Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

A New Year's resolution is a promise that you make to yourself to start doing something good or stop doing something bad on the first day of the year.

The start of 2014 is a great opportunity for Massachusetts first-time home buyers to start making home-buying decisions that are in their best interest and resolve not to make bad home-buying choices just because other home buyers are doing it. 

Here are three resolutions for first-time home buyers in Massachusetts. 

The price of a single-family home in Marshfield, Massachusetts increased through October 2013, according to data compiled by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

From January through October 2013, the median price of a single-family home in Marshfield, MA increased 6.77 percent to $355,000 compared to $332,500 during the same ten-month period in 2012. In October 2013, the median price increased 30 percent to $390,000 from $300,000 in October 2012.

From January through October 2013, the price of a single-family home in Dunstable, Massachusetts decreased compared to the same period in 2012, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

The median price of a single-family home in Boxborough, Massachusetts increased 15.44 percent in October 2013, but home prices declined from January through October, according to data provided by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. 

The median price in October increased to $544,000 from $471,250 in October 2012; however, bucking the statewide trend, from January through October, the median price of a single-family home in Boxborough, MA decreased 7.9 percent from $520,000 to $478,938 during the same ten-month period in 2012. 

U.S. pending home sales increased slightly in November, with monthly increases in the South and West offseting declines in the Northeast and Midwest, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) reported December 30, 2013.

The Pending Home Sales Index (PHSI), as the NAR refers to it, is a forward-looking indicator based on contract signings. Nationally, pending home sales inched up 0.2 percent in November from October, but were 1.6 percent below November 2012. This data reflect contracts, but not actual real estate closings.

Real estate industry pundits can argue about the reasons why, but there isn't any denying that the foreclosure crisis that gripped Boston for several years ended in 2013.

Lenders initiated 230 foreclosure petitions – the first step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts – in 2013 compared to 890 foreclosure petitions in 2012, a decline of 74.15 percent, The Boston Globe reported January 1, 2014. The foreclosure peitions were the fewest since 2003. 

Following most municipalities in the Bay State, the price of a single-family home in Marshfield, Massachusetts increased through October 2013, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

From January through October 2013, the median price of a single-family home in Marshfield, MA increased 6.77 percent to $355,000 compared to $332,500 during the same ten-month period in 2012. In October 2013, the median price increased 30 percent to $390,000 from $300,000 in October 2012.

Massachusetts home buyers know – some all too well – that real estate inventory in the Bay State in 2013 was very low, making it difficult for even those willing to pay top dollar to land a home. It was an especially difficult market for first-time home buyers, who had to compete with many cash-strong investors and move-up buyers. 

Will Massachusetts home buyers face a less frenzied real estate market in 2014? Maybe. 

The median price of a single-family home in Braintree, Massachusetts has increased through October 2013, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

Despite the number of Massachusetts home buyers scrambling to purchase a home before interest rates increase further, the state's lack of real estate inventory, combined with price increases, has finally slowed down the pace of single-family home sales. 

Massachusetts single-family home sales declined 2 percent in November, the first time year-over-year homes sales decreased since April 2013, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported December 30, 2013.

In October 2013, the median price of a single-family home in Hingham, Massachusetts increased by 7.12 percent compared to October 2012, according to data tracked by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

The median price for a single-family home in Hingham, MA in October 2013 increased to $707,500 from $660,500 in October 2012. Bucking the statewide trend, the median price of a single-family home during the first ten months of 2013 decreased .08 percent compared to the same period in 2012. Through October 2013, the median price was $645,500 compared to $645,000 for a single-family home during the same ten-month period in 2012.