Massachusetts Real Estate News and Views

Original Source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

Working as a Massachusetts Realtor for almost twenty five years, I can say without question that one of the greatest fears of any home owner is having a water problem in their basement!

When buying a home, the uneasiness of having a water issue will be magnified ten fold if the intention of the owner is to finish the basement as additional living space.

Having a little bit of water in an 2oo year old colonial with  old stone foundation walls and a dirt floor is far more acceptable than seeing even a drop of water in a luxurious finished lower level that you find in many high end homes today.

When you have a beautifully finished space with plastered walls, fancy wood work and plush carpeting the last thing you want to deal with is a water issue. Not only will a wet basement have a serious impact on a homes marketability and value, it can create health risks due to the possibility of mold.

When you have mold you also have another very costly problem to fix as well! I won’t even mention the fact that where there is water there is also insects not too far behind. Water issues can lead to termites and carpenter ants…two things you want to avoid!

If you own a Massachusetts home solving a basements water problems boil down to how and where the water penetration occurs.

To continue reading see: How to fix basement water problems.

Original Source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

Avoiding a Foreclosure

Foreclosure is something that most people want to avoid at all costs. Nobody sets out to own a home and then see it taken back by the lender. Across the country this has become a common theme as ten’s of thousands of people are losing their homes due to an economy that has not been this poor since the great depression. Like other states, Massachusetts has their fair share of foreclosures.

In these tough economic times there are many contributing factors on why someone could fall victim to the inability to pay a mortgage. These include but are not limited to job loss, reduction in income, mounting credit card debt, an increase in mortgage payments, an illness, or a divorce.

In Massachusetts there are areas where property values have dropped 30% or more since the Real Estate market peaked in 2005. Some Massachusetts home owners have found themselves so under water that they just throw in the towel and walk away from the property lock stock and barrel.

In fact there are a percentage of borrowers that still have the ability to pay their mortgage yet decide they just do not want to own the home anymore.When a Massachusetts home owner can afford to pay their mortgage yet feels the need to abandon the home it is what’s known as a strategic foreclosure or default. Fannie Mae the giant mortgage backer for many loans has taken the initiative to come down hard on these folks walking away by not allowing them to procure financing for up to seven years!

People that decide to strategically default generally are looking at it as a business decision. The theory is that it will take years for their homes market value to recover to anywhere near where they paid. Instead they walk away from the property and start fresh.

What I have realized in talking to many people who have come under financial strain is that they don’t realize they have options besides letting the lender foreclose.

To continue reading see avoiding a foreclosure through a short sale.

Original Source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

It is no secret that energy prices have been a big part of every home owners budget for the last few years.

As we head towards Winter there are some fairly easy and inexpensive things you can do to save additional money and conserve energy. Some are fairly obvious and easy.

Easy energy saving tips for your home

Turn back the thermostat -  People automatically assume that turning back the thermostat will save loads of money. The key here is not to turn it too far back! When you are heating a home everything in the house gets warmed as well. So all the furniture, cabinets and other items in the home act as a sponge absorbing heat.

When you turn the heat down it actually makes the furnace work harder to raise the home temperature as well as everything in the home back to the original temp.

What I would suggest is to upgrade to a programmable thermostat and set the temperature down during the time when you are not home. You want to make sure however that you are not turning the temperature down drastically.

For example, I would not change the difference in temperature by more than 5 degrees. So if you are normally comfortable at 70 degrees I would not set the thermostat back to more than 65 degrees.

To see all the great tips for conserving energy over the Winter months go to home energy saving tips.

Original Source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

Any Realtor that regularly works with short sales is bound to come across a proposition from a potential buyer who happens to be a short sale investor.

As a home owner you may have also at one time or another noticed some signs around town that say  something like “we buy houses” or “stop foreclosure” or “We buy homes for cash FAST”

If you are selling a home and it happens to be a short sale let me give you some words of wisdom – steer clear of this arrangement!

A short sale investor has one goal in mind and that is to buy your short sale at the lowest number they possibly can. Seems reasonable enough. An investor obviously needs to buy the home on the cheap because more than likely they are going to turn around and flip it to someone else making a handsome profit. As a Massachusetts home owner trying to short sell your home you may be thinking why should you care as long as you find a buyer?

The answer is real simple. One of the biggest reasons why many short sales never reach the closing table is because the seller accepts an offer that is too far under market value and the lender rejects the contract denying the short sale.

In this scenario the investor has done nothing wrong as their goal is to buy the home for the lowest figure they can. The Realtor however, needs to make sure they have done everything they can to get the most money for the property. There is no short sale mortgage fraud in this example as long as the investor has disclosed to the lender that they intend to re-sell the home for a profit.

So when does short sale mortgage fraud occur? There are quite a few examples of short sale fraud happening in today’s Real Estate landscape. If you are short selling a home you need to  know what to look out for. To see some clear examples of things you want to avoid as a Realtor and home seller continue reading at Short Sale Investor Mortgage Fraud.

Original Source: Holliston MA Real Estate

When I 1st got into the Real Estate business twenty four years ago we used to carry around the big bulky MLS books. Back in those days this was how we knew what properties were on the market in Massachusetts. The internet was in it’s infancy and jumping online to look at properties was not an option for a consumer wanting to purchase a home.

For as long as I can remember Realtors have been pricing homes so that the list price ended with 900. As an example, instead of the home being priced at $350,000 it would be $349,900. The majority of the Massachusetts homes on the market are priced this way.  In fact, you see this type of pricing strategy for a lot of different products whether is be for a car, gas, or something on late night television.

The reason for this is psychologically the price looks lower in our minds when it is just under a certain price point. Expert marketers know this is the case when trying to sell product.

To see the full article visit Real Estate pricing ending in 900 may or may not be a good idea!

Original source: Sell a home in 70 days guaranteed?

Have you ever seen the Real Estate advertising that says “We will sell your Massachusetts home in 70 days guaranteed” and wondered what the heck that was all about?

This is just another marketing gimmick that in some respects is no different than value range pricing. The difference being is that more times than not the list price is under the current market value of the property. In some cases WAY under!

I have to hand it to the Realtors that use it as part of their marketing plan because there are quite a few home sellers that actually believe there is something special going on.

For the full article visit Massachusetts Real Estate Blog.



Original article Source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

There is no question that in this economic down turn we have experienced over the last five years or so that short sales and foreclosures have become part of out everyday Real Estate landscape.

Every week there are countless new short sale listings that hit the market in Massachusetts. In many of these short sales the seller, not understanding there is a big difference between a traditional Real Estate transaction and a short sale hires any ole Realtor® they happen to come across to represent them.

One the other side of the coin, there are also plenty of Real Estate agents that see the growing number of short sales coming available for sale and realize there is a lot of money to be made.

The problem however, is that many of these agents are flying by the seat of their pants and have done nothing to educate themselves on the ins and outs of closing a short sale.

As a Realtor® who has been successfully closing short sales for almost four years, this is one of my biggest pet peeves! How anyone can look a desperate seller in the face and take on a listing to sell their home with no short sale expertise is just beyond me. It pisses me off when I see a new short sale listing hit the market and know the agent has no track record with this type of transaction.

There are many Realtors® that are putting the noose around their own neck. In desperate times people do desperate things. The end result is that on many occasions consumers get very poor advice that can cost them dearly.

Realtors® that do not have short sale expertise could really do themselves a favor by referring the business out to an agent that is qualified to get the job done.

You may be wondering why this has become such a passion of mine? The answer is simple. Short sales have become stigmatized because there are numerous Real Estate agents and buyers that have been involved in deals where the listing agent did not know what they were doing. The end result for a number of different reasons is a sale that didn’t happen. This leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Going forward it makes it harder for the agents that do know what they are doing to find buyers for the short sales they are marketing.

Below I am going to touch on all the things you should look out for in trying to successfully complete a short sale whether you are in Massachusetts or another state.

To continue reading see Realtor short sale lawsuit.