Tuesday, May 26, 2009

FHA Changes

My last post was somewhat depressing if you are a condo buyer but on the bright side, I just met with Sarah Valentini, President of Radius Financial Group. During our meeting she did mention to me that HUD was reviewing their lending criteria and it is rumored that they will be doing away with their restrictions on condo associations with less than 4 units for FHA loans. Not sure when, but it appears to be coming down the pike.

A big Yay! for that.

Sigh.....

The proverbial other shoe has dropped on us in the condo market. Lenders in the past month have tightened up lending criteria again. This time, not on the borrower, but rather the property. We are hearing that low owner occupancy rates are requiring buyers to put 25% down. The same owner cannot own more than 10% of the units or in small developments more than 1 unit. And some other restrictions, making it pretty difficult for low-down-payment buyers to purchase a condo. This of course affects sellers too.

Typical sales that are adversely affected are:
Foreclosures where more than one unit is foreclosed/owned by same entity.
All low-down-payment buyers that want to buy into a new development.
New Developments
Developments that went rental that are still trying to sell some units.

I will have more news to about this to come...

Friday, May 22, 2009

Dorchester Ave Project

I had a chance to attend Mass Highway and Boston's Department of Neighborhood Development's(DND) meeting presenting the proposed plan to upgrade 15 intersections on Dorchester Ave. There was an overall consensus of support for the project and I am eager to see it implemented.

Some notes from the meeting:
  • The project has been fast-tracked due to the money being sourced from the federal stimulus package. Project bidding will start this summer and will be abbreviated. The reason explained at the meeting is that the money will expire if not acted upon within a certain time frame.
  • Mass Highway has become the administrators of the project because of the way the money must be directed, DND will still have major influence.
  • They realize that the plan is not perfect, but they have made the best effort to compromise to make as many positive changes as possible.
I am particularly excited about the revamping of the Fields Corner (intersection of Adams and Dorchester Ave.) and Glover's corner (Freeport, Dorchester and Hancock St intersection) receiving some major overhauls.

Of course, this means traffic and construction but I am willing to live through that for the time being. I really think this will be a major catalyst for positive change along the avenue.

Check it out here.

Very busy

It has been a great spring. Lots of activity in both the rental market and sales. This past week my buyers were caught up in a bidding war! And it wasn't a foreclosure. Sales have certainly been brisk and as I have said before it is limited to certain price points and locations. We are seeing an uptick in foreclosures too, more are coming on the market after a government and self-imposed moratorium this past winter/spring.

We are also seeing occupied foreclosures. It seems that banks are not evicting tenants/squatters/former owners after foreclosure. I think banks have realized two things, it's far too expensive in Massachusetts to evict and a vacant home attracts trouble and vandalism. At least with a tenant the copper is not being stripped out and squatters/trouble makers are kept away.

This of course presents a problem for the foreclosure buyer as it becomes the buyers' tenant at closing. Usually, this tenant has not been paying rent to the bank and is reluctant to start, meaning the buyer will then have to evict. I haven't run into this while representing a buyer yet, but I will update you if I have to and how it goes.

Cheers!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Commercial News

Loopnet is a commercial real estate listing service similar to MLS. It picks up where MLS leaves off in the commercial realm as far as listing information collected. We currently use it to list our larger commercial properties. In addition to listings they have commercial real estate news and info.

Recently they ran a poll about the commercial real estate market for their users to complete. There are some interesting results. Most notably is that access to financing is still a huge problem for sales. Personally, I can echo that on our commercial listings. The price really is not the larger issue but rather finding a buyer with significant amounts of cash that can access the financing needed to make it work.

Here is a summary of the poll results.

When do you expect the number of completed commercial real estate transaction sales to begin to pick up vs. 2008?

 

Q1 2009 (already happening)

3%

Q2 2009

3%

Q3 2009

12%

Q4 2009

22%

2010

47%

2011 or later

12%

Total

100%

  
  

What do you view as the biggest obstacle to commercial real estate sale transactions getting completed?

 

Different price expectations between sellers and buyers

22%

Access to financing

59%

Uncertainty of economic forecasts

19%

Other

0%

Total

100%

  
  

How much further will prices need to fall vs. 2008 in order for transaction volume to increase?

 

0-5%

12%

5-10%

28%

10-20%

28%

20-30%

25%

More than 30%

6%

Total

100%

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Dancing with the Stars

Dorchester has a great number of community groups that support residents and businesses. Recently, I have been approached to volunteer to be nominated and hopefully voted on to the board of directors of Fields Corner Main Street. I had the opportunity to sit in on a board meeting tonight and was impressed by the quality of this board and their mission. I have sat on other non-profit boards in the past and for such a small organization, they really have their act together. I look forward to being involved.

Fields Corner Main Streets (FCMS) is dedicated to the commercial interests of businesses and residents in the Fields Corner area and are frequently looked to for advice and support of various interests.

On June 18th FCMS will have their annual fund raiser "Dancing with the Stars" It looks to be a great event with local celebrities and politicians dancing and judging. I encourage you to check it out and buy a ticket. The proceeds go directly to FCMS and support their operations and programs. If you cannot attend think about becoming a member. Check it all out at www.fieldscorner.org.

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Check your calendar!

If I didn't know any better I would think it was 2005-2006 in the condo market.  Condo units (in decent locations) priced $200k-$300k have been flying off the shelf. Below are the units that have gone under agreement in the past 30 days and have not closed yet as listed in MLS.

Some notables

Status 

Address

Days on Market

List Price

UAG

54 Percival St U:2

9

$175,000

UAG

88 Walnut Street U:3

9

$299,900

UAG

465 Ashmont St U:3

10

$199,000

UAG

979 Dorchester Avenue U:3

16

$209,000

UAG

7 Bearse U:2

26

$249,900

UAG

78 Sawyer Ave U:2

28

$259,000

UAG

226 East Cottage St U:1

28

$269,900

UAG

55 King street U:#1

31

$269,900

UAG

2-4 Centre Ave U:4A

37

$199,000

UAG

3 King St U:2

42

$219,000

UAG

3 King St U:3

42

$239,000

UAG

126 Richmond Street U:1st Floor

61

$219,900

UAG

572 Freeport U:101

64

$299,000

UAG

365 Savin Hill Ave U:1

78

$169,000

UAG

365 Savin Hill Ave U:3

90

$249,900

UAG

53 Minot St U:3

147

$229,000

UAG

78 Train St U:3

348

$229,000


 

There are some properties that I know have accepted offers but haven't been updated in MLS yet as well. It has been a great spring for condo sellers. If I were a developer, this is the price range I would be targeting.