Have you noticed how everyone you speak to is an expert on the Real Estate market? And at least several times a week, national newscasters will tell you something about it ... prices are going up or they are going down; sales are up compared to last year, or they are going down. How can you tell what is really going on?
The most important thing to know is that real estate is LOCAL. For example, the median price for a single family home is the US in May was $213,400. There is only one home for sale today in Waltham at or below that price, and it is a 378 square foot, 1 bedroom condo. That is less than the size of a 2-car garage.
So maybe we should be looking at Middlesex County. In June, the median sales price of a home in Middlesex was $445,000, up 5.5% over the same time period last year. That's seems like a more realistic number. But we can also look at Waltham sales. In June, 2014 the median sales price for residential real estate in Waltham was $430,000, up 16.2% over the same period last year. There were also 77 homes that closed last month, with fewer closing than a year ago.
What does this all mean? It means that national statistics are interesting, but not particularly meaningful if you are thinking of buying or selling a home in Waltham or a surrounding town. The more granular your analysis is (the smaller area you look at), the more meaningful the numbers become.
How can you determine what is happening. Speak to a Realtor! And you can check out the local statistics for Waltham and neighboring communities at http://fredandannette.com/snapshot.html . The numbers are updated every month.
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?
