What is a Mortgage Commitment Letter?

A Mortgage Commitment Letter is a letter from a bank that says you have been approved to borrow money from them. In other words, it is a commitment from the bank, to the borrower, for the funds requested. Unfortunately, it is not that simple …

The HSI vs. my Home Price Change Graph

Any reader on this blog has probably become familiar with my HSI metric. My Home Selling Index is designed to give you an update window on what buyers and sellers are doing in that market as close to real time as I …

How Many Days Before my Real Estate Closing Should I Do My Final Walk Through?

Well, usually you CAN schedule it as early as you like. But there are issues with this. Let's discuss the things a Final Walkthrough is supposed to take care of, and see how …

Highest Home Prices in Metrowest

Any regular reader of this blog knows that I feel that in aggregate, $/sq foot is a much better metric to look at home expense than the more commonly used metric, median sales price. Median sales prices move around too much, and can hide …

Want to know where the action is in the Housing Market? Here's your guide

OK, here's the latest in my series about where the buyers are spending their time and money. Remember, this is a chart about where the imbalance between sellers and buyers is greatest …

Massachusetts Tax Rates from Most to Least-2015 Preliminary Rates, 2014 and 2013 actuals

Here's a link to the list alphabetically....

Here's a link to last years version of this list.

These rates are reposted from the Mass.gov websites.  They are sorted by Residential rate …

What we Know about Housing from President Obama's First Term

The President largely stayed in lockstep with the Fed on housing. The Federal Government has several key areas where they are involved in the housing market. Here are some of the most relevant, and what we saw from the …

Towns see Strong Demand, Effect on Prices Can be Seen

I'm going to show you a chart. But before you go see the chart, I need to give some preliminary disclosures:

A) This chart shows the change in prices based on $/sq foot from the winter to …

The Housing Market: Factors that affect Short-Term, Long-Term

Every once in a while, I like to share my take on the economic news of the moment and share my thoughts on what that means for the market. I'm not afraid of taking shots at poorly written articles in the same space …

Things looking HOT for Home Sellers in Most of MetroWest

I know because I keep getting asked about it. There are some of you who still aren't sure if the real estate market is "better". IT IS!

Below is an update of the my ranking from June  …