Nordstrom is Having a Sale… on Condos!
September 11th, 2009 Categories: Featured Listings, Market Conditions, Natick, Real Estate
Natick has one-of-a-kind luxury condos that are going on the auction block next month. The Nouvelle at Natick is a 215 unit project that is connected with the mall. About 20% of the units are going to be auctioned October 4th.
The developers are in trouble. They built this development just as the economy was going into a tailspin. They have sold or put under contract only a total of 37 condos. Ouch!
Using town records, I was only able to verify 18 sold units, and selling prices ranged from $369900 to $1.2 million. The following are the units being auctioned:
- 1 Bedroom & 1 BR + Study $160K-$210K
796-1078 sq ft units
- 2 Bedroom & 2 BR + Study $220K-$315K
1068-1591 sq ft units
- 3 Bedroom (only 1 unit auctioned) $350,000
1774 sq ft
- Penthouse (2 units) $375K-$475K
1596-2110 sq ft units
The marketing department has tried everything to entice the local Realtor community to sell these units. Incentives for months of condo fees or mortgage payments have not worked to bring in sales. These prices have just been too high for such a unique housing option in Metrowest.
You will need a deposit of $10,000 on auction day, and I would highly recommend doing all your homework about unit locations, pricing, and mortgage financing. If you are an investor you likely will need 20-25% down payment to get your financing.
These very unique Metrowest condo options were never a good investment to consider, until now. Feel free to contact me for all details of the process and the property options. The developer will pay the commission of your Buyer Agent when bidding on these units, so take advantage of this guidance.
“We Live Where You Live” Ed Daniels of Remax Executive Realty can help you with this auction process and perhaps get you a great investment. He can be reached at 508-341-7880.| Discussion: No Comments »
The Mortgage Rate Mountain
September 9th, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Mortgage Updates, Real Estate
Just a quick post:
This is a graph of mortgage rates over the course of the past 40 years.
Fielding calls about interest rates and client’s worry about where they are heading, I lose perspective about these numbers.
People, you can’t get much better than this… don’t worry about an eighth of a percent, lock it in!
Ed Daniels, of Re/max Executive Realty, can be reached at 508-341-7880. He is an 11 year veteran of the real estate market in Metrowest Boston, and has great mortgage broker contacts to answer all your specific questions.
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Signs of Life for Real Estate Market
May 26th, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
The April numbers for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors are IN and I like what I am seeing! It is starting to reflect the conditions that my team is seeing on the street. We are busy, and clients are seeing multiple offers and strong seller negotiations.
If you are shopping right now, buy or forever hold your peace.
Single family homes:
Median Prices and Number of Sales have climbed since February. Read the rest of this entry »
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6 Top Mortgage Programs Available Today
April 13th, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
It is a historic time in the mortgage business over the past 18 months. The lending landscape has gone thru so many changes and tweaks over this time it made me ask:
What types of mortgages are still available today?
Michael Dunsky, of Mortgage Master in Walpole MA, sent over a terrific summary of the programs and their main features. Here they are: Read the rest of this entry »
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Big Gov’t At It Again – Solving the Foreclosure Issue All Wrong!
April 4th, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
The City of Boston has managed to come up with another waste of taxpayers money. Mayor Tom Menino has recently announced $4 Million in funds are newly available for taking care of foreclosure filled Boston neighborhoods. These funds come from the “Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008″ that you and I will be paying for years to come.
The amount of funds is too small to make any noticable effect on these neighborhoods.
The 51 page Application Package describes the 15 documents that an interested party would have to submit. Some are simple affidavits, but most are huge undertakings, Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: 3 Comments »
Home Bidding Wars are Back?
April 2nd, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
Current events and local news coverage has not been presenting a very rosy picture out there for the housing market. Economic news is overwhelmed with negative results.
So, Why am I dealing with multiple offers?
- A Hopkinton foreclosure home currently has fifteen, yes 15, offers on it! My Buyer had to offer over asking price just to have a chance at it!
- My Milford estate sale listing is Under Agreement with only 17 days on market.
- A listing I have on Fisher Street in Medway had 3 offers on it and is awaiting Bank Approval on the “short sale”.
Here is an April 1st article about some national experiences like this: Read the rest of this entry »
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Strength in the Ashland Housing Market
March 3rd, 2009 Categories: Ashland, Market Conditions, Real Estate
Ashland Massachusetts is a community that is tucked away in the shadows of the larger Town of Framingham, but some people have noticed it!
The housing market is reflecting overall declines of 12% in median prices, but Ashland is holding up very well.
The median prices in single family homes for the town is $419750, for the 12 months ending 3/1/09. The median price for the 12 months prior to this was $423750.
This is an overall decline in median price of 1%!
The inventory of available homes in Ashland is quite low. There are only 47 single family homes on market. This is a decline of 23% from a year ago.
The single family homes on market have been available for an average of 176 days, or almost 6 months.
The real estate industry uses a term called “consumption rate” to describe whether we are in a Buyer’s Market or a Seller’s Market. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tarot Cards for the Massachusetts Economy
March 2nd, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
There is an awful lot of data out there on the state of the market. Many of these articles give projections of how long this recession will last, and others how a buyer/investor could take advantage of this housing crisis. One of the best sources I have found is the Greater Boston Housing Report Card.
In October 2008, The Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University put together this report card. Here are my summary of some interesting sections:
Building permits are an indicator that new homes are not being added to the marketplace. This results in Read the rest of this entry »
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National Dec Housing Numbers
January 27th, 2009 Categories: Market Conditions, Real Estate
All real estate is local. National numbers are important to the country, but your local town holds the numbers that you really care about as a homeowner. CNNMoney.com posted an article with December sales and median price results nationally.
Here is the national summary:
Annual number of sales in 2008 was 4.91 million units.
This rate in 2007 was 5.65 million units
The rate in 1997 was 4.37 million units.
In the Northeast specifically, the sales pace in December was 720,000 units, down 14.3% from December 2007.
Median existing home price was $175,400.
Median price in Dec 2007 was $207,000, which is a 15.3% drop.
The report states that home prices were pushed lower by the high volume of distressed sales, which accounted for 45% of December transactions.
Take a look at the local numbers that we report on www.Metrowesthome.com for a better feel for numbers critical to you. We are seeing very low inventory right now and something has to break, either more inventory or it is going to put upward pressure on pricing.
Ed and Doriane Daniels are part of The MAhome Team, a Metrowest Boston real estate group ready to answer any questions or concerns regarding our local market. They can be reached at 508-341-7880.| 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 »
