The market data speaks for itself here. Condos in Boston’s top neighborhoods are moving and they are moving for more than last year. If you were thinking about selling last year but were scared, don’t wait this one out because there are buyers out there!
Back Bay 2010
15 Condo’s sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,979,553
Avg. Price/Ft: $1137
Back Bay 2009
7 Condo’s Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,255,929
Avg. Price/Ft: $946
Beacon Hill 2010
4 Condo’s Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $453,000
Avg. Price/Ft: $694
Beacon Hill 2009
0 Condo’s Sold
South End 2010
12 Condo’s Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $542,042
Avg. Price/ft: $596
South End 2009
2 Condo’s Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $370,000
Avg. Price/ft: $523
There are only 51 days left until the First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit runs out. The extended tax credit deadline means you have to have your P&S signed by April 30th. So far out of top 7 Boston neighborhoods 190 condos have been sold under $500k (a typical threshold for first time buyers). If you’re interested in taking advantage of this tax credit before time runs call me this week to get started! 617-449-3642
The Real Estate Wars between Tom Brady and wife Gisele maybe done for the time being, but it’s far from over. Tom Brady’s house has been pulled off the market after 144 days without a single price drop. The monster home with over 5300 sq. ft. of space and priced at $10.9 million has been marked as withdrawn from the MLS. So are we likely to see this property come back on sometime soon? I think so, I’m surprised no one picked up this property already considering the owner. I guess until the next round we will just have to wait and see who wins this war.
The spring Boston condo market has arrived early this year! In the past week alone, 77 new condos have come on the market in Boston’s major neighborhoods. The majority of these new condos have come on the market in Back Bay, South End and South Boston. These 3 neighborhoods alone account for 63 of the new listings. It’s important to keep in mind that these lists don’t include new development condos. If you’re thinking of purchasing this spring you might want to start looking now, so as to not miss out on what’s coming on the market. If you’re thinking of listing your property for sale, I can tell you our office is swamped with buyers looking to purchase homes in these neighborhoods. Call us today to find out what your home can fetch, or email as contact@backbayrealtygroup.com
First 10 days of February 2010 market data:
Back Bay 2010
11 Listings Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,705,818
Avg. Price/ft: $1,010
Back Bay 2009
3 Listings Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,804,632
Avg. Price/ft: $1,115
Beacon Hill 2010
2 Listings Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $393,500
Avg. Price/ft: $766
Beacon Hill 2009
0 Listings Sold
Avg. Sale Price:
Avg. Price/ft:
It would seem that buyers are looking sooner this year than last year. Prices might be down slightly but inventory is moving.
This week will be the first of a multipart series in how to find the leak you may have in your toilet. This tip will help you if you have water puddling on the floor or you think your toilet might be running but aren’t sure.
Step 1: Clean the Toilet!
Cleaning the toilet and make sure the surrounding area is dry will go a long way towards making this process easier.
Step 2: Add Food Coloring to your toilet tank (red is easiest to spot) then flush the toilet.
After you’ve flushed the toilet give it a few minutes that take a dry paper towel and wipe around where the toilet meets the floor. If your paper towel turns red you now know where the leak is. (Most likely it’s the wax flange that the toilet rests on.)
Step 3: If you think the toilet might be running and want to be sure…
After you flush the toilet then add food die when the tank is half full. As the tank begins to fill, if it’s working properly the water should stay inside the tank. If you come back 45 mins later and see that water in the toilet bowl turning a red color you know that yes your water is running because you’ve got a leaky stopper.
January has come and gone, now it’s time to look back and see what happened in Back Bay and Beacon Hill sales. It’s looking pretty positive for the most part, but certainly looking better for Back Bay owners than Beacon Hill owners if you need to get your home sold.
Back Bay 2010
23 Condos Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,196,326
Avg. Price/ft: $960
Back Bay 2009
10 Condos Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,245,050
Avg. Price/ft: $871
Beacon Hill 2010
4 Condos Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $1,358,125
Avg. Price/ft: $1035
Beacon Hill 2009
6 Condos Sold
Avg. Sale Price: $280,500
Avg. Price/ft: $654
As part our sponsorship of Home Ownership, we’re going to be giving a weekly home improvement tip here on our blog. Seeing as it’s week one, we thought we’d start with something simple: Garbage Disposal Maintenance.
Now some of you may already know the tricks listed below, but for those that don’t, try these over the next year to keep your disposal smelling fresh and running clean.
Tip number 1: Throw some ice cubes down the disposal every once in a while! (Note: you must be running cold water when you do this.) The common misconception is that doing this will sharpen the blades, but that is not the case. What the ice cubes do, is clean off any gunk or food that maybe collecting on the edges of the blades. This allows the blades to slice food better in the future. For those that want bonus points, make the ice cubes from lemon juice.
Tip number 2: Have you ever wondered why your dishwasher sometimes smells? The answer is your garbage disposal vents into your dishwasher. So if you’ve ever opened your dishwasher after doing a load of dishes and wondered why despite looking clean, they didn’t smell so hot, you now have your answer. The cure for this problem is to put some citrus into the disposal. Take either a lemon or an orange and cut it into quarters or slightly smaller pieces and then start sticking the pieces down 1-2 at a time and run the disposal. The citrus will get rid of the odor and hang around for a little bit so when you just turn on the water you’ll get that sweet smell as it goes down the drain.
Well that’s all for week 1! We hope we have helped some of you and encourage everyone to test out our tips this weekend!
Today the FHA is set to announce that it’s raising its standards for the loans it’s willing to guarantee. The new guidelines have a few big changes, but the one that will impact everyone, is the rise in initial insurance premium paid. In the new guidelines, the amount of MIP (Mortgage Insurance Premium) paid will rise from 1.75% to 2.25% of the value of the loan. Additional restrictions now include: the seller’s ability to help pay closing costs and minimum credit score for down payments. The new loan guidelines say the maximum amount of closing costs that can be paid by the seller is now 3% reduced from 6%. There will also be a credit score requirement in order to get the attractive 3.5% down payment. Borrowers will need a credit score of at least 580 if they want to put only 3.5% down. So what does this all ad up to?
If you’re thinking about buying in the next year it would be best to do it sooner rather than later. The tougher standards for FHA loans won’t impact most people’s ability to get an FHA loan, but it will cost you more to get one. It’s best to try and get any potential purchase done before these new regulations kick in rather than waiting till later. The other reason to buy now rather than later, is rising interest rates. Below, I’ve included a graph of interest rates in Massachusetts for the past month. In this graph, you’ll notice that mortgage rates are on the rise. As of today the average for a 30-year fixed is higher than it was a month ago and if you think back to November rates were right around 5% or for some, below 5% you can see we’ve had quite an increase.
Don’t get caught paying more later than you would if you bought today!
Since it’s now 2010 or Twenty Ten, I thought it would be a good idea to see what happened in Boston condo market in the first 10 days of the new decade.
Back Bay Condos:
6 New Listings with (4/6 under $550k)
5 Under Agreement (3/5 over $1 Million)
6 Sold (3/6 under $400k 2/6 over 1.3 Million)
Beacon Hill Condos:
0 New Listings
3 Under Agreement (List Prices from $339k-$1.25 Million)
1 Sold ($827,500)
South End Condos:
2 New Listings ($335k and $699k)
3 Under Agreement (List Prices from $300k to $750k)
1 Sold ($300k)
My Take: Back Bay continues to be where the action is. It’s where the highest number of new homes on the market are located and where the highest priced sales are happening. There are higher priced homes on Beacon Hill than in Back Bay but more of them seem to be selling in Back Bay.
Boston Real Estate Market | chris | 
March 18, 2010 11:04 pm | 
Comments (0) 
Subscribe
