Holliston Water Failing in Only 2 Ways?
February 15th, 2010 Categories: Ashland, Holliston, Hopkinton, Medway, Town Hall Info
Holliston Aquaduct?
In reading the Holliston TAB the other day I came across the following article:
Five of Six Holliston Wells Have Significant Problems
As a citizen in town who likes to keep up with how the town is managed, I was amazed to hear this news.
Even more disappointing was the early quote in the article from Larry Weise, Chairman of the Board of Water Commissioners. Mr. Weise was reported to say the town has two issues threatening the town’s water supply: Quantity and Quality.
WHAT? That sums up water supply… Quantity and Quality! There is nothing else.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston Company – Limbs for Soldiers
February 8th, 2010 Categories: Holliston, Preferred Business, Real Estate
A Holliston company, Liberating Technologies , was brought to my attention by a Metrowest Daily News article. I wanted to share it as a great local company that is using our federal funds well, plus doing a service for our brave soldiers.
Over the past 4 years, $8.8 million has been secured to work on the prostheses needed for lower limbs. This company also works on technology for arms and hands, but the leg technology has more challanges to get right.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Metrowest Election Results for Senate
January 20th, 2010 Categories: Ashland, Bellingham, Framingham, Grafton, Holliston, Hopkinton, Local Communities, Marlborough, Medway, Milford, Natick, Southborough, Town Hall Info, Westborough
The election results are IN for Senator in Washington. The Metrowest region had a great turnout and for that we can all be proud that democracy is working!
Below are results from each Metrowest MA town and the vote counts for either Scott Brown (R) or Martha Coakley (D):
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston MA Market Review Jan 2010
January 13th, 2010 Categories: Holliston, Market Conditions, Real Estate
Would I be surprising you if I made the statement that it is a Seller’s Market in Holliston MA right now? The Median Sales Prices have remained steady compared to the year earlier, which should be considered a WIN for homeowners in this economy.
Here is a quick bullet of Holliston’s Marketplace:
- Average selling time over the past year has been 122 days on market.
- Median price is $350,000 over the past 12 months. Same as previous year.
- There are currently 36 Active single family homes on market.
- Holliston has 3.2 months of inventory currently – Under 4 months is considered a Seller’s Market
- Sellers are getting 95% of Listing Price over the past year. 91% of Original Asking Price.
Just so that I am not coming across those readers that think I am a typical Realtor reporting only the “positive” stats, I have reported Median prices as opposed to Average prices. This is because Average prices create a higher weight to the higher end priced homes and Median prices do not.
That being said, the average prices for the past 12 months were $388882, down from the 12 months previous of $396328. This results in a 2% decline in average prices in Holliston.
I have a buyer currently looking to spend up to mid $500K in Holliston, Medway or Hopkinton. I just mailed a postcard to 400 Holliston households asking them if they were considering a move. In 12 years as a Realtor, I can say I have never done this before.
I believe this type of low inventory will result in upward price pressure for Holliston housing stock in 2010.
Ed Daniels of Remax Executive Realty is on the MAHome Team serving Metrowest Boston. Contact him at 508-341-7880 with any questions about Holliston’s real estate market.| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston Football Player Needs your Vote
December 15th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, School Info
Holliston High School had a great season in 2009, with their only loss coming in the Superbowl against Austin Prep. Fox News is holding a vote on their website for determining the top HS football “Team Player of the Year”, and our own Sean Mayo is one of the nominees.
One of the terrific parts of the Holliston High Football team’s success is seeing the town’s excitement over their hometown. The crowds were awesome all season long, and there is great pride from our school children.
This vote takes about 15 seconds, so click here and lets show how spirited the citizens of Holliston are!
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/sports/hs_friday/high-school-friday-team-player-of-the-year
Holliston did one of these votes a few years back with a local electric company. The company was going to give lights for a playing field for the most votes. Holliston won that contest and we now have Granite City Electric lights over our baseball field. Let’s show that spirit again!
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston Homes on Trulia
November 14th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
As a local Realtor, my best resource for marketing a home is on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In addition to that, I go onto the major sites that offer home searches and tools for home shoppers.
Today I was posting my listings on Trulia.com and came across the widget below. The full feature version on the Trulia home search is very cool!
This is a widget of Holliston Real Estate sorted by the newest listings. Searching for real estate using this tool is different and interactive. Home searches are coming a long way since I started selling real estate 11 years ago! Very cool.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Affordable Condo Options Newly Available
September 28th, 2009 Categories: Featured Listings, Holliston, Natick, Real Estate
Over the past few weeks there have been 2 condo options that have come available in our area that could become really good deals. I mention “could” because one is an auction property and one is an income restricted option.
Natick has luxury condominiums Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston: Real Estate is Local!
September 9th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
So, if you are living a busy life like me, you catch sound bites about how the world is doing. Lately it has been health care, stock markets, and of course, real estate values.
If you own a home in Holliston, you are not concerned with national real estate numbers… you are concerned with Holliston values!
Real estate is local. So let me provide you with some bullet points of how our town is doing in the real estate department:
Median prices up 2%
Thru August, the median home selling price was $357,000 for the year. It was $350,000 at this time in 2008.
Taking longer to Sell
It takes 136 days on average to market a home in Holliston to sell. In 2008 it took 117 days on average thru August.
More homes Sold in 2009 vs. 2008
We have 83 sales in town for 2009 compared to 74 over the same period in 2008.
Holliston did not go through this economic downturn unscathed. Going back in time just one more year and we find that the town’s median price is still down 10% since 2007 ($397,900 median sold values Jan-Aug 2007).
Perhaps this data will help to put into perspective how well most family’s largest investment is holding up.
“We Live Where You Live”
Ed Daniels of Re/Max Executive Realty can be reached at 508-341-7880 for any questions about the real estate market. Any member of The MAhome Team can service the entire Metrowest Boston area, but Ed grew up in Holliston and is completely biased towards the community
| Discussion: No Comments »
January Your Only Month to Deal with Property Taxes
January 12th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
Once you recover from the Holiday season and the calendar changes, you now have only the month of January to do any official complaining about your property tax bill. Filing an Abatement with your town Assessor’s Office is the process you will need to go thru in order to dispute your home valuation.
Most town deadlines is the month of January. Therefore, the time to educate yourself on the process and collect all the necessary information is limited.
From my perspective, I have seen too many people (including myself) attempt to go thru the process of abatement, and it usually is unsuccessful. Before you attempt it, learn all you can about the way the individual towns evaluate property values and then attempt to collect factual data to support your case. Unless you have solid data, you don’t have a chance.
For an example of the frustrations of this process, a recent Boston Globe update on Holliston tax rates and assessments said the town is evaluated at 95% of market values but the Town Website FAQ’s describe the town as being evaluated at 100% of market values. Which is it??
Even with 10 years as a Realtor, and experience with going thru the process, there is no textbook on how to be successful. Frankly, they denied my applications without any reason, just a denial letter. I personally feel the town needs to clearly give a reason for the denials and why the data does not qualify to reduce a taxpayers tax bill.
Almost all towns in our Metrowest area evaluates property values based upon 95-100% market values.
Even though residential property values have declined in Holliston, the town had to raise the tax rate in order to pay the town’s bills. In years of increasing property values (ie. 1998-2004), the property tax rate should have dropped to stay at steady spending levels. Unfortunately new ways to spend tax rolls seems to find its way into the budgets.
The moral of the story, you can fight the tax man, but they usually win without explanation. If you have the stamina, get a Realtor to do an analysis of market values for the previous tax year, and get those forms into the Assessors Office prior to February.
Ed Daniels of Re/Max Executive Realty and The MAhome Team would be happy to provide interested readers with recent sold home statistics to help in the process of abatements. He can be reached at 508-341-7880 or Ed@MAhome.com.| Discussion: No Comments »
If you wait for the Robins, Spring will be Over.
October 28th, 2008 Categories: Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Market Conditions, Real Estate
I couldn’t keep from creating this blog title after reading it in a Warren Buffett Op Ed piece. It was in the New York Times Oct 17th. Now, I understand that everyone will critize the Realtor speaking positive about the real estate marketplace, but I am excited about this Low!
When is the “Low”?
You won’t know it until you see it in the rear view mirror.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a real estate agent in a very down market. I am working harder and dealing with more emotions then I have in my 10 years. If I can manage scraping up a little cash, I will be putting it into equities and real estate NOW.
I worked an open house a few weeks ago, and at least 3/4 of the visitors were interested, but waiting for a bit longer for the market to fall further. This was a very real display of pent-up demand.
Another contridictory real world example is a client looking for a $800K home in Holliston but not having more than a handful of options in the past 3 months. Do I really need to direct mail a neighborhood to let them know I have a Buyer for them? That is not the real estate market that the Boston Globe is reporting about!
In scanning over the region’s 3rd Quarter real estate stats, the median prices are reporting grim news to homeowners:
Holliston down 13.6%
Hopkinton down 8.7%
Framingham down 7.2%
Ashland down 7%
Natick down 5.4%
In regards to the number of sales, the region has 12.8% fewer sales!
OK, where you are ready to jump out a window, I am now salivating! Yes, I do own a home, but I am not ready to move yet. Therefore, no sweat.
Take a deep breath Massachusetts, the sky has not fallen and it is time to start figuring out how to take advantage of this market, not how to escape it!
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
