Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide

For home buyers who missed the chance to purchase a foreclosure a few years ago when Massachusetts foreclosures and short sales were plentiful, a very small window of opportunity may be opening, according to data released June 5, 2014 by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.

The number of foreclosure petitions in Massachusetts increased 126.3 percent in April compared to April 2013. April's increase follows a 133.2 percent year-over-year increase in March. A foreclosure petition is the first step in the Massachusetts foreclosure process. Not every foreclosure petition filed will result in a completed foreclosure. In fact, with the increase in home prices over the last two years, some homeowners facing foreclosure may simply sell their homes to avoid foreclosure. 

Conventional wisdom among many real estate professionals is that Massachusetts home sales have declined for the past few months because of the lack of inventory, but some home buyers may just be fed up with the bidding wars in some communities. 

More home buyers are just refusing to make offers at or significantly over list price when too many list prices already appear overpriced. Home buyers are seeking alternatives, such as buying condominiums over single-family homes and considering cities and towns that have not been swept up in the bidding war hysteria. Home buyers may just be tired of hearing, "All offers due Tuesday by noon."

The median price for Massachusetts single-family homes sold in March increased 8.6 percent to $315,000 compared to $290,000 in March 2013, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported April 23, 2014. 

March marked the 18th consecutive month that monthly median home prices increased year-over-year. The median price in the first quarter increased 7 percent, from $285,000 in Q1 2013 to $305,000 during the first three months of 2014. The Warren Group collects sales and price information from the state's registries of deeds. 

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. 

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.

The Massachusetts real estate recovery continued in October.  

Single-family home sales rose again in October, increasing nearly 19 percent from October 2012, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported November 26, 2013.

Investors or first-time home buyers that were hoping to grab a foreclosure property to rehab in Massachusetts may only have a few opportunities left. 

The number of foreclosure deeds recorded statewide decreased from 6,491 foreclosure deeds in the first nine months of 2012 to 2,382 foreclosure deeds through September 2013, a 63 percent decline, The Warren Group reported October 29, 2013. Foreclosure deeds are the final step in the foreclosure process in Massachusetts.

Rising interest rates were expected by some to slow the red hot Massachusetts real estate market, but Bay State home buyers have not been deterred and home sales and prices have increased throughout 2013. 

Last month marked the best September for Massachusetts single-family homes sales since 2005, The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, reported October 22, 2013, and median prices increased in September, the third quarter and through the first nine months of the year. 

The price of a single-family home in Belmont, Massachusetts has increased in 2013, according to data provided by the Warren Group, the publisher of Banker & Tradesman. 

From January through August 2013, the median price of a single-family home in Belmont, MA increased 15.07 percent to $782,500 compared to $680,000 during the same eight-month period in 2012.  For August 2013, the median price increased to $818,000 from $662,500 in August 2012. 

The median price for a single-family home in Braintree, Massachusetts increased 7.52 percent during the first eight months of 2013; however, the median price declined 4.88 percent in August compared to the previous year, according to data provided by The Warren Group. 

The median price of a Braintree, MA single-family house stood at $330,000 January through August 2012. The median price increased to $354,800 during the same period this year. The median price in August stood at $366,200 compared to $385,000 in August 2012.