Lauren and Jan have many years of experience helping their clients buy and sell homes in historic Cambridge, Massachusetts.  They are part of the Hammond GMAC team, and their office is located in the middle of Harvard Square.  Please check out our team and individual profiles - and let us know if we can be of service!

Friday
03Jul

Open Houses July 4th Weekend

Hi Everyone,

We're taking a break from posting open houses for the holiday weekend.  Open houses will be back up on the Cambridge Insider for the weekend of July 11 and 12.

Have a fun and safe Fourth of July!

Lauren

Friday
26Jun

OPEN HOUSES JUNE 27 and 28

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!

 

Friday
20Feb

$8,000 First time homebuyer tax credit

The revised first time homebuyer tax credit, good for real estate purchased between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, is much more simple and easy to understand than its predecessor.  I've posted a PDF that explains the credit and the income limitations - you can access it here.

Friday
21Nov

Data on median prices for single family homes

The data I'm considering here are for properties sold through MLS - bear in mind this doesn't include private sales, foreclosure auctions, or other non-marketed properties.

Friday
21Nov

Mortgage Rates Drop This Week

Freddie Mac reports a drop in the 30-year fixed mortgage rate to 6.04 percent during the week ended Nov. 20. The 30-year loan rates were 6.14 percent the prior week.

During the same period, interest on 15-year fixed loans slipped to 5.73 percent from 5.81 percent.

Five-year and one-year ARMs declined as well, down to 5.87 percent from 5.98 percent and to 5.29 percent from 5.33 percent, respectively.

Source: Los Angeles Times (11/21/08) 

Saturday
15Nov

Cambridge and Somerville Open Houses for Sunday, November 8th and 9th

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!

Tuesday
07Oct

Boston Business Journal Article on Mortgage Data

This week's Boston Business Journal has an interesting blurb on mortgage data:

"...Mortgage volume was off by about 30 percent year over year, suggesting that sales data may be especially weak for September.

The Business Journal analyzed the number of mortgages reported with the Registry of Deeds during the first 15 business days of September and compared the figure for the same period the previous year. The number of mortgages — which includes residential and commercial properties — in Suffolk County fell 33 percent to 608, according to information from the Registry of Deeds Web site. The northern section of Middlesex County saw a 32 percent decline in mortgages to 369 during the same period.

Banking experts say September’s drop in mortgage activity, coming on the heels of an already moribund stretch in home sales over the previous 18 months, is likely due to skittishness among potential buyers — not tightened lending standards among local lenders."



Saturday
04Oct

Open Houses Sunday, October 5th

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!

Tuesday
23Sep

Three great speakers

Okay - this isn't about real estate, but I'm really on a roll - three posts in one day!  If that's not evidence of a slow market, I don't know what is...

This fall there are going to be three great speakers at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education in Harvard Square and I wanted to give "Cambridge Insiders" a heads up - they should all be thoughtful and insightful discussions with people who are leading their respective fields.

Thursday, September 25th:  Padraig O'Malley, Achieving Peace and Reconciliation: From Belfast to Baghdad (click for more info)


Thursday, October 2nd:  Peter Senge, Author of The Fifth Discipline - The Necessary Revolution: Creating a Sustainable World (click for more info)


Thursday, November 20th:  Slow Medicine: Dr. Dennis McCullough in conversation with Globe Columnist Judy Foreman (click for more info)


Tuesday
23Sep

New York Times Real Estate Q&A

Click here to check out this article from the New York Times Real Estate section.  Basic and interesting advice about the climate for mortgages right now.

Tuesday
23Sep

Trulia for iPhone

Attention all iPhone users and real estate mavens - get yourselves to the App Store and download the free app from Trulia!  It is very elegant and simple and incredibly useful - even from a broker's perspective.  Once there's complete ubquity perhaps I can even stop uploading the open houses PDF every Saturday!

Saturday
20Sep

Open Houses September 21

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!

Friday
12Sep

Open Houses September 13 and 14

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!

Monday
08Sep

A look at median prices

When I posted last week's chart showing the decline in sales by unit volume, a number of you asked how median prices were being affected.  The chart below shows the answer - not much.  The median price for a single family home in Cambridge has inched up by about 2% and condos and multi-family homes have inched down by 3.7% and 2%, respectively.  It is interesting that we're in an environment where the volume is off 20-30% and the median prices are relatively unscathed.

Saturday
06Sep

Open Houses September 6 and 7

The list of OPEN HOUSES for this weekend has been posted here.  Happy house hunting!


Friday
05Sep

Big changes afoot!

Big changes around here!  We're updating the Cambridge Insider to provide a new design with cleaner interface, better navigation and more information.  Please bear with us as we update the site - if you experience any glitches please let me know and I'll endeavor to work out the kinks.  I'd love to hear your feedback on the new site!

Wednesday
03Sep

Cambridge Market Snapshot

Some data from the end of August - a bit bleak but we're improving the pace - August 08 was only 3 units off of August 07 (in condos) and August 08 was 3 units ahead in single families.