OK, You can find what’s for sale, but can you find what has sold and for how much?
Buying Real Estate
Many people ask me “Why do I need to use a “Buyer’s Agent” when I can go online and see all the listings for sale myself? Well, it’s true. Anyone can go online and see what’s offered for sale. But how do you know if the asking price is fair market value? It’s very important to look at a list of sold properties for the last 6 months to understand where the market is at this time. And it’s also important to look at the trend over the last few years. Has the single family sales market in Newton hit bottom? Are prices still falling? NO, here are the numbers from the beginning of the recession:
Single Family Home Sales
2008 2009 2010 2011
Number of sales 499 511 518 519
Average List Price $940k $880k $922k $945k
Median Sale Price $755k $710k $744k $760k
Days on Market 75 78 76 87
As you can see, the single family sales market hit bottom in 2009. But this is because I’m an agent, I have access to a lot a data and I know how to read the data. And you can also see that the market is back to a level of 2008! This year should be very busy!
Thanks for reading,
Michael Spurr
Owner/Broker, Certified Buyer Representative