Well, if you have been waiting for the right time to purchase a home now might be a good time to get pre-approved and start shopping for a primary residence or possibly an investment property.  Rates hit another historic low today with rates dropping to 3.75% for a 30 year fixed rate.  This is incredible and obviously very helpful for potential buyers that have been on the sidelines.  With SOME NOT ALL homes having a fair asking price there is the potential to land a very attractive home for a very low price if your timing is right.  For instance, a home went on the market in Beverly, MA yesterday for $189k.  The house is located at 99 Corning Street in the COVE section of Beverly. Walking distance to Lynch Park, RIce Beach, Woodbury Beach and downtown Beverly.  The house does need work but this house fixed up with moderate updates is worth approximately $400k after renovations.  When I say renovations I am talking about adding $100k to the house.  Now you are at about $300k total and your home is worth $400k.  Not a bad day for a first time home buyer.  So get preapproved and go after a property.  Once your in the game life can get a whole lot better.

Click on the link to read more about the mortgage rates!

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/245292.aspx

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Beranke and his department released white papers related to the US Housing Market with respect to the Current Conditions and Future Policy Considerations.  In the Opening Statement Mr. Bernanke stated " The ongoing problems in the U.S. housing market continue to impede the economic recovery. House prices have fallen an average of about 33% from their 2006 peak, resulting in about $7 trillion in household wealth losses and an associated racheting down of aggregate consumption."  Declines of this magnitude have not been realized since the Great Depression. Compound that with another tough statistic regarding the ratio of home equity to disposable income.  Since 2007 the ratio of home equity to disposable personal income has declined 55%.  This is the greatest decline since the statistc was developed in the 1950's.

Click here to view the opening statements from the Federal Reserve!!!

The ideas to address the housing market are the following: 1)Create more jobs - Free Enterprise created by our Founding Fathers , 2) Due to a growing need for rental units in the U.S. the foreclosed homes can be converted into Rental Units. 2) Land Banks - this is a method used when low value properties that have been foreclosed on simply will not sell for any profit if presented on the open market. Cleveland and Detroit have these types of situations to name a few. 3) Increasing Loan Modifications, 4) Improving accountability with Mortgage Companies

The Condominium Housing Market in Essex County ended 2011 down on both units sold and price.  The drop in units sold was slightly greater than expected and this can be attributed to many Condo's were purchased in the peak market and now can't sell unless they lose a significant amount of money or bring money to the closing table.  Pricing is down by a few thousand dollars which can indicate that the luxury market may have influenced the stats. Some luxury markets however are down significantly from last year but are showing a sales price well above the new median of $193,250.

The 2011 Multifamily Housing Market ended the year with a mix of ups and downs.  From my personal experience I would have thought the Multifamily Housing Market would have ended the year flat or slightly up in terms of the number of units sold and the pricing to end the year would have been down slightly. Just the opposite happened in 2011.  Unit sales ended the year down nearly 19% from the previous year and Pricing ended the year up 10.5% to an adjusted median price of $215,000. 

Well 2011 has come to a close and we saw a reletively flat year in terms of home buying and selling as it relates to residential homes in Essex County.  A signficant amount of short sales and foreclosed homes dominated most of the single family market while some towns did have an increase in sales price or units sold the general conclusion for Essex County was a slight drop in Units sold and Price.

The National Association of Realtors pending home sales index (these are the homes under contract or sale is pending) rose 10% from a month earlier.  This was an increase from September 2011 to October 2011.  The big reason was and still is the low interest rates for a mortgage. 

Interesting comparison was showing the same statistics for Beverly, Salem, and Peabody.  These three towns increased the same 10% as the National Average. 

Check out our graph showing the pending home sales for September and October 2011!!

Check out our video on the real estate market as it compares statistics for Essex County and how it is similar and different then a couple of our most frequented towns in the area.  Single Family Homes are becoming much more affordable!!  12 houses under 250k in Beverly!!

http://youtu.be/7POem0QfJHE

As we have been indicating in our Housing Market Charts,  home prices on average are down approximately 4% across Essex County and that is consistent with the North East in general.  Home Sales are up from a year ago which is farily consistent with Essex County.  Some towns such as Beverly, Middleton, and Topsfield are up in both price and units.  Take a look at the National Assocation of Realtors stats for the entire United States.  Happy House Hunting!!

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/11092011_home_prices_sales.asp

This Chart shows the Sales Activity for our Top 10 Towns as it relates to MULTI FAMILY HOMES over a 1 year span.

(November 2, 2010 to November 2, 2011)

This chart shows the sales activity for CONDOMINIUM SALES for a 1 years span (November 2, 2010 to November 2, 2011)

Market Statistics for our Top 10 Towns on the North Shore

Single Family Homes

(November 2010 to November 2011)

Most of you have heard about the new revision made to the HARP Program but just in case here is a brief overview because I am on the fence about this one. HARP is an acronym for (Home Affordable Refinance Program) this was instituted by President Obama about 2 years ago.  It has done very little in terms of helping potential borrowers that are underwater on their mortgage. Basically if you remained current on your mortgage payment but lost significant equity due to the housing downturn and your loan was backed by Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae you could apply for a lower interest rate through the government and if you qualified you were able to keep your home and pay a lower monthly mortgage amount.  Now a second round of HARP has been put into motion and it has the following revisons:

This revision will try to achieve the following:

 1) Help 1.6 million borrowers refinance into a lower rate and be able to keep their home by December 2013.  To date approximately 894,000 borrowers have used the prior HARP standards. These borrowers had less than 20% equity in their homes.

 2) This revision applies to all loans backed by Fannie and Freddie Mac - Keep in mind that your loan must be under one of these institutions.  Check the status of your loan to see if you or someone you know can qualify

3) This revision will include borrowers that owe more than 125% of their homes value - This will take effect in the spring of 2012

 4) Appraisals and underwriting requirements to be less stringent - Currently a major hurdle is the appraisal process.  Many homes are getting a second or third appraisal because they are coming in lower than the anticipated price.  This can be an additional $1,000 out of the prospective borrowers pocketbook.  In addition to the appraisal is the underwriting process.  This can be painful for borrowers because many mortgage originators shy away from difficult borrowers because Fannie and Freddie Mac can force a lender to buy back a loan if underwriting flaws emerge. In response to that lenders are asking for extra documentation of incomes and scrutinizing every detail on the credit report, these extra steps lead to more costs and more denials of loans being processed. 

5) Loan fees will drop and possibly waived for borrowers who reduce their loan term - This is a nice bonus for borrowers.  If you use the HARP standards and have a 30 year fixed mortgage and then refinance into a 15 year or 10 year mortgage your origination fees could be waived.  That could save you up to $2,000 on your refinance.

Other tidbits about the mortgage industry that I thought were worth mentioning:

1) Core Logic a company that tracks 85% of all mortgages in the US, estimates that 20 million borrowers with equity in their homes could cut the interest rates on their loans by more than one percentage point if they could refinance.  Thats about a quarter of all the homeowners in the US.

2) Unfortunately, a refinance is treated like a brand new loan, refinancing is nearly impossible for another 8 million borrowers whose homes are worth less than their current mortgage unless they qualify for HARP

3) Goldman Sachs estimates that if current borrowers with a 30 year fixed rate loan backed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac were to refinance, they would save $24 billion annually.

4) According to Lender Processing Services a (publicly traded company), the mortgages currently entering the foreclosure process have been delinquent an average of 611 days.

For comments or just want to ask a question please contact me at mike@teamcotraro.com

Thanks 

From a 850 square foot ranch that needs a complete make over to palacial estate overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, Beverly, Massachusetts offers a wide variety of single family housing which helps create a divers culture and a creative landscape from the Danvers River to West Beach.  As of today October 3 the city of Beverly has a house for sale listed for 199k at 27 Carver Street ( the lowest price house in the city) conversly the highest price home is listed for 5.5 million located at 183 West Street.  27Carver Street needs a significant amount of updating but still offers 5 rooms 3 bedrooms and 1 full bath. You can walk to Livingstone Park, Obear Park, the Depot Train Station, the Bass River and the Danvers River.  183 West Street is located on the Manchester / Beverly line directly on the Atlantic Ocean with beautiful views of the islands and harbors.  This home offers 6,296 sf of living space on 1.42 acres of land. This home features 14 rooms 7 bedrooms, and 6 full baths.  Breathtaking architecture outside and inside the home

 OPPORTUNITY IS KNOCKING FOR A WIDE RANGE OF BUYERS AS RATES ARE LOW AND PRICES ARE REASONABLE!!!!

SOOO....ARE THESE HOMES SELLING IN BEVERLY???

YESSSSS!!!!!!

AS OF TODAY OCTOBER 3RD, 58 GLDDEN STREET IS UNDER CONTRACT WITH AN ASKING PRICE OF $219,000 AND 101 WEST STREET IS UNDER CONTRACT WITH AN ASKING PRICE OF 5 MILLION.  GLIDDEN STREET IS WALKING DISTANCE TO THE CUMMINGS CENTER AND BEVERLY GOLF AND TENNIS CLUB. IT IS A SHORT SALE. HOME OFFERS 8 ROOMS 3 BEDROOMS OVER 2,000 SF OF LVING SPACE.  101 WEST STREET  HAS DIRECT WATER VIEWS OF THE ISLANDS AND ATLANTIC OCEAN AND IS SITUATED ON WEST BEACH.  HOME INCLUDES 6,700 SF OF LVING SPACE ON 1 ACRE OF LAND. 14 ROOMS 6 FULL BATHROOMS AN AMAZING HOME.

Just sat down to compile some data about the housing market as it pertains to single family homes in 11 of  Team Cotraro's top selling towns.  Some interesting facts were found particulary with sales trends.  The median sales price in Wenham has decreased $81,000 from the same time last year while Middleton has increased $100,000. Boxford is down 47% in terms of number of units sold but is up $37,000 in terms of the median sales price. ( That is one of the stats that can alter the market).  Beverly remained flat from 2010 to 2011 losing less than 1/2% in sales price and actually increasing the number of units sold.  Peabody and Salem remained in the red for both units and sale price. Only Middleton and Topsfield stayed in the black or positive for both units sold and median sale price.  For more information please take a look at the charts provided. 

Came across an article today noting 10 of the most contaminated towns in America.  How does this happen? Well it can happen due to mining heavy metals such as lead are mined for different products such as components for the military. The lead is extracted from the ground but there are several tons of soil that are left behind with a level of lead. This is  the waste product and it is left behind in piles and piles of debris.  This is the case with Picher, Oklahoma (former town of Hall Of Fame baseball player Mickey Mantle).  Now Picher is down to only 6 residents in the entire town.  Other towns were used as dumping grounds for hazardous waste prior to 1976 when the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act was instituted.  An example of dumping hazardous waste in the waterways is the Love Canal in upstate NY.  Hazardous waste was dumped into Niagra Falls, NY. Approximately 220 families fled their homes due to high toxic levels.  Real Estate prices tumbled and the area was devestated for many, many years.  Other towns with severe contamination issues and consequently rock bottom real estate prices are the following: Three Mile Island  in Penn, Hinkley, CA, Libby, Montana, Times Beach, MO, Cheshire, Ohio, Cardin, OK, Rocky Mountain Arsenal, CO.  Many of these areas have been cleaned up but some are now ghost towns.  I think I will stay on the North Shore and enjoy our beautiful coastline and occasionally complain about a plastic bag in the water. HAHA. 

Recently had the opportunity to have my home undergo an Energy Assessment with help of an experienced technician who works with National Grid and Mass Save.  This assessment takes about 1.5 hours depending on the size of the house.  The technician will come out to your home and analyze the amount of energy being used efficiently and inefficiently throughout your home.  The analysis includes your heating system, lighting, windows, insulation, water heating use, appliances, pools, and spas to name a few.  The technician gives you a printout of all his data right at your house so there is no waiting around and gives you a cost benefit analysis right at your house. A great side bonus was FREE light bulbs and FREE shower heads!!  The technician changed out every lightbulb and replaced them with energy efficient, compact fluorecent bulbs. The bulbs are bright and work great! That yearly savings in energy cost is approximately $355 per year just in lighting.  He changed out the shower heads and this will also help reduce our volume of water and reduce our overall cost on a yearly basis.  An analysis was performed on how we can conserve more energy using more insulation in our walls and changing out some windows. The home energy assessment is free and the amount of information my wife and l learned about our home was very helpful.  There is a significant savings because of the  spending $400 we will add insulation in several rooms and in the attic. This will greatly improve our heating costs on a yearly basis. The process is painless and the information is excellent.   For more information go to www.masssave.com .

Still time to enjoy the North Shore Coast line!! Beverly, Salem, and Manchester harbors  are warm, clean, offer plenty of fun.  Grab some friends and head to Lynch Park, Brackenbury Beach,Salem Willows, or Singing Beach!!  Had the opportunity to view the coast on a Jetski this past summer.  Awesome time buzzing around Beverly Cove, West Beach, Manchester Harbor, Misery Island, Bakers Island, Salem Harbor and much more.  On the jetski you can get a close up view of the beautiful homes that accent the coast line. You can truly appreciate the architecture of these magnificent homes.  Seeing all of these homes along the rocky shores helps solidify why the North Shore is one the best places to live in the United States.