover. If a shorter train commute is what you want, the better advice is to look at towns on a line rather than buy here and wish you hadn’t. We’d rather tell you that now.
What Owning Costs Here
North Andover’s FY2026 residential tax rate is $11.24 per $1,000 of assessed value, and the average single-family tax bill is $9,531 on an average assessed value of $847,949. That’s well above the statewide average bill of $8,113.
A condo assessed at $304,000 carries a much smaller bill than that average, which is worth holding onto when the town-wide number looks alarming. One point of context that surprises people: Andover’s rate is $12.31, so North Andover is the cheaper of the two on rate.
What It Takes to Buy
You don’t need 20% down. The National Association of Realtors found the median first-time buyer put down 10% in 2025, the highest in 36 years, meaning most first-time buyers put down less.
- FHA: 3.5% down with a credit score of 580 or higher. On a $304,000 condo that’s about $10,640.
- ONE Mortgage: as little as 3% down with no private mortgage insurance. Note that North Andover is in a lower income-limit group than Woburn, Melrose or Salem, so check where you land before counting on it.
- Conventional 3% programs such as Conventional 97, HomeReady and Home Possible.
- MassHousing down payment assistance for first-time buyers. The amounts and deadlines change, so we’ll confirm what’s available the week you’re ready instead of quoting a number that expires.
Gift money from family is allowed, and on an FHA loan the entire down payment can be gifted.
If Buying Isn’t the Answer Yet
Sometimes it isn’t, and a forced move is a bad time to stretch. If your credit needs six months, or your savings aren’t there, or your job situation is about to change, the right move is another lease somewhere while you fix the one thing standing in the way.
What we’d ask is that you find out which it is rather than assume. A free pre-qualification tells you your real budget and the specific gap, if there is one. Knowing costs nothing and takes very little time.
Talk to a Local Broker
GoldCoast Mortgage is an independent mortgage broker in Beverly. A bank offers you its own loans. We shop your mortgage across many lenders and fit it to your situation, which matters a great deal on condominium purchases where lenders review the building as well as the buyer.
We’ll tell you where you stand, for free, and we’ll tell you plainly if the answer is wait.
Recommended Realtors for First-Time Buyers
We work regularly with two local agents who are good with first-time buyers and who won’t rush you:
- Arthur Martiroso, DNA Realty Group, 617-921-5015
- Joshua Riopelle, Simes City Realty, North Andover, 978-590-2741
You’re welcome to work with any agent you like. We mention them because renters often ask us who to call once the financing side makes sense.
Questions From Royal Crest Residents
Does being displaced help me qualify for anything?
The approvals include a required plan for displaced residents, and the details of what that provides come from the developer and the town rather than from a lender. Ask the management office for it in writing. It’s separate from mortgage programs, and it may affect your timing and your moving costs, so get it early.
How far ahead should I start if my building is in a later phase?
Six months is comfortable, three is workable, and a month is tight. Start early because credit repair, savings and documentation take time. The loan itself moves quickly, and early knowledge is what gives you choices.
Can I buy a condo with a dog?
Often yes, though associations set their own pet rules, sometimes limiting size or breed. It’s one of the first things to check on any building you’re considering, and it’s a common reason a buyer rules a place out.
My rent history is spotless but my credit is thin. Does that count?
It helps. Some loan programs will consider rental payment history directly, and a long record of paying on time is meaningful. Thin credit is one of the most fixable problems there is, and knowing exactly what to add is half the work.
Should I rent somewhere else and deal with this later?
Maybe. That’s a real option and we’ll say so when it fits. What we’d push back on is deciding without knowing the numbers, because plenty of people assume buying is out of reach when it isn’t, and plenty assume it’s within reach when it isn’t yet.