bostonbubble.com

[RealEstateCafe]

Seen Tim Logan's story yesterday in the Boston Globe? Another meaningless off-season set of stats, or something so fundamental that it's time for local real estate agents to stop hyping the market (and blind bidding wars), particularly via taxpayer supported housing counseling agencies and credit unions who have fiduciary duties to their members? See post to LinkedIn with link to Boston Globe's headline:

http://bit.ly/TepidBosRE_101


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INVITE: If any homebuyers are available tonight or this weekend, would love to celebrate this important turning point as we turn into 2020:

"Home prices have either peaked or plateaued in many areas and could moderate further in the months ahead if supply levels grow.”

Am also interested in hearing from babyboomers who want to time the sale of their property given ominous predictions that we're entering the Great Senior Sell-Off:

http://bit.ly/SrSellOff

If you hope to sell a luxury single-family home in the Boston suburbs, looks like it's already too late to time the top of the market. See tweet from this day last year, 12/27/18, to put this year's "tepid" pace in context:

http://bit.ly/NovSlump2018

EXCERPT:

#LuxRE: Across MA. so far in 4Q2018, analysis of SF sales $2.5M or more shows

4 in 10 homes sold for more than 10% off;

55% sold $250K or more off original asking price;

15 homes, or about 1 in 5, sold for $1M — yes, $1 MILLION — or more below original asking price.
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[bsg61]

Can't read the Globe article as I'm not a subscriber and over the limit....I can imagine what it says though. Yeah, no one can afford the current inflated prices so it's becoming a "buyer's market".

If interest rates remain low or go even lower (like POTUS wants) will prices in this area adjust significantly enough to become affordable?

See article in NYT: "Mortgage rates below 1% put Europe on alert for housing bubble"

"Money is so cheap — a 20-year mortgage can be had in Paris or Frankfurt at a rate of less than 1 percent — that borrowers are flocking to buy apartments and houses. And institutional investors, seeing a chance for lucrative returns, are acquiring swaths of residential real estate in cities across Europe."

“The risks are real, because negative interest rates in Europe are cemented,”

Is the U.S. next?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/17/business/europe-housing.html

[RealEstateCafe]

@bsg61 -- Appreciate your question, haunted might be a better word as I've thought about it repeatedly this past year because of pressure out of the White House to reduce interest rates.

Am developing an outline to respond to you, but would prefer to hear from others first.

Anyone on BostonBubble got expertise in Macro-Economics to put this economic cycle into context, and translate into advice for buyers and sellers in 2020?
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[RealEstateCafe]

REQUEST FOR FEEDBACK: Attended a leading real estate conference yesterday online and asked the moderate to poll agents attending about when they expected the next BUYER's MARKET. Share their response on twitter via a poll which ends just before 5pm, today 8/5/20:

Please vote and retweet or share with other homebuyers

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CROWDSOURCING: DIY #Homebuyers, a poll of real estate agents at #InmanCONNECT revealed that 50% believe we'll in #BuyersMarket by 2022.

Given that, would you suspend your househunt until then, '21 or at least refrain from #BiddingWars?

https://bit.ly/Poll_BuyersMarket2022
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[bsg61]

Ugh. I am hoping/planning to move/buy in the Boston area in 2021. I hate moving so I want to stay put for a long time once I move. Here's hoping I don't have to wait until 2022 for a long overdue "correction".

No, I do not have the stomach for a bidding war.

[RealEstateCafe]

@bsg61 -- Do you already live in Boston? If not, might be wise to rent and see where the housing market is this time next year as @CoreLogicInc
forecast -- housing prices to decline 6.6% nationwide by May 2021 & metro Boston down by 11.7%!

If they are correct, that's 1% per month which some might say is incredulous, unless they pass to consider that record low interest rates have juiced purchasing power by more than that amount and the state has the HIGHEST unemployment in the nation -- 17.4%!

https://bit.ly/17pctUnemployedMASS
_________________
Bill Wendel
The Real Estate Cafe
Serving a menu of money-saving services since 1995
97a Garden St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-661-4046
realestatecafe@gmail.com
http://realestatecafe.com/blog
http://twitter.com/RealEstateCafe

[kiloik]

I respect your point, but I can't entirely agree with it. While most business sectors are experiencing losses after the coronavirus pandemic, the real estate industry in Boston is operating as usual.

[Guest]

Therefore, I advise all my friends to start ramping up savings plan so as not to miss a good opportunity to purchase housing. Currently, the Boston real estate market has incredibly low mortgage interest rates. You can get a mortgage loan for 30 years at a fixed rate of 3.29%. Two weeks ago, rates fell, reaching a historic low.

[admin]

[Guest]

Condo unit in my South End neighborhood went on the market for $1.345M 3 months ago. They paid $1.2M 2 years ago for it. After many open houses and
price drops, it's now $1.1M. Less than what they paid. And they'll have to pay
commision. They moved out a few weeks ago, so they will be getting deperate.