2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Shrewsbury, Wellesley: fit in, apartment complexes, brokers)

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I didn't realize rates had dipped. Yeah I was surprised to see this house go for 50k under! It's in a nice neighborhood in a nice town. I can only assume something is wrong with the house, lol. The house also just sold in 2020...so whoever bought it in 2020 didn't stay long.

I'm seeing that frequently on recent listings and sales where it appears people bought in 2020 or 2021 and now they're selling. I'm wondering if a lot of it has to do with the fact that maybe they bought in towns farther out due to remote work but now they can't work remotely and have to commute in to an office so the location no longer works due to the commuting factor?

[brightdoglover]

Or builders who stay in the right amount of time to avoid capital gains.

A friend of mine in Nashua, NH, said that Nashua and the other southern NH cities are booming with remote workers.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

I'm seeing that frequently on recent listings and sales where it appears people bought in 2020 or 2021 and now they're selling. I'm wondering if a lot of it has to do with the fact that maybe they bought in towns farther out due to remote work but now they can't work remotely and have to commute in to an office so the location no longer works due to the commuting factor?

Could be? Or maybe they thought wow I just bought this house for 720k in 2020 now I can get 920k for it just 3 years later. Where they are moving to I dont know.

I know someone who bought a house in a metro west town in august and just sold it again a few weeks ago. It seems crazy to me and their reasons for moving have to do with kids sports.

[huff100]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

Cooling off? I'm not sure what town you're in but when browsing recently sold listings I've seen many homes going for $10-100K over asking lately! How many showings have you had? I'm surprised you didn't have a multiple offer situation given how little inventory there is.

We are in Stow, MA. Listed our house for what we believed was a decent/good price and one offer for 10K under asking. Our realtor said she thought it would get an offer asking or a bit higher. We have a good size house but honestly there are some paint/carpets I think people saw as an issue. We are in a wonderful neighborhood but the town does have high taxes so with taxes and high interest rates we aren't sure if people are offering less.
We listed a week ago and started showings on the weekend with 2 open houses and had a showing today. We got an offer last night so under a week with the offer just not asking price.
What towns are you seeing over asking? Closer to Boston?

[MikePRU]

I've recently put in 3 offers for clients. The houses were in Acton, Millis, and Walpole. These houses got 16, 6, and 9 offers respectively and all three were priced under $1M. So, there's still a lot more demand out there than there is supply.

I will say it's super easy now to figure out what a client is talking about when they say "I saw a house in Millis that I LOVED!!" because every town I pull up has less than 10 active listings. The higher rates have certainly put some buyers on the sidelines, but there are a lot of sellers that are electing not to sell as well. So, the imbalance between supply and demand we've been experiencing around here for years is still very much present.

Originally Posted by huff100

We are in Stow, MA. Listed our house for what we believed was a decent/good price and one offer for 10K under asking. Our realtor said she thought it would get an offer asking or a bit higher. We have a good size house but honestly there are some paint/carpets I think people saw as an issue. We are in a wonderful neighborhood but the town does have high taxes so with taxes and high interest rates we aren't sure if people are offering less.
We listed a week ago and started showings on the weekend with 2 open houses and had a showing today. We got an offer last night so under a week with the offer just not asking price.
What towns are you seeing over asking? Closer to Boston?

I've never had good luck when I've agreed to a listing price which was roughly equal to what I anticipated the market value would be. You really have to list over or under depending on what's appropriate in the market at that time.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Towns that defy new MBTA housing law could face state legal action, Campbell says

In a warning shot to cities and towns that have considered flouting the state’s new multifamily housing law, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Wednesday morning that those zoning rules are mandatory, and that the state or outside advocacy groups may sue noncompliant towns.

The MBTA Communities law was designed to help address the state’s dire housing shortage, Campbell wrote in an official advisory, and not only would towns’ failure to meet those requirements exacerbate the issue, it could also violate state and federal fair housing laws prohibiting discriminatory zoning.



“Compliance with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law is not only mandatory, it is an essential tool for the Commonwealth to address its housing crisis along with our climate and transportation goals,” said Campbell. “While the housing crisis disproportionately affects communities of color and poor, working families, it threatens all of us along with our economy and thus requires all of us do our part, including ensuring adequate development of affordable, transit-oriented housing for our residents and families.”


The vast majority of communities have thus far gone along — only four of 175 cities and towns failed to comply with preliminary requirements — but the simmering dissent in some largely-single-family suburbs has state officials worried about sharper resistance to come as the deadlines for more concrete zoning changes draws near.


As the law is written, Campbell said, the phrase “shall have” indicates that MBTA Communities is binding, not optional, and that the law “does not provide any mechanism by which a town or city may opt out of this requirement.”


If towns try to resist the requirements, she said, they would effectively be protecting antiquated zoning rules that benefit wealthy, white homeowners and disproportionately harm lower income residents and people of color. That’s where fair housing laws come into play.

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by BostonBornMassMade

Towns that defy new MBTA housing law could face state legal action, Campbell says

In a warning shot to cities and towns that have considered flouting the state’s new multifamily housing law, Attorney General Andrea Campbell said Wednesday morning that those zoning rules are mandatory, and that the state or outside advocacy groups may sue noncompliant towns.

The MBTA Communities law was designed to help address the state’s dire housing shortage, Campbell wrote in an official advisory, and not only would towns’ failure to meet those requirements exacerbate the issue, it could also violate state and federal fair housing laws prohibiting discriminatory zoning.



“Compliance with the MBTA Communities Zoning Law is not only mandatory, it is an essential tool for the Commonwealth to address its housing crisis along with our climate and transportation goals,” said Campbell. “While the housing crisis disproportionately affects communities of color and poor, working families, it threatens all of us along with our economy and thus requires all of us do our part, including ensuring adequate development of affordable, transit-oriented housing for our residents and families.”


The vast majority of communities have thus far gone along — only four of 175 cities and towns failed to comply with preliminary requirements — but the simmering dissent in some largely-single-family suburbs has state officials worried about sharper resistance to come as the deadlines for more concrete zoning changes draws near.


As the law is written, Campbell said, the phrase “shall have” indicates that MBTA Communities is binding, not optional, and that the law “does not provide any mechanism by which a town or city may opt out of this requirement.”


If towns try to resist the requirements, she said, they would effectively be protecting antiquated zoning rules that benefit wealthy, white homeowners and disproportionately harm lower income residents and people of color. That’s where fair housing laws come into play.

I can't read the article. I also don't understand what is being threatened here. That more multi family housing will be built in the suburbs?

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by msRB311

I can't read the article. I also don't understand what is being threatened here. That more multi family housing will be built in the suburbs?

Well yes. Towns need to comply with the law by working their zoning to allow for multifamily construction in designated areas.

If they do not, they will be running up against not only pre-existing financial penalties as detailed by the states but potential Fair Housing and Anti-Dscirimination lawsuits from the state. Those are federal violations. No town wants to face that type of legal challenge. It will crush them.

The state and housing organizations are already mulling their legal options if compliance is not adhered to at EOY 2023 and 2024. What they're making clear is that this is not a choice you get to decide if you want to comply, there is no legal opt-out.

[msRB311]

Why the obsession with multi-family properties? These can destroy towns and the reasons people want to live in them. Makes them more crowded, more litter around. I think it sucks that this is being forced upon suburbia. People leave cities for a reason.

Who are the towns that violated ?

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Why the obsession with multi-family properties? These can destroy towns and the reasons people want to live in them. Makes them more crowded, more litter around. I think it sucks that this is being forced upon suburbia. People leave cities for a reason.

Who are the towns that violated ?

The law requires just a small area of the town be zoned this way. Can't imagine just a couple of blocks of dense housing are going to "ruin" an entire town.