DebOnTheWeb AKA Deb Agliano - Medford, MA Real Estate

Last night I joined a dynamic group of people at WBUR, Boston’s National Public Radio station to Twitter About the Election. I truly feel that this election has shown that it is possible to bring government back to “by the people” and “for the people” and social media is leading the way.

We were, of course, listening to WBUR while FoxNews was on in the background. Andrea Mercado is a wizard at multi tasking and kept us posted on what was happening on Twitter Vote Report while Jeff Cutler, Gradon Tripp, Scott Frazer, Adam Zand and Mike Langford shared what people were saying on their Twitter streams.

Here are some more photos and videos taken as we Twittered About the Election from the station.

Social media had a significant effect on the election - what role will it play in the interesting times ahead?

Okay, I'm from Boston and you know that we don't like pronouncing our "R's". but what’s better than culture? Free culture! If you have a Bank of America check, credit or ATM card, then you’ll be eligible to go to museums for free on the 1st weekend of every month. This weekend if you bring your BOA card along with your ID, you’ll be able to get into the

• Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (a perennial favorite of my family)
• The Harvard Museum of Natural History in Cambridge (which I visited in the spring with my nieces and we all really enjoyed it, especially all of the beautiful geodes)
• The Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham
• The Decordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln

Get more information on BOA program for getting into museums for free.

Looking to save on entrance fees without going with the crowds on these free weekends? Then check out your local library. The Medford Public Library even lets you reserve passes online for great museums like the Science Museum, The Peabody Essex Museum (which I highly recommend if you haven’t been there since their major renovation), and the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. Check out their website to see the entire list and then enjoy a wonderful day of art, nature or science and only pay for parking!

All you hear from the media is bad news on the real estate front, but as I continue to write in this blog, the real estate market here around Medford, MA isn’t as bad as they say. Most of the properties I’ve had on the market this year have sold in 3 months or less. I’ve had 3 sales with multiple offers and my properties sell on average for 97.7% of their list price.

I’d like to share with you what I do so that I make sure buyers can find the properties I have for sale.

A Video of the Home
I take a full video of the property. This allows buyers to see not just the rooms, but the layout and how the house flows. Have you seen any real estate videos where you feel you need to take Dramamine because the camera is moving so much? I use a steadycam so that I can walk through the home without making viewers sick.

The first step is making the video. The next step is making sure people can find it. I post my house videos to YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, AOL Video and Vimeo as well as real estate specific sites Realtor.com, WellcomeMat and Zipvo. The video is also attached to the MLS listing where it can be seen anytime a buyer searches through another agent’s website.

A Website Just For The Property
Each house or condo I put on the market gets its own website based on the address, like www.18ShipAve.com. This way it makes it very easy for prospective buyers to remember where they can find all of the information. The website has a full photo tour, link to the house’s video, satellite maps and listing sheet. There are even links to show you how walkable the location is.

Priced Well
Since there is a lot of competition on the market, I educate my clients as to what a realistic price will be for their property. As we go through the market analysis, we find many properties that are so overpriced, they aren’t truly on the market.

Plastered All Over the Internet
It doesn’t matter how good a video or website is, if you don’t reach the right group of buyers, it’s worthless. That’s why my listings can be found on over 45 different websites such as Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, FrontDoor, ERA.com, and Homes.com.

Easy to Show
Okay, you’ve marketed the house well and have buyers interested in seeing it, but if you can’t get them in the door, you’ve hit another stumbling block. I have the good fortune of working with great clients who understand the importance of making the house available for showings and why we need a lockbox to make the showing as easy as possible for the buyer and their agent.

A well thought out marketing plan that includes a video, website and a broad range of internet sites will expose a house for sale to potential buyers and greatly increase your chance of selling in the current real estate market.

What’s happening in the real estate market in Arlington, MA? Since most people are looking to buy or sell either a single family, a condo or a multi family home, I’ve separated out what’s happening in each of these markets.

These numbers tell us that the market in Arlington is very healthy. How do I know? Take a look at the absorption rates. Absorption rate is a way to look at the number of properties currently on the market and then using the number of recent sales, allows you to estimate how long it would take for every property currently on the market to sell if no new properties were allowed to go on the market. This figure helps you to see if the market is speeding up, slowing down or staying level. The city-wide absorption rate for Arlington has stayed level at about a 2 month figure. This is very low. There are many cities in Massachusetts with over 11 months of inventory on the market.

Arlington’s good school system, proximity to Boston and diverse, active community has allowed it to ride through the current market downturn without being affected as strongly as most other communities.

As the leaves are falling from the trees, it’s time for another update on what’s happening in the real estate market here in Medford, MA. Since most people are looking to buy or sell either a single family, a condo or a multi family home, I’ve separated out what’s happening in each of these markets.

As you can see, there are very similar numbers of properties for sale, however, there are many more single family homes under agreement than multi family homes and even fewer condos under agreement. Don’t let this disparity fool you into thinking that the condo market in the city is in trouble. Take a look at the absorption rates. Absorption rate is a way to look at the number of properties currently on the market and then using the number of recent sales, allows you to estimate how long it would take for every property currently on the market to sell if no new properties were allowed to go on the market. This figure helps you to see if the market is speeding up, slowing down or staying level. As you can see in the chart, although there are less multi family homes on the market than either single family homes or condos, the multi family market is currently the slowest of the 3 categories.

So, what do the numbers tell us is happening in the Medford, MA real estate market? They show us that the market is continuing to improve. Two months ago, the city-wide absorption rate was 5.4 months and today it is 4.7 months. Medford’s proximity to Boston, good access to public transportation (which will get even better when the MBTA Green Line comes into town) and our broad range of properties and price ranges continues to help the city weather the current economic times better than many other cities in the country. Yes, our prices have dropped from the high of the market, but the good news for sellers is properties are selling. For buyers, the good news is prices have dropped!

I know I’m a number cruncher, but whether you’re looking to sell a Medford home or buy real estate in the city, I feel it’s very important to have a good handle on exactly what’s happening in the market and where it appears to be heading.