bostonbubble.com

[balor123]

[Tokyo Girl]

Why is the inventory in Boston getting lower now?
http://www.housingtracker.net/asking-prices/boston-massachusetts

SFH+Condo Inventory

Feb 2008 31,344

Feb 2009 23,805

[BelmontRenter]

[jad]

I'm not sure where Trulia gets their data, but the housing I've been tracking in Needham are selling for around 2006 (supposed peak) prices. A few that have come on the market in the last week are:

MLS 70877599 under agreement in 4 days, listing $759k, last sold in Oct 2006 for $750k.

MLS 70872755 under agreement in 2 days, listing $595k, last sold in Oct 2006 for $617k.

We'll see what they close for, but I don't think it will be 35% less than asking price given they went under agreement in less than a week. Neither appear to have had major updates since last sale.

Anybody else looking at homes in Needham seeing the 27.3% price per sq/ft decline that Trulia says is true in Needham? If so, send post a few examples with MLS number or address from MassDeeds.

I think you may find larger price drops at the very low end or the very high end, but a well maintained property in a good location - I'm just not seeing it yet. As I mentioned earlier, I think we will later this year / next year after sales volume plummets through the spring.

[JCK]

[admin]

[JCK]

If you're desperate to buy a nice SFH, it may be worth considering moving a bit further out, if you can handle the commute. Towns like Wayland are dropping a lot.

Once you get (much) outside 128, I think you're looking at a different market.

[john p]

I think when it comes to the suburbs, you have to think about the time a suburb earned its reputation. When I grew up in Lynnfield it was a very quiet town that had little farms sprinkled around the place. It is still a great place, but some of the nice pastoral areas now have houses shoehorned in. Saugus used to be pastoral and country in certain areas and then it got overbuilt. Lynnfield is now resembling Saugus of 25 years ago. Boxford is kind of how Lynnfield used to be 25 years ago. The towns that don't go bad, meaning they don't get all honkey tonk are those where people "get it", and want to be in say a Topsfield because it is tranquil and Norman Rockwellesque. I see more towns that have people that have no pride. You see businesses that are completely covered in asphalt and you get a clear view of a dumpster and you have tacky signs and it just looks like an armpit. These types of towns are usually a mess all around because people don't have good values. They have parking spaces that are too small so your car gets scratches from other people opening their doors, you have to worry about being rear ended or having pedestrians jump out in front of you because the spaces haven't been planned properly etc. To me, it is just unpleasant to see a physical embodiment of laziness, lack of pride, poor planning, etc.

Anyway, I would say that you'll see that there are certain towns that remain kind of the same, but other towns that have worn out their reputation. I remember going to this guys house in Hopkinton and was really impressed with his place and he told me that he got lucky because he got into Hopkinton early before it got discovered by the yuppies (and EMC had something to do with it as well...). Southboro was a nothing town, Medfield was a nothing town, Harvard, Hanover were nothing towns, etc. (meaning they weren't these prestigious bedroom communities). I think the potential of a place depends on how much honkey tonk it has and if you see the people that are there having pride in what they have. Even if they have a small place, do they take pride in it or not, that I think is a big tell sign as to whether they will turn good or trashy.

[bugelrex]

What do you guys think of this listing (It went into contract pretty quickly)


2 family in prime Newton area for 669k

http://www.hammondre.com/70877185

The seller appears to have priced it for a quick sale, is anyone familiar with this area and type of property

[Tokyo Girl]

Thank you guys.
My husband and I are living in Tokyo after getting sick of renting in Cambridge. We are planning to go back to Boston when the storm passed.
I am keeping my eyes on the "nice" suburbs like Newton, Belmont, Arlington and noticed the prices don't go down much,

and found this site!javascript:emoticon('')

At first, I thought that it is because the nice town people don't have to sell and the number of houses is limited in Boston area.

But I started suspecting there are some other reasons when I saw this article:

Realty Trac Vice President Discloses 70% Of All Foreclosures Are Not Shown On MLS!
http://rocktrueblood.blogspot.com/2009/02/realty-trac-vice-president-discloses-75.html

Boston is the only city showing the large inventory decline.
That's not happening at other cities like New York, Newark, Philly, SF, Seattle.
http://www.housingtracker.net/

Don't you think there is something going on in Boston?
javascript:emoticon('')

[JCK]

[melonrightcoast]

[admin]

[Tokyo Girl]

JCK,

Are you going to buy a foreclosure?
I will probably buy from a realtor, who only sells houses on MLS.
So, it matters to me.
If it is taking forever to put the foreclosures on the market, that is not going to affect the price much, while someone is living in the foreclosed home for free.

melonrightcoast,

I noticed that boston is ahead of the cycle, 4 years ago and thought that the price will go down earlier than CA, but i guess not, if the foreclosure or short sale process is so slow in MA for some reason.

and, if these people get rescued, while we are waiting, I'm afraid that we might not see much price decline after all.

[melonrightcoast]