Location Location Location (or Strike 1, 2 3 "yer" out)

Up top there is the hackneyed expression, dare we say Mantra of real estate folk. I've never used it myself, for it smacks of late night Real Estate infomercials, but here below is a tale of a small broker who learned the lesson of "location,location,location" the hard way.

The small broker operates out of her house, does, maybe one buyer rep transaction a year, mostly cajoled out of her bridge club or soccer mom connections. A nice little business.

In this particular case, our broker harrangued a friend for weeks about listing a house. The friend had, in passing, mentioned that they were going to sell, and our little broker sprung into action.

Bought a listing post, had a sign printed up, figured out how to do the boston.com internet thing.

The friend had intended to go to a big office to list her home, but, well, our little broker offered a deep discount on the commission, and she got the listing.

Gave her husband the signage and told him to get a rubber hammer and bang that sucker into the front yard of the house.

And our little broker is ready! The phone rings within an hour and our little broker is set with her appointment book. She takes the call:

"How may I help you?" she asks.

"You're the one who needs help," a disturbed voice wreaks, "What the hell is that crap doing in my yard?"

"Pardon?" our now timid little broker replies.

"The 'For Sale' sign, you dope! What the hell is that doing in front of my house. I'm not selling my home. Your sign is up in front of the wrong house."

Now our little broker is a bit flustered, but the selling instinct kicks in -- never let a prospect go before YOU go for the sell. "Well, since it is up," she asks, "are you interested in talking about selling? I am sure the home is lovely and will..."

At which point she is met with a tirade of words not meant for "the King's English."

She is told her sign was, of late, posted on Xxxxx Place. It may be found in the trash of the subject house on Xxxxx Place. And, of course, her friend's home is on Xxxxx STREET! Location, Location, Location.

One wonders what the husband ate for breakfast that morning,...or for that matter, what he ate for dinner that night.

"Gang Busting" Agent is Just Gonna Get BUSTED

An acquaintance of mine brought to my attention an agent who is, I was assured, a powerhouse on the south shore, a veritable ball of energy and top producer:

“You know what her slogan is?” my compatriot opined.

“Nope,” I say with naught hint of slogan in mind.

“It is, get this…’I’LL SELL IT IN ONE DAY' ”, that’s what she tells people, and she is going gangbusters!”

“Wow I say,” and I am thinking – yikes! Is this agent stupid or what? Or maybe she does sell ‘em in 1 day, in which case she is not doing her clients any good, ‘cause to do that, ya gotta be dumping properties on the market, not pricing them properly!.

I looked at her “1 day” progress and it appears that the “gangs” she is busting are little gangs (I guess Hell’s Angels, the Tong, and the Winter Hill Boys are out of her market area). She has 3 listings – they are active; one has been active for 100 days. The ONE listing she HAS sold was on market for 164 DAYS (maybe she sells them in her dreams every night and does not remember to wake up!).

To her credit, she is party to another transaction – she was a buyer rep on a condo that was on market for 81 days. So … she has collected paychecks on TWO sales in the first 7 months of 2011 (2 condos; one for 200,000; the other for 329,000 – gang busters or ghost busters???).

But all this is not the issue: the issue that chokes me is that phrase “I'll sell it in ONE day.”

I asked my friend about that -- what if she does not off load in ONE day?: “Well,” I was told, “She says to them that she tried. She is working hard and it is not like she is doing anything wrong or illegal; she tried in good faith to do it.” And my heart goes BLIP!

I should suffer this agent to take a gander at Grynowski v Silvia, (1994 Mass. App. Div 173) before she goes around making “good faith” claims upon which she cannot deliver.

To quote Grynowski as it applies to Consumer Protection Laws here in Massachusetts, 93A (Consumer Protection Law) “imposes responsibility for false statements made in good faith. The broker [sic] can obtain no refuge from liability because of the statement being made innocently on her part.”

This little “gang buster” is attempting to induce sellers to list with her by using a bold and audacious claim. What happens when she does not deliver (and she has NEVER sold anything in 1 day)? What ancillary damages did her irresponsible slogan precipitate? What damage was caused to that owner whose condo languished on market for 164 days? These are great questions, and fairly well cover fiduciary responsibility, ethics and just plain common sense and honesty.

I am confident that NO agent or broker in my organization, COLDWELL BANKER, would spew out such a quantifier and then smile off the failure with an “I tried”. I am relieved that she and I do not share the same logo on our business cards.

And one thing is clear: she may be trying to go gangbusters, but if she keeps this chicanery up, she’s just going to get BUSTED.

Cutting the Numbers Down to Size 1st half year Belmont (MA)

As soon as all the brokers come back from vacation, there will be heard out of them such a whoop and holler in Belmont over the super duper sales numbers for the first half of 2011. According to MLS, the average price of a single family home that sold in the first half of 2011 ROSE about $130,000 over the $735,883 set in 2010 (for the same period). That ought to pay for a few “Cape Codders” on a Thursday night!…but hold it right there…

Those numbers, “ya see” were propelled through the roof by 4 sales of homes that clocked out at over $2 Million each – 2 of them for WELL over 2 Mil. In 2010, one home went for the milestone, barely reaching the bar and selling out at $2,001,000. Pull out those sales, and you have a very different story.

Looking at the mainstay of real estate, the 3 Bedroom home, we can get a clearer picture: in 2010, the average a sales price for 3 BR spreads was $658,110; in 2011, the average was $657,328 – down a tad and a different story from what the tabloids will tell you.

Aberration you say, perhaps (not!).

Looking at condos we see an even bigger spread. Average price for all condos ROSE from $469k in 2010 to $541k in 2011 (wow). Yet the skewers were there too, all over the new Cottage Area, where condos were selling to the Mitt Romneys of the world for $850k, $950k, even over 1 Million a pop.

Looking at the Belmont bread and butter condo – the 2 bedroom in a converted 2/3 family home, we hear a different tome: average price in the first 6 months 2010?…$326k; in 2011 it was down to $307k.

Not at all encouraging in view of the fact the 3BR single and the 2BR condo are the bastions of the first time buyer, and a first time buyer market is needed to propel a second time buyer market and the third time and so on. This may all trickle UP…and if it does, agents will be heading to the beer halls and bar rooms with a different reason for drinking.

Similar Sales are Somerville's Sales (MA) RE 1st half 2011

What we are trying to say with the tongue twister up top is that Somerville’s sales for the first half of 2011 exhibited a remarkable similarity to the same period in 2010. Starting with multi family properties, we count (according to MLS), 75 transactions in 2011. In 2010?…we count 75 transactions. Average days on market? 83 days…80 days for 2010. We may well speculate that the extra three days on market was the extra effort put out by our friendly real estate agents going the extra mile for their listing clients and negotiating ‘round the clock Friday through Sunday to get the average price up….(hey…stop laughing). At any rate, average price WAS up from a bit below $496k in 2010 to a whopping $531k in aught 11.

Singles? The 28 singles that sold did so in 71 days and allowed owners to cash out at an average of $457k. In 2010, the average was a tad over $453k. In the efforts of full disclosure, we should note that 39 homes cut the deed in the first six months of 2010.

Condos? well ever an interesting game. The similarity falls off in unit sales (157 for 2011 versus 211 for 2010), but that is offset by significantly higher prices -- $392k for 2011 up from 2010’s 369k. Average days on market grew from 78 to 88 (hard negotiating again?). Ya just can’t put a bead on condos – just like last year and the year before: maybe that is the best similarity of all.

No Big Splash for Watertown Real Estate Sales so far in 2011

Watertown buyers haven’t exactly made a big splash in real estate so far this year, but they haven’t exactly jumped a sinking ship either. Total numbers of units sold for the first 6months of 2011 were down compared to the same period in 2010, 159 for 2011 versus 174 for ’10, but the blame for the drop rests with the Condo “fleet”. In 2010, 114 new condo owners set sail on the rocky waves of ownership: in 2011, a mere 89 have tested the waters. Average price? Down in the shallows --- 4 grand less than 2010.

Single family sales were up in units sold and price. (42 for 2011, 33 in 2010; $475k vs. $472k on the average price front). And Multis?…up by one unit over 2010 to 28. Average price was up to $506k, an increase of $16,000 over 2010. The only problem with the Multi sales was that agents had to tread water for an average of 99 days before bringing the deal to safe harbor. It took a mere 30 days to do it in 2010.

There might be some smooth if not spectacular sailing ahead. Not much direction here, but if something need be taken away how about conjuring an image of the annoying agents who block the hydrant with her BMW NOSE DEEP TREADING WATER IN THE SALTY BRINE FOR 99 DAYS…works for me!

How is Real Estate Shakin' Down in Arlington MA so Far?

How's it shakin'? Well,...shake an apple tree and the apples fall down. You can say that, and that may well have a few of your local agents shaking in their boots, but hold on, take a breath -- innnnn, hold it:....outtttt. Now let us do some math...

Hmmm, carry the two add column one plus the seven and ah, -- according to MLS, that source of unyielding approbation amongst agents, total sales in Arlington fell (for the first 6 months of 2011) from 2010's 150 units down to 121: a drop of over 19 percent. Yet, lest we panic and jump out our windows, sniff some chocolate and bear with me:

Unit sales were down but prices were up: 69 singles swapped hands in 2010 (Jan-Jun) at an average price of $486k (give or take a few bucks). "Only" 56 "manses" blew out in the same period for 2011, but they did so for a whopping $562k -- over $75,000 more per home.

Condos you ask?. OK, I tell: 2010 saw 69 sets (yup, same number as single homes) of owners crossing pens at the closing tables. In 2011, a mere 60 condos swapped out. Average price in '10 was $397k; in '11 $379. A wee bit of motion sickness there, but let's not call TARP yet -- take a Pepto and call me in the morning...

Multis? Well, 12 in aught 10; a mere 5 in '11, with prices moving UP an average of EXACTLY $1,942 -- the number was so small, I "figgered" I had room to put it all in.

What can we make of all this? I "dunno", but it IS my turn to cook dinner tonight -- I'm suddenly in the mood for some "Shake-n-Bake".

Waltham gets "Clocked"

Right in the kisser -- that's where sales of took it in the first half of 2011. Looking at details out of MLS, we can count out 112 single homes that were thrown into the ring. This goes up against 134 homes for the same period in 2010 (Yur outta the weight class, baby!). Average sale price fell to $389k from 2010's 417k, and if that was not bad enough, sellers had to listen to their brokers whine for an average of 108 days: this compares to only 63 days of snivelling from brokers in 2010!

And the situation is the same for the "middleweight" class of ownership -- condos. 91 sold in 2011 down from 2010's 123. Average price?...310k in '11 and 382k in 2010. About the only thing going for condos were the days on market: agents toiled 69 days in '11 to sell the units. In 2010 they took 85.

Multis, in their small market showed a tad of promise. Average sale price up 7l to 462k, and the 23 sales topped 2010's 17.

It is too early to say Waltham is down for the count; premature to "throw in the towel" as they say. Aferall, there are 6 more rounds to go and the final story is yet to be told. To keep the boxing metaphor going, we shall ask: will it be "Cinderella Man" or will it be "Reqiem for a Heavyweight"?