Winning T-shirt design for Lilac Sunday

If you are like us, this snowy weather is making you yearn for warm weather, and color.  Check out these ideas that will remind you of both!

Western Massachusetts Home and Garden Show- schedule:

-Click on their flower to go to their website. This is at the Eastern States Exposition, 1305 Memorial Ave., West Springfield, MA.

Another flower show is being held at the other end of the state at the same time. The Boston Flower and Garden Show will be from March 24 to March 28 2010 at the Seaport World Trade Center. There are all sorts of smaller events within the larger event – check out the site for details.

Don’t want to be tied to a particular weekend? Tower Hill Botanical Garden offers an ongoing calendar of events. Its Spring Open House is April 11th, and is free. Their hours and contact information are online.

Another must-see for any time of the year is the Arnold Arboretum. The grounds are open from sunrise to sunset every day (Visitor Center hours are more limited) and admission is free (donations accepted). The Arboretum is located in Boston on 125 Arborway and you can take the train in and use the subway instructions that are available on the site to find it. Lilac Sunday is on May 9 this year- this is a hugely popular event and you are advised to use public transportation. If you want to drive, parking at Alewife and picking up the T there might be an option.

The Butterfly Place in Westford, MA is another place to find color- from the native and exotic butterflies that are everywhere inside as well as from the flowers that feed them. This local gem is reopening on March 21 (call first or check site). If you dress in brightly colored clothes, the butterflies will sometimes land on you, so they say- and it seems to work!

Spring will be here before you know it!

Buyers are already coming out in droves- want to discuss listing your home? Call me at 978-537-6401 x24 or email me at gerry@realtyman.com

Key Information

I found an article yesterday in USA Today quoting Warren Buffett. Buffett has been correct enough so that I wouldn’t mind having him as my financial planner. And he knows real estate.
This is what he has to say:

“Within a year or so, residential housing problems should largely be behind us,” Buffett wrote Saturday in his annual letter to the shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway. “Prices will remain far below ‘bubble’ levels, of course, but for every seller or lender hurt by this there will be a buyer who benefits. Indeed, many families that couldn’t afford to buy an appropriate home a few years ago now find it well within their means.”

You can read the entire article by clicking on the text. This is good news for ALL of us, if Buffett is even close to his timeline. Many of us are trying to hold out on selling until the market is a little favorable, and that time is coming sooner than some analysts have speculated.

If you want my take on what this means for you, please email me at gerry@realtyman.com or call 978-537-6401 x24. Or we can chat on Facebook- friend me.

irst of all, nearly all listings go into our local MLS. From there, they are sent to over 30 online sites- including Realtor.com. This is not anything special, and you should expect that your agent would have a larger plan beyond that.

From Realtor.com about how buyers are finding their homes:

Buyers use a wide variety of resources in searching for a home: 90 percent use the Internet, 87 percent rely on real estate agents, 59 percent yard signs, 46 percent attend open houses and 40 percent look at print or newspaper ads. Although buyers also use other resources, they generally start the search process online and then contact an agent.

When asked where they first learned about the home purchased, 36 percent of buyers said a real estate agent; 36 percent the Internet; 12 percent from yard signs; 6 percent from a friend, neighbor or relative; 5 percent home builders; 2 percent a print or newspaper ad; 2 percent directly from the seller; and less than 1 percent a home book or magazine.

First time home buyers are coming out in record numbers. These buyers are looking online and asking their agents to look for them – they are NOT checking the newspapers or looking at home magazines. If you are trying to sell your home, your agent’s time and resources should be better used than running newspaper ads.

Your agent should ideally have a Facebook, twitter and YouTube presence.  The more opportunities to showcase your property and attract buyers to you and the office, the better. Google your prospective agent and his or her office, and see what they have to offer you!

For more ideas, visit our Towne & Country blog.

You CAN get there from here

Easy commuter access- that is one of the great things about Leominster. I-190 to Worcester ends here, and Route 2 to Boston cuts right through our town.

The MBTA commuter rail stops here from Boston as well. You can take the commuter rail in to Boston for work, or to pick up trains out of South Station  for New York City and Washington, DC (get off at Porter Square and take the Red Line to South Station). Here is a link to the schedule from Leominster.

Logan International Airport is in Boston as well, and is accessible through the train/subway system, and can be reached by getting to South Station too. Bon Voyage!

Your library- it isn't just books anymore

Have you heard? To borrow museum passes (for free or discounted admissions) from the Leominster Public Library, all you need to do is become a friend of the Library with a family membership or higher, and of course have a library card. You have access then to many local museums, among them The Boston Children’s Museum, the Discovery Museums in Acton, the EcoTarium in Worcester, and the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI.

Library membership is priceless, especially in a time where we are so rushed and information-overloaded. Reading: a gift for our children, an escape for us. Check it out!

The process of getting into a condo is slower today

A condominium unit purchase is not a quick process. Things proceed slowly through the system for any home purchase, and closing delays are frequently seen. A recent change in HUD guidelines eliminates “Spot Loan Approval” for most condo purchases.

What does this mean for you if you want to purchase a condo? It means that most complexes now require full approval, meaning that you have to allow at least 6-8 weeks for the process. Get as much of the legwork done before you start looking. Make sure you are prequalified with a reputable lender. Some sellers require you to be approved by the lender that they choose. It doesn’t mean that you have to use that lender when you actually get your mortgage, but it’s something to be aware of.

Being prequalified means that you are looking in the proper price range. It also can help you gauge the downpayment that will be required. The FHA’s new stricter lending policies are requiring a 10% downpayment if your FICO score is low (below 580), although keep in mind that most lenders will not loan to FHA borrowers who have a score below 620. If you find that your “legwork” includes working to raise that FICO score, find out what steps you can take to do that. We can help by referring you to a lender with software that tells you just what steps you need to take. Call Gerry at 978-537-6401 x24.

Here are the trends for Leominster, MA from the past couple of years:

stats Leominster ONLY dollars and units

These are more helpful if you are buying or selling a home in Leominster than numbers that apply to the entire New England region. The numbers- which were obtained from our MLS- show that prices in Leominster dropped nearly 25% in the past two years. As the prices came more into line with what the buyers expected, and probably partly due to the first time homebuyer’s tax credit, sales rose a bit cumulatively over that same 2 year period.
Buyers and sellers need to be aware that a home MUST go under agreement by April 30, 2010, and the property MUST close before June 30, 2010- see the IRS document explaining that. With the mortgage process taking so much time lately, that 2 month window of time isn’t all that long.
If you would like statistics that are even more relevant- drilled down to your neighborhood, or more up to the moment- call Gerry at 978-537-6401 x24 or

Valentine's Day

Here are two ideas that are a little different than the usual dinner-and-movie (don’t get me wrong- those are good too!!)

Valentine’s Day Pizza Party Dance with Eight to the Bar at the Leominster Elks Club

Have a Valentine’s Day Swedish Massage at Face It

And if you are going the out-to-eat route, here are a couple of specials at local restaurants.

The Gondola is serving a $39.95 dinner for two.

Sneak away to the Sheraton for a romantic couple of days:

Our exclusive Valentine’s Day Package is available from February 13 and includes:
• Accommodations for two with rates starting from $200 per night
• Romantic dinner with champagne for two
• Complimentary admission for two to “Chicks for Charity”
• Full American breakfast for two

Still undecided? Look through these top-rated restaurants before making your reservations.

Feel the urge to get out of town? Head out to the Spirit of Boston and take a dinner cruise- there are several different options/dates available.

making the right move financially

From Realtor.com:

Regionally, existing-home sales in the Northeast dropped 19.5 percent to an annual level of 910,000 in December but are 21.3 percent above a year ago. The median price in the Northeast was $241,700, up 3.2 percent from December 2008.

The National Association of Realtors said in the same article that they expected a more balanced inventory with lower priced homes- of which, nationally, there are too few for sale- to help lead us out of this housing slump. Also mentioned was that “Distressed homes, which accounted for 32 percent of sales last month, continue to downwardly distort the median price because they generally sell at a discount relative to traditional homes in the same area.”

We have to keep in mind that unemployment is still very high, and this will impede any recovery. If you are buying, or selling a home and buying, and have good credit- there is no time like the present and no sense in waiting out a market that will not have recovered in 3 or 6 months. Also to note (from same article):

According to Freddie Mac, the national average commitment rate for a 30-year, conventional, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.93 percent in December from 4.88 percent in November; the rate was 5.29 percent in December 2008.

Every time the mortgage interest rates go up, house payments increase. We may have hit the lowest rates and are creeping back up. All things to keep in mind when trying to decide when to buy, or how to price your home when you are listing it.

Questions about this report and what it means to you personally? Call Gerry at 978-534-6401 x.24.

Diane Guercio of Towne and Country

Diane has become involved in social media as it applies to business, particularly real estate. Since over 90% of buyers begin their house hunting online, it is extremely important to be represented by a brokerage that is a player in this online arena. “That is what attracted me to Towne & Country to start out with. I met Gerry Bourgeois, the broker-owner, at Inman Connect- the real estate industry’s flagship technical conference. I was impressed with the vision that he had already brought to the company, and with the plans that he has made for the next decade. Towne & Country is already a major player in its local market- a feat for an independent brokerage- and it is poised to bring even more value to its clients and agents.”

In addition to her interest in real estate and business, Diane also co-founded a successful online social media and business group called the TwitterQueens. She is president of TQI Consultants. She has led sessions at several social-media-in-real-estate conventions this past year, and presented at Ignite Delaware with the other cofounders of TwitterQueens. She was recently named to Sellsius’ Top 12 Women Real Estate Bloggers List.

Towne and Country, Realtors® is a fixture in the local real estate market. Towne & Country is consistently one of the top offices in the area in sales according to MLSPIN, and Gerry Bourgeois himself has been one of the top selling Realtors® in Central MA for over the past 15 years. This past year, in response to changes in the industry, Bourgeois has been laying the groundwork to make Towne & Country the most progressive brokerage in the area. Please visit our new company blog at http://towne-country.com – Just one of the many things we have begun implementing.