December sales below assessed value added to Real Estate Bubble Map

Looking for comps to substantiate a low-ball offer on a property in Greater Boston?  The Real Estate Cafe just added another 127 sales below assessed value, recorded in December 2006 across 25 of the most expensive cities and towns in Greater Boston, to it’s award-winning real estate bubble map.   

We also posted a link to past housing price corrections to a national news site, which is looking for contributions from readers, presumably real estate professionals and consumers alike.  Your comments are welcome there, or below.

PS. Yesterday, the same news service mentioned our market research in a discussion about the advantages of working with small, independent real estate agencies:

Bill Wendel, owner of the Real Estate Cafe, a buyer’s brokerage firm in Cambridge, Mass., said it can help for small companies to take a marketing approach that is “upside-down or backwards.” As an example, he said, some real estate companies may brag about the volume of listed homes that sold for over $1 million, while Wendel’s company publishes a list of “Million Dollar Markdowns” with homes that were a good value for buyers.

 

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Update: new listings posted on Cape Cod

UPDATE:

If you look beyond median prices to individual transactions, major price corrections are already happening.   The Real Estate Cafe has already mapped nearly 400 sales below assessed value across 27 of the most expensive cities & towns in Greater Boston.  In coming days, we’ll post another 200 sales to our real estate bubble map including 50 in Greater Boston and another 150 from Southeastern Massachusetts, primarily on Cape Cod.  If you see evidence that prices are falling, please post them to the real estate bubble map or create your own.  If you’re one of our clients, we’ll reward you for each property (see "Tipping Policy" for more detail.)

MIT Professor: Housing prices could decline another 20%

Savings of $100,000 or more on individual home purchases were relatively common across the top 25 most expensive housing markets in Greater Boston in 2006, and according to one MIT professor, savings are likely to continue in 2007.  Professor William C. Wheaton predicts housing prices could decline another 20 percent in Greater Boston and other markets over the next two to three years.  Does that mean that homebuyers in the most expensive communities will see even more price reductions in each of these categories in 2007?

PARTIAL MAP of homes selling for more than $100,000 below their original asking price: (see technical note below)

As sales prices fall, well-informed sellers are could set more realistic prices so the gaps between the original asking price and final sales prices may not be as wide as those recorded in 2006.  We’ll continue to map the location of six figure savings, and invite you to do the same on The Real Estate Cafe’s award-winning interactive bubble map.  We’re so convinced that our clients will save money, we’re willing to base part of our compensation on it.  Contact us at 617-661-4046 or RECafe [at] Mac [dot] com for information on our experimental NEW fees and rebates options.

Mapping comments from the HousingBubbleBlog

Has anyone given any thought to "mapping" the kinds of trends and location specific information readers of this blog contribute from around the country?  Comments posted here could protect home buyers from making a mistake that will cost them for years.  Skeptics, like those in the recent newspaper article in Boston and other markets who blame the market slowdown on the media, should check the locations, price declines, and duration of past price corrections on this experimental site:

http://www.realestatebubblemap.com

Your comments are welcome.  Better yet, create your own local bubble map and let others link to it; and if readers are in the housing market, attach comps to their offers.  Be sure to click on the Boston map to see homes selling for below their assessed value, some $100,000 or more below their original asking price.

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