How Swampscott has combined its High School and Senior Center
I read an interesting article this week in CityLab.com about how Swampscott had combined its High School and Senior Center. (more…)
This week’s new listings
This week’s new listings:
and the details:
Beverly new SFH listings
Beverly new Condo listings
Swampscott new SFH listings
Swampscott new Condo listings
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com.
Read Which broker should I choose to sell my home?
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
You can REGISTER to receive email alerts of new posts on the right hand side of the home page at www.OliverReports.com.
@OliverReports
Time to think outside Marblehead Neck
You would like to buy a house on the water, but you have noticed the amount of traffic on the Neck and are concerned with exposure to storms.
So what to do?
The answer is: think outside the Neck.
Read Marblehead’s Unknown Oceanfromt properties and you may be surprised to learn that between Preston Beach and Beach Street there are 32 homes (and likely a few more when the FY2016 assessments are announced in December as this area is appreciating) with an Assessed Value over $2 million.
Two of these properties are currently for sale and details can be seen by clicking on 11 Crown Way and 2-4 Coolidge Road.
Crown Way has an Open House today 1-3 and both house will be open next Sunday (if not sold before then).
Essex County Condo market Q3 review
After steady increases in the last few years the median price* of a condo in Essex County in Q3 was up only slightly from a year ago and was unchanged for the year to date through September:
(more…)Today’s Open Houses in Marblehead, Salem, Beverly and Swampscott
A beautiful day to visit Open Houses. Here is the summary: (more…)
Marblehead’s Unknown Oceanfront properties
A man came to the Open House at 11 Crown Way last weekend and commented that he had driven up and down Atlantic Avenue for years and had no idea that there were oceanfront houses at the end of the streets between Preston Beach and Beach Street. This area does indeed contain Marblehead’s Unknown Oceanfront properties.
Last year in an article Marblehead sale over $4 million – guess where? I wrote this:
“There are a lot of small streets that lead to the water and have 1 or 2 or maybe 3 or 4 houses sitting directly on the ocean at the end.
And for the most part these houses sit on the rocky Atlantic coast and are high enough that flooding is not a concern, while many of them face South, have great views of Ram Island and down the coastline, and are well protected from the nor’easters that can impact more exposed areas.”
One of the houses mentioned in last year’s article has sold; the other, 11 Crown Way, has just come back onto the market. And this week another, at 2-4 Coolidge Road was listed for sale at $3.2 million.
How many houses with an Assessed Value over $2 million are there in this stretch?
Last year I identified 29 houses with an AV of $2 million or more and this year I have found 32. I also know that AVs for this area are increasing and I would not be surprised to find another 6-7 creep over $2 million when assessments are announced in December.
People who live in this area know its attractions, which may be why houses rarely come on the market. There are two now – both listed by Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty – so take a look if you want a protected oceanfront property in a great neighborhood.
There is an Open House this Sunday at 11 Crown Way from 1:00-3:00.
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com.
Read Which broker will sell my home?
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
You can REGISTER to receive email alerts of new posts on the right hand side of the home page at www.OliverReports.com.
@OliverReports
New Listings this week
This week’s new listings. In summary: (more…)
Marblehead Oceanfront Open House Sunday
Check out this Marblehead Oceanfront. There is an Open House Sunday 1:00 – 3:00.
The main house is 6,126 sf with 7 bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths.
The 2,400 sf carriage house is perched directly on the water’s edge and houses the pool house and separate apartment, whose huge picture window frames Ram Island perfectly. There are plans to convert the additional carriage house space to a 4-car garage.
A private mooring is available.
Today’s Open House list
Plenty of choices today in all price ranges, including 3 Marblehead Oceanfront homes: (more…)
Marblehead Oceanfront new listing
Check out this Marblehead Oceanfront which I have listed this week. There is an Open House tomorrow 12:00 – 2:30.
The main house is 6,126 sf with 7 bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths.
The 2,400 sf carriage house is perched directly on the water’s edge and houses the pool house and separate apartment, whose huge picture window frames Ram Island perfectly. There are plans to convert the additional carriage house space to a 4-car garage.
A private mooring is available.
The week’s new listings on the North Shore
This week’s new listings in summary: (more…)
Q3 Median Prices in Essex County by Town
Here below is a list of Q3 and Year to Date (YTD) median prices for single family homes (SFH) in Essex County by Town. See my comments after the table:
Q3 comments
While prices rose 5% in Essex County overall (and 3% in Massachusetts) there were wide variations from town to town, with 23 showing increases, 9 decreases and 2 unchanged. The largest changes came mostly, but not always, in towns with a small number of sales, something which can add to volatility in short-term numbers.
Year to Date
The larger the sample the more reliable the numbers usually, which is why I look at YTD numbers. Here we see a 3% increase in both Essex County and Massachusetts overall, while within Essex County 25 towns saw increases, 8 decreases and 1 unchanged.
Summary
The median price of a SFH in Essex County is just under $400,000 YTD (and just over in Q3). There is one town with a median price over $700,000 and 5 over $600,000. At the other end there is no longer a town with a median price under $200,000 and only 4 under $300,000 ( and 3 of those may well climb above $300,000 before very long).
Overall, with mortgage rates under 4%, the market in Essex County seems to have returned to a fairly normal pattern of modestly increasing prices.
As always I am very happy to provide more details on any individual town – just ask.
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com.
Read How should I choose the broker to sell my home?
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
You can REGISTER to receive email alerts of new posts on the right hand side of the home page at www.OliverReports.com.
@OliverReports
Marblehead home prices set record in Q3
In Q3 the median price of a Single Family Home (SFH) in Marblehead reached $660,000, finally beating the 2006 Q3 figure of $645,000.
The 2006 Q3 number was an anomaly. Until Q4 2014 it was the only quarter to see a median price over $600,000. But since then:
The Q3 2015 number was an increase of 11% from $595,500 in Q3 2014. For the first 9 months of 2015 the median price was $621,500, an increase of 6% from $585,600 in 2014. These increases are about double those for Essex County and Massachusetts overall.
Q3 often sees the highest median price for the year, just as Q1 often sees the lowest. That seems likely to be the case again this year as the median list price of the 32 currently pending sales is around $550,000. Nevertheless, it seems quite likely that 2015 will see the median price exceed $600,000 for the first time.
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com.
Read Which broker should I use to sell my home?
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
You can REGISTER to receive email alerts of new posts on the right hand side of the home page at www.OliverReports.com.
@OliverReports
New mortgage rules start TODAY!
Starting today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is introducing new disclosure rules – which it calls Know Before You Owe – which will change the disclosures borrowers receive in a real estate transaction.
What will change: forms received
For borrowers applying for mortgages from today onwards what will change is that three documents, the HUD-1 Settlement Statement, the Good Faith Estimate, and the Truth-in-Lending disclosure, will be reduced to two new closing forms called a Loan Estimate and a Closing Disclosure.
When will the borrower receive these forms?
When the consumer receives the Loan Estimate form, he or she will know what the loan amount and the interest rate will be, how much the monthly payment is, an estimate of taxes and insurance based on local rates, and how much down payment is required.
This form is provided twice:within 3 days of receipt of the loan application, and again no later than the 7th business day before closing.
Read the CFPB’s Loan Estimate Explainer for more details.
The Closing Disclosure, which has the full details of all costs and payments relating to the mortgage, must be provided to the borrower at least 3 business days before closing to allow the borrower to verify the terms of the deal. (Often the first time the borrower currently sees the very complicated HUD Statement is at closing, so that the borrower relies heavily on the assurance from her attorney that all is correct.)
If no issues are identified, the closing can take place as scheduled, but if certain specific items need to be changed then the borrower must receive a revised Closing Disclosure and be given an additional 3 business days to review it.
Read the CFPB’s Closing Disclosure Explainer for more information.
Which changes require a revised Closing Disclosure?
– an increase of more than 1/8% in the APR for fixed-rate loans or 1/4% for adjustable-rate loans
– the addition of a pre-payment penalty
– any change in the type of loan, such as from fixed-rate to adjustable-rate.
Will other discoveries trigger a new 3 day waiting period?
No, only the three above. Items discovered on the walk-through before closing, or changes to such as utilities paid at closing, will not cause a delay.
What will be the impact?
Three things seem likely:
– there will, initially be a delay in some closings and these may have a knock-on effect on other closings which were scheduled to take place on the same day (e.g. somebody selling one home and buying another).
– a buyer’s agent and/or attorney will incorporate contingencies in any offer to cover any delay that may occur. Indeed, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors has already produced a form to allow for this.
– after a while, everybody will adjust and this will become a normal part of a real estate transaction.
If you – or somebody you know – are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 617.834.8205 or Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com.
Read Which broker should I choose to sell my home?
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
You can REGISTER to receive email alerts of new posts on the right hand side of the home page at www.OliverReports.com.
@OliverReports
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