Lessons from Marblehead Ocean Week
As a way to celebrate World Ocean Day on June 8, Sustainable Marblehead has held Marblehead Ocean week featuring events around town throughout this past week to highlight issues affecting our waters.
Wicked Local File Photo/ Chris Stevens
Topics have included Green Technology and Green Boating; Storm Drains/Stormwater; Beach Conservation; Microplastic Awareness, and Oyster Restoration.
As the week ends residents are invited to:
– Switch from fuel to electric propulsion
– Take the Green Boating Pledge
– Adopt a storm drain
– Join a beach cleanup
– Reduce use of plastics
– Support oyster and habitat restoration
For a full description of each program and more information on Sustainable Marblehead to go https://www.sustainablemarblehead.org/ (more…)
Tom Brady’s modest new yacht
Tom Brady has decided that it is time to upgrade from his current boat, a 55-footer made famous in February when the Super Bowl QB (and GOAT) launched the Lombardi trophy from the stern across the water to another yacht during the Buccaneers’ victory boat parade.
“Moving down to Tampa Bay last year, I live right on this beautiful bay — Old Hillsborough Bay — and the first thing I did when I got here was say, ‘I need a boat. I gotta be able to get out on this beautiful water.’ And I was able to do it,”
“I think the 77 will be a little bit more suited for what we need it for down here, which is a few more day trips and weekend trips,” Brady said of the upgrade.
I wonder if the new boat will have a platform as a stable base from which to throw next year’s trophy to Gronk? (more…)
Naples rated No. 1 beach town to live in
Travel + Leisure recently wrote that the Southwest Florida city is the No. 1 U.S. beach town to live in. The magazine cited the personal finance site WalletHub for determining the best beach towns to live in around the United States.
WalletHub ranked them according to 63 indicators, including “affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health and overall quality of life.” WalletHub rated 145 total cities.
The New York City-based monthly publication lauded Naples for its “unbeatable quality of life and relative affordability.”
“Located on Florida’s Paradise Coast along the Gulf of Mexico,” the magazine said in its April issue, “the town offers lots to see and do, including pristine, white-sand beaches and day trips to nearby Everglades National Park.”
If you would like to buy a piece of paradise, please contact me:
Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945
www.OliverReportsMA.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
Andrew Oliver
Sales Associate | Market Analyst | DomainRealty.com
REALTOR®
Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers
Andrew.Oliver@DomainRealtySales.com
m. 617.834.8205
www.AndrewOliverRealtor.com
www.OliverReportsFL.com
Naples Housing Market – onwards and upwards
The March 2021 Market Report, released by the Naples Area Board of REALTORS® (NABOR®), which tracks home listings and sales within Collier County (excluding Marco Island), shows that March was the highest performing month in the 13 years NABOR has tracked these metrics.
Sellers are raising prices and multiple offers are still coming in,” said Budge Huskey, CEO, Premier Sotheby’s International Realty. “This is because inventory is limited, and more sellers are realizing now is a good time to place their home on the market and get top value in the current market conditions!”
Broker analysts predict the level of demand experienced in March is sustainable and should be expected to continue for the next few months, or longer. “Season was disrupted this year because many people elected to hold off relocating until they were fully vaccinated,” added Huskey. “Agents also report that many seasonal visitors are staying longer than in previous years, possibly because they can afford to wait in anticipation of more homes becoming available in the luxury market. I believe we’ll continue to see more newcomers from northern states looking for homes in the high end in the coming months. Beyond that, and as we enter the summer season, we might begin to see a second wave of international buyers entering our market as travel restrictions begin to relax.”
Median closed prices in March increased 12.2 percent to $415,000 (the highest median price increase month/month on record since 2008) from $370,000 in March 2020. In March 2021, there were just 1,819 homes in inventory (the lowest it has been since 2014), which was a 73.2 percent decrease from 6,795 homes in inventory in March 2020.
The March report revealed that the Naples area now has only a 1.6 month supply of homes available to buyers
The following charts give a visual summary of market activity: (more…)
How to Win a Naples Smart Home plus Mercedes plus $100k Cash
Note: you can enter twice a day until June 11.
Click 2021 Smart Home tour for more photos. (more…)
Why Is The Liquor Store Called The Packie?
In North Carolina they call it the ABC store, and in Pennsylvania, it’s the “state store.” Michigan residents make runs to the “party store.” And in Massachusetts, the liquor store is known as the “packie,” short for “package store.”
If you ever asked where our slang term came from, you were probably told it’s because the Boston Brahmins wanted drinking to be discreet. So, the story goes, they used their clout to get laws passed requiring liquor to be packaged discreetly in nondescript, brown paper after it was sold.
Hence, the package store.
But food historian Robert F. Moss says that origin story came from the historical research method he calls “just making stuff up.” That story, after all, doesn’t explain why the term is also used in South Carolina, where the Brahmins had no influence over lawmakers. (more…)
Pink bathroom – really?
Pink bathrooms became fashionable in the 1950s because pink was Mamie Eisenhower’s favorite color. At one time it was estimated that there were 5 million pink bathrooms in this country, but they faded almost as fast as they arrived. Pink was swapped for woods and neutrals in the ’60s and the retro oranges and greens of the ’70s. The world simply fell out of love with pink.
Today, there is a resurging interest in the pink bathroom—thanks to the revival of mid-century design and millennials’ love affair with all things retro. An intact pink bathroom is now more of an intriguing design challenge than a renovation project, plus it’s a fun selling point for homeowners and renters alike.
Maybe, but a pink bathroom is not something I would choose.
It was a surprise therefore when, earlier this week, I went into my bathroom and to be confronted with this:
But shortly thereafter that wall looked like this:
The culprit? A red towel reflecting the morning sun.
Phew.
Andrew Oliver
Sales Associate | Market Analyst | DomainRealty.com
REALTOR®
Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers
Andrew.Oliver@DomainRealtySales.com
m. 617.834.8205
www.AndrewOliverRealtor.com
www.OliverReportsFL.com
Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945
www.OliverReportsMA.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
The U.S. Now Has More Realtors than Home Listings
The number of real estate agents working in the U.S. housing market has surpassed the number of homes for sale. This phenomenon reflects both the extremely tight supply of homes on the market, and how surging prices persuaded tens of thousands more Americans to try their hand at selling real estate.
The National Association of Realtors®’ (NAR) membership count has exceeded the number of homes on the market only once before, in December 2019, when the number of agents dipped slightly but the inventory of homes for sale declined even more. It happened again last October and has held ever since. (more…)
Where to get vaccinated in Massachusetts
Here is a guide from Patch as to where to get vaccinated in Massachusetts
As of Monday, the coronavirus vaccine is available to the following Massachusetts residents:
– People over the age of 65
– People with two or more medical conditions, including cancer, diabetes, pregnancy and smoking (view the complete list of medical conditions)
– Residents and staff in low-income and senior housing
– Health care workers
– Staff and residents in long-term care facilities
– First responders
– Staff and residents in congregate care facilities (more…)
It’s 80 degrees in Florida…
In this weekend’s Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan wrote:
“In the past year the owners of great businesses found how much can be done remotely.
They hadn’t known that!
They hadn’t had to find out.
They don’t have to pay that killer rent for office space anymore.
People think it will all snap back when the pandemic is fully over but no, a human habit broke; a new way of operating has begun. People will come back to office life to some degree, maybe a significant one; not everything can be done remotely; people want to gather, make friends, instill a sense of mission; but it will never be what it was.
The Partnership for New York City reports 300,000 residents of high-income neighborhoods have filed change-of-address forms with the U.S. Postal Service. You know where they are going: to lower-tax and no-income-tax states.
A recent report suggested that 850 people per day will move to Florida for the next 5 years as they seek “the weather, lifestyle and tax benefits” offered by Florida.
The housing market is on fire in Southwest Florida, although I like to point out that “low” inventory in Florida is a bit like a “cold” spell: it’s all relative.
Last May I published Goodbye Boston, Hello Marblehead which contained these predictions:
– People, especially families with young children, will look to move out of Boston and to towns like Marblehead with great schools, open spaces, history – and ocean
– The demand for open floor plans will give way to the desire for separate rooms. after families get bored of listening to everybody else’s Zoom calls, online classes, etc. etc.
– The perceived negative of Marblehead that commuting into Boston is a challenge (one which residents happily overcome) will diminish as more people work remotely at least some of the time.
– Did I mention the ocean?
The median price of the Single Family Homes sold in Marblehead spiked from $678,500 in the first half of 2020 (which was down a fraction from 2019) to $839,900, driven by a combination of buyers fleeing cities and ‘Headers even more reluctant than usual to sell and leave town.
What started as a movement on health grounds has developed – and in my opinion will continue to develop – into a secular trend of people moving to more hospitable surroundings – whether for weather, lifestyle of taxes – or all three.
Just yesterday I spoke to a woman in Naples who said she and her husband were thinking of selling their house in Massachusetts and living full-time in Florida – and they are not alone.
Another consequence of this trend is that, as people decide to spend more time in Florida, to work in Florida, and perhaps to make Florida their main residence, so the demand for Single Family Homes and Villas will increase as people seek more space and more independence from their neighbours than they have in their current Condo.
While I still maintain my market research in Massachusetts and work with Dick McKinley and Matt Dolan of Team Harborside in buying and selling properties there, I have also activated my Florida license with Domain Realty, whose offices in Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers generated $440 million of sales in 2020.
I am in the process of populating my Florida database website (www.OliverReportsFL.com) while AndrewOliverRealtor.com allows you to search any town or community in Southwest Florida and set up alerts, and Oliver Reports Florida on Facebook, is the page that will get my updates on the market here and other Florida news.
But…. the market is hot right now (and next year seems likely to see even more demand as the Canadians and Europeans return) so please contact me – or refer me to a friend – and I will help you in your search for a home – or a bigger home – in Paradise.
Andrew Oliver
Sales Associate | Market Analyst | DomainRealty.com
REALTOR®
Naples, Bonita Springs and Fort Myers
Andrew.Oliver@DomainRealtySales.com
m. 617.834.8205
www.AndrewOliverRealtor.com
www.MarbleheadSouth.com
Market Analyst | Team Harborside | teamharborside.com
Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty
One Essex Street | Marblehead, MA 01945
www.OliverReportsMA.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
Old Airliner Transformed into a Spectacular Home
With the chronic shortage of housing inventory, perhaps more people will follow the example of Oregon man Bruce Campbell, who purchased a retired plane for $100,000. He had a vision. He had the imagination and the skill to set about turning the passenger jet into a home. And the result of this flight of fancy is a piece of real estate that really is something else.
Has Elvis FINALLY left the building?
American Luxury Magazine reports: “The nuptial Palm Springs retreat of Elvis and Priscilla Presley sold this winter after over six years on and off the market. The so-called ‘Honeymoon House’ modern shared by the couple on a rental basis in 1966-67 was initially listed by its now most recent former owner in 2014, asking $9.5 million; it was subsequently reduced to $5.9 million and by January of this year, it was asking $3.2 million. It closed this month for $2.6 million.”
Do you get the impression that the current owner was, maybe, trying, you know, just a little, very subtly, to mention the link with the King?
Essex County 2021 Property Tax Rates: Town by Town guide
Are you thinking of moving to Southwest Florida?
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
Licensed Sales Agent in Florida
www.OliverReports.com
Andrew.Oliver@SothebysRealty.com
Sotheby’s International Realty® is a registered trademark licensed to Sotheby’s International Realty Affiliates LLC. Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated
“If you’re interested in Marblehead, you have to visit the blog of Mr. Andrew Oliver, author and curator of OliverReports.com. He’s assembled the most comprehensive analysis of Essex County we know of with market data and trends going back decades. It’s a great starting point for those looking in the towns of Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Lynn and Swampscott.”
31 Life Hacks That Will Change Your Life
If you can ignore the ads some of these SoGoodly 31 Life hacks are really quite useful.
Here are my favourites: (more…)
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