Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

The following are brief summaries of the latest real estate news in Massachusetts and around the United States to keep home buyers informed. 

A couple of weeks ago two Buyers Brokers Only, LLC home buyers closed on Massachusetts homes on consecutive days with fixed, 30-year mortgage interest rates of less than 3.5 percent. One couple were first-time home buyers and the other couple were moving to a newer, more modern, home.

Mortgage interest rates may not be that low again in their lifetime; however, not everyone thinks it is a bad thing for the real estate market, especially hot markets, such as in Greater Boston, where home prices have been rapidly rising over the past year and real estate inventory is tight.  

Burlington, Massachusetts, a suburban town about 25 minutes north of Boston and 35 minutes south of the New Hampshire border, is home to many industries, retailers and a diverse real estate market.  

Burlington, MA is close to the junction of Routes 3 and 128 and not far from Interstate 93, making it a popular commuter location for Massachusetts home buyers. Burlington is bordered by Bedford, MA; Wilmington, MA; Woburn, MA; and Lexington, MA. It is about 12 miles from Boston, and it is 224 miles from New York City.

The number of Massachusetts foreclosure petitions – the first step in the Bay State foreclosure process – declined 86 percent in May compared to May 2012, leaving little doubt that the Massachusetts foreclosure crisis is history. 

The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported June 20, 2013 that there were only 248 foreclosure starts, the first time the number of foreclosure petitions fell below 250 since The Warren Group started collecting foreclosure data in 2006.  

While the media and the real estate industry earlier this week trumpeted the fact that single-family home sales reached the highest level since 2006 in May 2013 the more important number for Massachusetts home buyers is the jump in the median price of homes compared to May 2012.

After reports last year about how affordable homes were historically speaking, the Massachusetts real estate market heated up. Now that home prices have increased and mortgage interest rates have begun to rise recently home buyers, especially first-time home buyers, are feeling squeezed in a market still lacking sufficient inventory.  

The number of advertised auction notices in Massachusetts plunged 75 percent in April, as well as other types of foreclosure activity, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported June 5, 2013.

There were 348 auction announcements in April, down more than 75 percent from 1,403 in April 2012. Auction notices through the first four months of the year are down 74 percent to 1,450 from 5,577 during the same period in 2012. It appears that the chance to buy a foreclosure is about over for most Massachusetts home buyers. Investors will pounce on anything halfway decent, and properties that need substantial work are not usually a good fit for first-time home buyers. 

A recent Boston Real Estate Now blog post on the competitiveness of the real estate market in the Greater Boston Area indicated that "roughly 15 percent" of Greater Boston home buyers "waived the inspection contingency" in their offer to purchase.

While the median price of a single-family home increased 10.5 percent statewide in April 2013 Walpole, Massachusetts saw its median price for a single-family home decline 20.4 percent, according to data from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR).

The median price of a single-family home in Walpole, MA stood at $410,000 in April 2013, down from $515,000 in April 2012. During the first four months of 2013, the median price of a single-family home declined 14.4 percent, from $450,000 in 2012 to $385,000. 

The fact that rents in the Greater Boston Area are expensive isn't news, but the rate at which rents are rising might be a bit of a surprise for those individuals comtemplating entering the real estate market as first-time home buyers. 

Rents in the Boston Area increased 5.5 percent in May 2013, increasing faster than all other metro areas tracked except Miami, according to a report release by real estate Web site Trulia. Miami rents increased 6.4 percent in May.

NEWS ALERT: The Massachusetts Association of Realtors pending sales numbers were not accurate. The post is below. We will update this post or write a new post as soon as the numbers are corrected.  Please see what Banker & Tradesman wrote.

MA Governor Deval Patrick is asking local banks to participate in an initiative that would provide 10,000 mortgages over the next five years to Massachusetts first-time home buyers, several media outlets reported June 10, 2013. 

Called the Massachusetts Housing Ownership Compact, the plan is for local banks to provide mortgages loans for home buyers with household incomes that fall below the median income in their geographical areas, Boston.com reported. 

The median price of a single-family home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts increased 14.2 percent in April compared to April 2012 while sales increased nearly 44 percent, according to data compiled by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. 

The median price of a single-family house in Shrewsbury increased from $300,000 in April 2012 to $342,500 in April 2013. Through the first four months of 2013, median price rose 9.7 percent, from $300,000 in 2012 to $329,000.