Metrowest MA Real Estate Market Reports For 2011

The following is a list of Metrowest Massachusetts Real Estate market reports for a number of area towns. By clicking on the individual links provided, you will be taken to a detailed summary page of each of the respective towns. There you will find an analysis of the Real Estate market in 2011 compared to the previous two years, as well as a snap shot of how Real Estate sales looked December 2011.

The individual town report also will take a look at the current inventory of homes for sale in each of the towns with pictures and details of the properties. Click the links below to be taken to each of the towns Real Estate info for the past year. From these market reports a basic understanding of what has been happening in the Metrowest market can be achieved.

Hopkinton MA Real Estate Market 2011

Holliston MA Real Estate Market 2011

Ashland MA Real Estate Market 2011

Milford MA Real Estate Market 2011

Framingham MA Real Estate Market 2011

Southboro MA Real Estate Market 2011

Westboro MA Real Estate Market 2011

Shrewsbury MA Real Estate Market 2011

Northboro MA Real Estate Market 2011

Grafton MA Real Estate Market 2011

Northbridge MA Real Estate Market 2011

Medway MA Real Estate Market 2011

Franklin MA Real Estate Market 2011

Bellingham MA Real Estate Market 2011

Upton MA Real Estate Market 2011

Mendon MA Real Estate Market 2011

Sutton MA Real Estate Market 2011

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About the Author: The above Real Estate information provided on the Metrowest MA Real Estate market  was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

Top Massachusetts Home Selling Tips

Original article Source: Top Home Selling Tips

After being in the Real Estate business for the last twenty five years I have been involved in all types of markets.

I have been through boom times and recently some of the most difficult times you could ever imagine.
With these experiences I have continued to learn what makes a home sell for the most money, in the shortest period of time, with the least amount of headaches.

When I interview with a potential client I like to share what works and what doesn’t.
I am also candid even if it is not what the seller wants to hear. A “yes” man will never be a great Realtor. Keeping this in mind here are the top home selling tips for Real Estate. The best piece of home selling advice I can ever give any client is to price the home properly coming out of the gate. Overpricing a home is one of the hardest things to overcome.

In fact I tell people all the time that the price you set on a home is 80% of the marketing. What do you mean by that Bill? If you set the wrong price all of your other efforts to sell the home will be meaningless. The best online marketing, fantastic photography, beautiful brochures and fancy video tours aren’t going to mean squat if you help sell the competition by overpricing YOUR home.

One of the sure fire ways to prevent your home from selling is to list it at a price that the market will not bear. Most people don’t like to overpay for any kind of purchase, never mind one as large as a home. Selling a property can become an emotionally charged event. Many people think of their homes as an extension of who they are and their life time memories. Our homes are places where some of the most important events and memories in our lives occur. From holiday gatherings, birthday parties, the baby’s first steps, to simple things like family meals. These are all special things to many of us.

When selling a home however, you need to take the emotion out of it and think of it strictly as a business transaction. Trust me I know this can be hard to do! Keep in mind that market value is determined by what a motivated and qualified buyer is willing to pay for your home, not simply what you feel it should be worth.

Carefully looking at comparable sales data is very important. The last thing you want as a seller is to let “the days on market” become inflated. I can tell you with certainty every buyer will ask their Realtor how long has the home been on the market. Buyer’s do this because they want to know how much they can negotiate.

To continue reading top home selling tips come take a look at my new blog over at Maximum Real Estate Exposure. If you like the article I would appreciate you sharing it in your social media networks!

Real Estate Mortgage Tax Deductions

Original article source: Home buying tax deductions

If there is anything in this world that is certain it’s the fact that everyone likes to save on their taxes when April rolls around. If you have purchased a home in the last year you are going to want to make sure that you have remembered all the allowable tax deductions.

When taking out a mortgage to buy a home, there are certain deductions that the IRS allows that you are going to need to remember. The list below summarizes the deductions that many people forget about when buying Real Estate:

MORTGAGE POINTS
Points paid when taking out a mortgage are tax deductible if they are used to reduce the mortgage interest rate. In the event you don’t know, a point is 1% of the loan amount. For example on a $200,000 mortgage a point would equal $2000.00.

Typically most people would not want to pay points on a loan unless the expectation was to be in the home for a while to recapture the cost of such points in the form of reduced payments. In order to figure out if paying points makes sense, you need to calculate the mortgage payment amount both with and without points.

By looking at the spread between these figures you can determine how long you would need to be in the home before it would make fiscal sense. For a complete explanation see when to pay points on a mortgage. Points or origination fees paid when you buy a home or other Real Estate are generally tax deductible in full for the year that you pay them.

It should be made clear that origination charges from the lender that constitute a “service fee” are not tax deductible. Another method you could make is to amortize the points over the term of the mortgage. This choice is usually made only when your itemized deductions are less than the standard deduction for the year you purchased the home.

Additionally when you refinance a mortgage the points must be deducted over the term of the loan. If you deduct points over the term of the loan and sell the home or refinance it again before the loan expires, you can deduct in the year of the sale or refinancing any points that you didn’t previously deduct.

Keep in mind that you will be able to get the best mortgage interest rates when you have a great FICO Credit Score.See how to increase a credit score to help in your efforts to get a terrific interest rate.

To continue reading the full article see home buying tax deductions.

 About the Author: The above Real Estate information on Real Estate mortgage tax deductions was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

Homestead Protection Massachusetts Real Estate

If you are considering purchasing a Massachusetts home one of the things you may be asked at some point, more than likely by your attorney or even possibly by the bank’s attorney, is whether you would like to have Massachusetts Homestead Protection.

Folks this is one easiest Real Estate decisions you could have make! Raise your hand immediately and say you want it.

What an estate of homestead does in protect a persons residence from most creditors. The Massachusetts declaration of homestead protects the equity in your property for up to $500,000 in the event a lawsuit is brought against you.

So if you are sued, $500,000 of your equity could not be touched by an attachment and subsequent levy on execution of sale. As most people realize, we live in a litigious society. The chances of getting into an accident and someone suing you should not be taken lightly! It happens to quite a few people everyday.

The Homestead protection document is filed at the registry of deeds in the county that your residence is located in.  All that is needed is the preparation and recording of a Declaration of Homestead as well as the payment of a state recording fee. The total cost is usually only around $100 to prepare and record the document.

I am sure your attorney would be happy to prepare this document for you or possibly even the banks attorney if you don’t have legal representation at your closing. To see the full article visit homestead protection Massachusetts.

 About the Author: The above Real Estate information on Massachusetts homestead protection was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

Massachusetts For Sale By Owners Typically Fail

The typical driving force behind most for sale by owner homes (FSBO) is to save a Real Estate commission. Even though I am  in the business of selling Real Estate I can clearly understand a home seller’s motivation to save the kind of money that is handed out in a typical sale.


There are not too many people I know who don’t like to save money where ever they can especially in a tough economy.  In a Real Estate sale saving a commission translates into a tremendous amount of money. It is hard to blame any home seller for their desire to save the type of dollars that are made when a Realtor sells a home or condo.

While commission rates are negotiable, in most parts of Massachusetts if you are selling a home you will more than likely be paying a Real Estate commission between 4%-6% on the sale price of your property.
On a $450,000 home a commission of 5% is $22,500. There is no doubt that is a lot of mullah! Selling a property for sale by owner however is not an a simple task and that is why most home owners end up hiring a Realtor.

Nationally the success rate of a for sale by owner (FSBO) is very low. Over 80% of all FSBO’S end up hiring a Realtor to get the job done after unsuccessfully trying on their own. Why is going the route of selling without a Realtor such a difficult task? There are quite a few reasons why selling FSBO is a difficult task to pull off. To continue reading the full article see Massachusetts for sale by owner.

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About the Author: The above Real Estate information on Massachusetts for sale by owner homes was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

Real Estate Title Insurance Explained

When buying a home or other Real Estate one of the things that buyer’s will try to figure out is whether or not they should purchase Real Estate title insurance. Often times I find that some buyer’s really struggle over this decision because of the pretty hefty expense involved. Real Estate title insurance is certainly not inexpensive!

While title insurance is a one time expense, it can be tough for a buyer who lacks a lot of funds in reserve to come up with such a substantial expenditure at closing. Real Estate title insurance can easily run into thousands of dollars in a home purchase.

Real Estate title insurance policies however differ from other types of insurance as there is no monthly premiums .Title Insurance is a one time expense covering the owner until the property is sold to the next buyer. One of the questions I often get by my clients is “should I purchase title insurance’?

Let me first explain the definition of title insurance is and what this special insurance covers. Real Estate title insurance is an insurance that covers financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity of mortgage liens.

A title policy is put in place to protect an owner’s or lender’s financial interest in a property against loss due to title defects, liens or other matters. This type of insurance will defend against a lawsuit attacking the title as it is insured, or reimburse the insured for the monetary loss incurred, up to the dollar amount of insurance provided for in the policy. To see the full article with an in depth discuss on what Real Estate Title Insurance does click the link which will take you to the Massachusetts Real Estate Blog.
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About the Author: The above Real Estate information on Real Estate title insurance was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

3 Types of Home Equity Loans

When looking to take money out of an existing home or other Real Estate borrowers often have a decision to make on what is the best method to do so. There are basically three financing options that are available to home owners. These include a cash out re-finance, home equity loan or a home equity line of credit (HELOC).

Determining which of these type of loan options will work best basically comes down to what purpose the money is going to be used for.
Unfortunately being in the Real Estate field, I often come across folks who have over extended themselves and find that they have created undue hardships .

Going back ten years ago this was not so much of a problem as Real Estate markets around the country were booming and a home was an investment windfall.  Every few months the value of homes would continue to rise and did so for over a decade. Of course all good things must come to an end eventually and now we are left with property values decreasing in most areas.

When the economy and Real Estate values are soaring it is hard not to look at a home as a giant piggy bank from which you can tap at a moments notice. When times are tough however, you may regret taking your equity for granted by pulling it out of the home.

If you click on the link below you will find a guide to help you determine whether borrowing against the equity in your home via a home equity line of credit (HELOC), home equity loan or a cash out refinance makes the most sense. To continue reading see home equity loans.

About the Author: The above Real Estate information on home equity loans was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of Metrowest Massachusetts for the last 25+ Years.

Repairing Home Water Damage

Original article source: Massachusetts Real Estate Blog

If you have ever been in the unfortunate position of having a pipe burst in your home, a washing machine hose give way while you were gone for the weekend, or a finished basement become flooded by a 100 year storm, you know what a royal pain in the $#@ it is to clean up and remedy water damage!

There are few things that can damage a home more than water. One of the most important things you can do when faced with a water damage problem is to tackle it right away. Without taking immediate action the threat of getting mold becomes very likely which can further increase an already expensive proposition.

If you can get take care of the water in under 48-72 hours you stand a much greater chance that you can keep the mold at bay.

If it all possibly the 1st thing that you are going to want to do is take everything out of the area where the water damage has occurred and get it into a warm and dry environment. Even if it means taking these things outside that is what you should do.

The next step will be to either get in touch with a water damage and restoration company or take the same steps they would make in getting the water re-mediated from the home.

To finish reading the article and to see all the ways to fix home water damage click the link.