Andrew Oliver joins Team Harborside as Market Analyst
I am delighted formally to be joining up with Matt Dolan and Dick McKinley of Team Harborside, as described in this release:
Andrew Oliver joins Team Harborside as Market Analyst
This new role allows me to concentrate on providing the analysis which will help Matt and Dick when they act for you in buying or selling your home. Please contact me for an introduction!
Andrew Oliver
Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
REALTOR®
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945
m 617.834.8205
www.OliverReports.com
www.TeamHarborside.com
[email protected]
Essex County Inventory Increases Further
The number of Single Family Homes (SFH) for sale in the 34 cities and towns of Essex County increased year over year (YOY) for the 11th consecutive month in May:
(more…)
“Home price growth screeches to a 6 1/2-year low”
“Home price growth screeches to a 6 1/2-year low, Case-Shiller says,” was the headline in a report about the latest Case-Shiller 20 City Index which showed that the rate of increase in February was marginally less than in January. The article started: “National home price appreciation has thudded back to earth.”
Wow, what catastrophe has occurred? (more…)
Are granite and stainless steel on the way out?
As homeowners opt for more modern kitchen designs, they’re also opting for more understated countertop alternatives. So says this HomeAdvisor.com article:Is granite going out of style?
The article also reminds us of the benefits of granite:”it’s both durable and attractive — and it’s become increasingly affordable too.”
Another homeadvisor.com article posed the question Stainless steel: the end of an era?”
Again, the article is not hailing the end of stainless steel, but points out that “a new generation of materials and designs are challenging the age-old assumptions over appliance aesthetics.”
If you are looking to buy, I will contact you immediately when a house that meets your needs is available. In this market you need to have somebody looking after your interests.
Are you thinking about selling? Read Which broker should I choose to sell my house?
Please contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected] for a free market analysis and explanation of the outstanding marketing program I offer
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
@OliverReports
Are new home sales really booming?
Sales of new single-family houses in February 2017 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 592,000. This is 6.1 percent above the revised January rate of 558,000 and is 12.8 percent above the February 2016 estimate of 525,000.
That sounds good, right?
And here’s the chart provided with the release:
When my daughter was growing up I frequently (as her eye rolling testified) reminded her of the importance of understanding the difference between relative and absolute.
In relative terms, new home sales were good, recording the second highest monthly figure since February 2008.
But in absolute terms? Look at this chart going back to 1990:
From June 1992 to February 2008 – a span of more than 15 years – the monthly figure dropped below that just announced just once – in 189 months. And most of that time sales were a good deal higher.
What about existing home sales?
Existing home sales have recovered from the low levels after the Great Recession and are roughly back to the levels of 15-20 years ago.
Population
In 1992 the population of the US was about 255 million. By 2000 it was 282 million and today it is 325 million. But home sales have not increased in the last 20 years.
So are new home sales good news? Well, relatively, maybe – but absolutely? I think not.
Are you thinking about selling? Read Which broker should I choose to sell my house?
Please contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected] for a free market analysis and explanation of the outstanding marketing program I offer
If you are looking to buy, I will contact you immediately when a house that meets your needs is available. In this market you need to have somebody looking after your interests.
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
@OliverReports
Which broker should I choose to sell my house?
You’ve decided to sell your house. The big question is: which broker should you hire to sell it? And how do you make that decision? I find that possibly the least understood aspect of home buying and selling is the mechanism by which a house is actually sold.
Who actually produces the buyers for houses?
The table below shows the percentage of a firm’s or office’s listings that are sold by an agent in that office: NOT the percentage sold by the individual listing the property, but the percentage sold by any other agent in the same office or firm.
The numbers are for 2016 for 4 local towns plus Essex County and whole of Massachusetts , for the top 10 offices or firms in each market (the top 6 in Marblehead). Offices, the first table, means each individual office: so firm A may have several offices in the region but this number is for each individual office. The second table is for all a firm’s offices in the region.
Source: MLS, Oliver Reports
One of my jobs is to look at statistics and decide if they are significant or not. What strikes me about the numbers in this table is their consistency: both individual offices and firms sell roughly 1 in 4 of the houses they list for sale. Which means that some 3 out of every 4 houses are sold, not only not by the individual listing agent, but not by any of the other 20 or 30 or however many agents in her firm!
Does market share matter?
Not obviously. Each city or town has its combination of chains and local brokers. The bigger the area surveyed – as in Essex County – naturally the larger the market share of the firms with multiple offices will be. But the increase in the percentage of listings sold is very modest. As a numbers man I would have to say that I see no evidence that market share is a determining factor in who actually finds the buyer of a house for sale.
So how should you decide who should sell your house?
I was shocked when I first came across these numbers while preparing a presentation to a potential seller. They made me rethink the reasons for choosing a broker. My belief now is that, while there are several factors that go into the decision, the most important factors are the ability to develop a strategic partnership between the seller and the listing broker, the marketing plan presented by that broker, price and presentation.
What should be in the marketing plan?
Putting the listing in MLS and holding Open Houses is not a marketing plan. It is the old way of doing business.
Today, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), over 90% of buyers use the internet in some way during their search and more than 50% use a mobile website or app. Where appropriate, you should expect your broker to have an online presence (including a website exclusively for your home), and a plan for using social media advertising.
Photographs matter! The days of a broker showing up with his own camera, and snapping photos with the lights off or curtains drawn are long gone. You need professional high-resolution photos. At Harborside Sotheby’s our photos have to go through Sotheby’s quality control department.
Other things to look for include floor plans (which can be interactive with photos embedded), a video, which can be narrated, and a professionally produced glossy brochure.
All these things, of course, cost money, but remember that the listing agent is normally getting a commission of 2 1/2% of the sale price. Shouldn’t she be willing to spend a reasonable amount on marketing your house professionally and thoroughly?
My friend from church/synagogue/yacht club/ yoga is a broker: I feel I ought to give her the listing
Ah, the “ought to’s”. How much of our life is driven by ought to’s?
This is often the hardest issue for a seller to face. According to the NAR, 72% of sellers contacted only one broker before listing their home. One solution is to say to that friend: “I would like you to make a presentation to me to sell my home. Just to let you know, my financial advisor/accountant/spouse has recommended that I get presentations from 3 brokers so I am doing that.”
You may still select your friend, but you will have an out if you decide to choose somebody else. And trust me, every agent has stories of listings they expected to get but didn’t. That’s the nature of a business where there are so many agents. And if you do list with your friend, you will know that you are doing so for business as well as personal reasons.
Who should be targeted by the marketing plan?
The ultimate buyer of the house, right? Well yes, but at least as important, if not more so, are agents of other firms, because they are the most likely source of the buyer for your house. You should ask the agents you interview about their plans for marketing your house to agents of other firms.
Should I list with the broker who suggests the highest price?
It is human nature to want to believe that your house is worth the highest possible price, so it is very tempting to go with the agent who quotes the highest price. And it is not unknown for that one buyer to come along and pay that price. But the chances are greater that a high price will put off buyers.
If other agents think the price is too high they are less likely to call their buyers to go and look at the house.
You are the customer
Most of us when we are considering a significant purchase do some reasonably thorough research of the product and alternatives. We might look at several different cars or TVs, read online reviews (from a trusted source such as Consumer Reports), ask friends – and then make an informed decision. Yet 72% of us do not apparently follow the same approach when it comes to selling what is for most of us our biggest asset.
The number one goal of Oliver Reports is to make you an informed buyer or seller of real estate. I hope this article helps you to make an informed decision when you decide to sell your house.
And if you would like me to be one of the 3 brokers you ask to discuss the sale of your home I should be delighted to meet with you.
Here are examples of the way I have presented homes to the market:
46 Gallison Avenue
59 Washington Street
11 Crown Way
Please contact me on 617.834.8205 or [email protected]. for a free market analysis and explanation of the outstanding marketing program I offer.
If you are looking to buy, I will contact you immediately when a house that meets your needs is available. In this market you need to have somebody looking after your interests.
Huge jump in Mortgage Loan Limits
Home buyers in Essex County and Suffolk County received a major boost this week with the announcement that the limit for conforming mortgages was being increased by 18% from $523,250 to $598,000.
For a buyer putting down 20% the price of a home that can be financed conventionally – meaning that it can be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac – jumps by almost $100,000, from $654,063 to $747,500.
This table shows the trend in the last few years: (more…)
Home sales plunge – or do they?
A recent article headlined a home sales plunge in November, but as always it pays to look into the numbers in more detail.
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) used a more moderate headline in its Existing home sales suffer setback in November report.
So what actually happened in November? (more…)
The Miracle of Christmas in Marblehead
Read The Miracle of Christmas about the 35th annual Old North Festival Chorus concerts this weekend, offered as part of the Marblehead Christmas Walk . The concerts take place at Old North Church, 35 Washington Street. (more…)
Open Houses
There are only a few Open Houses today, but if you are interested in any of them and can go you will likely find less competition than usual. And houses are still selling briskly. (more…)
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 [email protected].
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
Home sales: from feast to famine?
The old saying is that there are three things that matter in real estate: location, location and location.
In the same vein there are three things that matter in real estate statistics: never rely upon one month’s numbers, never rely upon one month’s numbers….well you can guess the third one. (more…)
Can Dukakis and Weld bring the North Shore respect?
I get fed up reading articles about real estate in Eastern Massachusetts which routinely ignore the North Shore and Essex County, so I was intrigued to read Build the North-South rail link in this week’s Boston Globe, a coherent and logical argument in favor of connecting Boston’s North and South stations by rail. (more…)
Lock box turns me into James Bond
A couple of weeks ago I published Just say no to a lock box.
This week I had several experiences with lock boxes, all of which confirmed and reinforced my previous comments and advice to sellers – do not agree to having a lock box installed!
This week’s misadventures included:
– dealing with the alarm company after I took too long to find the code in the emailed instructions
– walking into a house which had no lights on and having my buyers say “it’s so dark it feels like the middle of the night”
– having to call a listing office to get instructions (not provided to me in advance) on how to open the lock box (see below)
– being expected to provide a written response to a questionnaire after the showing so that the listing agent could send it to the seller
– trying to reach the listing agent while at the house to ask questions which she would have been able to answer had she been present
How I became James Bond
Summer ice in Boston and Maine
I played golf yesterday in York, Maine, and noticed that the greens were not as immaculately smooth as they usually are. I was told that the indentations were the result of Monday’s hailstorm.
And then I saw these photos in the Boston Globe with the title Summer ice in Boston. And understood the dents. (more…)
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