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"?

F O R E !!!!!!! (closure)

Why, exactly do the pluggers yell, "FORE",before they hack the golf ball 30 yards into the zip code directly to the left?

I thought about this because, as our title intimates, foreclosures are, and have been on my mind lately. You see, there a foreclosure auction scheduled on the property next door to mine, and while in some climes, whole neighborhoods seem to be trending towards the "BIG F", in my corner of the world, it is as rare as a straight talking politician.

So "Fore" has been on my mind: Fore, as in beFORE, FOREfathers, FOREcastle, and so on and so on. You get the drift? "Fore" has something to do with "in fornt of" "ahead of" "the earlier in a sequence". So the golfer is yelling,. "Fore!", to tell everyone the sequence -- "I am going to hit the ball, then it is going to smash the windshield of that BMW yonder.

So, "Foreclosure" is saying (and this is being said by the "bank"). "We are going to do this," have an auction of YOUR home, "BEFORE we get closure to the promissory (Better to spell that 'I Promise I'm SORRY!') note you, the homeowner signed, with obviously your middle finger 'up-pointed' right at us."

Yup, that is what it is... a notification of a sequence of events...that is why they call it what they call it. Not that any of this matters to my neighbors...they are long gone: hightailed it back to the old country in the Pacific rim (stiffing the bank, the town the utilities, the newspaper boy and the guy who plowed out their driveway...).

Too bad, maybe the "bank" should have done something more proactive...maybe a "WayBeforeForeclosure".

Waltham's Studio Crossings a space for the art of the entrepreneur

Waltham's Studio Crossings a space for the art of the entrepreneur

Marching (or should we say "Juneing") Orders

Up top there we are talking about Orders, allright...Orders of Notice. For those not in the knowing, Orders of Notices are the little tidbits that come out of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Land Court -- Department of Trial Court, and they say, blahblah blah, "has filed with said court a complaint for authority to foreclose said mortgage in the manner following: by entry and possession and exercise of power of sale..." or some other such similar alliterative nomenclature snaking across the page.

In Belmont, as of today (6/10/11), 8 property owners have gotton one of these notices in the mail in 2011. In all of 2010, 12 folks were blessed with the banking benediction.

A quick look about shows that these owners in 2011 are spread out throughout the town: from the Waltham border to Cambridge up to the Lexington line. From "high end" to modest. Singles and condos and multi's (...oh my!).

I cannot say how this will play out, but can't help but wonder -- if Belmont is seeing this, what is happening elsewhere -- stay tuned.

Belmont Brings it Home (in May at least)

Brokers have not been doing "mother's hours", in Belmont at least. With about a week left in the flower month, 21 deals have been put into the books. 16 singles sold after 55 days on the market, compared to 11 for the ENTIRE MONTH OF MAY, 2010. In that 2010 May, 11 homes sold for an average of $754k. This year, the average price is a whopping $866 according to MLS.

Condo sales are down (3 so far vs 9 for last year's entire May) but average price is up (thanks to an 830K sale in Governor Romney's neighborhood.

Multis?...well, 1 on 2010, 2 in 2011 -- not much of a trend there unless you are looking at the trend of turning 2 Fams into mini Condo Associations.

So what's the mood in little Belmont? Well, as of today there are 107 props being offered for sale. Of the 58 singles in that group, 12 are currently entertaining offers (per flagging in MLS). Average days on market for those 58 singles for sale comes out to 81 days (note -- the ones that sold did it in an average of 55.
days).

And average price on those props still on the inventory shelf?...$1,148,178 -- nearly $300,000 MORE than the sold properties.

Looks like things are selling, but if you want to sell it, "ya" better price it where people can afford it.

May Fall Ours in Arlington (MA)

Get it? May fall ours...May Flowers?...Oh well.

A look at last year in Arlington shows up 64 sales in the residential world. This year, with a week or so to go, we've got 19 -- that's quite a fall. Unless there is a big change in the weather in the next week (and there "may" be -- 64 props are under agreement ready to close), we are gonna see a fall in sales.

Not that the folks who popped off those sales are complaining (well, maybe they are). Average sales for singles are up -- 527k vs 495 for last year. Condos ditto: up about 4k from last year. Fewer days on market meant that agents had more time to shuffle around the aisles of the new MarketBasket just up the road (maybe they shouldn't be doing that...there's 160 properties for sale in town!)

We are used to propes popping off the shelves in Arlington. Looking at the singles on market, we see the AVERAGE home is now on market for 71 days and counting; the counting won't stop until the dotted lines are signed. The homes that have already sold did so in 48 days on average (my listing business banged out in 30, but that is just me...note to self -- big pat on the back is due).

So where do we stand in all this? Maybe we are standing at the peak, or most likely a very long plateau...one thing is certain -- the grass is going to need cutting no matter.