Archive for the ‘Advice for Sellers’ Category

Home Buying Tips – Things to think about to ensure your pre-approved loan

Friday, July 27th, 2012

Tips on buying a Boston or Brookline home.Most individuals begin searching for a new home when they have a newly added bundle of joy in their family, or are expecting one soon. In most cases, the house that they are currently residing in has become too small, or will once the baby arrives; therefore, a larger house is needed, as is a good neighborhood to raise the children.

Finding the right place to live for the family.

Finding a good neighborhood can sometimes be difficult, but it isn’t hard when you search for Brookline homes for sale. While the city life of Boston may be great, not everyone wants to raise a family in such a large metropolitan area. This is why Allston-Brighton is a neighborhood of choice for families. There are plenty of coffee and tea shops, boutiques and restaurants.

Jumping right in is a mistake…

Too often home seekers are too eager to get that new home that they don’t truly think about the consequences of their eagerness. Jumping on the first or second house that you see that fits what you require can be a mistake. Many go searching for Allston condos without even knowing how much they can afford. Sometimes, the combination of eagerness and unknowing finances can turn into a huge mess resulting in more trouble than it is worth.

Get pre-approved before you seek a home!

With all that being said, it is always good to know what you can afford before you go looking. This ensures that you don’t waste time looking at and falling in love with beautiful homes that are completely out of your price range. Often, individuals will purchase a home that costs too much without thinking about what could happen down the road. Getting pre-approved for an element in Allston will ensure that you spend time looking at residences that you can afford, but that also match your requirements.

To find out more about what we can find for you, contact Metro Realty Corp today!

Helpful tips when looking for a home inspector

Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

Tips on having a home inspector inspect your Boston home.When a person has decided to purchase a home, it is time to look for a qualified home inspector with which to work. There are a few considerations for finding a good home inspector.

They should be familiar with the area where the home purchase may occur. Browsing the Boston real estate market will uncover some great homes, perhaps one of the many Boston condos or something in the Brighton homes for sale listings. Regardless of the neighborhood, the inspector should know the history of that community.

Some states require a certification to become a home inspector. Massachusetts does require licensing for home inspectors, so make sure the inspector does have a license. However, a license does not mean a person has the depth of experience desired. A potential home buyer has a brief interaction with the home inspector and must make their purchase decision considering their findings and report.

When working with Boston real estate agents, ask for at least 3 recommendations for a home inspector. Do not settle on just one. Don’t be afraid to put the realtor on the spot and ask questions about the inspectors they recommend. The goal is to find a quality inspector, not just a friend of the realtor’s family.

When first meeting the inspector, a buyer should act as if they are hiring them for a job (which, in essence, they are). Ask to see their resume and any references. Make sure this is the inspector for the job. After they have performed the service and delivered their report is a poor time to discover a lack of experience or attention to detail.

Ask to see a sample of their report. The format and style should be readable, understandable yet comprehensive. The report is likely the only “product” a person will receive from the home inspector.

When one is looking at Boston homes for sale, keep in mind the importance of a quality home inspection to the decision to purchase. If one is happy with the home inspection and the resulting report, home ownership in Boston or the surrounding area will be a fulfilling experience for a long time.

Positive Market Trends, Still A Ways To Go

Friday, March 16th, 2012

I came across a great blog today regarding news on where the market stands today, where it’s going and what needs to happen in order for it to reach it’s full potential.  The bottom line is that the market has definitely been on the upswing of late and it can be seen and felt locally with the excellent year over year volume numbers we’ve been experiencing so far in 2012.

Click this link to read more about the market trends: http://actvra.in/xkF.

More Buyers and Sellers Using an Agent

Thursday, February 9th, 2012

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) recently released their annual "2011 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, MA Report."  There are many great figures and statistics that can be found in the report of which a few stood out to me:

~ 94% of buyers in MA used an agent to assist in the process of buying a home in 2011.  Nationally, that figure has risen 20% over the last 10 years. 

~ "For sale by owner" (FSBO) home sales made up only 10% of national home sales in 2011 and only 5% of homes sold in MA in 2011.  Of the 10% nationally, 40% of the sellers knew the buyer and in MA 100% of FSBOs knew the buyer. 

~ The average home sale price for FSBOs in MA was $325,500 compared to the average home sale price of $399,900 for homes sold using an agent. 

The moral of this story and what the trends clearly show is that buyers and sellers of real estate understand that the real estate market has become increasingly difficult to comprehend since the housing bubble "transition" in 2005.  One may contribute the increased complexity to the ever changing mortgage market (90% of purchases in 2011 had a mortgage) or possibly the increased scrutiny of appraisals (see my previous blog post titled "Understanding the Role of an Appraisal"). 

No matter what the reason, the fact remains that this is not the rubber stamp days of the late 90s and early 2000s.  If selling a home were like riding in a canoe, todays market would be considered a class 6 rapid vs the relatively calm waters of 10 years ago.  The stumbling blocks that face buyers and sellers today are too numerous to count and now more than ever it is important to have a qualified agent in your corner to help navigate the waterways. 

With a 9% Unemployment Rate and an Economy Slowly Recovering from Recession, Why are there no Apartments Available and Why are the Rents Actually Going Up?

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

It seems counterintuitive that with all of the doom and gloom we hear about regarding the economy in the media, and a high unemployment rate, that vacancy rates would be lower now than any time in over ten years.   You can’t rent an apartment if you do not have a job or the ability to pay for it, right?  The current market conditions in the Boston Area are reminiscent to me of when I started in the rental business in the late 1990’s.  The competition for apartments was fierce; there was little availability, apartments rented very quickly, and the tenants would invariably pay the full broker fee.   These conditions appear to be returning- with rents closing in on all-time highs.

A variety of factors could be behind the tight rental market and rising rents, including a resilient Boston area economy, a reluctance or inability of people to purchase homes, and an unfavorable supply/demand situation for those looking to rent.  Boston is home to world renowned Education and Medical Institutions which are highly resistant to economic downturn.  According to Governor Patrick,  Massachusetts has a lower unemployment rate than 44 of 50 states.  People are renting now in greater numbers by choice and some, out of necessity.  With home values continuing to decrease, people have an incentive to rent and wait for even lower prices still, and despite record low mortgage rates, people are having difficulty coming up with down payments, and/or qualifying for mortgages due to more stringent loan standards.  

These factors, in addition to an insufficient supply of new rental units coming on the market due to the availability and cost of land for building and a large influx of graduate students in the last ten years has resulted in the tight rental market that is showing no signs of letting up.

 

What Fee?

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Why would I pay a broker fee?  This has become an all too familiar question especially from those who are not from the Boston or New York area.  The broker fee is a service fee equal to one month’s rent that is paid by the tenant, landlord, or a combination of both.  The purposed of the fee is twofold. First and foremost, the fee is a function of supply and demand and secondly, it is a service fee for utilizing a premium service. 

In a city with 85 private colleges and uni­versities employing 70,000 people and attracting more than 360,000 students from all over the world, the laws of supply and demand are king. ( McSweeny & Marshall (2009). The Prominence of Boston Area College and Universities. Monthly Labor Review. Pg. 68) With rental demand at an all-time high and inventory at an all-time low, landlords have the upper hand.   Unfortunately, this means that renters have less negotiating power.  Typically, in today’s market tenants are paying 100% of the broker fee.

So what service exactly are you paying for? 

Having been in the business for over 25 years, Metro Realty has had the privilege of forming numerous exclusive relationships with fantastic management companies and property owners.  At Metro Realty we do our best to handpick only the best landlords.  Just as in any other service industry, we put you, the customer, first.  It is in our best interest to see that you are satisfied.  If you are lucky, you have not experienced a “slumlord.”  Unresolved issues such as leaky faucets, rodents, failed heating systems and unresponsiveness are several signs that you may not have a good landlord.  Our exclusive relationships with landlords allow us to better negotiate on your behalf while also leaving you with peace of mind that you will be taken care of without any additional hassles while renting.

In addition to finding you the best landlords, it is our job to find you the best apartments.  Metro Realty puts en emphasis on quality; apartments as well as agents.  All bias aside, I can assure you the quality of apartments that Metro Realty represents is far superior to our competition.  If you don’t believe me, try a couple other agencies first.  Not only will be you be impressed at the quality of our apartments, but at the caliber of our agents.   Sure, anyone can open up a door, but a good agent will save you both time and stress.  We try not to waste your time by showing you apartments that don’t fit your criteria.  While other agencies staff college students looking for a quick buck, Metro Realty’s agents are professionals.  Most of our agents have come from a customer service background and have had prior professional experience.   We are committed to finding you exactly what you are looking for while operating in a knowledgeable and honest manner.

While “No Fee” apartments may appear more attractive at first glance, proceed with caution.  “No Fee” apartments in a high demand city such as Boston are few and far between.  What you may be surprised to find out is that often “No Fee” apartments have the fee already built into the rent.  Additionally, these no fee apartments are likely to have steeper rent increases year after year instead of the one-time fee you would have paid through a real estate broker.  Of course there are always exceptions to the rules!

While the word “fee” doesn’t typically leave anyone feeling warm and fuzzy, hopefully, at the end of the day you have found value in your agent as well as some comfort knowing that you will be living in a fantastic apartment with a landlord that calls you back.  Take a break from perusing through endless Craigslist ads, and let us do the work for you.  This is our job and we are more than happy to assist.

Understanding The Role of an Appraisal

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

Let me start off by saying that I am not an expert on the appraisal business nor do I claim to know all of the details of an appraisers job, rules or regulations.  Nor is this post meant to disparage any individual or the profession in any way.  The information contained in this post is based solely on my personal experiences, interactions and training learned on the job as a real estate agent over the past 10 years. 

The basic function of an appraisal as it pertains to the sale of a home is simple and constant: it is a third party expert opinion of value for a property, meant to protect the buyer and lender from making a bad investment.  Before the "mortgage meltdown," there were far less regulations and restrictions for appraisers to follow when generating a report.  There were general guidelines that all appraisers were taught to follow but they were not set in stone and if necessary an appraiser could bend those guidelines and nobody would question why.  Buyers were buying, lenders were lending, appraisers were appraising and realtors were selling.  It was a shining example of reciprocity, " the quality or state of being reciprocal : mutual dependence, action, or influence."  It was a relationship driven industry where it didn’t necessarily matter how good an appraiser was but rather how many lenders and realtors he/she knew to keep the business coming in.  A lender could call up his/her favorite appraiser, inform them of the purchase price and as long as the value could be loosely justified by comparable sales in the "not-too-distant" past than the appraised value would almost always match that of the purchase price.  It was basically a foregone conclusion and more of a formality that the appraisal was even a part of the loan approval process at all. 

Fast forward to the post apocalyptic mortgage meltdown era where appraisers were fingered as being a key co-conspirator in causing the disastrous collapse of the real estate market.  I’m not going to get into the reasons as to why the inevitable market corrections occurred or who was to blame but needless to say the appraisers were caught in the middle of it all.  As a result, the government came down on the banks and the banks came down on the appraisers and what transpired was an overreaction to a problem which only caused there to be knew and different problems.  Gone are the days where the value of a home is equal to that which someone is willing to pay for it.  If there aren’t exact comps within an exact time frame to perfectly corroborate the sale price, than chances are fairly high that the appraisal may not come in at the exact value that is needed to approve the loan.  When this occurs, it can easily kill a deal if a buyer and seller are unwilling to be flexible.  If an appraisal comes in below the purchase price, than either the buyer has to make up with the difference in cash out of their own pocket or the seller has to agree to lower the sale price, neither of which are easy pills to swallow for either party. 

To make things more complicated, an entirely new industry has been created called appraisal management.  These appraisal management companies called AMCs for short are meant to keep the lender, appraiser and to a lessor degree the realtor at an arms length transaction.  Meaning none of the parties have direct contact and therefore any direct influence on each others responsibility.  On the outside this seems like a good idea but in practice it is has not proven to be so.  The AMC is responsible for assigning an appraiser to perform an appraisal for a lender, however often it is done so with little regard to the appraisers particular familiarity with that town, neighborhood or subdivision.  Anyone that has dealt in real estate on just about any level will understand that it is almost entirely based on location: location, location, location!!!  An appraiser that specializes in single family homes in town A isn’t necessarily going to know enough about the townhouses in subdivision T in Town D, three exits up the highway to be able to form an accurate opinion of value.  That’s not the appraisers fault, it’s the AMC that sent him/her to write the report when they should have been sending someone better suited.  That’s not to say that the appraiser from town A couldn’t make a fair judgment on the value of the subject property by doing proper research and in most cases this is true.  However, what if the appraiser wasn’t aware that the property that sold two blocks away just 3 weeks prior for less money had a pipe burst that ruined the kitchen and living room but it wasn’t reflected in the pictures on MLS because the pipe burst after the pictures were taken and the broker didn’t have time enough to change the description before it was already under agreement. 

It’s not all the AMC’s fault, the government has tightened regulations and banks have enacted new rules to govern how the appraisers do their job.  This has caused the appraiser to inherently be ultra conservative when determining the value of a home which is in stark contrast to years past where appraisers were comfortable in all but over-valuing most appraisals to keep the loans rolling along and the orders coming in. 

The moral of this story is that the appraisal is no longer a foregone conclusion and has become one of the most important and unknown variables in obtaining a loan.  In an age of increased uncertainty and scrutiny, the appraisal is king.  It is for all intents and purposes a thankless job and frankly not one that I envy but do respect.  If there comes a time when you are faced with having to make a concession on the sale or purchase of your home, remember that nothing can get done until all parties are satisfied, which includes most importantly, the lender. 

Local Markets Performing Well!!!

Thursday, October 27th, 2011

Recession, depression, market collapse, bankruptcy, foreclosure, short sale, bailout, unemployment….. stop me if you haven’t heard at least one of these terms every day for the last five years.  Considering the amount of negative information that we are inundated with in today’s economy, it may be surprising to learn that many of the local real estate markets in and around Boston have been thriving. 

Every once in a while I stumble across an article buried deep underneath all of the negative reports, highlighting the positive strides many towns in and around Boston have been able to make over the past few years.  As I come across them I will share them with you in the Metro blog, so consider this the first in a series of hopefully many to come.

If you don’t have time to read the entire article, I’ll offer you a brief summary.  Of the 25 best performing real estate markets in the US according to Businessweek, 4 of them are located right here in the greater Boston area.  They are in order of rank, 18) Somerville, 14) Boston, 3) Brookline and 2) Arlington.

http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/not-every-real-estate-market-is-struggling-10212011.html

Just the thought of a “Red-Hot Spring” anything is exciting!

Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

As you step outside your front door to start your morning- whether it’s the couple steps to your car, your saunter to the nearest T or the all-too-familiar walk with the pooch to your neighborhood Dunkin Donuts for the mandatory first coffee of the day, nothing outdoor related in the Boston area has been synonymous with the term "Red-Hot Spring" as of yet. And with the beautiful snowfall we just got last night, the future ain’t looking so hot either (excuse the pun).

But if you’re looking to buy in Metro Boston, you may be experiencing something quite different.

The Metro newspaper recently interviewed Adam Umina, Metro Realty’s Sales Manager, about his views of the current sales market and his real estate forecast. I won’t waste your time cutting and pasting bits of the article when you can read the whole deal RIGHT ON THEIR WEBSITE.