Open Houses: take your umbrella
Just a few showers so take an unbrella when you visit these Open Houses: (more…)
When was Marblehead’s 200th SFH sale?
The very first post I wrote on this blog, 3 years and 539 posts ago, pointed out that sales of Single Family Homes in Marblehead in 2012 had reached 200 for the first time since 2007. One of the ways I tracked the pace of sales was to list the date on which the 200th sale occurred. (more…)
Guess who is selling Julia Child’s French home?
The French home of Julia Child is for sale through….. Sotheby’s International Realty.
Take a moment to look through the photographs of the house and note their high quality. This same high quality of photographs is a feature of all the homes listed by Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty.
Since 90% of home buyers search online and the first “showing” of your house is online, presentation is absolutely vital. If you want buyers to see your home in such clear and splendid detail, contact me for more information about the way we will present your home to the market.
New listings Marblehead, Beverly, Salem and Swampscott
Thanksgiving is coming but there are still some new listings: (more…)
What can you buy for $10 million in Massachusetts?
That’s the question we are all asking ourselves, right? We’re done with the 2 bed condo, it’s time to make a statement. But what can you buy for $10 million in Massachusetts?
The answer is surprisingly little. (more…)
Open Houses and the Patriots
A regular discussion amongst real estate agents is the impact on attendance at Open Houses when the Patriots are playing. A couple of weeks ago when the Pats were playing the Jets, one agent was driving around Marblehead at 3 p.m. and said it was like driving through a ghost town.
The Massachusetts Association of Realtors surveyed its members recently and 64 percent said they do not schedule open houses when the New England Patriots play. This includes four percent who avoid all Sundays during football season; 20 percent who avoid Sundays when the Patriots are playing; and 40 percent who schedule their open houses either before or after the games. Thirty-seven percent of the respondents schedule open houses when it is most convenient for the client – even if it’s during the game.
The good news for sellers is that the Patriots do not play at 1 p.m. today or on the next 3 Sundays. (more…)
Open Houses on a beautiful Fall day
It’s yet another spectacular day in New England. The Patriots don’t play until 4:25 so get out and visit these Open Houses: (more…)
This week’s new listings
The week’s new listings: (more…)
3 Oceanfront Open houses in Marblehead’s secret neighborhood
Recently I wrote about Marblehead’s Unknown Oceanfront properties in the stretch from Preston Beach to Beach Street.
Today there are 3 Oceanfront Open Houses in this area. They are:
2-4 Coolidge Road, listed at $3.2 million and open from 11:30 – 1:00
11 Crown Way, listed at $3.5 million and open from 12:00 – 2:00
and 40 Ticehurst Lane, listed at $2.26 million and open from 1:00 – 2:30.
If you are in the market for an oceanfront property maybe it’s Time to think outside Marblehead Neck. (more…)
3 years and 532 blog posts later….
After writing semi-annual reviews of the Marblehead real estate market for several years, I published my first blog post three years ago this weekend and I remember wondering if I was over-committing by undertaking to publish every week. Well, had I published one article a week I would be up to number 157. Actually, the number is 532, so it appears that I have found plenty of real-estate related matters on which to write.
A significant change in my approach occurred about a year ago (more…)
Today’s Fall Open Houses
Well is is November so we should not complain that it actually feels like Fall today after a week when the temperature reached the 70s. There is still time to buy a house and be settled in for the Holidays, so plan to visit these Fall Open Houses today: (more…)
Post Halloween new listings
A small number of new listings this week: (more…)
Marblehead’s 2016 property tax rate
The Board of Selectmen has approved a FY2016 rate of $11.10, up 2 cts from FY 2015. The average SFH tax bill will increase 4% to $7,973 based upon an average assessment of $718,342.
Note that the median SFH assessment for FY16, based on 2014 sales, is $545,000, (up 5.6% from 2015, which was based on 2013 sales.) This compares with a median SFH sales price in 2014 of $590,000. Only a small percentage of houses sell each year but this is quite a large difference and suggests that the median assessment will increase quite sharply next year.
This is the calculation for FY16:
Last February in How your property taxes are calculated I forecast a FY 2016 tax rate of $10.65, so why was I so far out?
Based upon the 10% increase in the median price of SFHs sold in 2014 (the year which is the basis for the FY2016 tax rate) I estimated an overall increase of 8% in Assessed Values. In reality, the increase used by the Assessor was 3.7%. The Assessor, of course, uses data for all the SFHs in Marblehead, not just the 3-4% which sell each year.
The next table shows what the tax rate would have been at different levels of increases in assessed values:
Note that the cost of debt exclusions continues to rise. Debt exclusions are included in the announced property tax rate:
The property tax rate will become official when it is approved by the Department of Revenue.
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. (more…)
Is this the end of mortgages under 4%?
The “will they won’t they” saga of when the Federal Reserve will increase interest rates took another yesterday as the jobs report saw with 271,000 new jobs added, a decrease in the official unemployment rate to a flat 5 percent, and a pick up in wage growth to an annualized rate of 2.5 percent, the fastest pace in about 6 years. The yield on the 10 year Treasury (the bench mark for 30 year Fixed Rate Mortgages – FRM) jumped to 2.34%, bringing speculation that we could be about to see the end of mortgages under 4%. (more…)
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