When: Tuesday, September 22nd from 7:00 – 9:00 PM
Where: Medford Fire Station 5
Zero Medford Street (at the intersection of Medford Street and Main Street)

Each spring and fall I team up with a local real estate attorney, John Masciarelli, and we offer a free seminar to the public to help educate people about what to expect if you decide to sell your property. John and I discuss marketing, the legal aspects of selling, current market conditions and leave plenty of time for your questions.

Learn What To Expect In This Market When Selling Your

* SINGLE FAMILY HOME * MULTI-FAMILY * CONDO * INVESTMENT PROPERTY

John Masciarelli, A local real estate attorney and I will discuss:

• Foreclosures and Short Sales
• How Do We Determine Value?
• Can I Sell My Property Without Paying Capital Gains Taxes?
• How Do We Prepare Our Home For Sale?
• How Do We Sell Our Investment Property With Tenants?

For those who pre-register: we will review the most recent sales in your area and discuss how these sales impact your property selling plans. Sign up by September 21st by calling (781) 446-9720 or email me. Please include your property address if you’d like to be included in the area market analysis.

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Arlington Real Estate Statistics as of September 2009

Since looking at numbers in a vacuum doesn’t help you to compare, here is what the market looked just about a year ago:

Arlington Real Estate Statistics as of October 2008

As you can see from above, the average single family home price in Arlington has risen since last year. The multi family market has taken the biggest hit with prices falling pretty dramatically, but this is also the smallest segment of the Arlington market. During the real estate boom, many multi family homes were converted into condos, so there aren’t that many 2 and 3 family houses left in the city.

The average Days on Market hasn’t changed much during the last year. Currently single family homes are taking an average of 46 days to sell. Condos are on the market for an average of 72 days while multi family homes take an average of 49 days to go under agreement.

Want more information on the Arlington market?

• Arlington Real Estate Statistics as of January 2009
• Real Estate Market in Arlington as of October 2008

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There are a wide variety of condos in each city. They range from small associations in converted 2 or 3 family houses to high rise condo buildings like Station Landing which is a city within a city.

Now if you’re thinking of selling a condo in Somerville, dont’ be discouraged by the fact that there are 11 months of inventory on the market right now. That figure shows how long it would take for every condo currently for sale in Somerville to sell. Some of the units are so overpriced, they aren’t truly on the market (IMHO of course.) The condos that are priced right, will sell. I closed on a condo in Somerville this week that I sold in 38 days.

The same hold true in Medford. Although the average days on the market for condos in the city is 115, if you price your condo right and market it well, you can sell much fast. I sold this Medford condo in 11 days for its full asking price.

Whether you sell or sit on the market comes down to the basics – location, condition, price and marketing.

* Source MLSPin

Sometimes seeing all of the numbers at once can be a bit overwhelming, so this chart breaks out the number of month of inventory of single family homes for sale in each city:

Not surprising the cities with the highest price tags, Cambridge and Winchester, have the most number of months of inventory already on the market. Looking at months of inventory help you really narrow in on what’s happening in a real estate market because it factors in demand, not just numbers of homes for sale or average days on the market.

When: Monday, April 6th from 7:30 – 9:30 PM
Where: Medford Fire Station 5
Zero Medford Street (at the intersection of Medford Street and Main Street)

Each spring and fall I team up with a local real estate attorney, John Masciarelli, and we offer a free seminar to the public to help educate people about what to expect if you decide to sell your property. John and I discuss marketing, the legal aspects of selling, current market conditions and leave plenty of time for your questions.

Learn What To Expect In This Market When Selling Your
* SINGLE FAMILY HOME* MULTI-FAMILY * CONDO* INVESTMENT PROPERTY

John Masciarelli, A local real estate attorney and I will discuss:

• Foreclosures and Short Sales
• How Do We Determine Value?
• Can I Sell My Property Without Paying Capital Gains Taxes?
• How Do We Prepare Our Home For Sale?
• How Do We Sell Our Investment Property With Tenants?

For those who pre-register: we will review the most recent sales in your area and discuss how these sales impact your property selling plans. Sign up by September 15th by calling (781) 446-9720 or email me. Please include your property address if you’d like to be included in the area price round up.

As of today, February 14th, an overwhelming number of people who have voted agree with me and want to see this happen.

The meeting is from 4-6 PM at St. Clement’s Parish Hall, 579 Boston Ave., Medford. The Medford Green Line Neighborhood Alliance has all of the information and a petition you can sign to support bringing the Green Line to Route 16, near the borders of Medford, Arlington and Somerville so that more people can walk to public transportation.

Here are the latest statistics from January 2009:

Let’s compare these figures to what was going on in the fall in October 2008:

As you would expect due to the time of year and the amount of snow on the ground, there are less single family homes and condos currently on the market, but except for this normal seasonal change, the single family and condo market in Arlington has remained steady and active. Single family homes have been selling with an average of only 39 days on the market, while condos have been taking approximately 71 days to sell.

The multi family market has lost some ground. However, since so many 2 and 3 family homes in the city were converted to condos, there aren’t that many multi family homes for sale, so we’re working with a small statistical sample. The figures are showing that while homes are selling in a very respective average of 47 days on market, the average sales price has definitely dropped in last few months. It will be interesting to see what happens in a few months when the spring market (and the sun) returns!

More articles on Arlington, MA:

• Cut Down Your Commute Time
• Real Estate Stats for Arlington, MA as of October 2008
• Bring the Green Line to Route 16

These numbers tell us that the market in Arlington is very healthy. How do I know? Take a look at the absorption rates. Absorption rate is a way to look at the number of properties currently on the market and then using the number of recent sales, allows you to estimate how long it would take for every property currently on the market to sell if no new properties were allowed to go on the market. This figure helps you to see if the market is speeding up, slowing down or staying level. The city-wide absorption rate for Arlington has stayed level at about a 2 month figure. This is very low. There are many cities in Massachusetts with over 11 months of inventory on the market.

Arlington’s good school system, proximity to Boston and diverse, active community has allowed it to ride through the current market downturn without being affected as strongly as most other communities.

The MBTA has a wonderful site that lets you put in any address and see what the options are for taking public transportation.

Maybe public transportation just isn’t right for you,but you’re still trying to determine whether or not it makes sense for you to move closer to work. Check out the Commuting Calculator which will help you decide if it makes more sense to buy a house in a more expensive area that’s closer to work or to buy a house with a longer commute that costs less. You can plug in the potential distances from work, gas prices and more. The calculator will help you figure out which scenario makes more sense for you.