Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

When buying a home, there are certain Massachusetts real estate terms that may be confusing or misleading to homebuyers, especially first-time homebuyers. Learning the terminology is important for a potential homebuyer to make an informed home-buying decision.

One common misconception among homebuyers is that the assessed value and market value of a house are the same, or have some sort of correlation. The fact is that assessed value has absolutely no correlation to market value. In order to understand the difference between the assessed value and market value of a home, it is important to know what the terms mean.

For the third time time, Buyers Brokers Only, LLC has earned the Angie's List Super Service Award. For 2013, the award was given to service companies that maintain superior service ratings and reviews from November 1, 2012 through October 31, 2013. Only about 5 percent of real estate companies in the Boston market rated on Angie's List received the reward.

Massachusetts home buyers will want to take into consideration the total cost of purchasing a home. Besides the price of a home and the cost of borrowing, as well as other costs, home buyers will want to consider real estate taxes in the city or town they plan to buy a home in. 

Local real estate tax rates vary throughout Massachusetts; however, there are some limitations to a city's or town's ability to raise property taxes. 

The real estate world had a temper tantrum after Realtor.com launched a pilot real estate agent-ranking program in Boulder, Colo. and Las Vegas called AgentMatch. The reasons varied, but many traditional real estate firms and their agents just didn't want Realtor.com using multiple listing service (MLS) data to rank real estate agents. 

Massachusetts home buyers should know home inspectors do not check smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors during a home inspection; however, state law requires home sellers have smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors checked by their local fire department before the sale of their home.

Despite the comfort of knowing that the local fire department has inspected smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors for code violations before they purchased their home, new home buyers – now homeowners – can further protect themselves by considering the following fire safety tips at home.

No one thinks a fire at home will happen to them, yet according to data from the Massachusetts Fire Incident Reporting System, there were 31,229 fires reported in Massachusetts during 2012 that caused 39 civilian deaths, 322 civilian injuries, 531 fire service injuries and an estimated $257 million in property damage.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued new guidelines in July that prohibited dual agency in Federal Housing Authority (FHA) short sales; however, after pressure from the National Association of Realtors, HUD announced it has postponed the dual agency guidelines, according to an article in Inman News September 26, 2013

The new rules, revealed through a letter to mortgage servicers in July, were suppose to take effect October 1, 2013 and would have prohibited brokers and agents from representing both buyers and sellers in FHA short sales. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) opposed the new guidelines. HUD's new, now postponed, guidelines state, "To meet [Pre-foreclosure Sales] Addendum requirements, brokers and their agents may only represent the buyer or the seller, but not both parties."

Many Massachusetts home buyers already desire homes close to public transportation, but the Bay State's gas tax hike that went into effect July 31, 2013 may increase the popularity of such homes.  

According to a study released March 20, 2013 by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the National Association of Realtors (NAR), Boston real estate values during the last recession performed 129 percent better on average if they were located near public transportation with high-frequency service.

The number of homes listed for sale across the U.S. increased by 4.3 percent in June to 1.9 million homes, the highest level in the last year, Realtor.com reported July 15, 2013. 

Nationally, the number of homes listed for sale stood 7.3 percent below year ago levels; however, the year-over-year decline stood at 18.6 percent in February 2013. June was the sixth straight month real estate inventories rose. 

Boston homeowners didn't get the memo.

This current Massachusetts real estate market has seen a significant increase in demand in home buyers looking to purchase over the past year. At the same time the number of homeowners willing to sell has plummeted, causing a dramatic decrease in inventory.

Many factors play a role in the condition of any real estate market, including, but not limited to, the economy, interest rates and employment; however, the most important factor is supply vs. demand. 

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

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.