Lexington Bedford Real Estate

First for reference the Lexington School web site: http://lps.lexingtonma.org/

Now my unsolicited, non-sanctioned comments. First let me say that they are as excellent as the reports say. I've had two daughters go all the way through and still have a son in High School and the quality of the education is great. My oldest just finished her Bachelors in Biology at the University of Syracuse, my second is a Junior in Biomedical Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. They worked hard and were able to get accepted to several schools, so give Lexington HS points there. Also each found that their work in Lexington prepared them very well for college level academic challenges so their Freshman year they were able to focus on the social and life adjustments without being overwhelmed by the academics.

The community is mostly professionals and very well educated with 83% having some college education and 42% having at least a Masters degree. As a result education is a priority and the schools are well funded. A recent example is that Harrington school is now housed in a brand new building.

Lexington schools are set up with six elementary schools feeding two middle schools, which in turn feed a single high school. The Elementary Schools run grades K-5 and are Bowman, Bridge, Estabrook, Fiske, Hastings, and Harrington. The two middle schools run grades 6-8 and are Jonas Clarke, and William Diamond. Bowman, Bridge, and Hastings feed to Clarke, and Estabrook, Fiske, and Harrington feed to Diamond. Finally Lexington High School runs grades 9-12.  My family's experience has been with the Bridge to Clarke to LHS route and it has been a very good education.

Minute Man Regional Technical school (http://www.minuteman.org/) is an option for those seeking vocational training. There are several other private schools in town that serve specific needs. The Waldorf School ( http://www.thewaldorfschool.org/ ) offering alternative education for K-8 and the Cotting School (http://www.cotting.org/) for students with disabilites are two of the larger private organizations.

The academic benchmarks typically cited on schools these days are the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) test results.  One place I've found to look at these rankings are on Boston.com (www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/mcas/ ) The issue here is that this presents a lot of raw data that is based on one test set. No matter, select the community you are interested in hit ‘go', scroll down and you will see ‘School by School Results' , on the far right for each test and grade level you will see the rank vs. the other 1000+/- elementary schools in the state. For the 2007 results 4 of the schools were in the top 10% in the state.  Estabrook and Bridge were in the top 5%.  Harrington's lower scores on 2007 may relate more to the new construction effects on test taking rather than the quality of the education.  Both of the middle schools rank well in the top 5% of the state's 460+ middle schools with Diamond edging Clarke out slightly.

MCAS testing stops at 10^th grade so rating LHS on this alone is insufficient but it still scores in the 94^th percentile. SAT scores are another way to look at it and the mean scores for last year's class are Critical Reading -614, Math - 631, and Writing -618. So this says that the "average" LHS student scored in the top 20% nationally for Reading and Writing and in the top 10% nationally for Math. In 2007 92% of LHS graduating seniors continued on to college.

The academics are well represented with Math Teams, Science fairs, and language programs throughout. French and Spanish begin early and Chinese, Latin and several other language options are rolled in at the High School level. There are multiple AP and honors level courses to challenge even the strongest students.

There is also a great music program running from grades 4-12 with students at all levels providing a ‘Night at the Pops' concert each spring. This program features orchestras at all levels from the beginners in elementary grades up to the High School Honors Orchestra which typically includes some very accomplished young musicians. Also featured are the bands, and the vocal groups for a really great musical experience.

Athletics are also well supported, although fee based participation funds the programs at the High School level. Interscholastic teams begin in middle school and reach full varsity level in the High School. Football, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer, Lacrosse, Swimming, Track, Field Hockey, Ice Hockey, Frisbee, Wrestling and more are represented with girls and boys teams for most. Additional club related activities abound and the resulting experience for the kids is tremendous.

I'm sure I've left out more than I've said, but check the school website and you will find a lot more information that will help you understand why people move here for the schools!

First a review of where we came from. For Waltham, the market volume showed a steady increase from 2000 through 2005 where 316 units sold. Much of the volume increase was driven by building and multifamily to condo conversion activities. Price increases have slowed, but prices continued to rise to an annual median price of $362,000 through 2007. In 2007, 283 units sold so the volume has fallen off 10% from the 2005 peak. So far in the first half of 2008 there have only been 120 sales, so the market volume is lower, and the pricing has also dropped.

 There is a weak seasonal effect on the Waltham market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being the volume lows. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 volume to date has been low in both of the first two quarters.

 Generally there have been fewer units on the market this year. Condo conversion rates have slowed as well as new construction, but it is difficult to predict what the condo market will do moving forward. Once the number of units stabilizes we should expect to see similar behavior to the single family homes, but it is not clear if this market has stabilized as yet.

 What this means for condo owners in the near term is that there is still demand for units and that while sale prices appear to be down from 2007 highs Waltham continues to be a good value market. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation in the near term.

 Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Waltham Single Family market, there were 86 properties listed August 1.  This represents an 8% lower inventory than the same time last year. July sales volume dropped to 21, this was down 36% from a year ago. Monthly median prices have been highly variable but continued to show strength and were up month to month. The average time on market increased to 117 days. Currently we have only a 4 month supply of property which indicates that the Waltham Condo market remains in favor of those selling property. Low mortgage interest rates should continue to stimulate additional buying as we move through the summer.

 For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

First a review of where we came from. For Woburn, the market volume peaked in 2003 and prices peaked in 2005, at an annual median price of $397,750. Prices have shown about an 11% pullback since that time. The number of homes sold in 2003 was 254. In 2007, 195 homes sold so the volume has fallen off 23%. So far in the first half of 2008 there have only been 107 sales, so the market volume is low.

There is a strong seasonal effect on the Woburn market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being the volume and price lows. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 Q1 volume was very low, but Q2 was stronger so the strong summer trend seems to be holding.

Generally there have been fewer homes on the market this year. With sellers holding homes off the market and thereby restricting the supply, prices are showing some strength. General economic forecasts seem to hold that 2008 will see the bottom for this cycle, further supporting this view. Real estate markets tend to a 7 year cycle, so with a peak in 2005 it can be expected that the bottom should be in 2008.

What this means for homeowners in the near term is that there is still demand for homes and that while sale prices will be down from 2005 highs Woburn appears to be a recovering market. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation until 2009 and beyond.

Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Woburn Single Family market, there were 95 properties listed August 1.  This represents a 17% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. Sales volume in July was again lower than last year with only 17 homes sold. Median sales prices resumed their uptrend at $362,500, although still slightly lower than last year. In July the average time on market dropped to 91 days. Currently we have only a 5 month supply of property which indicates that the Woburn market remains in favor of those selling property. It should be noted that approximately 10% of the homes on the market are distressed properties, Bank owned or Short Sales, so prices will experience some drag.

For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

First a review of where we came from. For Waltham, the market volume and prices peaked in 2005, at an annual median price of $435,000. Prices have shown about a 5% pullback since that time. The number of homes sold in 2005 was 337. In 2007, 269 homes sold so the volume has fallen off 20%. So far in the first half of 2008 there have only been 119 sales, so the market volume is low.

There is a seasonal effect on the Waltham market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being the volume lows. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 Q1 volume was very low, but Q2 was stronger so the strong summer trend seems to be holding.

Generally there have been fewer homes on the market this year. With sellers holding homes off the market and thereby restricting the supply, it is seems unlikely that any significant drop in prices will occur. General economic forecasts seem to hold that 2008 will see the bottom for this cycle, further supporting this view. Real estate markets tend to a 7 year cycle, so with a peak in 2005 it can be expected that the bottom should be in 2008-2009.

What this means for homeowners in the near term is that there is still demand for homes and that while sale prices will be down marginally from 2005 highs Waltham continues to be a stable market. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation until 2009 and beyond.

Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Waltham Single Family market, there were 90 properties listed August 1. This represents a 10% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. The median sales price gave back some of the June increase but remained at $400,000 up from the May lows. In July the time on market dropped further to only 43 days, a strong positive indicator. The number of sales was 32. This is down slightly from June and 22% lower volume than last July, but with reduced supply not too bad. Currently we have only a 2.8 month supply of homes for sale which indicates that the Waltham market remains in favor of those selling property.  With such a tight supply we should see stronger pricing in August for the Waltham market.

It should be noted that approximately 10% of the homes on the market are distressed properties, Bank owned or Short Sales, so prices may experience some drag.

 For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

First a review of where we came from. For Burlington, the market volume and prices peaked in 2004, at an annual median price of $420,000. Prices have shown only a 1% pullback since that time. The number of homes sold in 2004 was 213. In 2007, 171 homes sold so the volume has fallen off 20%. So far in the first half of 2008 there have only been 62 sales, so the market volume is low.

There is a weak seasonal effect on the Burlington market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) being the low and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being somewhat weak also. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 Q1 volume was very low, but Q2 was stronger so the strong summer trend seems to be holding.

Generally there have been fewer homes on the market this year. With sellers holding homes off the market and thereby restricting the supply, it is seems unlikely that any drop in prices will occur. General economic forecasts seem to hold that 2008 will see the bottom for this cycle, further supporting this view. Real estate markets tend to a 7 year cycle, so with a peak in 2004 it can be expected that the bottom should be in 2008.

What this means for homeowners in the near term is that there is still demand for homes and that while sale prices will be down marginally from 2004 highs Burlington continues to be a stable market. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation until 2009 and beyond.

Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Burlington Single Family market, there are now only 56 properties currently listed. This represents a 31% lower inventory than the same time last year. The median sales price rose again in July to over $400,000 for the first time in 2008. Although, the sales volume faltered slightly with only 9 homes sold down 31% from June and the same period last year. The average time on market for properties to sell stayed reasonable at 89 days.  Currently we have only a 6 month supply of property which indicates that the Burlington market remains in favor of sellers. August seasonal demand should remain reasonable so we will have to see how the sales volume develops.

For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

First a review of where we came from. For Bedford, the market volume peaked in 2004, and the prices peaked in 2005, at an annual median price of $530,000. Prices have shown only a 1% pullback since that time. The number of homes sold in 2004 was 134. In 2007, 140 homes sold so the volume has in fact risen. So far in the first half of 2008 there have only been 35 sales, so this year the market volume is low.

There is a seasonal effect on the Bedford market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar) being the low and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being somewhat weak also. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 Q1 and Q2 volume was very low, but June was strong and July also so the strong summer seems to be holding.

Generally there have been fewer homes on the market this year. With sellers holding homes off the market and thereby restricting the supply, it is seems unlikely that any drop in prices will occur. General economic forecasts seem to hold that 2008 will see the bottom for this cycle, further supporting this view. Real estate markets tend to a 7 year cycle, so with a peak in 2005 it can be expected that the bottom should be in 2008-2009.

What this means for homeowners in the near term is that there is still a stable demand for homes and that while sale prices will be down marginally from 2005 highs Bedford continues to be a high value market. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation until 2009 and beyond.

Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Single Family market, there were only 29 properties listed August 1.  This represents a 43% decrease in inventory from the same time last year. July sales volume continued the summer surge with 16 home sales, matching last year's number! Along with the increased volume the median sales prices stabilized around $520,000. The average time on market remained somewhat high at 112 days. The spike in volume reduced the supply of property to only 1.8 months shifting the Bedford market resoundingly back in favor of those selling property. At this time the market is supply limited and needs new inventory to remain at these levels.

For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

First a review of where we came from. For Lexington, the market volume peaked in 2004, and the prices peaked in 2005, at an annual median price of $725,000. Prices have shown approximately a 4% pullback since that time. The number of homes sold in 2004 was 357. In 2007, 345 homes sold so the volume has only dropped 3%. So far in the first half of 2008 there have been 133 sales, so the market volume is a little low, but remains healthy.

There is a strong seasonal effect on the Lexington market with Q1 (Jan, Feb, Mar)  and Q4 (Oct, Nov, Dec) being market lows. This seasonality should be taken into account when looking at any monthly data. 2008 Q1 volume was very low, but Q2 ( Apr, May, Jun) sales volume was good matching the same periods in both of the previous years. It should be expected that prices will continue to be strong through the summer.

Generally there have been fewer homes on the market this year. With sellers holding homes off the market and thereby restricting the supply, it is seems unlikely that any drop in prices will occur. General economic forecasts seem to hold that 2008 will see the bottom for this cycle, further supporting this view. Real estate markets tend to a 7 year cycle, so with a peak in 2005 it can be expected that the bottom should be in 2008-2009.

What this means for homeowners in the near term is that there is still a stable demand for homes and that while sale prices will be down from 2005 highs Lexington continues to be a high value market, and homes can be sold quickly. Homeowners who purchased more than 4 or 5 years ago still have significant equity, those having purchased or re-financed recently unfortunately will likely not see price appreciation until 2009 and beyond.

Now for the summary of July results, and where we are today. In the Single Family market, there were 125 properties listed for sale August 1. This is down 18% from the same time last year. The monthly median sales price data continues showing seasonal strength as we move through the summer months, and is in fact higher than July of last year at a value of $802,000. Average time on market increased to 110 days. There were 44 homes sold in July, the same number as July 2007. Currently the supply of homes for sale is down to less than 3 months. This indicates that the Lexington market is strongly in favor of those selling property.

For anyone interested in seeing the graphs and numbers behind these comments please go to my website www.MikesREALSolutions.com and look in the community for which you are interested. The reports are available for download as a .pdf file. You can e-mail me at Mike@ MikesREALSolutions.com with any questions.

Today the market is not good, you want to move up, but will a little more time really change the financial picture?  Recent forecasts say that we will not return to the 2005 peaks until 2015....  Do you really want to wait another 7 years to make a move????

As I mentioned in my last post when investing in the stock market, it is accepted as a basic truth that no one makes money by trying to "time" the stock market. The real estate market is similar to the stock market in that there is a general rising trend, with local markets going up and down like industry groups, and individual houses rising and falling like stocks. But with the exception of a few large investors the real estate cycles are too long and geographically spread out to be useful. If you are moving city to city the relative cycles are difficult if not impossible to predict. Even if you are looking to move to a nicer neighborhood in your own town, then the home you are looking to buy will lose value slower, and gain value quicker than the one you are trying to sell. If you wait until next year the one you want to buy will be even more expensive relative to your home than it is now. 

Here's the math: 

If you started in a weaker neighborhood back in 2005 and you lost 10% of your value. The stronger area only lost 6%. Now in a couple of years things start to rise again, but guess what, the stronger area gains faster, so by the time your house is back to where you started, the house you want is even more expensive. This says that you should figure out how to make the move sooner rather than later, because you will gain back more value in the stronger area in the same time. In this example if you are at the bottom, you've ‘lost' $30,000, if you wait through the two up market years until you get that back then you made $30,000. If you sold and bought in the stronger neighborhood then you would have made $72,000 in that same period of time!!! Even if the two areas come back at the same rate you are still ahead with the more expensive house, and more leverage!!

If you make your moves to quality, to better neighborhoods, or stronger towns then you will come out ahead in the long run, and you will get to live where you want while you gain equity.

I talk to a lot of people who have ‘tried' to sell their homes either on their own as a FSBO, or, with one or more agents and have stopped. I'll talk more later about what you need to do to sell, but for now I'd like to talk about the decision to sell. I will be talking about my town here but much of this applies wherever you are. I would like to take a moment of your time to discuss the current market and the challenge you face in marketing your home in Lexington.

First, I can think of only two reasons that you may not be marketing your home. The first is that your personal circumstances have changed and you are planning to stay in the home for some time. If this is the case then I wish you many years of enjoyment here in Lexington. The other reason is that you feel that the ‘market timing' is not good and that a little more time will change the financial picture. If this is the case then please read on.

For anyone who has done any investing in the stock market, it is a basic truth that no one makes money by timing the market. Additionally no one makes money by being emotionally attached to a stock. The only definition of a ‘good' stock is one that is increasing in value. When it stops increasing in value it becomes a ‘bad' stock and should be sold. For most of us our home is not a true investment, we bought it because we liked it, we are emotionally attached to it, we live in it as long as it suits our needs, and when we decide to move we sell it in order to purchase our next home. We don't sell it because the market is going up, or down, or sideways. After having made the first decision that it is time to move too many people lose their way when the discussion turns to money, and what the market says your 'investment' is worth.

The current market has changed things in Lexington. Buyers have become more selective looking for homes in move-in condition, and in many case specifically new homes The homes that are commanding $1,000,000+ prices in Lexington are either brand new construction 4,000 + sq ft colonials, or the carefully restored Victorians. At the low end, homes in the $300,000-$500,000 range are being purchased and torn down to be replaced by new ones. Construction cost for a new 3,000 sq ft home is roughly $400,000. The net result is that buyers can have a brand new home for $800-900,000. The result of these activities is that the mid range $600,000 - $900,000 home prices have remained flat to down as buyers have focused on either end.

I have attached here a link to two reports, a long term 2nd Qtr report, and a short term July monthly report.

http://www.mikesrealsolutions.com/Lexington-n11172.html

From the long term report you will see that the market in Lexington is down slightly from a price peak in 2005 and a volume peak in 2004. All indications are that 2008 will be in line with 2007 for volume and pricing. It is also worthy of note that the summer months are peaks for both volume and price. With the current state of the economy no one is predicting a return to rapid price growth for several years, but the seasonal strength is a reality. Holding onto a house is not the same as holding a stock certificate, the house incurs maintenance issues and as time passes depreciates as styles and tastes change. Time is not always your friend. The land value, and taxes will go up but the building may not, so waiting for the market to go up can be a losing game.

From the short term report you can also see that the summer pricing is looking stronger, but the volume is an issue this summer. Sellers such as you have been holding properties off the market and currently we are at a low level of only 117 properties listed for sale in Lexington. Of these only 15 are in the $700,000-$900,000 price range.

This is a key difference between houses and stocks. For most stocks there is essentially an infinite supply, you can always buy GE and you can always sell GE. For a $700,000 home in Lexington there are only 10 on the market, so if a buyer wants a home in that price range then there are only 10 to choose from. The result is that this summer is a great opportunity for you to take advantage of high seasonal demand paired with significantly limited supply (read ... competition). Pricing your property realistically for the current market, you will be able to sell quickly, use the money to fund a new dream, and move on with your life.

Don't spend years of your life waiting for the right time to act, act now and live your life.

This is my first post, of many I hope. I promise to improve as I go along...

I have the Boston Globe in front of me and I am reading "State home sales decline in May." My first reaction is "but it's June 24th!! We all knew this data 3 weeks ago." At least I posted my market reports on-line 3 weeks ago.  My second reaction is that it is so negative and doesn't tell the whole story, especially not for my neighborhood. If you weed through the details of the article you find that inside the 495 belt things are not as bad as they show in the headlines. Home prices are only down 3.2% and condo prices are unchanged. In point of fact home prices in Woburn and Lexington are up!  The challenge that I see is that the media seems to like to throw gas on any fire. I'm not denying the reality of the mortgage crisis, nor the fact that things are slow, but there are two key points that they are missing, the first is that your local market cannot be judged by general market statistics that is why you need to work with a knowledgeable local realtor. The second is that for many, this is a great buying opportunity, looking at discounted regular properties, or short sales, or even bank owned properties, all can represent bargains that have not been around for 5 or more years! The job market is strong, salaries haven't fallen back to 2002 levels, so for many, real estate is more affordable than it has ever been.  I don't know why the Globe can't run the headline "Lower home prices offer the best buying opportunity in 5 years!" and stimulate some optimism rather than deepening the gloom. Maybe it's just me being a Pollyanna but there is some silver in this cloud....