A report this a.m. on NPR’s Morning Edition explains that cash-only Massachusetts home sales are booming.

So far this year, 40% of Massachusetts sales have been cash, from parents buying “kiddie condos” for their children coming to school in Boston, or investors picking up foreclosed home at auction. Three communities (Cambridge, Provincetown, and New Bedford) has cash-only sales exceeding 50%. The average percentage of cash-only sales in Massachusetts in the last ten years in closer to 10%.

We did our Rent vs. Buy workshop last week (people actually came out, despite the tornado warnings!). Then yesterday WBUR did a nice radio piece, for many it’s still a good time to buy a home. There’s a nice rent vs. buy calculator at the New York Times website, and I also worked up a spreadsheet for our “rent vs. buy” workshop with one particular example — happy to share with people if you email me.

All Real Estate is Local

It’s easy to get excited (or depressed) about national real estate news, and to assume that national news applies to our local market(s). But often, this simply isn’t the case, and we return once again to the theme that all real estate is local . . .

In July, there was much jubilation as the Case Schiller Home Price Index 10- and 20-City Composites posted an increase in prices for the first time since the summer of 2006. In the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), single family home prices increased by 1.6% between April and May. But what does data from the Boston MSA tell us about individual Boston-area neighborhoods? Not all that much.

It’s pretty well understood at this point that, within our local market, some communities have been much harder hit by the foreclosure crisis than others. Fox 25 pulled together some good data on this at the end of last year.

If we take a look at the change in median sale prices for single family homes in selected Boston area communities between 2005 and 2008, we also get a varied picture. Here’s an excerpt from a handout that I prepared for the Savvy Home Buyer workshop.

Now single family sales (above, and in the Case-Schiller index) only tell you so much about urban markets (like ours) which tend to have a majority of condo sales. More on this in our next installment . . .

Upcoming Workshops
We’ll be offering all three of our workshops in September (see details below). The workshops are free of charge and chock full of great information. Look forward to seeing some of you there. 

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September 9th — The Savvy Home Buyer — 6:00 – 8:00. Everything you wanted to know about buying a home, mortgages, and more. Read comments, or register now.

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September 16th — Real Estate Investing 6:00 – 7:30.
Nuts and bolts of real estate investing with real-life examples and numerous additional resources. Read comments, or register now.

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September 24th — Creating a Green Home. Things you can do to make your home more green. From inexpensive tips to materials for green renovations and renewable energy technologies. Read comments, or register now.

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The first-time buyer tax credit is set to expire on November 30th. If you’re starting the active part of your home search or just have a question, feel free to ring us at 617.864.4600, email us at info@eplacehomes.com, or stop by our office at 830 Mass Ave in Central Square, Cambridge. Want to see what other people are saying about us? Check out our reviews on Yelp . . .

Wishing you a peaceful and happy September,

Rachael Burger and The ePlace Team
ePlace Real Estate
830 Mass Ave
Cambridge MA 02139
617.864.4600
http://eplacehomes.com

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 authorizes a tax credit of up to $8,000 for qualified first-time home buyers purchasing a principal residence on or after January 1, 2009 and before December 1, 2009.

Here are some notes on this credit. If you’d like to read more, the most comprehensive source I’ve found, interestingly enough, is a site put together by the National Association of Home Builders.

• First-time buyers include people who have not owned a home in the last three years.
• There are income limits on this credit: full credit applies to those with modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) of $75,000 or less for single taxpayers and $150,000 or less for married taxpayers filing a joint return. The tax credit amount is reduced to zero for taxpayers with MAGI of more than $95,000 (single) or $170,000 (married) and is reduced proportionally for taxpayers with MAGIs between these amounts.
• This is a tax credit, rather than a deduction, and it’s “refundable” meaning that if you owed $10,000 in federal tax and received the full credit, then you’d only owe $2,000. If you owed only $2,000 in federal taxes (and you were receiving the full credit) then you’d get a check for $6,000 from the government.
• Generally, tax payers need to live in the home for at least three years or face recapture of the credit amount.