Orange Real Estate

We Have Moved

The Orange Real Estate Blog is now part of the Four Columns Realty Blog. Please update your bookmarks.

News from Four Columns Realty

Time to get blogging again. Much has happened.

You may be interested to know that Four Columns Realty ranked #1 in Orange for the first half of 2009, just as we did in calendar year 2008.

Thanks to our loyal friends and clients, Four Columns Realty sold more Orange MA real estate than any other real estate office, based on information provided to and compiled by the MLS Property Information Network, Inc., covering the period from January 1, 2009 through June 30, 2009.

Here's something else that might interest you. Four Columns Realty has launched a mobile real estate search app.

Our new app lets you to search for property from an iPhone, Blackberry or just about any other smartphone. If you want instant info about a home you're standing in front of, just bring up our app. Install it today!

We're working on new ways to meet your needs. The new Four Columns Realty Twitter feed on our home page gives you our latest updates, plus another way to communicate with us. Follow us on Twitter now.

Finally, we have some interesting market research on how real estate prices in Orange and the North Quabbin Region compare with prices in nearby areas. I'll be blogging about that soon.

Office Open House Saturday

Four Columns Realty Open House

Saturday, May 2, 2009

11 AM - 2 PM

Stop in... Say Hello... Join the Discussions

11 AM

For Sale by Owner? Learn Insider Tips

12 PM

Ins and Outs of Buying Bank-owned Property

1 PM

First Time Homebuyer Credit: How You Can Qualify

Find out more...

Originally posted on the Four Columns Realty Blog

Own This View

Nestled between two ponds (just look at the map), this contemporary Orange MA home offers a view of Tully Pond and Tully Mountain. Plus you get deeded access to both Tully Pond and Packard Pond.

Open concept home with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a comfy Vermont Castings propane stove, a secluded one-acre lot and a really nice view. $239,000. Find out more.

Update July 2, 2009: This property sold for $224,500.

Life as a Walmartian

Wal-Mart is one of the largest retailers and employers in Orange MA. What's it like to work there? Is it like this?

Charles Platt writes about his life "as a Walmartian":

Everyone at every level was friendly and decent toward me. No one had the slightest clue that I might write about my experiences; no one even knew that I had a former career as a journalist. Still, they behaved like poster children for enlightened capitalism.

His conclusion:

Based on my experience (admittedly, only at one location) I reached a conclusion which is utterly opposed to almost everything ever written about Wal-Mart. I came to regard it as one of the all-time enlightened American employers, right up there with IBM in the 1960s. Wal-Mart is not the enemy. It's the best friend we could ask for.

Then why does Wal-Mart get such bad press? Charles Platt has a theory. Read the article to find out.

Originally posted in the Four Columns Realty Blog.

Starrett Cuts Work Week

L.S. Starrett Company, which employs many Orange residents, "will reduce its work week for most of the 600 workers at its Athol factory and offices."

 

Ouch! While Starrett deserves credit for keeping everyone on board (although with less hours) instead of socking some of its workers with layoffs, the cutbacks are going to hurt.

Read more at Athol Real Estate.

Paul Riendeau Ranks #1 in Real Estate Sales

Paul Riendeau of Four Columns Realty in Orange ranked #1 in 2008 for real estate sales in the nine-town North Quabbin Region, topping a list of local agents released last week.

Among active real estate agents, Riendeau sold the most North Quabbin Region property and was involved in the most North Quabbin Region transactions during 2008, based on information provided to and compiled by the MLS Property Information Network, Inc., covering the period from January 1, 2008 through December 31, 2008 for the Massachusetts towns of Orange, Athol, Petersham, Phillipston, Royalston, Warwick, Wendell, New Salem and Erving.

Read the full announcement...

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.

Mahar Regional Earns Silver Medal Ranking

Mahar Regional High School, which serves the Massachusetts towns of Orange, New Salem, Petersham, and Wendell, has earned Silver Medal status in a national rating of best high schools, according to this report in the December 24th Athol Daily News (subscription required):

Ralph C. Mahar Regional High School has been ranked among 2009's best high schools in America, according to the U.S. News & World Report's "America's Best High Schools" annual rating of more than 21,000 public American high schools.

Mahar was one of 27 high schools in the state to receive the prestigious "Silver Medal" ranking, and the only high school in the Franklin County. Only two Massachusetts high schools received a "Gold Medal" ranking.

The Orange MA Real Estate Blog congratulates the students, teachers and staff of the Ralph C. Mahar Regional School District for their good work. Keep it Up!

(The announcement from Dr. Reza Namin, Superintendent of the Mahar Regional School District, is available here. The U.S. News & World Report data for the school is available here.)

Why It's a Buyer's Market

(Cross-posted from Athol Real Estate)

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.

Glorious Weekend Around Orange MA

It's a glorious Columbus Day weekend in the Orange area. If you're out enjoying the Orange Harvest Parade and admiring the North Quabbin Region foliage, why not check out some Orange MA real estate here, here or here? Or take a scenic drive to Royalston for today's open house.

Looking for sensible values? There are over 300 homes for sale here in the North Quabbin Region. Homes around Orange and Athol are selling, on average, at a 20% discount compared to the average price of homes in the neighboring Greenfield and Gardner areas. 

On October 12, 1492, so they say, Columbus found the New World (the folks who lived there didn't know it was lost). On October 12, 2008, maybe you'll find your next home.