We need to first start by looking at the facts. There are currently 3.7 million homes on the market today throughout the U.S.; out of that 35% of these homes are in a distressed situation meaning they’re either owned by banks or the banks are allowing them to be sold for less than what’s owed; a “short sale”. The most recent news that we hear is that there’s less foreclosed homes this year compared to last year. Although that news sounds good the reality is that the banks were forced to slow the amount of foreclosures because some banks were robo signing; that is the banks were frequently signing documents on the homeowner’s behalf. The U.S. courts have now allowed the banks to move forward with these foreclosures so unfortunately we’re about to begin to see more bank owned inventory coming on the market. Remember 35% of the U.S. inventory is distressed; normally it’s around 5%.
One thing you need to keep in mind is that all real estate is local, so the numbers you hear and read through the press are not necessarily the same in Braintree, Weymouth, Marshfield or Plymouth. I do believe in the next 12 months we should begin to see signs of stability. First we need to see jobless claims decline and more positive economic news. Once we see these 2 indicators move in a favorable direction we will then begin to see signs of a real estate recovery, so I don’t project growth until 2013 and I only anticipate a moderate 3% annual appreciation which is normal growth when looking back in history.
I was asked by one of my past clients in Quincy what their home was worth. When I shared their value they seemed disappointed and said it was not the correct time to sell and they were going to wait it out. Let it be know then did have equity in the home but they were hoping for more were this equity was part of there retirement. We had figured it was going to take well over 6 years for them to obtain the value they wanted. You see if we begin to have 3% appreciation starting in 2013 my past client had determined that now may be the best time to sell because they’re paying $25,000 annually on their home mortgages. When they worked the costs of paying out the mortgage on a annual bases and hoping we see a increase in values in the next year or two the numbers showed them this is the time to sell, so if you’re considering selling don’t just look at today’s value, run out the numbers; you may find the same results. I hope this was of some help, is there a topic you want me to cover please respond back or feel free to call me.