National real estate statistics are just that-national. Although the national February numbers for new construction home sales and pre-existing home sales numbers were not what many had hoped for, these numbers take into account the US as a whole. But, there are many parts to the whole and Nantucket is one part. There are areas that are still hurting,
but from what I can see, Nantucket is not one of them.
There is serious money coming into the ACK market-get it while it’s fresh!
P.S. Don’t believe everything the talking heads tell you-there is optimism in the air…
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My wife Jenn and I are in Harbour Island, The Bahamas. It is a beautiful island with many similarities to Nantucket-great beaches, restaurants, festive local/non-local crowd, tight-knit local culture, great fishing and valuable real estate. Naturally I thought what is the process of buying real estate and what are the fees.
Besides the 8-10% brokerage fee and hefty real estate taxes, which I will get to in another post, the Government Stamp Duty tacks on major dollars to the purchase price. What portion of it the Buyer and Seller pay is negotiable, but essentially it is a pass through cost to the Buyer. The tax, which goes into the government coffer, is:
Under $20,000 2%
$20,000 $50,000 4%
$50,000 $100,000 6%
$100,000 $250,000 8%
Over $250,000 10%
So, for the sale of a $1MM property, the tax is $91,600 and for a $2MM property, $191,600!!!
So, don’t feel bad about paying the 2% Land Bank fee because not only will this help your property value in the long run as the Land Bank uses their revenue to buy open land, therefore restricting supply of property in the marketplace, but it pales in comparison to other high-end islands…
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As of March 6, 2011, there are:
435 active listings available
and
43 active listings that are under agreement
Out of the total (available and under agreement) active listings, 8.996% are under agreement. Only in September of 2010 has that percentage been higher, and only by a small fraction, in at least the last three years. That seems to be another clear indicator that the market has bottomed…
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I am noticing a trend in the Nantucket real estate market-good, solid deals are getting snapped up a lot quicker now than the last few years. If a property comes to market at a fair price or gets a price reduction that puts it at or below market, a buyer is there to buy. Take 20 Coffin Street for instance.
Asking $1.995MM, sold for $1.5MM. Scott Whelden from my office heard that the Seller really wanted to sell, so he told a buyer client of his and the buyer said offer the seller x, which he did and they finally settled at $1.5MM. Shortly after agreeing to the $1.5MM, there was a back-up offer for more money because word was out that the Seller was motivated to sell.
Buyers, keep your eyes peeled because there are great deals to be had. Sellers, if you want to sell, you can.
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I know it is not the hey day, but it does not feel like ’07/’08 either. I drive down the road and see new buildings, huge renovations dotting the landscape all around me. This is the busiest February I can remember in the last 4 years.
I hope these are signs for not only Nantucket, but for the economy as a whole.
Wait ’til you see the Cliffside area on your way to The Galley next summer:-)
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As of today:
-435 listings available
-43 listings under contract
-9% of all properties listed are under contract
Not bad compared to one year ago when there were:
-498 available listings
-36 listings under contract
-6.7% of all properties listed were under contract
2010 year end stats are available from your favorite J Pepper Frazier Company agent.
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Hard to say. Some banks are making loans, but they seem to be the smaller banks, like TD Banknorth, whereas Nantucket Bank, who is now owned by the Spanish monster Santander, is regretfully doing very little in the real estate market on Nantucket.
I do know that you have to be a strong borrower to get a loan or re-fi. Each bank/lender has their own criteria.
Step one is for the lender to pull your credit to see if they even want to talk with you. If the lender does want to continue talks, then the next steps are gathering your financials and getting the property appraised.
At these steps you need to make sure your property has the value to qualify for the loan, i.e. if you are going for an $800K loan and the maximum the lender will lend is 80% loan to value, you should make sure the property’s value is at least $1MM.
For the most part, the lenders are making the potential borrower pay for the appraisal(s). So, if you go for the $800K with a max. LTV at 80% and the appraiser comes back with a $900K value, you will probably not get the loan and be out $500 +/- plus a bunch of time and energy. If you get through the appraisal(s) and your financials look good, then you should be able to move to closing.
So, before you waste any time, money or energy to get a loan/re-fi, you should ask yourself:
1) Will the property appraise and
2) Do I have the three “C’s”-cash, credit and collateral for the lender to think I am a good risk?
It’s not easy, but if you can pull it off, you should be sitting pretty because these rates could be a once in a lifetime opportunity…
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Nantucket’s total real estate value according to the Assessor’s office is $17,208,429,905. This number puts Nantucket at the 4th highest value in the Massachusetts behind Boston, Cambridge and Newton. Currently, Nantucket’s tax rate for residential property, $3.58/$1,000 of assessed value, for commercial property, $6.41/$1,000 of assessed value and for open space, $3.42/$1,000 of assessed value. These are actually some of the lowest mil rates in the whole country. Another benefit of owning Nantucket real estate:-)
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Last week the Massachusetts’ highest court handed down a ruling confirming a lower court decision to basically rescind foreclosure sales because of technicalities in paperwork. During the boom years of the housing market, investors voracious appetites for mortgage backed securities could not be satisfied, so lenders were pooling together mortgages as quickly as possible and selling complex investments backed by these mortgages to investors. In the midst of the madness, the lenders did not properly fill out some paperwork. The mismanagement of the paperwork was discovered when lawyers representing two sets of homeowners who were foreclosed on, Antonio Ibanez and Mark and Tammy LaRace from Springfield, MA, argued to a MA court that the foreclosure sales should be rescinded because certain paperwork was not filled out properly. The court ruled in favor of the foreclosed homeowners. Massachusetts’ highest court upheld the decision of the lower court. This could single handily have a major impact on the housing market recovery because many foreclosed homeowners will now hire lawyers to do forensic analyses of the paper trail that ultimately ended at foreclosure sales. If the lawyers find technicalities, then they will have a strong case to rescind the foreclosure sales. So, not only are people who bought foreclosed properties probably quaking in their boots because the whole sale could be rescinded and they could possibly have to give back the property (with appropriate compensation), but investors buying foreclosed properties, helping to clear the market, could be much more skeptical about buying the properties now than before and title insurance companies are going to be reluctant to issue title insurance on foreclosed properties. So, this could cause a massive delay in clearing the foreclosure market which is a major segment of the market that is preventing the conventional market from getting back to health. Fortunately, for the Nantucket real estate market, this probably will not have a major effect because of the lack of foreclosures. That being said, still a bit scary…
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