The big issue in Boston area real estate is inventory. There are not enough houses for sale. We have a stalemate about inventory here. These are the factors: Empty-nesters are staying longer in their houses. This is a demographic and cultural shift. They are holding on to their houses, partly because of personal choices and
Do you know what it will cost you to borrow at a higher interest rate? If your rate changed from 3.5 percent to 3.75 percent, the cost would be an additional $14 per month, per $100,000 of principal. This increases slowly to $15 per month, per $100,000 when the interest rate changes from 4.5 to
Dear Boston Globe, It is February 28, 2017. Too early for your annual “scare the buyers” article. Please wait until spring. But, since you chose to publish now. I will translate for my clients. Definitions: Sales volume: the number of housing units sold in a given period. Median sales price: The middle price from a
Q: How does monetary control policy in China affect buyers in Boston? A: Strict control of cash leaving China has slowed or stopped the flow of money used for down payments by Chinese people buying international properties. This is good news for our buyers. Source Since the Great Recession in America (2008), one of the
General: most of the number-crunching services are predicting that housing prices will be stable. This means they will increase, but at a slower rate than we have been seeing over the past three years. Deregulation will loosen mortgage requirements. This is a positive for first-time buyers who are on the brink of purchasing. Some will
How well do exclusive buyer’s agents do, in the face of a tough seller’s market? Here are results for the hardest seller’s market we have faced, ever! Our report card for 2016: Total amount under original asking negotiated: -$188,359 Total amount negotiated after inspections: -$35,000 Total paid over asking price in bidding wars $229,300 Towns
Many of our clients depend on online information about houses they are thinking of buying. It’s a mistake. I look at these sites, over and over, and I remain unimpressed. Today, I took another look at Home Disclosure. They are part of the Realty Trac constellation of data services. I used my personal house as
No sooner do I publish how well our clients did in a hard seller’s market, than The Boston Globe publishes a second edition of their annual “scare the buyers” article. What they say is all true. But, who does it serve to say it the way they do? Not buyers, that’s for sure. Before you
How well do exclusive buyer’s agents do, in the face of a tough seller’s market? Here are results for the hardest seller’s market we have faced, ever! Our report card for the first half of 2016: Total amount under original asking negotiated by -$213,500 Total amount negotiated after inspections: -$19,000 Total paid over asking price
This spring, FNC published a look at the rate of price increases in cities throughout the country. Real estate is appreciating at a healthy rate, nationally. It seems that Boston MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) was too big for its britches last year and had a slowdown in growth. The headline is scary, for those who