Salem 2013 Housing Review and 2014 Outlook
The Single Family (SFH) market in Salem had a very good year in 2013 with total sales within 2 of the peak year of 2004, median prices rising 16% to get back to within 7% of the all-time high, and the ASR (the ratio of Assessed Value to Sales Price) dropping to below 90%. (more…)
2013 Housing Market in 4 numbers
If you are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 781.631.1223 or andrew@HarborsideRealty.com.
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Realty in Marblehead
Flood insurance:What’s up between Harry Reid and President Obama?
On Monday the Senate, as anticipated, voted to move ahead with the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability (HFIA) Act, to delay the implementation of the Biggert-Waters Act. That night came a White House statement in support of Biggert-Waters, but on Thursday the Senate went ahead and the Bill passed on a 67-32 vote.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday President Obama said that free-trade deals with Asia and Europe were a top priority of his second term.The next day Harry Reid (D), Senate Majority Leader said “I think everyone would be well-advised just not to push this right now”.
The fate of the HFIA is uncertain in the House, where Speaker John Boehner (R) said two weeks ago:“While I don’t support repealing the 2012 law, we’re listening to members and the alternative ideas they are offering on this issue. There have been ongoing discussions with members, and the House may consider changes to the law in the weeks and months ahead that both help homeowners and protect taxpayers.”
So let me try to get this straight. On Monday the Senate voted to proceed with debate on the HFIA Act and on Monday night the President issued a statement in support of the original Act, but the Senate passed the Bill anyway on Thursday. On Tuesday the President talked of his desire to see free-trade deals and on Wednesday Mr.Reid said, in effect, no.
Meanwhile, the Republican House Speaker appears to be siding with the President.
I think the Polar Vortex must be affecting people in Washington.
If you are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 781.631.1223 or andrew@HarborsideRealty.com.
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Realty in Marblehead
Flood Insurance: Senate to vote Monday on bill to delay flood premium increases
According to an article in the Times-Picayune of New Orleans, the US Senate is finally scheduled to vote on Monday to allow debate to proceed on legislation to delay flood premium increases .
To summarize my previous posts on this subject:
– only a small percentage of homes in flood zones carry insurance
– the NFIP has worked well with the exception of major catastrophes
– Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Act without understanding the consequences
– FEMA was supposed to complete an affordability study before implementing new rates, but didn’t
– an independent study suggests that FEMA “used a mapping method fit for the Pacific coast, where the wave periods are much longer and the beaches are straighter, instead of developing a correct approach for New England.”
Other than that….. (more…)
How will a wind turbine affect my home’s value?
A recent study Relationship between Wind Turbines and Residential Property Values in Massachusetts by the University of Connecticut and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory analyzed more than 122,000 home sales between 1998 and 2012 occurring near the current or future location of 41 turbines in densely-populated Massachusetts communities.
While “weak evidence suggests that the announcement of the wind facilities had a modest adverse impact on home prices….. those effects were no longer apparent after turbine construction and eventual operation commenced. The analysis also showed no unique impact on the rate of home sales near wind turbines.” The study “found no net effects due to the arrival of turbines in the sample’s communities.” (more…)
Marblehead Oceanfront Open House Sunday 12-2
THERE WILL BE ONLY ONE BUYER. Will it be you?
Dutch auction: the price is reduced $25,000 every Friday on this 11CrownWay 1850 Marblehead Oceanfront family compound.The first person to hit the bid buys the house! (more…)
Can reverse auction move Marblehead mansion?
Boston.com posted this article today.
Here’s a link to the property’s website 11 Crown Way
If you are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 781.631.1223 or andrew@HarborsideRealty.com.
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Realty in Marblehead
THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE BUYER
Dutch auction: the price is reduced $25,000 every Friday on this Marblehead Oceanfront family compound. The first person to hit the bid buys the house! (more…)
The best time to buy or sell a home in Massachusetts
(Note: this article was updated in February 2016 at When is the best time to buy or sell a home in Massachusetts?)
Ok, I know, you don’t own a home – or are not thinking of buying a home – in “Massachusetts” but in Marblehead, or Swampscott, or Salem or Beverly.
But… as a commentator on a blog article I wrote last year pointed out, it is always useful to know what is going on beyond one’s immediate neighborhood. That may mean the state of the economy, which will affect mortgage rates, or geopolitical developments, which affect general confidence.
We all spent 2013 reading of bidding wars and dire warnings of “a new bubble”. I freely admit to greeting bubble warnings with disdain, even with that well known refuge of the desperate – or at least the British – sarcasm.
Well, the results are in: the housing “bubble” in Massachusetts in 2013 produced just a 5% increase in the median price of a Single Family Home (SFH), as sales increased by 8%. Bubble? I don’t think so. (more…)
New mortgage rules raise costs for borrowers
Carl Edwards, V-P Lending for National Grand Bank in Marblehead, made a presentation at the offices of Harborside Realty this week. His main message was that the new rules, designed to “protect” the consumer, would have the effect of increasing the cost of mortgages.
The new rules, which are part of Dodd- Frank: generally require creditors to make a reasonable, good faith determination of a consumer’s ability to repay any consumer credit transaction secured by a dwelling …… and establishes certain protections from liability under this requirement for “qualified mortgages.”
The concept of requiring a lender to determine if a borrower can repay a loan may seem like basic common sense, but with regulation comes additional costs. For example, a borrower with a credit score of 700 making a deposit of 30% on a loan sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will now pay 1.50% in upfront fees. (more…)
Is the 30 year fixed rate mortgage an endangered species?
Discussion about mortgage rates normally focuses on the 30 year fixed rate mortgage (FRM). As the table below shows, the US is unique in developed countries in having FRMs as the dominant product:
Only Denmark and France have significant FRM markets and their products differ from the US in certain ways. (more…)
Swampscott 2013 Housing Review and 2014 Outlook
I will start with the Single Family Home (SFH) market and comment on the condo market at the end of this post.
2013 was a strong year for the Swampscott SFH market in terms of both sales and median price increase.
Sales jumped 38% to a level exceeded only once – in 2004, and then by only 7 units – this millennium.
The median price increased for the second year in a row, by 11% to $442,000, although it is still below the 201o level and 15% below the peak level of 2005 which increasingly looks like an anomaly. (more…)
Marblehead Housing Review 2013 and Outlook
I concluded my 2012 review with these words: “clearly 2012 was the year when the market nationally turned up. More importantly, perhaps, it also marked the turn in sentiment, with the view becoming widespread that the market has bottomed and is improving, in some cases sharply.”
There is no doubt that 2013 was a year when the headlines about the housing market were dominated by stories of rising prices and bidding wars, with many, many properties throughout the country – and in Marblehead at the lower levels – selling above list prices.
The median price for a Single Family Home (SFH) in 2013 was $535,000,up from $510,000 in 2012 and from $524,950 in 2011. Sales, at 227 were unchanged from 2012, largely because the shortage of available properties for sale, a factor all year, really took hold in Q4.
Let’s look at the numbers. (more…)
Marblehead Condo Market 2013 Review and Outlook
After several years of high inventory the condo market in Marblehead turned around sharply in the second half of 2013.
At mid-year there were 24 condos available for sale after just 12 sold in the first half of the year.
In the second half of the year, however, there were 34 sales, the highest number in any six month period since 2005, and as of today there are just 9 condos for sale in Marblehead, and 3 of those are priced at $625,000 or higher.
The law of supply and demand suggests that 2014 will be a good year for condo prices in Marblehead.
Reasons for the turnaround include:
1. Condos are often bought by first time, younger buyers, who may be feeling more confident about their job prospects.
2. At the higher end, condos are bought by people down-sizing or wanting a summer property.
3. As mortgage rates moved up during 2013, Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs), which are often used by condo buyers, became more attractive as the benchmark interest rate used to price ARMs did not move up as much as that used in pricing 30 year mortgages.
4. The days of converting 2/3 unit apartment buildings and calling them condos are gone. Today’s condo buyer wants a purpose-built or professionally converted condo, and there is a limited supply of these in Marblehead. (more…)
Year end reviews
I shall be publishing year-end reviews over the course of this weekend. The best way to know when they are published is to sign up on www.OliverReports.com to receive email alerts of new articles. Here’s a screenshot showing where you can sign up on the home page.
If you are considering buying or selling a home and have questions about the market and/or current home prices, feel free to contact me on 781.631.1223 or andrew@HarborsideRealty.com.
Andrew Oliver is a Realtor with Harborside Realty in Marblehead
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