Prices Declining Steadily In Massachusetts
The Boston Globe reports from Massachusetts. “The housing slump isn’t over yet after all. After getting off to a strong start in 2007, home sales in Massachusetts fell 1.7 percent in April compared to the same period last year, and the median home price declined 2.3 percent, to $345,000, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.”
“April’s sluggish pace is bad news for home sellers and brokers, who were hoping that robust sales in January and February meant the deep downturn that began last year was at an end. For prospective buyers, however, the data suggest they wield the upper hand during the crucial spring selling season.”
“‘This is like a retailer having a bad Christmas season,’ said Babson College finance professor Richard Bliss. ‘It doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the year, [because] you’re never going to make up what you lost in the peak season.’”
“Michael Ball said he misjudged the market when he purchased a small Cape on the South Shore in July 2005, to renovate and resell. He purchased the worn but charming house when Massachusetts real estate prices were at a peak.”
“By the time he finished the work and put the house on the market last October, home sales were in freefall. He dropped the price $35,000, to $635,000, and hired an agent last month after failing to sell it on his own. He said he could not go much lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
“‘Everyone who goes in to see it loves it,’ said his agent, Maryann Zaccardi. But buyers, ‘faced with an abundance of inventory, feel that there’s no real need to act quickly.’”
The Sun Chronicle. “Sales fell slightly from a year ago and properties remained on the market longer, according to a report Tuesday by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.”
“While the figures showed a slowing of erosion in the Massachusetts real estate market, local brokers were hard pressed to find silver linings in the flat performance.”
“David Joyce of Tri-Town Real Estate in Norton, said…he has yet to see a solid turnaround in home sales. ‘Right now, the homes that are selling are the most aggressively priced,’ he said.”
“Many potential buyers appear to be hanging back and keeping their options open.”
“‘The housing market continued to trend in a positive direction for the month of April,’ said Realtors association President Doug Azarian. ‘While the number of detached single-family homes sold was down, the 1.7 percent decrease year-to-year was the lowest we’ve seen in the month of April for the past three years.’”
The Boston Herald. “The Bay State housing market can’t seem to shake off a spring cold. Market tracker the Warren Group yesterday reported that Massachusetts house sales fell by 1.9 percent in April, when compared with year-earlier levels, the third straight monthly decline.”
“Sales have fallen every month since January, when the first gains in two years left brokers hoping the housing bust had finally ended. ‘We had some momentum, but now we’ve slipped back a bit,’ Warren CEO Tim Warren said.”
“Warren added that median house-sale prices dropped to $319,314 last month, down 4.7 percent from April 2006 and 12.3 percent from June 2005’s $364,000 peak.”
“Warren blamed the condo and house declines in part on the state’s foreclosure crisis, which has seen record numbers of properties face seizure for mortgage nonpayment. He said lenders advertised 4,833 foreclosure auctions in 2007’s first four months, ‘and that’s got to have an impact on the real estate market’s recovery.’”
“Warren previously predicted home prices would bottom out this summer, but now expects declines to continue into fall or winter. ‘Buyers are out looking, but it just seems that prices haven’t firmed up,’ he said.”
“The median price of single-family homes fell for the 12th straight month in April, while sales fell for the third month in a row, according to a report released today by The Warren Group.”
“‘Prices have been declining steadily as well, but not at the rate seen during a mid-2006, when they declined 8 or 9 percent from year-before numbers. Foreclosures are taking a toll in the housing market at large. Our statistics show more and more homes are coming closer to the auction block, as the distressed homeowners are finding it difficult to sell their homes in this still-slowing market,’ said Timothy Warren Jr.”
The Gloucester Daily Times. “Pond View Village, a heralded experiment at turning a former industrial site into 124 units of heavily subsidized affordable and market-rate housing, has been unable to sell condos in a glutted market and has defaulted on its main lender.”
“Christine Cousineau, the nonprofit’s executive director, told the Times that the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corp. ‘could have foreclosed in December.’”
“‘They’ve got financial challenges,’ said bank consultant David Sidon, speaking for the Gloucester Investment Corp. ‘Property values have come down so much they’ve messed up the original business plan.’”
“The nonprofit, Cousineau said, was depending on the sale of the 41 condo units to create the cash flow needed to keep the project on course.”
“More than a year after they went on the market, only eight units, those held below market rates, have been sold. The remaining 33, including 26 at market rates ranging from $229,000 to $359,000, have been taken off the market temporarily.”
“But with the condo market in a deep slump, prospects in the foreseeable future are dim, Cousineau said. ‘They’re not making offers,’ she said. ‘There’s so much inventory on the market, so much to compare to.’”
“Further inhibiting sales at Pond View Village was the acquisition in late December 2005 of its next-door neighbor, the city’s largest apartment complex with 272 units. The buyer, Forest Management Properties, quickly converted 92 apartments to condos and flooded the market.”
“Cape Ann Housing Opportunity missed the May 1 deadline for paying $40,888 of its $62,351 real estate tax bill to the city, according to a municipal lien certificate. CAHO has also failed to pay off its general contractor, Cutler Associates, which was unable to pay subcontractors.”
“James Murphy, attorney for North Shore Construction, said Cape Ann Housing Opportunity stopped paying Cutler, which stopped paying its subcontractors. ‘We like working for Cutler, but we also like getting paid.’”
In my neighborhood a builder had their last home they sold come back to the market when the buyer forfeited a $33,000 deposit. The home sold within 5 days for $650,000 a new high for that type of model home. Things are still selling and some isolated areas are still strong for various reasons I guess. This is a 68 executive home development to give an idea of scale.
What is an ‘executive’ home development? Is it the same, better, or worse than ‘luxzuuuuury’.
Or is it just all sales BS?
Good question, what is an executive home anyway? I don’t have an answer except to say the house I mentioned was roughly 5,000 square feet in size so maybe it has something to do with the size of the homes. Georgious property as well, but again, what is an executive home anyway?
An executive home development is for all those newly-minted Chief Executive Officers that fell for those TV commercials citing home-based businesses as an actual industry.
I always laugh when I see those things on TV. “I’m in the business of home-based business. I sell home-based. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry, apparently people are falling all over themselves to buy home-based. What’s home-based? What, you don’t know - there’s a multi-billion dollar industry just selling it! Get in now before the barriers to entry price you out of selling home-based forever!”
I’ve been seeing a lot of those types of ads over here in L.A too - you know, the ones where you have Mr and Mrs BrightWhiteSmile crow about making ‘over $8k a month!!!!, etc…
Just for $hits ‘n giggles, I logged in to one of the websites… there’s nothing there, other than registration for a ‘free DVD’, no mention of how you can make ‘over $8K a month’.
Obviously the key to how to do it is on the free DVD.
More obviously, hell will freeze over before I supply them with even a bogus email.
If anyone has applied for the free DVD from one of these places, I’d really like to know what’s on it…..?
I assume the dvds probably contain info on how to set up a home-based business selling more of those dvds… But this blog is prob the wrong place to find anyone who’d actually buy those things. You’d prob need to go to a bullish real estate forum for that.
Its probably some form of multi level marketing: selling vitamins, cosmetics, food, cleaning supplies, you name it.
Amway!!!! (haaahahahahaaa)
I went to an Amway convention in Raleigh NC about 15 yrs. ago…it was like a frigging religious revival!
…PRAYZE DA LAWD….
If you knew how to get rich ,why would you ever share that “secret”?
cmon play fair.
I know how to make a million dollars…….First, start with two million and then…….
“Warren added that median house-sale prices dropped to $319,314 last month, down 4.7 percent from April 2006 and 12.3 percent from June 2005’s $364,000 peak.”
Economy.com estimates the average household income in the Boston MSA is 10.5% higher now than it was in the second quarter of 2005. Inflation is probably up, what, 6.0% in that time by the measures not trusted? So you have a 12.3% nominal decline which is larger adjusted for inflation, and even larger relative to income.
So far.
Anyone here think a 40%-plus decline relative to income is impossible?
40% sounds about right based on the historical ratio. Check out the graph here: http://www.bostonbubble.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=141
Letter to REIC:
Memo: Buyers on standby
This hereby is to inform the REIC that buyers will hold off buying Real Estate until such time that the price makes sense. In Ma that means traditional 20% down and 2.5 to 3.0 times earnings for a median priced home. If you want solid numbers those range between 180,000 and 240,000 depending upon what part of the state you are in. Please wake me up then. For the time being I will ejoy muching on this tasty pop corn, and bid you adieu.
Sincerely
MA Real Estate buyers.
Word…in one of the zip codes that I am following in MA the lowest priced SFH (585K) is 5.5-6, depending on whose stats you use, times the median income. Another place in a different zip was for sale for about 9 months and still wanted 525K after several price drops rented for 2000 a month. I’m waiting this thing out at 1500 a month heat and hot water included
HEAT INCLUDED?? You got a bargain!
Most places here in NYC Heat and Hot water are included, because back in the old days of cheap Oil One furnace and a gas/oil fired hot water tank was usually enough.
Also its The Law in NYC and most other places…. Its Illegal to share meters, You just cant charge tenants a percentage of the bill. The tenant has an absolute right to know exactly how much they use, so its sub metering or the landlord pays the full bill, then adjusts the rent at renewal time.
Precisely my point:
Upper end Median income of 100K a year, Median house price is 300K. 20% down = 60K, for a mortgage 2.5 times median income
Lower end income is around 45K a year (brockton, Fall River, New Bedford, etc) 180K 20% down, is 36K, for a mortgage slightly above 3 Times median income.
Absolutely 40% is possible. As others have noted many times, prices in most areas in Mass. need to drop that much if not more to get back in line with historical appreciation rates (at or slightly above the inflation rate) and affordability indices. In real terms (adjusted for inflation) the price drops will be even more painful. While we are all paying more for food, energy, healthcare, clothing, etc. the price of homes continues to drop. To paraphrase Peter Schiff “It doesn’t matter if you live in a million dollar home if it costs you $10,000 to fill your refrigerator.”
No Sales, No Warren Commission…
“Warren previously predicted home prices would bottom out this summer, but now expects declines to continue into fall or winter. ‘Buyers are out looking, but it just seems that prices haven’t firmed up,’ he said.”
Man, I hate these “yada, yada” stories that leave out the details.
eg: “Bought the house in 2005, remodeled it, ‘yada, yada’,then put it up for sale at $635K, reduced it by $35K, and can’t afford to go any lower”
How much did you pay for the house? How much did you put in to it?
Nevertheless, does any of that really matter with respect to how low you can go to get it sold. You need to go as low as it takes to snag a buyer, irrespective of whether that results in a gain or a loss. Loss of a loss is the gain of a gain.
“By the time he finished the work and put the house on the market last October, home sales were in freefall. He dropped the price $35,000, to $635,000, and hired an agent last month after failing to sell it on his own. He said he could not go much lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
Is it possible that people actually think this way?
“More than a year after they went on the market, only eight units, those held below market rates, have been sold. The remaining 33, including 26 at market rates ranging from $229,000 to $359,000, have been taken off the market temporarily.”
Just once I’d like to see a follow up question about WHO this fellow is that decides the “market rate” so frequently referenced? (and why his market rate never seems to be the price folks are willing to buy at)
“He said he could not go much lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
Why didn’t the author of the piece ask the follow up question: ‘Well since you can’t go any lower on the price, does that mean that you can afford to carry the house until you can off-load it at your wishing price or does that mean that the bank will take it in foreclosure?’
This is my biggest pet peeve right now. You SPECULATED! Speculators can win big or lose big… it isn’t a cost-plus government contract. If the market went way up can the buyer say “I’m not going to pay more than $X because that is what it cost you to buy and remodel this home”? No, you will take as much money as the market will give you. Now the shoe is on the other foot: get ready to lose some money.
We were just negotiating with a young couple that have had a house on the market since Feb, not one offer of any kind and only 3 looks–and they have already bought a house in another state with the move in 4 weeks. They refused to lower the price because it is what they need to “break even”. Why? They pulled money out of the house to pay for the husband’s back-to-school career change. Like that is our problem!
Those sellers are a perfect example of the “type” to deal with.
play them out, dont rush, as they bleed money over the next 6 months the resolve to “Break Even” is going to wane.
The funny thing is that they when from FSBO at $300k to flat fee MLS listing at $300k (now out $4k fee plus $9k to buyers agent), dropped to $290k and are now talking about getting a seller’s agent if it doesn’t move soon (out another $9k or so). They are upset that you can’t FSBO in Pullman.
NONSENSE. This is a tiny little town and FSBO works great: if the price is right! If they had just advertised at a realistic price FSBO it would have sold in March and we might have bought it. Now they are chasing the market down, the peak selling season is over and they are going to be out $20-25k in realtor fees for a lower sale price than they would have gotten in Feb/Mar FSBO.
Talk about pigs getting slaughtered.
Why didn’t the author of the piece ask the follow up question: ‘Well since you can’t go any lower on the price, does that mean that you can afford to carry the house until you can off-load it at your wishing price or does that mean that the bank will take it in foreclosure?’
The Globe is really a joke these days. Honestly they provide more details when they simply make up stories.
“Warren previously predicted home prices would bottom out this summer, but now expects declines to continue into fall or winter.”
- It is a great job being a ‘Prediter’ … you can be wrong at every forcast and the newspaper will always come back for your next prognocation.
On the ground in MA I can say that the price declines quoted are pure fantasy. The actual declines are much greater than the stated. Statistics can be written to obtain whatever message you want. In this case, the message is that the price decline is not severe. I would estimate after scanning listings that price declines from a year ago are closer to 5-7% and the amount of listings is up 30-40%.
Kim Blanton has spoken out of the “OTHER” side of her mouth today but again she is not to be trusted and next month she will speak of price increases.
He said he could not go much lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
Ya know, where is it written that a person can NEVER incur a loss in a RE “investment?” People lose money in the stock market all the time. That’s a truly stupid way to look at it. If he mistimed the market, the smart thing to do is cut, minimize the loss, unless he’s loaded and can feed the alligator for 5-10 years. And if he’s that loaded, he can take the loss!
I agree. Some of these sellers are extremely short-sighted. What is the cost of that capital sitting dead in the water for 3, 6, 9, 12 months or more?
The same mindset that encourages risky investment discourages cutting losses. It’s the “I’m going to win” mindset.
Reality tends not to disturb most peoples’ mindset. They are inherently conservative or risk-taking and ignore or adjust the data to meet their view. IMO it’s uncommon to find people who know their own style and can either live within it well or adjust their behavior based on data at hand.
It’s amazing how people’s long-term expectations are based on relatively short-term events. It’s not just real estate, it’s everything. It’s mass thinking that overcomes logic time and again. Wanna buy a Cabbage Patch kid?
They can’t sell for a loss because they can’t bring money to the closing.
If it’s a non-profit and you were willing to sell @ “market-rate”, what’s the big deal?
Maybe, you were actually a “non-loss” concern?
“Pond View Village, a heralded experiment at turning a former industrial site into 124 units of heavily subsidized affordable and market-rate housing, has been unable to sell condos in a glutted market and has defaulted on its main lender.”
Well yes this is the weenie… how come my property is not selling… it’s at ‘market rate’…. well perhaps the actual market is transacting below your ‘market rate’…. thus the declines? Just a thought.
Exactly. Since “market price” can be defined as the price at which things DO sell, and their property did NOT sell, by definition they are not at “market price”.
I think that by “market rate” they mean “non-subsidized,” not “priced correctly.”
Now, when the ‘market-rate’ condos fail to sell at a price the developer needs to turn a profit, they can either price them correctly for the market and write up the loss immediately (facing anger from earlier buyers, shareholders, etc.), or delay a little bit, hoping it gets better… and then it becomes WAY too late, and they end up in a disaster.
What is it like to be the owner of one of the 8 units that sold? What happens to them when the lender forecloses on the building they live in? How will these owners contribute to the tax bill that is now delinquent. And how much is the insurance premium on the complex? Maintenance? And the first 8 units were purchased by people with limited income!
What a mess!
They forgot to mention the “Pond View” is from underneath.
Here’s a recent example of how bad things are in the Boston area. There was an auction of a 2 family house in Everett, MA (very close to Boston) in April ‘07. Only people attending the auction were the auctioneer, representative from the bank and one interested bidder. House is assessed by the city at 501,700. House was on the market with a realtor for 440,000. Guess how much the house sold for - $289,000. Yep. Bank bought the house back. House was in good condition. The interesting part of the whole process is that there was no interest in the house at all since there was only one other person bidding on the house. You won’t read stories like this in the Globe since it relies upon the real estate industry for ad revenue and I will not even address MAR’s bias.
$289,000 for a house in Everett is still way too high. Everett is a dump. The only thing that town has going for it is a juggernaut high school football team.
A bunch of people got “housed”…
“James Murphy, attorney for North Shore Construction, said Cape Ann Housing Opportunity stopped paying Cutler, which stopped paying its subcontractors. ‘We like working for Cutler, but we also like getting paid.’”
Was talking with a local businessman the other day. Apparently, his company is owed a five-figure amount by a local homebuilder. And that builder recently declared bankruptcy. The fellow I was talking to is pretty much resigned to writing off all of what he’s owed. Tough blow.
tell him it’s only sub prime w NO SPILLover
>>“Michael Ball said he misjudged the market when he purchased >>a small Cape on the South Shore in July 2005, to renovate and >>resell. He purchased the worn but charming house when >>Massachusetts real estate prices were at a peak.”
>>“By the time he finished the work and put the house on the >>market last October, home sales were in freefall. He dropped >>the price $35,000, to $635,000, and hired an agent last month >>after failing to sell it on his own. He said he could not go much >>lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
>>“‘Everyone who goes in to see it loves it,’ said his agent, >>Maryann Zaccardi. But buyers, ‘faced with an abundance of >>inventory, feel that there’s no real need to act quickly.’”
Wow! The above really reinforces why I don’t live in Boston. How can a house that is priced well above a half-a-million be “worn and charming”, and of course “everyone who sees it, loves it!”. I’ve haven’t seen too many $635,000 homes that I wouldn’t say, “dang! Nice house!!!”.
“faced with an abundance of inventory, feel that there’s no real need to act quickly.”
Or faced with unaffordable prices, feel that there’s no real need to act at all.
“Michael Ball said he misjudged the market when he purchased a small Cape on the South Shore in July 2005, to renovate and resell. He purchased the worn but charming house when Massachusetts real estate prices were at a peak.”
Hey Big Spender !
You WANTED to Gamble with 2/3rd of a MILLION Dollars. I hope that you completely loose your ASS in Bankruptcy and Foreclosure…and Then Some.
Hugs
spoke with a sister in law who works as a loan processor commission based only meaning per loan charge. During the peak period, she gets about 5-10 per month easily. She hasn’t got a single one the last 3 months. This is in Southern Cal.
Perhaps someone can help me. I am looking in general term - what is the difference in mortgage broker commission between a fixed 30 yr (with appropriate downpayment), and a negative ARM. Would it be 4x? Trying to understand what has been going on.
A one acre basic building lot is assessed @ $493,000.00 in Ipswich, MA
No deductions for exposure to mosquito born West Nile virus from the backed up swamps due to environmentally protected beaver dams.
In the adjacent town of Boxford you need 4 acres as a minimum lot size, so add another $75/$100k.
ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO TRY TO ENTER THIS OLD MONEY MARKET HELL!
Open Casket
“‘Everyone who goes in to see it loves it,’ said his agent, Maryann Zaccardi. But buyers, ‘faced with an abundance of inventory, feel that there’s no real need to act quickly.’”
roflow
you’re killing me
Gloucester-Heroin City at the tail end of crumbling RT. 128.
The fish are all gone and so is the historical main source of jobs generations of fisherman.
But, hey-It’s the Informational Age
Obsolete industries like fishing and lumbering?
Let the Third Worlder’s do it.
Plenty of Greatest Gen lawns to mow.
‘May 2007 Massachusetts Market Analysis Report…with data revealing that foreclosure filings in Massachusetts are at record levels, and are impacting urban, suburban and rural communities from every corner of the state.’
‘2,002 foreclosures were initiated statewide during the month of April 2007, 63 percent more than the number recorded in April 2006. Over the past 12 months lenders initiated foreclosure proceedings against 23,116 homeowners, representing an 81.33 percent increase over the same period a year earlier. April 2007 was the 7th consecutive month with more than 2,000 foreclosure filings. Further, a comparison of the top 50 communities by gross number and by percentage increase shows minimal overlap, confirming that the foreclosure crisis is deeply established in Massachusetts.’
‘Virtually every community in Massachusetts is being impacted by the foreclosure crisis,’ said Jeremy Shapiro’
According to Foreclosure.com: Duxbury, MA currently has 13 listings, 6 foreclosures and 7 pre-foreclosures… median household income for Duxbury (2005 data, I think) is approx. $97,000. This is one of the nicest towns on the South Shore with one of the best school systems in Mass.
The problem is lack of affordability and easy credit. This problem isn’t restricted to lower income towns and cities in Mass, it’s everywhere.
..But if you make only $97,000 a year, and are just getting into the housing market, you are not going to find anything in your price range. In fact I would go so far as to say, if you only want to spend 30% of your gross on housing, and you really must live in Duxbury, you’re going to have to rent.
When a house sells at auction or bank takes it back, do those comps show to the public for the property ?
do those comps show to the public for the property ?
Never thru NAR sources like MLS.
This stuff is death to their certified market analysis’s.
Same with FSBO’s.
They only want the “fluff” which has been appraised and closed by their fellow racketeers.
The foreclosure and short sales will show up in the Registry of Deeds or assessor’s office files after usually after a 60-120 day processing period.
The time lag is what makes it so difficult to establish exactly how fast a market is truely declining.
If the bank is the high bidder at foreclosure auction, the sale price on the transfer tax form indicates a zero.
“He said he could not go much lower on price, because of remodeling costs.”
Can someone please enlighten me as to just exactly how one’s “costs” has anything at all to do with why one “could not go much lower on price”?????
He owes $560000 or something where if he sells at $600K, he gets to leave the closing table without having to write a check. Below about $600000K, he needs to write a check $1 for $1 price cut to cover realtor fees, etc…
If he sells at $560K, he writes a check for 6% of 560K + any other seller fees. Below that, $1 for $1.
Not only does he lose whatever cash and personal labor he put into the place he pays for the privilege. Pretty hard to do psychologically and likely financially as well…may not be possible. Foreclosure or short sale are the only other ways out.
Comparing unwanted xmas gifts to unwanted houses, now?
“‘This is like a retailer having a bad Christmas season,’ said Babson College finance professor Richard Bliss. ‘It doesn’t matter what happens the rest of the year, [because] you’re never going to make up what you lost in the peak season.’”
Pure Bliss, Babs…
I think I see another problem over the horizon. Many are not paying their property tax. The municipalities will figure out a way to get the money.
Most municipalities calculate property tax on ” a percentage” of fair market value. Most do not use 100%
I did a little reasearch and here are the results. I am not planning on buying this place it is just an example.
Listed at $230K
Value History: 2006
True markt value:
Land =$40,000
Building = $171,600
Total = $211,600
Assessed Value:
Land = $14,000
Building = $60,060
Total $74,060
Note the low assessed value!
Taxes: 2006
Gross tax = $62,298
Reduction = -$2244
10% rollback = -$405
2.5% rollback -$101
Total net tax = $3546
Note all the reductions and roll backs!!
Most City councils can vote to remove any or all of the reductions or increase the percentage of the true market value on which the tax is calculated . They do not need to get it on the ballot for a vote on the changes.
Property tax increases could be the next crises for homeowners.
Any thoughts on this???
Sorry “Gross tax” s/b $6,298
BJ
double bingo- counties spent all the $$ on welfare BS
load your musket and find your local
here’s mine http://www.fcta.org
Work HARD citizens! Millions of people on welfare are depending on you!
my alma
Babson College finance professor Richard Bliss.
“The housing slump isn’t over yet after all.”
Yes it is… says so right here:
http://www.newsday.com/business/ny-bzstox5225989may23,0,2870834.story?coll=ny-business-print
Perhaps it is different in Massachusetts?
off 12%
I was wrong, I thought BAHSTIN would be the worst market in the country
looks like FL has them beat
for those here that think “public /private ” co op and FREEer healthcare will work
124 units of heavily subsidized affordable and market-rate housing, has been unable to sell condos in a glutted market and has defaulted on its main lender.”
I am starting to get addicted to the Real Estate/ Flip This House shows. Anybody see the one last night? 1.6 mil, then 1.1 mil, followed by the classic “I will not give it away!”
The market going south is much better entertainment than before. Everybody loves a good tragedy. Watching characters evolve as the scales come slowly away from the eyes…
Didn’t you hear… Flip this house is fake, as in World Wrestling fake. Fox Atlanta looked-up some of the homes and found that the flippers never bought or sold the homes. They showed them buying, fixing up, and selling at a profit — all a sham.
Didn’t you hear… Flip this house is fake, as in World Wrestling fake. Fox Atlanta looked-up some of the homes and found that the flippers never bought or sold the homes. They showed them buying, fixing up, and selling at a profit — all a sham.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/pages/ContentDetail?contentId=3200981
A friend of mine attended an auction in the south shore (Weymouth, MA). The house was a 3 bed room cape, 1913 vintage. Zillow estimates this 1000 sq ft POS at 242K
http://www.zillow.com/HomeDetails.htm?o=North&testAds=false&zprop=56628386
It was last sold for 130K in Jan 2000. My friend and two other people registered for bidding. The auctioneer started at 200K and one of the bidders (my friend thought she was a real-estate agent) said 219K. That was it.
If you scan the prices in the area, most of the 3-bd room, 1000 - 1200 sq ft cape crap is listed for 290 - 330K. Nothing seems to be moving. We think prices have to be in the 190 - 220 K to be realistic and match the income levels. That means, 1/3 reduction from current listing. Going to be a slow process, may take a couple of years…
A third? Sounds about right. A neighbor, in Boston, sold after a 23% reduction in price (after 1 1/2 years on the market).
Maybe he started way high but I think, after the spring market failure, a 33% decline may become to hard to hide (even for the Boston Globe).
Here in Nashua NH we have a classic property tax scenario. We only assess every five years and the last one was last year at the peak. Nothing sells at those prices anymore. A friend of friend is assessed at 212 but that area sells for about 170 now. My father’s lil condo at 165 but they sell for about 150000 now/. Also the number of sales has dropped of dramitically according to the municipal website. Some complexes haven’t sold a single unit this year through april. Last year these complexe sold about 20-30 units. A complex nearbye(and I am intereted in) has about ten units for sale and NOT ONE has sold this year. I hate the idea of renewing my apt. lease this summer but with this information It may be foolish to buy.
About time we heard from the Globe. After an initial blizzard of stories earlier this spring, furiously pumping for the REIC, they had been suspiciously quiet in the last few weeks.
Huge inventory here in the northern Boston burbs. Things still selling, though, on the low end. Home at the end of my street priced for $310k went in the blink of an eye earlier this month.
Talked to the seller, and he said he got multiple mids, and ended up getting above his asking by $5k. I was impressed and surprised.
Also know some couples (buyers) furiously rushing into closings.. the whole “just married, kid on the way, can’t be in the renter class anymore” anymore crowd.
We know someone who just spent thousands (on credit, of course) on new furniture for a house they haven’t closed on, yet.
Below $350k, stuff is still selling because younger buyers are definitely uninformed and buying into the myth of being priced out forever.
Anything over $350k is complete toast and I’m seeing tons of relists from last spring.
I’ve been thinking that there’s still some pent up demand out there from the people that didn’t pull the trigger during the run up, say back in 2003-2004 and then watched as prices continued to rise and peak in 2005. Now that they have seen the tides shift and prices come down, they are all too eager to jump in.
Yep, we’ve been feeling some of this pull ourselves. Held off buying in 2002 because the market was definitely frothy, only to see it go nuts over the next four years. THe market started tanking last year, but prices have only moderated slightly and sales have come to a standstill. So if this takes another 4 years to unwind, we will have waited nearly a decade to buy a home. Yes, renting isn’t bad, but at a certain point it sure would be nice to start planting trees, customize a place to our needs, do some serious energy efficiency work to reduce utility costs, etc…
This bubble has grossly distorted people’s lives in many, many ways. For some folks it has meant assuming far more debt that than should have, for others it has meant not buying when they would have liked to do so.
“This bubble has grossly distorted people’s lives in many, many ways.”
I wholeheartedly agree. It has also distorted people’s perspectives. People earning middle class wages feel poor, and people earning affluent wages feel middle class.
people earning affluent wages feel middle class.
Not the feeling here at all in TeddyKennedyLand.
All those well-coiffed, soccer mom’s driving around in their monster BMW/Lexus/Suburban SUV’s with 5000lbs. of pig iron “protecting” Jr. in the rear designer car seat, all look mighty smug and self-assured to me.
I live in Massachusetts, too. Perhaps my observations are limited to people in my age group: late 20s and early 30s. Unlike the 40-somethings who bought their homes in the 90s, before the bubble, they have purchased homes at highly inflated prices and are spending close to half their incomes on their mortgages.
FIRST!!!
I was taught long ago that only one exclamation mark is ever needed…
More than one is a cry for attention.
I think we need some instant replay on this one. Looks pretty close.
You mean last?
keep coastin
down
http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=CFHI
I bet prices are not down in the prime neighborhoods of Boston.
Anybody know?