John Morrison - Boston area real estate - Exclusive Buyer's Agent, CBR

Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley, together with several State Senators and Represenatives, has filed two pieces of legislation aimed at reducing foreclosures and negating some of the negative effects of abandoned properties as a result of foreclosures.

What is Ms. Coakley’s hope? According to the AG website,

“We hope that this legislation can provide for Massachusetts some relief while we wait for action at the national level. The effects of the housing crisis have rippled through all sectors of our economy, and until we tackle the underlying problem of the subprime lending crisis, no bail out package, no matter how big, can appropriately stabilize our economy,” said Attorney General Coakley.

If you are interested in reading the full text of these pieces of legislation, please view the ‘press release attachments’ near the top of the page from the link above. If not, read on for a brief synopsis of each.

The first piece of legislation, titled An Act to Require Commercially Reasonable Efforts to Avoid Foreclosure, will essentially force lenders (creditors) to make loan modifications on owner-occupied primary residences. This is aimed in the right direction, and it should bring hard-working homeowners and their lenders together. It remains to be seen whether this legislation will actually reduce the number of foreclosures in the Bay State, but the initial groundwork is being laid.

The second piece of legislation, titled An Act Regarding Community Leadership, Neighborhood Revitalization and Urban Violence Protection, aims to accomplish two main tasks. First, it would create an abandoned & vacant property registry. Owners of such properties (primarily lenders and service companies) would be required to maintain these properties as they are added to the registry. The hope is that this will reduce dilapidation, building code violations, and different types of criminal activity like drug dealing, theft, and arson.

Secondly, it would establish a second-hand metal registry. Currently, thieves target abandoned and under-construction properties to steal and re-sell copper, lead, building materials, etc. Junk dealers and pawn brokers, many of whom are unlicensed, are the buyers. They would be forced to register with the state and obtain a license. With this additional monitoring, Coakley hopes to reduce such thefts. Sounds like bureaucracy in its purest form to me, but hopefully it too will work.

To get more information about these proposed pieces of legislation or learn about buying a foreclosure, feel free to call or email me.

800.25.BUYER (ask for John)

For an interesting read and one broker’s opinion about home buyers this year, head over to REALTYTIMES®. Author Mark Nash, a real estate practitioner in the Chicago area, has done a concise job summarizing what is in and out for home buyers. According to his bio on the site, Nash has been doing his year-end “What’s in, what’s out for homebuyers” series for some years and has been featured on television and in print.

One of the ‘what’s in’ headlines surprises me and I’m not entirely confident it applies to the majority of real estate agents. The headline: Real estate agents as a housing resource, not a salesperson. While we at Buyer’s Choice Realty act as consultants to our clients, there is still evidence that the vast majority of agents care much more about getting sales than helping people, providing them with solid information, and educating them realistically, especially when such information may cause a prospective purchaser to hold off on buying a piece of property.

I hope this trend is changing, because consumers have the right to be educated about purchasing real estate, and need to know that it may not be right for them at this time based on their income, job safety, budgeting, etc.

The National Association of Realtors® reported today that their forward-looking statistic, “Pending Home Sales Index“, based on contracts signed on previously owned homes, is down nationwide. With the economy going down the drain, huge job losses in many sectors, and consumer confidence very low, this number is no surprise.

Here in the Northeast, the numbers are the worst. The index dropped 7.2 percent to 63.2 in November and is 14.6 percent below a year ago.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Perhaps. The NAR’s “housing affordability index”, a complicated relationship between prices, mortgage rates, and family income, is approaching record highs not seen since 1972. Housing is actually becoming affordable again.

Real estate prices in Massachusetts show few, if any, signs of increasing for the moment. That could change by the end of this year if soon-to-be President Obama and his team roll out an effective stimulus package that focuses on housing. Financing a home purchase is as cheap as it was in the 1950s & early 60s thanks to the Federal Reserve, but if foreclosure numbers do not decrease soon, prices will continue to fall.

For more information about your prospects of becoming a home owner in Massachusetts this year, do not hesitate to contact me.

Why move to Ipswich, MA? Views like this one. Ranked among the world's best beaches, Crane Beach is the place to be all summer long. It is certainly less crowded in the middle of winter, but still provides amazing views as you can see.

To learn more about the town of Ipswich and Ipswich MA real estate, call me at 800.25.BUYER (ask for John) or email me.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), a component of the Federal Reserve, announced today that they are lowering rates yet again. Without getting bogged down in the minutiae, this is great news for potential Massachusetts real estate buyers.

Why? Property values continue to fall in Massachusetts as a whole as well as the Boston area, but it is very possible, and indeed likely, that Boston area real estate market values will reach a bottom over the course of the next year.

How will this happen? With the help of today's FOMC decision, key interest rates will soon reach their lowest levels on record. The cost of capital will be almost nil, and as a result banks will undoubtedly lower mortgage interest rates. Lower rates mean that more folks that are undecided whether to purchase a home will lean towards buying.

Think how much money you could 'save' by paying 4.5% over 30 years versus paying 5%. This thought, combined with the ever-volatile equity and bond markets, means that real estate will be your best investment (and most stable).

To learn how buying real estate in Massachusetts will be great for your investment portfolio, feel free to contact me at 1.800.25.BUYER (ask for John) or email me