Home Selling Before You Can Buy
March 8th, 2012 Categories: Local Communities, Market Conditions, Real Estate
Coming into the Spring Market of real estate, I am fielding a lot of concerns about the logistics of Buying a Home when you have a home to Sell first. It is not an easy process, but my Team is doing it a lot for Metrowest area homeowners.
Most people need the funds from the sale of a home to help purchase the next home they wish to buy. 10 years ago the selling process was so fast, and for such a profit, that the risks faced were minimal. Let’s clear up a few realities now though: Read the rest of this entry »
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Timeline for Buying Again
February 7th, 2012 Categories: Market Conditions, Mortgage Updates, Real Estate
There are many Homeowners that are faced with Short Sales or Foreclosures over the past few years. How long will these actions affect your ability to buy a home in the future?
After a Foreclosure:
If you are purchasing a home using conventional financing it will take 7 years from completion of the foreclosure to get approved.
If you use some other popular programs to finance the home purchase, like FHA or USDA, it will take 3 years from completion.
After a Short Sale:
The waiting period for buying a home after a Short Sale has many more variables.
Using conventional financing, you would be all set after 7 years, but sooner if more of a down payment amount. If you put down 10% than the waiting period is 4 years, and if the down payment is 20%, only 2 years.
USDA is 3 years, but FHA has one big distinction… If you were current with mortgage payments during the entire short sale process, than you don’t have any waiting period. If you had late or missed payments, the FHA financing will require a waiting period of 3 years in order to buy again.
After a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy filing:
Conventional financing can be approved only after a waiting period of 4 years from your discharge date.
FHA mortgages may be approved after only a 2 year waiting period, and USDA will run a 3 year time period before getting approved.
Here is a YouTube video produced by a CA mortgage professional talking about this topic.
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Nouvelle of Natick Market Report 2011
April 11th, 2011 Categories: Market Conditions, Natick, Real Estate
The marketing push for the Nouvelle at Natick luxury condos is still going strong in the 1st quarter of 2011.
The Realtor community is hearing from the in-house staff often, letting us know that they are “almost completely sold out“.
(90% sold was stated in last email from them)
I have put together some information on the 1st quarter sales that I gathered from MLSpin, the Massachusetts MLS service.
In the 1st quarter there were:
8 sales ranging from $369,900 to $599,900.
(Avg. of $438,275)
Unit N345 1 BR, 2BA + study with 1244 sf of living area $369,900
Unit T922 2 BR, 2BA with 1330 sf of living area $399,900
Unit S609 2 BR, 2BA with 1382 sf of living area $413,900
Unit T736 2 BR, 2BA + study with 1472 sf of living area $419,900
Unit N243 2 BR, 2BA + study with 1545 sf of living area $424,900
Unit N251 2 BR, 2BA + study with 1658 sf of living area $430,900
Unit N543 2 BR, 2BA + study with 1545 sf of living area $446,900
Unit N741 3 BR, 2BA with 1720 sf of living area $599,900
Note: N = North, S = South, T = Terrace (floors 6-9)
For comparison for this same time period in 2010, Nouvelle had sold 16 units in this quarter.
Average price in 2010′s 1st quarter was $455,856.
Ed Daniels of The MAhome Team specializes in Metrowest towns and has experience with the Nouvelle of Natick development. Give the team a call at 508-341-7880 to learn all about the project and to ensure you have a Buyer Agent representing your interest when looking into Nouvelle.| Discussion: No Comments »
Framingham Home Market Snapshot
January 27th, 2011 Categories: Framingham, Local Communities, Market Conditions, Real Estate
The town of Framingham, Massachusetts is currently digging out from another foot of snow, which is an appropriate visual for how they have done in the real estate marketplace over the past year. The single family home sales around town have been basically frozen.
Is Framingham selling more or less homes these days?
Less. In 2010, there were 429 single family sales in town. This is a 3% decline from 2009 sales of 442. Going back to 2008, the 469 sales results in a drop of 9%.
Is Framingham having an increase in Selling Prices?
Yes, in 2010, Framingham increased the median selling price from $300,000 (in 2009) to $305,500. This is a 1.8% increase. For anyone who wishes to use the less pertinent Average Selling Prices, they were flat – $322,000 in ’10 vs. $321,227 in ’09.
Are homes selling faster or slower when they come to market?
The Days on Market numbers have dropped consistantly over the past few years. In 2010, the average time on market was 93 days, vs. 106 in 2009 and 118 in 2008. Therefore, homes are selling faster!
Considering the differences in the housing stock of North and South sides of Framingham, is one side doing “better” than the other?
In some respects of the single family housing market, the South side (01702 zip code) has done fine, but overall the North side 01701 zip code shows more strength. The Average Selling Price has gone up 1.4% from 2009 to 2010 in South Framingham, but the North side decreased 1/2%.
On the flip side, North homes sell faster (79 Days on Market) compared to the South side marketing time of 122 Days. There are also more than 2 times the number of Sold listings on the North side.
With a diverse housing stock around the town of Framingham, there is a house for everyone. Homeowners are still able to sell their homes in reasonable amounts of time, but during 2010 there was a noticable shortage of options for people who wished to move to another local home. This is improving for Buyers, with 151 Active listings compared to 120 last year at this time.
If The MAhome Team can be of service in your desire to make a move, please don’t hesitiate to contact Ed Daniels at 508-341-7880. Over 2010, Realty Executives – Boston West was the real estate firm that sold more homes in Framingham than any other. Put the experience of our team, combined with the best real estate firm in Framingham, to work for you.
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Are Rising Home Prices Good?
November 4th, 2010 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate, Uncategorized
Real Estate statistics can only be interpreted when you classify yourself as either the Buyer or the Seller. Some people grumble about newspaper reports or National Association of Realtor forecasts as being too rosy.
So lets just give you the facts and you tell me!
Single Family median home prices were UP for the 11th straight month in September. This is compared to year-over-year months.
Single Family home sales in September fell 13.8% from September 2009 results. This is the 3rd straight month of year-over-year declines.
Want a larger sampling of data to digest? Let’s look at quarterly results:
Single Family median home prices rose 5% in the 3rd qtr compared to 2009′s 3rd qtr.
Single Family number of sales fell 20.7% last quarter, compared to the same quarter of 2009.
Conclusion (end of the facts):
If you are a Buyer in this market you are in high demand, but don’t be late to get in the game because prices of the best homes are heading up.
If you are a Seller, it may take you longer to sell but if you are priced accurately, show great, and are reasonable in negotiations, you will be doing just fine (compared to last year).
Ed Daniels of Realty Executives – Boston West can be reached at 508–341–7880. His MAhome Team covers the Metrowest Boston region for both home buyers and sellers.
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Are Massachusetts Taxpayers Paying Highest Property Taxes in US?
October 16th, 2010 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
While having a few booths at community events over the past month, we got to talk to a lot of people about real estate. I felt the most talked about issue were property taxes.
As with anything else, I have found that perspective is the first step to a response on this subject.
Well, I found a great bit of 2009 info from the US Census Bureau and the Tax Foundation:
The median property taxes paid on homes in Massachusetts was $3,511, which is the 6th highest in the country.
Now for some further perspective:
The median home value is $338,500, and the taxes are 1.04% of the home value. This puts MA at a rank of 21st nationally.
The median income for homeowners in MA is $83,915, which makes the taxes 4.18% of our incomes. This puts us at the 9th highest ranking in the country.
Ok, there you have it… They’re too high… but not the highest!
Who wins that honor?? 1st in all categories listed above…
New Jersey!
Ed Daniels of Realty Executives – Boston West is a homeowner in Holliston MA and paid $6,000 in property taxes this year! Averages are fine, but thats enough to make me grumble. If his MAhome Team can be of service he can be reached at 508–341–7880.
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Metrowest Foreclosure Updates
July 7th, 2010 Categories: Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Local Communities, Market Conditions, Natick, Real Estate, Southborough
Today I received a news release from RealtyTrac, which is the leading online source for foreclosure properties. The report made me question how the specific Metrowest Massachusetts marketplace is doing in regards to foreclosures. This post will report on the following questions you may have:
- Are there a bunch of foreclosures driving down home values in our area?
- How much of a discount can I get if I buy one of these foreclosure properties?
- Is the market getting worse or better out there?
Foreclosures in Massachusetts
RealtyTrac reports that Massachusetts is one of the top 5 states in % of foreclosure sales for the 1st quarter of 2010. (June 30th – Not really sure why it took so long to issue these stats??) As alarming as this sounds, let’s look a bit closer…
Number of foreclosure sales were 2,111 in quarter 1, which is 42% of all sales! Sounds bad, right?
How does this compare to other states they reported on? It works out to .9% of Total foreclosures in the United States.
Still digging a bit deeper, I checked MLS data for number of sales in MA for the 1st quarter. MLS reports 6628 total single family home sales, which works out to 32% of all single family home sales are foreclosure sales. Since they report 2,111 were ALL sales, let’s add condos and multifamilies to that number… now it is over 11,000 sales, or about 19% of all sales.
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Holliston Market Report 1st Qtr 2010
April 15th, 2010 Categories: Holliston, Market Conditions, Real Estate
The Holliston real estate market is in trouble.
There’s nothing to sell!!
Compared to 2009, the number of available listings fell 15%. In 2009 there were 67 listings, today there are only 56.
The Big Picture:
The Warren Group reported on the February real estate market for all of Massachusetts:
- Single Family Median Prices jumped 8.4% vs. Feb 2009
- Single Family# of sales climbed 13.5% vs. Feb 2009
- Year to Date Median Prices are up 9.8%
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Metrowest Homes Open House Weekend
April 9th, 2010 Categories: Events in Community, Market Conditions, Real Estate
There is a big push this weekend to show off houses and condos in the area. Open Houses will be Everywhere!
This Sunday, April 11th, it is forecasted to rain, so go check them out. As part of a national push by Realtor associations, 35 states have agreed to increase open house availablity on this weekend.
As of Friday, there are 27 open houses planned in Ashland, 27 in Holliston, 64 in Framingham, 77 in Natick, 28 in Hopkinton, and 66 in Franklin, to name a few.
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Real Estate Internet Traffic
April 3rd, 2010 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
National real estate web sites are constantly attempting to get new visitors. All of them seem to tout themselves as #1.
Click here for report on National Website Traffic.
Realtor.com has been on the scene for a long time and has consistantly reported more traffic than all other sites. Here is a report out that lists the top websites dealing with real estate. Are you listed there?
Being a home seller in today’s marketplace requires you to be found on most of these.
Because the MLS data is shared with almost all of these sites, just by getting your home listed on MLS will cause it to be found on most of them.
Do you get added exposure on these sites when you list with your agent? This includes additional pictures, attaching a virtual tour, links to your listing agent, floor plans, etc.
Ed Daniels of Remax Executive can be found at www.MAhome.com, which just misses the number 1 spot of 7 M unique visitors per month!
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