Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide - For MA Home Buyers, By An Exclusive Buyer Agent

Single-family home sales in Haverhill, MA rose 1.47 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, from 338 to 343 sales; however, the median single-family home price declined 11.2 percent in 2008 compared to 2007, falling from $300,000 to $269,900. The data comes from MLS Property Information Network, Inc., ...

Essex County saw it's median single-family home price decline 10.6 percent in 2008, and single-family home prices in Middlesex County declined 8.4 percent compared to 2007, The Boston Globe reported February 1, 2009. The Globe obtained the data from The Warren Group, a publisher of real estate da...

Pending home sales in the United States increased 6.3 percent in December compared to November 2008, USA Today reported February 3, 2009. Pending sales also were up 2.1 percent compared to December 2007. The data comes from the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). The NAR attributes the gain...

Foreclosure activity in Massachusetts surged 62.4 percent in 2008 compared to 2007 and was nearly four times the level seen in 2006, The Warren Group, a publisher of real estate data, reported January 21, 2009; however, foreclosure petitions, the first step in the foreclosure process, ended the ...

Legislation filed in Massachusetts would require lenders to modify home loans in certain circumstances, the Boston Business Journal reported January 27, 2009. The legislation named, An Act to Require Commercially Reasonable Efforts to Avoid Foreclosure, was filed by Massachusetts Attorney Genera...

The Boston Herald reported January 25, 2009 that a Dallas-based auctioneer, Hudson & Marshall, will auction off more than 100 bank-owned Massachusetts properties at the Boston Quincy Marriott Saturday January 31, 2009. Another 28 Western Massachusetts properties will be sold January 27, 2009 at ...

Federal and state regulators announced an agreement to regulate home appraisal practices as part of an agreement with mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Everett, Washington Herald reported January 4, 2009.Many complaints of problems with inflated appraisals and their impac...

RealtyTrac reported that there were more than three million various foreclosure filings (default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions) in 2008 on 2,330,483 U.S. properties, an 81 percent increase in total properties from 2007 and a 225 percent increase in total properties from 200...

A Dorchester, MA mortgage broker who helped home buyers who were credit risks secure subprime loans has pleaded guilty to forgery, larceny, and other criminal charges, the Massachusetts Attorney General's office reported January 13, 2009.Nicole Lyder, age 34, pled guilty to charges of forgery (6 ...

Merrimac, Massachusetts home sales declined from 30 single-family home sales from January through September 2007 to 19 sales during the same period in 2008, a 36.6 percent decline; however, the median price of a single-family home increased 5.8 percent from $359,000 (2007) to $380,000 (2008).Duri...