Market data and conditions

Is there a real estate recession coming or not?

A joke: Economists have forecast ten out of the last three recessions. Real estate recessions happen when something big affects the economy in general. Because it takes longer to buy and sell real estate than to shift assets in a stock or bond portfolio, real estate recessions take hold more slowly than general economic recessions.

By |2021-11-01T16:14:13-04:00September 4th, 2019|Categories: Market data and conditions|Tags: , , , , |

What’s happening in the spring market, 2019?

Spring real estate market Here's what we're seeing at 4 Buyers Real Estate. Our clients continue to buy properties, even against competition that is willing to waive their rights to a home inspection or a mortgage contingency. (That contingency allows buyers to get their deposits back if their mortgage is delayed or denied.

Data You Need to Know, Data You Should Ignore

More data is not better data. I advise my clients to look for indications of negotiation points, like comparable sales, the seller buying another property, and neighborhood issues that are chasing the seller from their property (this is common if a building project is nearby or the taxes just went up… that kind of thing.)

Real estate economy, 2019 prediction

What will house hunting look like this year, around Boston? The local real estate economy follows the national economy. The National Association of Realtors® expects home sales to flatten and home prices to continue to increase, though at a slower pace. Our local market is behaving just the way I told you it would last October.  What

By |2021-11-01T16:02:00-04:00January 30th, 2019|Categories: Market data and conditions|Tags: , , |

Sellers Market is Losing Wind in its Sails

This summer, for the first time in about four years, there were signs that the supply-demand balance was becoming more even. This year, there was a noticeable lull in demand in August. It is “normal” for the real estate sales volume to drop in August.  For the past four year, no summer doldrums; the normal drop in

By |2018-10-08T11:15:13-04:00October 10th, 2018|Categories: Market data and conditions|

Good Time to Downsize

A rising market favors people who are downsizing because the higher the property value, the greater the sale of the more expensive, bigger property. This offsets the higher price of the downsized, smaller property, assuming both properties are rising at the same rate. Suppose you own a house that was worth $650,000 before the mini-bubble.

By |2018-06-28T17:33:15-04:00July 11th, 2018|Categories: thinking of selling?, Market data and conditions, Money and finance|

Assessed Value Has No Relationship to Market Price

Junk data hurts buyers by creating distraction from understanding market value. Buyers need to know market value in order to negotiate for the fair price. Assessed value has no relationship to market price. But, but, but…how can a property be worth more than what the town or city assesses it for? Don’t the town or city

By |2021-11-01T16:06:18-04:00May 23rd, 2018|Categories: Market data and conditions, Buying trends|Tags: , , |

Cars and Houses

Households with no cars were rare in 1996. Even among people who commuted to work solely by mass transit or bicycle, there was a car. When the house next door to me went up for sale in 1996, my new neighbor was a man in his 30s who did not have a driver’s license. He

By |2018-05-06T12:44:37-04:00May 16th, 2018|Categories: House Hunting, Market data and conditions|

Spring Market Might be Good for Buyers, says Wall Street Journal

How does a seller’s market end? A seller-favoring market exists when there is more demand for housing than supply. Since about 2012 or 2013, buyers found fewer properties for sale than they did during the recession (when foreclosures added to the number of houses and condos for sale.) Limited supply created the seller-favoring market we’ve