MetroWest Real Estate Agents, Investors See Improvement
The housing market is improving, and that has MetroWest real estate investors searching for trends and changes.
With that mission in mind, Kristen Barlar of Compassionate Real Estate and Mike McClure of Patriot Property Solutions, both in Westborough, convened a group of area investors, attorneys, CPAs, agents and brokers last week at a meeting room at Central One Federal Credit Union's Westborough branch.
Barlar said the group plans to meet every month to swap stories and observations and share lessons learned.
Seeing improvements in the market is a welcome change, Barlar said.
"It's been a tough couple of years," she said.
But the industry is starting to feel better.
Pam Pinto, a broker and owner of Realty Direct Metrowest in Westborough, summed up the feeling in the room.
"The market is good without a doubt," Pinto said. "The market is definitely good."
Area Trends
Competition for bank-owned single and multi-family foreclosure properties is getting stiffer in the MetroWest region, said John Vaillancourt, a Marlborough-based broker with ERA Key Realty Services who presented to the group last week. And sellers realize it.
Vaillancourt's analysis of the past five quarters -- found slim spreads between asking prices and final sale prices.
"It's 97 percent selling at the bank asking price," Vaillancourt said. "That's very tight."
The spreads tend to be thinner east of Interstate 495, a generally wealthier area where the market is stronger. Homes in those areas also sell closer to assessed value.
Sellers are not quickly accepting losses, but rather waiting through several price changes before settling.
Competing bids are driving up sale prices at foreclosure auctions 25 percent of the time, he said.
It's no surprise investors are hoping to cash in now. There are more than 500 bank-owned properties in the area Vaillancourt analyzed - a 15-mile circle around the intersection of Route 9 and I-495, including Worcester - and with foreclosure activity picking up, there will likely be more soon.
Another potentially profitable trend: Rents in the area are on the rise. A recent report from Trulia.com said rents in Middlesex County jumped 10.6 percent from March 2011 to March 2012, the fourth-highest increase among all counties nationwide.
Gina Braza, a partner with Milford-based Alavi and Braza, warned the group about potential pitfalls investors can run into when buying bank-owned properties, such as lawsuits filed by tenant-owners and failing to purchase title insurance.
But she said the market holds plenty of promise for careful buyers.
"You can make a killing with some of these foreclosed properties," Braza said.
Correction: The original version of this story incorrectly identified Pam Pinto's firm. It is Realty Direct Metrowest in Westborough.
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