Why I don’t rely on Trulia

Let me start by saying that I think sites like Trulia and Zillow provide a useful service in terms of informing buyers about things like Open Houses. I also like the feature on Zillow that shows the price and tax history of a property listed for sale.

Where I have a problem with such sites is when they quote “statistics”. The danger with statistics always lies with the way they can be presented to give an impression of authority even when the statistics themselves are meaningless. It is always, always essential to be clear what is included in quoted statistics. If it is not clear do not rely on the numbers quoted!

What drives this comment? I had an email yesterday from Trulia entitled Marblehead Weekend Update. Prominently displayed was a box saying:

Source: Zillow

Source: Zillow

What the you know what? $289,000!!! (more…)

Would the Olympics be good for the Boston area real estate market?

The decision will not be made until 2017 but I looked to see if there was any data on the impact hosting the Olympics has on the host city’s real estate market.

This Olympics: a win for the housing market? article from yourmoney.com looks at the impact the Olympics have had on real estate markets in recent Olympics and argues that the impact is most significant in smaller cities which implement major infrastructure improvements.

 f 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.

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty

Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. 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

Dreams, real estate, murder and war

I awoke this morning, blog day, at 5:20 am with a vivid image in my head of a blog post entitled “The Rousseau property market.” A quick search of my “mind” showed me that the Rousseau referenced was Jean-Jacques, the 18th Century Swiss philosopher whose writings influenced the French Revolution, not Conrad, the Marblehead mortgage lender.

But what was the link with real estate?

I found this quote:”The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said “This is mine,” and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society. From how many crimes, wars, and murders, from how many horrors and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to his fellows: Beware of listening to this impostor; you are undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong to us all, and the earth itself to nobody.”

Wow, I know that people can become quite passionate about real estate, but wars and murders?

A word of advice for Conrad: stick to mortgage lending.

And a word of advice to me: take a sleeping pill next Friday night.

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.

Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. 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 2014 housing market reaches new high

Here are the highlights of the market in Marblehead in 2014.

Single Family Homes (SFHs)
– the median SFH price increased 10.3% to a record high of $590,000, beating the previous peak of $585,000 in 2006
sales of SFHs increased to 245, the best year since 2004
– the Assessed Value to Sales Ratio (ASR*) dropped from 90.5% to 88.0% overall, an indication of rising prices

Condos
– the median condo price in 2014 was down 0.6% to $328,000. Because the condo market is small and bifurcated in Marblehead I will break the numbers down into segments in a later report
sales were 43, much the same as the two previous years and, in fact, in line with the average for the last 9 years
– the ASR* dropped from 94.5% to 88.5%

Property Taxes
The tax rate for FY2015 is $11.08, virtually unchanged from $11.09 in FY2014. The average tax bill will increase by $309 or 4%. (more…)