Each Friday this summer we will join co-hosts Gene Lavanchy and Shannon Mulaire, Meteorologist Shiri Spear and News Commentator Doug “VB” Goudie on the Fox 25 Morning News Zip Trip Series. This is the second year we’ve been the featured real estate experts on Zip Trips.

Join in the Fun!

We had a great time at last year’s Zip Trips and we want to invite everyone to be a part of the live audience, have fun, enjoy the local food, or just stop by our booth to say hello and even win a prize. This is a great opportunity for us to meet the local residents and showcase 3 great homes in each town.

Watch Us at Last Year’s Zip Trips

At the Zip Trips the news team talks to the local residents, highlights local businesses, and discovers what makes the town a great place to live in.

Stop by the McGeough Lamacchia Booth

We welcome everyone to visit the McGeough Lamacchia booth where we will host a bean bag toss contest for a chance to win a prize. You can meet us as well as some of the members of the McGeough Lamacchia team such as our Marketing Manager Marguerite McGrail, Agent Manager Nicole Pirnie, and Field Specialists Adam Pascicia and Dave Ethier.

Other Zip Trip Activities include meeting the hometown hero from each town, tasting foods from local eateries, playing Zip Trip Trivia, or donating a children’s book drive.

Our First Stop

We will travel to 15 different towns selected for this year’s Zip Trip Season. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Zip Trips, the first one will be broadcast from the Endicott Estate in Dedham, Massachusetts, the site of the very first Zip Trip.

See you there!

A report by the Warren Group, a firm that tracks real estate data, shows that in Massachusetts petitions to foreclose decreased 82% during March of this year compared to March 2012. Lenders filed 284 petitions in March, down from 1,621 last year.

Click image below to Watch John and Anthony on Fox25 Morning News (new window will open)

Petitions to foreclose are the first step lenders make in the foreclosure process.  In the first quarter of this year, lenders filed 2,080 petitions in Massachusetts, down 52% from 4,348 in the first quarter of 2012. This number is significantly lower than during the height of the housing crisis, when petitions to foreclose reached 9,008 for the first quarter of 2008.

Foreclosure deeds, which represent finished foreclosures, dropped by more than 74% to 227 in March 2013 compared to 889 in March 2012. There were 716 foreclosure deeds in the first quarter of 2013, a drop of 71% from 2,465 in the first quarter of 2012. In comparison, foreclosure deeds reached 2,827 in the first quarter of 2008.

Nationwide, foreclosure rates are declining. A mortgage performance report by LPS, a provider of mortgage and loan data and services, found that rates of seriously delinquent loans that were current 6 months ago have fallen below 1% for the first time since 2007.

Why Have Foreclosures Decreased in Massachusetts?

Foreclosures in Massachusetts have declined due to better foreclosure prevention initiatives for borrowers and an improving real estate market.

The foreclosure prevention initiatives have made banks look at more options for their borrowers. For instance, last year a law was signed which requires banks to send notices to borrowers at risk of foreclosure about their right to pursue a modified mortgage loan. Another initiative, the HomeCorps program, funded from the $25 billion national settlement, has also contributed to the decline in foreclosures in the state by providing struggling homeowners with a range of foreclosure-prevention efforts.

More homeowners realize they can do a loan modification to avoid foreclosure. With improving home values and record low mortgage rates, homeowners who opt for a loan modification can make more affordable monthly mortgage payments and reduce their risk of falling behind.

Another reason there are fewer foreclosures in Massachusetts now is that more distressed homeowners in 2011 and 2012 did short sales rather than foreclosures. More of these homeowners learned with a short sale they could remain in the home until it’s sold, they could purchase another home sooner, their credit rating would improve faster, and in many cases they could get relocation assistance and their remaining mortgage debt forgiven with a short sale.

Improving Housing Market

The improving real estate market has also affected the decline in foreclosures.

Borrowers who had negative equity are realizing their homes are now worth more than they were even a year ago.  Home selling prices were up in March for the second month in a row this year. The average selling price for a home in Massachusetts in March was $321,227, up 5.17% compared to March 2012. Some towns and cities even saw double digit increases in home selling prices in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year.

We are now seeing 59% fewer foreclosures on the market this year compared to last year. In May of 2012 there were 1,313 foreclosures on the market and this year there are just 542. A decline in foreclosures on the market helps stabilize home prices. Improving prices help to reduce negative equity, a key factor in foreclosure rates.

There are still struggling homeowners, but rather than fall into foreclosure they are holding onto their homes since home values are slowly increasing. They are more educated about all the available alternatives to foreclosure and are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Homeowners now realize that the market is stabilizing, making them less likely to just give up and walk away from their homes and hang on instead.

The dramatic drop in foreclosures is another sign that the housing market continues to improve.

If you’re interested in buying a foreclosure, watch this video: Buying a Foreclosure

Sources:

The Warren Group: Drastic Drop in Mass. Foreclosure Activity in March

Lender Processing Services:  Mortgage Monitor Report April 2013

MLSPIN: Foreclosures On the Market: May 2013 vs May 2012

VA loans offer much simpler guidelines for buying after a short sale than other loan programs. In addition to not needing a down payment, you do not have to pay mortgage insurance with a VA loan. The home must be for the purchase of your primary residence, as opposed for an investment property.

The waiting period to obtain a VA loan after a short sale is typically 2 years. If you have late payments prior to the short sale, most banks will expect you to wait 2 years and have no late payments on your credit cards in the last 12 months prior to applying for a VA loan.

However there are cases where veterans can get another VA loan within a year after a short sale. Veterans who have paid their mortgage for the 12 months prior to the short sale and have a 660 or higher credit score may be eligible for a VA loan immediately following a short sale if the short sale is recorded as being paid in full on the credit report.

VA Loan Requirements:

As with applying for any type of loan, you will need to show proof of income and have good credit.

To be approved for the new VA home loan:

• You must maintain good credit after the short sale
• You must re-confirm eligibility by applying for an updated Certificate of Eligibility (COE) with a VA Form 26-1880.
• The short sale must not have been performed in order to make a strategic sale
• You must not purchase a similar or superior property within a realistic commuting distance, generally measured to be 50 miles

For more information, visit our page on VA Loans.

We are not a mortgage company and we do not sell mortgages.  If you would like to contact a qualified mortgage company click here.

Anthony Lamacchia with his family 

NStar’s Walk for Children’s Hospital is almost here—help Anthony reach his goal!

Anthony Lamacchia is participating in the Walk for Children’s Hospital this year. The Walk for Children’s Hospital in Boston helps fund programs for sick children to make them better and it also helps maintain the facilities where it happens. The 7-mile walk starts at 11 AM on Sunday, June 9 at the DCR Hatch Shell and goes along the Charles River. The 2-mile walk starts at noon.

“In January 2000, my sister Heather Marie Lamacchia was born with a heart defect,” Anthony says. “Unfortunately, even with the best of care she passed away at just six weeks old.  Since Heather’s passing I have supported many causes to raise money for Children’s Hospital.  Now as a father to three healthy children—Ava, Mason, & Charlie— I find it even more important to support such as wonderful organization.”

Anthony has done the Walk many times since 2000 and the last two years in a row. He has raised thousands of dollars for this event which has special meaning for him.

How You Can Help

Anthony has created a team page with his family and hopes to beat his goal of $5,000 this year.

Simply visit Team Heather’s Giving Page to make a donation.

Feel free to share this link with friends, family, and co-workers.

Your donation gives sick kids a chance to get better!

Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School’s primary pediatric teaching hospital, is a leading source of life-saving care and ground-breaking research for children in New England and worldwide.

For more information go to www.childrenshospital.org.

1.       What is Your Marketing Plan to Sell My Home?

Putting a sign in front of your home and placing it on MLS is not an effective marketing strategy. A good real estate agent can market your home effectively through more than one medium such as television, online, and social media. Each one should complement the other by driving traffic to your home and creating more interested buyers. A good agent can also commit full-time to giving your home more exposure on major listing engines like Realtor.com, Trulia.com, and many other free and paid search sites.

Successfully marketing the home should also include appropriate preparation and staging. A good agent will be able to view your home more objectively—as a buyer would—to give you helpful home selling suggestions for details you may not notice, such as making small repairs, brightening a room with a fresh paint job, and giving you information on how to stage your home for maximum viewing impact.

2.       Tell Me About Mandatory Agency Disclosure

In most states, it’s mandatory that a licensed real estate agent present the Agency Disclosure Form to you at your first meeting to discuss a property. If the agent doesn’t know what this is, you may want to continue interviewing agents. Any agent who neglects such a basic, first step with a prospective client may be unaware of other laws that could expose you to issues before, during, or after you put your home up for sale. It never ceases to amaze us how few real estate agents use the Mandatory Agency Disclosure when they meet prospective sellers. Not only is it the law, but this form is basic protection for any consumer looking to sell their home and more agents should be using them.

Learn more about the Mandatory Agency Disclosure.

3.       How Many Homes Have You Sold This Year?

Finding out how many homes an agent has sold will give you an idea of how much experience they have. Since there are so many moving parts in a real estate transaction, experience is key when handling issues like financing, home inspections, lead paint, etc. Just like choosing the best surgeon or attorney, the more experience they have the better. You don’t want to be part of an agent’s learning curve for the largest financial transaction of your life.

4.       How Often Will I Hear From You?

A good real estate agent must be a strong communicator. Find out how they will stay in contact with you: will it be with phone calls, texts, emails, or a combination? Are they part of a team or are they just working on their own; we all get sick and take vacations and have events in our lives come up. Make sure they are available to answer any questions or concerns you have and keep you updated on prospective buyers. With housing inventory levels so low, there is increased competition for homes, so your agent should be on top of all offers made on the home.

5.       At What Price Should I List My Home?

Pricing your home accurately right from the beginning will always allow for increased buyer activity and higher offers. An experienced agent should be able to give you a written comparative market analysis—also known as a CMA. The first step in this process is to have them do a complete walk-through of the home, as well as have them do a thorough investigation of the exterior.  The agent should take the neighborhood and the surrounding homes into account when determining value. Remember, homes can be listed at any price, but the price they actually sell for is what should be used in the pricing formula. For more on this read 5 Most Common Myths About Pricing A Home

6.       Is This Your Full Time Job?

Selling your home should be the real estate agent’s number one priority. Don’t waste your time with part-time agents who aren’t fully committed to bringing buyers to your home. It’s important to know that your real estate agent will give your home the time and attention it requires to sell it. A part-time agent means part-time marketing, part-time negotiating, and full-time headaches.

Hiring the right agent can make the difference between selling your home for top dollar and having it sit on the market with no activity. Make sure you ask these questions to get the right agent to sell your home.