Four Columns Realty Blog

3 Reasons to Use Four Columns Realty for Better Real Estate Searches

Would you like to see more information about the properties you're interested in?

Now you can. The North Quabbin Region's Best Real Estate Search (TM) just got better.

Four Columns Realty has added over 35 new pieces of information to each single-family home listing on FourColumnsRealty.com. Each listing for land, multi-family homes, condos, mobile homes, commercial property and industrial property also shows added information. And Four Columns Realty now gives you information about sold properties, too.

Here's what you get:

1. More Information. Days on market. Original list price. Interior and exterior features. Descriptive remarks. You get over twice as much information about a home or other property after you log in.

2. Multiple ways to search. While many people like the easy to use map search, you may prefer to search by town, zip code or address. To do so, click City/County or Address/Zip just below the Active Listings tab. In the City/County search, you can add and remove the towns listed in the right-hand box to target the towns you want.

If you know an MLS number, just insert it into the Listing Number box in the upper right and hit Go.

3. Sold Properties. If you are thinking about a house, wouldn't you like to know how much buyers recently paid for similar houses? Let Four Columns Realty tell you. After you log in, click the Sold Properties tab and use any of the multiple ways to search. For each sold listing, you can find out the sale price, original list price, days on market and more.

How to Get It All

To gain free unlimited access to all this information, log in. If you have not yet set up your account, it only takes a couple of easy minutes. Just enter a valid email address and create your password. Click to submit and follow validation instructions. Don't fret, we will not spam you or disclose your email address to others who might spam you.

After you log in, whenever you search for real estate in Orange, Athol, the North Quabbin Region or anywhere in Massachusetts, you can count on Four Columns Realty to show you more information.

Armed with all this information, you will be ready to make your choice. But how can you tell if you're making the right choice? Simple. Call or email a Four Columns Realty agent. We know the community. We know the real estate market. And we are happy to talk with informed buyers like you.

Homes Are Sensibly-Priced in the North Quabbin Region

People ask how they can find a good home they can afford. It turns out the key is knowing where they look.

A recent Four Columns Realty study shows that homes in the North Quabbin Region are more affordable than homes in nearby areas.

I wrote about this in today's Athol Daily News Spring Real Estate Guide:

Look east, west, north or south from Athol and Orange. Home prices are higher in every direction. A recent Four Columns Realty study of single-family home prices over the past 12 months found that the North Quabbin Region is a pocket of opportunity for sensibly-priced real estate.

This pocket of opportunity is a mixed blessing. Athol-Orange area sellers find that their house sells for less than the price it might sell for in other parts of the state.  As investors say, you make your money when you buy.

There is some good news for local sellers. Since the previous Four Columns Realty study last summer, average sale prices in the North Quabbin Region have moved up a bit. Still, by comparison, homes in our area remain a bargain.

The bottom line: Buyers searching for sensibly-priced homes should search in the North Quabbin Region.

Get the facts in the latest Four Columns Realty study.

Read the March 30, 2010 Athol Daily News article.

Lean about the Buy North Quabbin Now program.

Search for homes in the North Quabbin Region.

Congress Enlarges Homebuyers' Window of Opportunity

 

This week, the extended and expanded Homebuyer Tax Credit streaked through both houses of Congress like a greased pig. The President is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday. Update 11/6/09: The President signed the bill as expected.

The bill enlarges the window of opportunity for first time homebuyers to take advantage of the $8,000 income tax credit when they buy a home. The November 30th closing deadline is history. To claim the tax credit, eligible homebuyers will now have until April 30, 2010 to enter into a binding contract and until July 1, 2010 to close on their transaction.

In another big change, the bill broadens the tax credit beyond first time homebuyers. Certain existing homeowners who buy a home to move to will now be eligible for a $6.500 income tax credit. The same time limits apply.

Here's a chart (pdf) showing the key changes in the law. For more information on how homebuyers in Orange, Athol and the North Quabbin Region can take advantage of this program, contact your Four Columns Realty agent.

As Time Goes By: 2005 vs. 2009

Remember 2005? The real estate boom was fated to go on forever. But fate had other plans.

Four Columns Realty offers readers of Orange MA Real Estate 10 ways to understand what's hot and what's not in today's real estate market:

1. Trophy McMansions are so 2005. Letting the Jones keep up with themselves is 2009.

2. Buying a home to flip is so 2005. Buying a home to live in for years is 2009.

3. Overpaying for a ritzy address is so 2005. Finding bargain tech-friendly communities with improving schools is 2009.

4. Excessive extras are so 2005.  Simple comforts are 2009.

5. "No cash, no credit, no problem" is so 2005. Choosing a home you can afford is 2009.

6. "So what if we're buying high, the market will catch up" is so 2005. Buying smart is 2009.

7. "Let's inflate our asking price and see if there's still a sucker out there" is so 2005. Pricing a listing right on Day One is 2009.

8. Rooms full of wasted space are so 2005. Energy efficiency is 2009.

9. Multiple vacation homes are so 2005. Living where you can be happy staying home for vacation is 2009.

10. Smiling through it all is so 2005. Smiling through it all is 2009, too. Some things never change.

Why It's a Buyer's Market

As we approach the end of October, there are 340 single-family homes on the market in the North Quabbin Region, which includes Athol, Erving, New Salem, Orange, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick and Wendell.

These 340 homes have been on the market for an average of 223 days.

The 340 homes for sale in Athol, Orange and the surrounding towns are close to a 21st century high for this date.

The average of 223 days on the market is a clear 21st century high in our region on this date.

That's the supply side. What about demand?

From January 1, 2008 through October 22, 2008, 173 single-family homes in the North Quabbin Region were sold through the MLS. (This number does not include private real estate sales, such as family transactions or for-sale-by owner homes.)

These 173 homes sold in Athol, Orange and the surrounding towns took an average of 191 days to sell.

On average, these 173 homes took twice as long to sell as the 439 homes sold in Athol, Orange and the same surrounding towns in 2004.

If the current rate of sales continues, 2008 will see less homes sold in the North Quabbin Region than in any other year of the 21st century.

Also, if the current rate of sales continues, buyers would take over a year and a half to go through the current inventory of Athol-Orange area homes for sale... even if not a single new listing were to come on the market.

That's slow demand. And with the economy faltering and lenders tightening up, demand is likely to stay slow.

A high supply of homes for sale + a slow demand for homes = a buyer's market. That's how the law of supply and demand applies to real estate.

We are not alone. The buyer's market in Athol MA real estate and Orange MA real estate resembles the real estate buyer's market across most of the USA.

Today, in Athol, in Orange and everywhere, it's important for home buyers and home sellers to be realistic. With unsold homes in high supply and demand reduced by economic stress, the buyer's market is likely to stay with us for a long while.

Note: Four Columns Realty calculated the North Quabbin Region statistics in this post based on information supplied to and compiled by the MLS Property Information Network, Inc., for the periods of time indicated.