North Shore's Real Estate Podcast with Mike Quail

How do you know if you or a family member should move into senior housing? I have five factors for you to consider today. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Right now, we have a huge generation of people getting older. How do you know if you or your family member should stay in their home or move into senior housing?  I recently interviewed some of the top professionals in our area and found the top five reasons why people decide to sell and move into senior housing:  Isolation. When they live alone, seniors just couldn’t get out and socialize as much. Cooking. Seniors had trouble making their own meals and dealing with cleanup. Senior housing facilities have prepared meals and dining halls. Some even have restaurants and pubs that offer free wine in the afternoons. Driving. Seniors had trouble driving safely. Most senior facilities have drivers that will drive you around town. Home maintenance. Often what happens is that the spouse who used to handle maintenance passed away. It’s a very tough, sad situation, but usually the surviving spouse is unable to get those things done. Stairs. Even some of our clients who are older but don’t need senior housing quite yet want one-level homes. If you have a senior family member who can’t get into a one-level home, senior facilities are usually one-level and, if not, they have elevators. If you look at these factors and you do decide that you want to move, what do you do next?  Most of the time, you will have to sell your home. We can give you the value of the home, tell you how long it will take to sell, and go over the pros and cons of selling. If it is better for you or your family member to stay in your home, we will let you know. We want what is best for you.  “ We want what’s best for you, and we’re here to help. ”If it makes more sense to sell and move into senior housing, we’ll go over the value of your home as-is and the value of your home after a few repairs have been made. If you do decide to sell and you want to fix up the house a bit first, we can put you in touch with painters, carpenters, and other vendors to help you. If you have any questions about this process, just give me a call or send me an email. Remember, I’m here to help. 

The latest numbers from the North Shore real estate market are in. How does our current market compare to the September 2016 market? Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation How did the September 2017 real estate market compare to the same time last year? Let’s take a look at a few of the numbers.  First of all, how many units were listed this year compared to last year? New listings are down by about 15% for single-family homes in Essex County.  On the other hand, the median price increased from $400,000 last year to $432,000 this year, which is a $32,000 (or 8.13%) increase, which is pretty impressive.  The number of days on market dropped from 53 to 26 days to get an offer.  How close was the asking price to the actual sales price? The average agent got 98% of the list price last year. This year, they got 99% of the sales price. Here at the Quail Group, we get 101.5% of the list price for our clients, which is fantastic.  Next, let’s take a look at the health of the market. In other words, how many distressed sales were there? In September of 2016, there were 87 short sales. This year, there were 61 short sales. Short sales are down 30% and foreclosures are down 11%, which means we have a very healthy market.  That said, we do have a little bit of a shortage in the number of homes available on the market. Inventory has dropped 5% from 8,000 homes on the market to 7,800 homes on the market.  What does all of this information mean for you?  Sellers have been able to take advantage of this market and get way over asking price. Many homes are selling with multiple bids, which is fantastic.  The market can be a little challenging for buyers. However, we have developed some aggressive, innovative techniques to get our buyers the homes they want without overpaying for the home. Our “ninja offer” techniques are great.  As we look forward to the fall, the market is still good for sellers. That said, some sellers are getting too confident and overpricing their homes. Don’t do that or your home won’t sell. Talk to a professional agent to get a good idea of what the true market value of your home is. If you plan on buying a home, now may be the time to do so. Interest rates are low but they are projected to go up over the next few months. If you want to lock in a low rate for the next 30 years, now is the time to make your move. Remember, we can help you navigate this competitive market.   “ We have a very healthy market right now. ”Ultimately, the market has been great for sellers so far. If you are a buyer you can still find really good deals if you have an agent who knows how to spot them.  Remember, if you have any questions about your specific neighborhood or want to buy or sell a home, just give us a call or send us an email. My team and I would be happy to help you!

There are many reasons why you should consider selling your home this summer. Here are five of them. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search   Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Summer has finally kicked into full gear, and it’s finally warming up out there. Spring and summer are typically the most popular times of year to sell real estate, and this year is no different. In fact, there are five specific reasons that we believe this year will be the best summer to sell yet: 1. Demand is strong. We are seeing tons of buyers at open houses and many of our properties are receiving multiple offers not long after they are listed. 2. Inventory is way down. The number of homes available is at a historic low.  3. The process will be quicker. Fannie Mae predicts that there will be more sales this year than there have been in many years. If you wait until later in the year, there is a good chance that lenders will be backed up, and that may make your sale take longer to close. The sooner you can get on the market, the less likely you will be to get caught in a loan backup. “ The sooner you get on the market, the better. ”4. Never a better time to move up. If you are thinking about selling your current home and moving up to a higher priced property, these are the best conditions you will see. 5. It’s time to move on. If you’ve been debating for the last few months or years whether it’s the right time for you to move, the answer now is yes. If you can make it happen, there is no better time to enter the market than now. If you have any more questions about our market conditions or if you’re looking to buy or sell real estate this summer, give us a call or send us an email. We would be glad to help you out.

If you need to sell your current home before you can downsize or move up into a larger one, how do you do so successfully in our extreme seller’s market? Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search   Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Right now, we are in a strong seller’s market. The good news is that sellers feel very confident about the current market. The problem is that some sellers say, “I want to sell, but not until I find a home that I want to buy. I don’t want to end up in a home I don’t like or without a home at all.”  We are in the business of putting people in homes, so how do we solve that in the current market?  Whether you are downsizing or moving up into a larger home, there are many things we can do to help you find a home in this seller’s market. Ultimately, it depends on your situation and what makes the most sense for you.  First of all, if you want to buy a house in this market and you have a home to sell, then you have two problems. Some people can buy a house without selling their current one, but most people probably need to use the profits from the sale of their current home to purchase a new one. If that is the case, then you need to get your current home under contract before you buy a new one.  “ You need to have your current home under contract before you find your new home. ”A lot of people will say, “What if there isn’t even a house out there for me to buy? I know you can sell my house, but what about finding a new one?”  Let’s say you go out and find the perfect home that is priced at $400,000. It’s a great house and it’s priced perfectly. Odds are that other buyers in your market will also be interested in that property.  Even if you make an offer at or over asking price, your offer will be contingent on selling your current home. That can take days, weeks, or months, so your offer won’t look as strong as the offers from buyers who either already have their current home under contract or don’t have a home to sell in the first place. The seller is more likely to take one of the other offers because you are not in a position to be a strong buyer.  In short, if you don’t get your home under contract before you try to buy one, then you will be disappointed every time you go out there.  Now, once you get your home on the market, imagine that five houses that meet your criteria will go on the market over the next month. There are 20 buyers interested in those houses; 15 of them will be disappointed buyers and five will be homeowners. How do we make you one of the five? There are a few different strategies you can choose from: Get your home on the market, sell it, pocket the money, and rent temporary housing while you shop for your next home. Sell your current home and arrange for an extended closing. Typically, it takes 45 days to close on a house. You can ask for a 60 or 90-day closing period so that you have more time to shop for homes. Secure a buyer, ask them to close in 60 or 90 days, and ask the buyer for a rent back option. The rent back allows you to live in your current home while you shop for a new one. Put your home on the market and make your sale contingent on the purchase of your next home. In short, the sale depends on whether or not you find another home to buy. You can give yourself 60 or 90 days to shop. If you come up to day 59 and you haven’t found another home yet, you can ask your buyer if they would be willing to stay in the deal to give you more time to find a home. Otherwise, the buyer is allowed to walk away.  Right now, you are standing on one side of a riverbank and looking across the river to the home you want to move into. We will build you a raft so that you can cross the strong current and find your next home. You will never get to the other side unless you are really committed to selling your home in this market.  If you have any other questions a

While renting instead of buying a home might seem like it’s a better financial option for most potential buyers, it’s actually not. Here’s why. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search   Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Today I want to talk about the misleading math of the traditional rent vs. buy calculation.  With the market how it is, many buyers are stressed out about low inventory and using rent vs. buy calculators to compare each scenario and decide whether they should buy a home or keep renting.   First of all, if you’re a renter thinking about buying a home, make sure buying is in your best interest. This means making sure you will live in the home for a while. It costs money to move into a house, so you don’t want to move back and forth from one house to the next. If you’ll live in the home for at least three to four years, that will make it worth it to buy.  Now, I want to share with you a quote from a Harvard study I recently read about this subject: “While studies simulating the financial returns to owning and renting find that renting is often more likely to be beneficial, in practice renters rarely accumulate any wealth. In no small part this seems traceable to the difficulties households face in trying to save absent either a clear goal or an automatic savings mechanism.” What does that mean?  When you own a home and you have to make a mortgage payment on it, the concept of ‘forced savings’ comes into play. If you’re renting a home and your payment is $1,000, all of that money goes toward your landlord. If you own a home and your mortgage payment is $1,000, part of that payment is going toward forced savings. That payment is actually paying down some of the principal in your loan balance. In that way, you’re accumulating wealth by gaining equity.  “ If it makes sense for you to buy a home, there are a ton of benefits to owning one. ”Granted, for the first several years of paying that $1,000 mortgage, only a small percentage of that sum is paying down that mortgage. For example, if you have 20% down on a $250,000 house, only 29% of your monthly payment would be building equity in the first year. After that year, you would only earn $3,400 in equity. By year 14, though, your equity would be just shy of $64,000. By year 30, you would own your home completely and it would probably be worth closer to $500,000. If you would’ve been renting during that time, you wouldn’t have saved anything. Even if you were to rent and save $200 a month versus your mortgage payment, would you actually do it? Studies show that you probably won’t. That’s why making a mortgage payment is a forced savings account. When your principal and interest get set, it’s set for the next 30 years. When you rent, your rent payment just goes up and up and up.  Remember that the next time you use a rent vs. buy calculator. It’s a tough market out there, but if you’re looking to buy a home, please don’t hesitate to give me a call or shoot me an email. I’d be glad to help. 

Even though it's winter and a time that's not traditionally hot in the world of real estate, our market is action-packed. Today, we'll explain why and how you can take advantage as a seller. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search  Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Even though it's winter, it's a bit crazy and it's different than you would expect in the real estate world. The holidays are done, and things are cooking. In fact, I just returned from one of our seller's houses that received eight different offers, and we were able to get them a price well above list price. The seller didn't believe me when I said she'd receive multiple offers, but we certainly did. In fact, I recently read an article from Realtor.com called 'Forget What You Know This Year, Sellers May Benefit From Listing Early.' The article talks about how conventional wisdom says you should try to time a sale, but we're in an area where conventional wisdom isn't always accurate. Also, inventory levels in 2017 are at multi-year lows. Here in Essex County, we have just one month of inventory. Conventional wisdom says to time a sale, but we're in an area where conventional wisdom isn't always accurate. Buyer demand is very strong this offseason, and mortgage rates started to climb in October, November, and December, so people are surging to buy before they rise again. Many times people wait for spring or summer to buy a home, but the advantage is tilted in favor of sellers who want to list right now. Sellers may also want to list earlier due to rising interest rates, which decrease the buying power of potential buyers. All in all, right now is an incredible time to sell your house. Things are hot and happening, but inventory is a challenge for buyers. If you have any questions about buying or selling a home in our market, give me a call or send me an email. We'd love to help you!

We don’t foresee another crash happening in our market, but there are four things you still need to consider before buying a house. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation If you’re a buyer, there are four things you should consider before deciding whether to buy or not in our current market.  The first is what’s happening in the economy overall. The current unemployment rate is low, and the technology and medical sectors are both hiring in droves, especially here in our area. The Federal Reserve raised interest rates last December, and they are likely to raise them again in the near future as the economy grows and evolves.  The second thing to consider is current mortgage requirements. Before the market crash of 2007 and 2008, mortgage requirements were very lax. So-called “no-doc” loans (e.g., no documentation) were prevalent, but that’s no longer the case. The loan process of today is much more stringent. This is tough on buyers, but the loans that are out there are heavily vetted. If we do have a crash, it won’t be for the same reasons as the last one.  The third thing to consider is what you risk by buying the house. You need to look at it not only as an investment in price, which will fluctuate over time, but also whether the house is a good fit as a home for you and your family. Can you afford the mortgage payments over the long term? How long do you plan on staying in the house? If you can afford the mortgage payments and you’re secure in your job, you don’t have a lot of short-term risk and you don’t need to be quite as price-sensitive, even if we do have a dip in prices.  Lastly, consider the housing market itself. Right now, let’s say you can get a 30-year mortgage at a 3.265% rate. If rates go up in a couple months and that same 30-year mortgage rises to a 4.375% rate, you might not be able to afford the same house. Rates are still historically low, but as stated above, they are expected to go up again this year. By buying sooner rather than later, you can still get what I call “cheap money” and lock in a low rate.  Nobody has a crystal ball, but if you’ve found the house you want, you can afford it, and if you feel secure in your job and your long-term income stream, you really have nothing to worry about. Just make sure you buy a home that you’re comfortable with and that you can stay in for a long time.  “ Buy a home that you’re comfortable with and that you can stay in for a long time.” If you have any questions about this topic or are interested in buying or selling a home, please feel free to reach out to me by phone or email. I look forward to helping you!

If you can’t afford to put down 20% to buy a home, these other mortgage loan options are available to you. Buying a home? Click here to perform a full home search   Selling a home? Click here for a FREE Home Price Evaluation Unfortunately, many homebuyers we talk to for the very first time assume they have to put 20% down to buy a home. That isn’t true at all! If you can afford to put 20% down, that’s great. In that case, you can avoid private mortgage insurance and make your loan a little less expensive per month. However, there are many other loan programs available to homebuyers out there. If you’re a veteran, for example, you can do a VA loan and buy for 0% down.  “ Think you need 20% down to buy a home? Think again. ”The most favored program is the FHA loan, which allows you to put down 3.5%. Lots of people qualify for this program—even those who have had credit issues. You can even have some of your closing costs rolled into the loan so you have fewer expenses after your down payment.  Here in Massachusetts, we have a MassHousing program that allows you to put down as little as 3% if you meet certain income limits and other program guidelines. With some programs, even at 3%, you can still avoid PMI. Granted, these are income-specific and you have to be in a certain bracket, but some people still qualify.  Remember—if you’ve had trouble with your credit, you can always work to improve it. We have many financing partners we can refer you to who are experts in this field and can educate you on what it takes to buy. You can probably afford to do it sooner than you think.  If you have any questions about this topic or are looking to buy a home, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to help you.