Louis King

How do you feel about Watertown on the Newton line? $399,900, 2 bed. 2 bath town house, with garage, built 1987. - Thu Jun 12 2008, 12:45

I've been a Realtor since 1979. I remember interest rates going to 17-18% in 1981. If you've been a Realtor for 27 years, you should remember this too. When rates started to drop, we had a roaring bubble where appreciation hit 10-15% per year til 1989. Then the market fell for 3-4 years. It had been going up starting in 1993, hitting a peak in 2005. It's been declining since 2005, although in my area of Massachusetts, some cities have done far better than others.
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Zack said:
The bubble that preceded this market was never seen before so its unwinding should be expected to be the same.
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Zack, we've seen it before. In fact, we had banks and mortgage companies go belly up in 1989-1993. Lots of foreclosures, lots of builders walking away from half built projects. What is sad is we've made the same mistakes again.

What will happen is some area will begin their comback before other areas. When the number of homes on the market in a given city goes down, that means prices will start to rise. - Thu Jun 12 2008, 12:35

Rob and Kaitlin;

You'll have to go further out. There are 12 single family homes in Marlborough under $200,000, but Marlborough's about 13 miles west of Route 128. If you need quick access to Boston, Framingham is a good option as well since you have a commuter rail as well as the Mass Pike. I've taken people out to Marlborough and Framingham who couldn't afford Waltham. - Wed May 28 2008, 10:48

Peter,

Greater Boston is a huge area. What are your needs and wants? I second the previous agent regarding Somerville. I lived in Somerville for many years. With gasoline prices going up, it's great living in an area where stores are within walking distance and there's plenty of public transportation. Parts of Somerville are handy to the Red & Orange line subways as well as the commuter rail to North Station. Lots of buses too.

If you're starting a family in 3-4 years, have you thought about school systems and yard space? How about offstreet parking? After you have kids, will you stay or sell and buy a bigger home? - Wed May 28 2008, 10:37

We're not speaking about you .... we're speaking about the consumer getting their own, with no ties with the buyers agent or the listing agent.

Tman:

In my area, it's tough to be a home inspector. There are 2, just 2 that I know of that speak Spanish. I speak Spanish too. I often have buyers who are more comfortable with Spanish speaking attorneys, home inspectors, lenders, etc. If they don't know of a Spanish speaking professional, is it OK if I give them the names of those I know? Or should tell them to find their own? - Thu May 15 2008, 13:34

I am a real estate agent who used a buyer agent when I bought a property in an area I knew very little about. I used an agent who had many years of experience in that area and actually owned the kind of property I was trying to buy.

If the real estate market is red hot, with multiple offers, no buyer agent is going to get a home for you for 1 penny less than the next best offer. In that situation the only value of a buyer agent is to help you establish the value of the home you want to buy. I've seen buyer agents bring offers above the asking price. In those cases, it was the right thing to do.

If I were buying a home in a red hot market , I really wanted a particular house, I already knew the area well and there were multiple offers, I'd go directly to the listing agent and say " I'm your buyer, you can be the listing and selling broker". I know how to structure an offer so that the listing agent can reasonably say to the seller that my offer was the best and yet I would not be overpaying.

If an issue arose after the offer was accepted and the only way to resolve things was for the real estate commission to be adjusted or put the house back on the market, a commission adjustment is more likely if the listing agent is also the selling agent. - Wed May 7 2008, 15:28