is it a crazy time to sell?? (Boston, Springfield: renters, insurance)

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

You can always rent for 6-9 months and watch the market come back down to reality.

What is reality? Prices from 2012? Demand has been high for years and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

However, the success rate if you put your home on the market is still high.

Yeah, i suppose that it what I was looking at .... selfishly, all that interests me really.


I wonder if we will see similar trends for vacation/2nd homes?

[masssachoicetts]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

What is reality? Prices from 2012? Demand has been high for years and it doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon.

Well I guess we will find out in 2021. There is no way prices WONT drop coming out of this recession thats for sure.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Well I guess we will find out in 2021. There is no way prices WONT drop coming out of this recession thats for sure.

Depends on the neighborhood. Plenty of areas were not affected much during the 2008-2009 housing crash. Prices only dipped a little bit or stayed flat.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

Depends on the neighborhood. Plenty of areas were not affected much during the 2008-2009 housing crash. Prices only dipped a little bit or stayed flat.

People are assuming a repeat of the past, and they may be right. This said, what people fail to acknowledge is what towns stayed near flat during the Great Recession and their growth prior to and post recession.

Somerville saw a very small drop last go ‘round, but has had explosive price growth since. I’m not sure current valuations are as immune as they were a decade+ ago.

[mdovell]

although it hasn't really been released by The stay or technically official from local governments I'm starting to care about the percentages on the South Shore Halifax has 20% unemployment and outwest Amherst has 54% unemployment. I don't remember *any* small town in Massachusetts that had unemployment rates of 20% or higher in 2008/2009.

What percentage of the mass economy is based off of students? If students aren't coming back in the state of California recently announced that they aren't going back there that's going to have a direct impact on the communities where colleges and universities are regardless of where they are in state. Lowell is going to take a huge hit from umass lowell. Cambridge and Boston have already seen significant hits. College students represent about 20% of Boston's population estimated about a hundred forty thousand people have left.

Students bring money into an economy because you've got this constant age demographic and they're going to shops and restaurants bars and clubs and just spending a fair amount of money in general.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

Yeah, i suppose that it what I was looking at .... selfishly, all that interests me really.


I wonder if we will see similar trends for vacation/2nd homes?

That's fair. I was trying to take a more broad look at the market because the OP is talking about buying and selling. While they'll likely have a pretty smooth road selling, buying is going to be much more difficult because of the sharp decrease in transaction volume.

Originally Posted by Shrewsburried

People are assuming a repeat of the past, and they may be right. This said, what people fail to acknowledge is what towns stayed near flat during the Great Recession and their growth prior to and post recession.

Somerville saw a very small drop last go ‘round, but has had explosive price growth since. I’m not sure current valuations are as immune as they were a decade+ ago.

There was some pretty explosive home value growth in the late 90's/early 00's.

Originally Posted by mdovell

although it hasn't really been released by The stay or technically official from local governments I'm starting to care about the percentages on the South Shore Halifax has 20% unemployment and outwest Amherst has 54% unemployment. I don't remember *any* small town in Massachusetts that had unemployment rates of 20% or higher in 2008/2009.

These are clearly unique times. IMO this is why people are so uneasy because it's hard to tell right now exactly how much of an affect this will have on the economy. Those unemployment numbers are staggering. However, the vast majority of businesses that are not allowed to operate right now have laid off the lion's share of their employees. While not every business is sure to reopen when restrictions are lifted, I'm sure many will and they will need to re-hire or hire new in order to operate.

Originally Posted by mdovell

What percentage of the mass economy is based off of students? If students aren't coming back in the state of California recently announced that they aren't going back there that's going to have a direct impact on the communities where colleges and universities are regardless of where they are in state. Lowell is going to take a huge hit from umass lowell. Cambridge and Boston have already seen significant hits. College students represent about 20% of Boston's population estimated about a hundred forty thousand people have left.

Students bring money into an economy because you've got this constant age demographic and they're going to shops and restaurants bars and clubs and just spending a fair amount of money in general.

Couldn't say but clearly this will impact a number of local businesses. I think that loss will be partially offset by all the students who will be staying in MA that otherwise would leave for schools outside the state. I'm curious if all of the student's landlords in the city will start unloading properties.

Personally, I think areas more hard hit will be vacation areas like the Cape and Islands. Vacation spending is always the first thing people cut from their budget when their income shrinks. Plus, some people will be hesitant to be away from home until the virus is more under control or a vaccine is created.

[MorgLaw]

I think that for now, yes, it's a bit a crazy time to sell. Everyone is trying to save as much money possible, and probably there will be a big crisis in the next few years.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by MikePRU

There was some pretty explosive home value growth in the late 90's/early 00's..

Sure, but from some rather deep troughs. No? Somerville prices remained a relative bargain when I was working in Davis Square circa ‘05-‘06. That has changed significantly.

[yesmaybe]

I think it's a great time to sell. It's a bad time to buy.