2023 Real Estate Observations (Boston, Cambridge, Amherst: second mortgage, loans, to move)

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

No offense taken, but would they have gotten 18 offers without an open house? Unlikely.

The house I’m in now had an open house and our offer said they needed to accept before the next day’s open house. We paid $15k over ask which felt like a lot at the time, but is now sort of laughable.

I've gotten anywhere from 4-10 offers on my houses (that's with scheduled showings only and no open houses). So, maybe not as many as if I had an open house but more than sufficient to get it sold quick and every time it was for over list.

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

I've gotten anywhere from 4-10 offers on my houses (that's with scheduled showings only and no open houses). So, maybe not as many as if I had an open house but more than sufficient to get it sold quick and every time it was for over list.

Yes we’ve discussed your willingness to limit your buying pool due to risk aversion.

[newenglandgal123]

Originally Posted by simplexsimon

Yes we’ve discussed your willingness to limit your buying pool due to risk aversion.

Yes, not only that but the type of houses I buy won't appeal to everyone either. I buy homes that appeal to first timers, downsizers and the empty nester crowd.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by newenglandgal123

I've sold about 5-6 houses in the past ~10 years and never had my realtors do an open house w/any of them. They all got multiple offers within the first day or two of being listed. I only had scheduled showings. I was just curious how many people make offers after going to an open house versus on a house they specifically make an appointment to go see and if one seems to result in more offers versus the other. My line of thought is that while an open house can attract some serious buyers, at the same time it seems to attract a lot of nosy neighbors and lookie loos who aren't necessarily even in the market to buy.

Good for you. But for the past couple years most listings had open houses on the weekend with offers due the following Mon or Tues with multiple offers turning into a bidding war. It sounds like a PITA to have a bunch of private showings vs one or two open houses and being done with it.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

House prices doubled from what, like $75k to $150k? That's nothing compared to how much prices have increased in the past few years. 10-13% interest on a 150k house is nothing compared to 7% interest on the same home that costs a million+ today. Not to mention that same home is 40 years older so probably needs another 100k+ in renovations to make it the same condition as in the 80s.

Your post basically says you paid nothing for your house in the 80s and don't care about anyone else. "I'm not selfish but F everyone else, they can't live here" LoL. I'm guessing you own a vacation home in the Cape, NH or Maine that you also paid nothing for as well.

That’s a weak argument. Everyone now has a 2 1/2% to 3 1/2% fixed rate mortgage. There simply haven’t been many transactions since rates went up and nobody is paying 7% interest on a mortgage today.

Plugging it into a BLS inflation calculator, a 10% mortgage on $150k in 1986 is a $3,612 mortgage payment now. Back then, everyone had variable rate mortgages. I was a 5%er in 1986. I couldn’t afford a metro Boston house. It wasn’t until after the S&L meltdown in 1990 that housing was more affordable in metro Boston. I’ve made this point a number of times here over the years. There’s this myth that Boston real estate prices always go up. I lived through a period where that wasn’t the case. I bought in 1988 and sold at 60 cents on the dollar 5 years later. I bought a pretty fancy house in a blue chip inner suburb a couple of years later. My crystal ball for real estate prices doesn’t work at all but prices will correct at some point.

[gf2020]

Originally Posted by matrix5k

House prices doubled from what, like $75k to $150k? That's nothing compared to how much prices have increased in the past few years. 10-13% interest on a 150k house is nothing compared to 7% interest on the same home that costs a million+ today. Not to mention that same home is 40 years older so probably needs another 100k+ in renovations to make it the same condition as in the 80s.

Your post basically says you paid nothing for your house in the 80s and don't care about anyone else. "I'm not selfish but F everyone else, they can't live here" LoL. I'm guessing you own a vacation home in the Cape, NH or Maine that you also paid nothing for as well.

Don't be ridiculous. Incomes were much lower in the 1980s so the increase in housing prices plus the high mortgage interest rates were for more crippling to the average consumer than the current situation. Open a history book or ask your parents.

I've been on this forum a long time. I have shared my story many times. I was in high school and college in the 1980s, my wife and I bought our first house in Lynn (the horror!) in the 1990s. We don't own a second home. My wife is a teacher, I am a regular salaried middle management worker. Our parents gave us nothing, in fact, I now support my mother because she never planned for retirement or expected to live in to her 80s.

If you want something, you have to work for it. There is no guarantee that you are going to own an updated house with quartz counters and brushed gold fixtures in a leafy suburb. That's not a classist view, that's just how it is. My parents were divorced when I was 7 years old. My Mom never owned her own house again, she has been paying rent for 50 years. Her parents never owned their own home, they rented their entire lives. This notion that people of average means should be able to buy a nice, updated house in the Boston suburbs is not based on history. Maybe it's HGTV, maybe it's social media, but it is certainly not reality.

Greater Boston has always been more expensive than the country as a whole and home ownership in Greater Boston has always required an above average level of family income.

[mikeugh]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Greater Boston has always been more expensive than the country as a whole and home ownership in Greater Boston has always required an above average level of family income.

This is true. This forum is somewhat eye opening. I've done quite well economically for where I've come from. But I couldn't touch a place like Boston. Never could. I'm considered very fortunate for Wisconsin however. Boston has always been expensive. A place like Chicago or Minneapolis, while still expensive compared to most of the U.S. were more reasonable.

The numbers people throw around here are jaw dropping. The people that seem to think they're average are in the top 5%, if not 1%, of all earners in the entire country, the wealthiest country in the world. They're not average, they're elite, they just feel average because they're surrounded by others that are elite.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

That’s a weak argument. Everyone now has a 2 1/2% to 3 1/2% fixed rate mortgage. There simply haven’t been many transactions since rates went up and nobody is paying 7% interest on a mortgage today.

Plugging it into a BLS inflation calculator, a 10% mortgage on $150k in 1986 is a $3,612 mortgage payment now. Back then, everyone had variable rate mortgages. I was a 5%er in 1986. I couldn’t afford a metro Boston house. It wasn’t until after the S&L meltdown in 1990 that housing was more affordable in metro Boston. I’ve made this point a number of times here over the years. There’s this myth that Boston real estate prices always go up. I lived through a period where that wasn’t the case. I bought in 1988 and sold at 60 cents on the dollar 5 years later. I bought a pretty fancy house in a blue chip inner suburb a couple of years later. My crystal ball for real estate prices doesn’t work at all but prices will correct at some point.

If they were lucky enough to own in 2021 or before, they have a 3% mortgage. New homebuyers do not. My coworker is looking for a house in Chelmsford. This town used to be considered affordable but now it's approaching Andover prices.

So the last time Boston prices went down was in 1988? How is that even relevant to today's market? If prices did not come down in 2008 then they probably never will. The population density is only increasing while the supply is decreasing.

[matrix5k]

Originally Posted by gf2020

Don't be ridiculous. Incomes were much lower in the 1980s so the increase in housing prices plus the high mortgage interest rates were for more crippling to the average consumer than the current situation. Open a history book or ask your parents.

I've been on this forum a long time. I have shared my story many times. I was in high school and college in the 1980s, my wife and I bought our first house in Lynn (the horror!) in the 1990s. We don't own a second home. My wife is a teacher, I am a regular salaried middle management worker. Our parents gave us nothing, in fact, I now support my mother because she never planned for retirement or expected to live in to her 80s.

If you want something, you have to work for it. There is no guarantee that you are going to own an updated house with quartz counters and brushed gold fixtures in a leafy suburb. That's not a classist view, that's just how it is. My parents were divorced when I was 7 years old. My Mom never owned her own house again, she has been paying rent for 50 years. Her parents never owned their own home, they rented their entire lives. This notion that people of average means should be able to buy a nice, updated house in the Boston suburbs is not based on history. Maybe it's HGTV, maybe it's social media, but it is certainly not reality.

Greater Boston has always been more expensive than the country as a whole and home ownership in Greater Boston has always required an above average level of family income.

We own a home because we were lucky enough to buy a few years ago but we spent our prime years in grad school to get advanced degrees and then spent 3-4 years paying off our 6 figure student loan debt. Our parents didn't help us either and we financially support my in laws. Then when we bought our old, expensive house we had to do major expensive repairs like new boiler, water heater, roof, garage door, insulation, floors, windows, the list goes on.

In comparison, my dad bought an almost new home for 77k in the 80s unsupported my mom and 3 kids on one income with a bachelor's degree. The house was move in ready. So yeah, that's not happening today.

Of course we worked for it but not everyone is able to enter grad school like we did.

[msRB311]

Why are those that think the area is over priced (for many) getting berated ? Yes there's a good amount of jobs in Boston but the salaries still vary greatly.

My friend basically lives in mansion in TX that he paid 700k for last year. It's got all the bells and whistles, high end everything, an outdoor kitchen with a pool. Sometimes it's hard not to get envious of that. 700k basically gets you the bottom of the barrel here

I think the wealthy people have it great in the Boston area. I'm sure they love it. Anyone not in that category is certainly not living the high life even though they probably did everything and more the guy with the 700k mansion in tx did.

This forum is just not reality. There are many people who are pissed off at what they paid for their home and that it doesn't look like an hgtv house. They're just not here.