Witches In Real Estate
Well, I never once thought I’d write about witches in real estate, but the Wall Street Journal video below shows how foreclosure buyers in Massachusetts are using witches for house cleansings.
The rest of the country must think we’re nuts.

After an up-and-down year which saw sales, and optimism, surge in the spring only to suffer setbacks in the fall, realtors, brokers and others on the residential side of the market are showing guarded optimism for 2011 according to Banker & Tradesman Realtor survey. Here are more detailed results from what we reported yesterday.
Overall economic outlook:
60% [...]

Massachusetts home sales over the first eight months of 2010 are up more than 9 percent over the comparable period in 2009. In addition, the median price of a single-family home is up 3.9 percent in August to $315,000 from $303,000 a year earlier.
On a month-to-month basis, condominium sales were up 13.2 percent compared to [...]

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors says pending single-family home sales dropped by 10 percent in August, compared with last year.
But the group’s president, Kevin Sears, says a federal tax credit inflated last year’s sales, making that 10 percent drop less worrisome.
Excerpt from the Massachusetts Assoc. of Realtors:
The number of condos put under agreement in August [...]

According to a new study 50% MA home buyers in 2009 were made by first-time buyers.
February 10, 2010 – A new study on Massachusetts home buyers and sellers found that over 50 percent of all homes purchased in the Bay State in 2009 were made by first-time home buyers (compared to 47 percent nationally). [...]

The following is an article by Colleen Sullivan a staff writer for Banker & Tradesman:
Caution is the byword for 2010, with professionals across the residential real estate industry expressing only mild hopes for improvement in the markets this year, according to a recent Banker & Tradesman/Bannon & Co. reader survey.
Single-family homes are the bright [...]

Beacon Hill condo sales data, comparing ‘09 with ‘08
Beacon Hill Condo Sales – ‘09
Beacon Hill Condo Sold Listings: 176
Beacon Hill Avg. $: $692,789
Beacon Hill Median $: $510,000
Beacon Hill Avg. $/SF: $705
Beacon Hill Avg. DOM: 130
Beacon Hill Condo Sales – ‘08
Beacon Hill Condo Sold Listings: 219
Beacon Hill Avg. $: [...]

From the WSJ: 1 in 4 Borrowers Under Water
The proportion of U.S. homeowners who owe more on their mortgages than the properties are worth has swelled to about 23% …
Home prices have fallen so far that 5.3 million U.S. households are tied to mortgages that are at least 20% higher than their home’s value [...]

When was the last time you heard the words “construction began yesterday” on any project, let alone a major housing project?
Quick calculation: $64 million divided by 130 artist live-in studios = $492,307 per unit.
Not sure that adds up to “affordable,” but, heck, let’s be thankful at least something is getting built these days.

John posted earlier today about the Nouvelle at Natick auction. Now check out the comments in Nouvelle’s local newspaper in Framingham. They make good points about 1. The condo fees 2. The taxes.
This wasn’t necessarily a deal for your average penny-pinching homeowner. So don’t regret too much you didn’t make it to the [...]