Well, if you have been waiting for the right time to purchase a home now might be a good time to get pre-approved and start shopping for a primary residence or possibly an investment property.  Rates hit another historic low today with rates dropping to 3.75% for a 30 year fixed rate.  This is incredible and obviously very helpful for potential buyers that have been on the sidelines.  With SOME NOT ALL homes having a fair asking price there is the potential to land a very attractive home for a very low price if your timing is right.  For instance, a home went on the market in Beverly, MA yesterday for $189k.  The house is located at 99 Corning Street in the COVE section of Beverly. Walking distance to Lynch Park, RIce Beach, Woodbury Beach and downtown Beverly.  The house does need work but this house fixed up with moderate updates is worth approximately $400k after renovations.  When I say renovations I am talking about adding $100k to the house.  Now you are at about $300k total and your home is worth $400k.  Not a bad day for a first time home buyer.  So get preapproved and go after a property.  Once your in the game life can get a whole lot better.

Click on the link to read more about the mortgage rates!

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/consumer_rates/245292.aspx

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Beranke and his department released white papers related to the US Housing Market with respect to the Current Conditions and Future Policy Considerations.  In the Opening Statement Mr. Bernanke stated " The ongoing problems in the U.S. housing market continue to impede the economic recovery. House prices have fallen an average of about 33% from their 2006 peak, resulting in about $7 trillion in household wealth losses and an associated racheting down of aggregate consumption."  Declines of this magnitude have not been realized since the Great Depression. Compound that with another tough statistic regarding the ratio of home equity to disposable income.  Since 2007 the ratio of home equity to disposable personal income has declined 55%.  This is the greatest decline since the statistc was developed in the 1950's.

Click here to view the opening statements from the Federal Reserve!!!

The ideas to address the housing market are the following: 1)Create more jobs - Free Enterprise created by our Founding Fathers , 2) Due to a growing need for rental units in the U.S. the foreclosed homes can be converted into Rental Units. 2) Land Banks - this is a method used when low value properties that have been foreclosed on simply will not sell for any profit if presented on the open market. Cleveland and Detroit have these types of situations to name a few. 3) Increasing Loan Modifications, 4) Improving accountability with Mortgage Companies

The Condominium Housing Market in Essex County ended 2011 down on both units sold and price.  The drop in units sold was slightly greater than expected and this can be attributed to many Condo's were purchased in the peak market and now can't sell unless they lose a significant amount of money or bring money to the closing table.  Pricing is down by a few thousand dollars which can indicate that the luxury market may have influenced the stats. Some luxury markets however are down significantly from last year but are showing a sales price well above the new median of $193,250.

The 2011 Multifamily Housing Market ended the year with a mix of ups and downs.  From my personal experience I would have thought the Multifamily Housing Market would have ended the year flat or slightly up in terms of the number of units sold and the pricing to end the year would have been down slightly. Just the opposite happened in 2011.  Unit sales ended the year down nearly 19% from the previous year and Pricing ended the year up 10.5% to an adjusted median price of $215,000. 

Well 2011 has come to a close and we saw a reletively flat year in terms of home buying and selling as it relates to residential homes in Essex County.  A signficant amount of short sales and foreclosed homes dominated most of the single family market while some towns did have an increase in sales price or units sold the general conclusion for Essex County was a slight drop in Units sold and Price.