bostonbubble.com

[bsg61]

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2016/07/08/house-hunting-greater-boston-good-luck/DgOt0DeBaQBtmFRaOweHfI/story.html#comments

Interesting how they mention Malden:

"Malden, which has become popular with buyers priced out of neighboring communities, had 10 condominiums under $500,000 for sale at the end of May and seven single-family homes."

I went to Zillow.com and did a search for Malden homes for sale under 600K.
For Sale: 47 homes which includes 1 foreclosure.
Pre-foreclosure homes: 56
Foreclosures:

Medford: homes under 600K.
For sale: 37
Pre-Foreclosure: 25
Foreclosed: 5

The more "desirable" communities have less foreclosures but even in Watertown where reportedly refugees from Cambridge are fleeing, there are 22 homes for sale under 600K, and there are 7 pre-foreclosures, and 1 foreclosure.

Being a novice (and a renter), I am not sure what this means but I think the numbers are telling….

[RealEstateCafe]

Do those pre-foreclosure tallies surprise anyone else? Hangover from "lost decade" in housing, ie. banks finally ready to dump long delinquent loans, or are they a sign of troubles ahead?

If you're a first-time homebuyer, this hype needs to come with a WARNING LABEL and historical context:

"“Buyers are having to use every additional dollar worth of purchasing power they are getting from these historically-low interest rates to close a deal.”

http://bit.ly/IntenseRE

Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Shiller, who coined the phrase, "irrational exuberance," began calling today's overheated market totally artificial in 2013. Around that time, Boston.com wrote that record low interest rates have "juiced" purchasing power by 33%.

DISCUSS: Is a toxic combination of (1) artificial purchasing power, (2) investors, (3) foreign buyers, (4) behavioral economics, (6) return of irresponsibly low down payments, (6) conflicts of interest, (7) BLIND bidding wars, ( pocket listings, and other (9) "games real estate agents play" set the stage for buyer's remorse when rising interest rates pulling the punch bowl away from the table over the next 18 months?

Friday, July 29th marks the 20th anniversary of a real estate roundtable at the Real Estate Cafe featuring Ralph Nader and a gathering of real estate consumer advocates. Should we use the occasion to restart conversations about reforming the real estate industry? We're already doing that via Twitter, and you can become part of the conversation by using the hashtag #RE2020.

Today's big headline: Canadians are following Singapore's lead by taxing #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders -- Should Cambridge, Boston, Massachusetts become the next market to do the same?

http://bit.ly/BC_RESpecTax
_________________
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

[Guest]

“The train has left the station, and anyone who waits is missing it,” “It’s not a matter of waiting. It’s not coming. It doesn’t exist.” -- Mary Gillach


One question: Who the F Mary Gillach thinks she is to give out such statement?

[Guest]

Here's a link to Mary & her team.

http://www.thegillachgroup.com/meet-the-team/

Not sure how Boston Globe journalists & correspondents choose their sources, but would like to some research on the effect the real estate soon / cheerleaders have on things like BLIND #BiddingWars. When the slowdown begins to unfold, will we see a replay of what happened in 2008 when the market peaked:

http://bit.ly/Misled2014

While "Bluestone and others worry about long-term consequences if the current shortage continues," maybe a DIY generation of first-time buyers should start their own movement. A year ago, a guest column in the Huffington Post asked if it was time for a nationwide Housing Justice movement. Locally, Millennials have responded, see @OurHousingLab on Twitter.

VOTERS want leadership on the issue, but it's not getting much airtime at RNC or DNC:

http://bit.ly/RElect2016

To their credit, the CFPB is expending their reach into the industry, but it's not far enough and seems to be focused at the wrong end of the housing ladder:

http://bit.ly/TrackDirtyRE

What to do next?

Rather than simply asking which city, region, state will to tax #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders next, should we host a virtual town hall meeting(s) and invite activists from Vancouver to explain how they mobilized support? With so much money at stake ($2M/wk in #BiddingWars premiums in Cambridge, Mass alone), we could crowdfund a friendly competition between cities that would benefit from similar policies designed to slow speculation and protect local homebuyers.

FRIENDLY COMPETITION: CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

What about inviting selected cities on East Coast and West Coast to compete? Seattle vs Boston (like the 2015 Super Bowl), Cambridge vs Silicon Valley (think Harvard & MIT vs Stanford & UC Berkeley). Who else?

[RealEstateCafe]

"Guest" comment above was posted from my cellphone, so no intention to hide my identity.

Instead, implore BostonBubble readers to turn this conversation into action by casting your vote:

IDEA STARTER: Let's host a virtual town hall meeting on Friday, 7/29/16 to learn more about Vancouver's new tax on foreign buyers and explore hosting a friendly competition to encourage other cities to do the same.

http://bit.ly/LearnRESpecTax

#RE2020
_________________
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]

I thought that name looked familiar. Strangely enough I happened upon her ad on craigslist yesterday:

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/rej/5690901731.html

[bsg61]

Per Zillow:

Arlington, Homes under 600K
For Sale: 15 including 1 foreclosure
Pre-Foreclosures: 6
Foreclosues: 2

Stoneham, Homes under 600K
For Sale: 15
Pre-Foreclosures: 9
Foreclosed: 1

Waltham, Homes under 600K
For Sale: 35
Pre-Foreclosures: 24
Foreclosed: 1

Jamaica Plain, Homes under 600K
For Sale: 10
Pre-Foreclosure: 8