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In real estate, so goes the nation, so goes Massachusetts. Well, yes and no. – The Boston Globe

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In real estate, so goes the nation, so goes Massachusetts. Well, yes and no. – The Boston Globe


You will need to be aware that the Nationwide Affiliation of Realtor knowledge additionally don’t mirror vital mortgage price hikes since June. In line with Freddie Mac, the common price for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage was 3.22 p.c at the start of the yr. By mid-June, it was as much as 5.78 p.c and on Nov. 3, it was 6.95 p.c.

Listed here are some takeaways from the report — and reflections from native specialists:

1. First-time consumers

Nation First-timers made up 26 p.c of all consumers, the smallest proportion of whole consumers since knowledge assortment started. That determine was 34 p.c final yr, and the historic norm is 40 p.c. Their common age was 36, up from 33 in 2021.

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Right here “Youthful first-time residence consumers, on common, have decrease incomes and fewer cash for down funds than different residence consumers,” mentioned Richard J. Rosa, cofounder and co-owner of Consumers Brokers Solely. “Till lately, that group of consumers confronted a tough Larger Boston actual property market.”

2. Gross sales costs

Nation The median gross sales worth was one hundred pc of the itemizing worth, the best recorded since 2002, and 28 p.c of consumers paid over asking.

Right here Everybody interviewed for this story mentioned that is additionally true in Massachusetts, however Rosa mentioned these days could also be over.

“The fierce competitors in the course of the first half of 2022 resulted in residence consumers paying tens of hundreds of {dollars} over asking costs,” Rosa mentioned. “Over the past month of the NAR survey interval, June 2022, residence consumers within the Commonwealth paid 106.2 p.c, on common, of the unique itemizing worth, based on the Massachusetts Affiliation of Realtors. That’s altering rapidly. In September, residence consumers paid 99.9 p.c of the unique itemizing worth.”

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3. The racial hole in homeownership

Nation Of all residence consumers, 88 p.c had been white, up from 82 p.c in 2021.

Right here However what about in Larger Boston? “Sure, the racial hole has gotten worse throughout the metropolis of Boston,” mentioned Melvin A. Vieira Jr., a realtor with RE/Max and president of the Larger Boston Affiliation of Realtors. “Although we had document gross sales and document costs, the minority neighborhood wasn’t in a position to reap the benefits of it. They needed to depend on conventional lending practices corresponding to FHA, MFHA, the MassDream program, the One program, the STASH program, or a 5 p.c or ten p.c down fee, whereas others had the posh of placing down twenty p.c or extra, utilizing money or leveraging their financial savings for a big down fee.”

The 2022 report by MassHousing’s Racial Fairness Advisory Council for Homeownership discovered that debt-to-income ratio was the commonest motive why Black and Latino consumers had been denied mortgage credit score and that denial charges for folks of colour had been larger no matter that ratio or combos of DTI and earnings.

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4. Days on market

Nation Houses had been staying in the marketplace for 14 days, up from seven in 2021.

Right here Cohen mentioned properties in Larger Boston could keep in the marketplace even longer than that this fall.

“That’s most likely about proper, relying upon the time of yr,” he mentioned. “It’s a bit longer than that proper now. That’s the sort of determine that lulls consumers and sellers alike into the false sense that actual property is a readily liquid asset. Relying in the marketplace you’re in, it may not be.”

5. The hunt

Nation The median consumers’ residence search took 10 weeks, up from eight in 2021 and 2020.

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Right here Anthony Lamacchia, dealer/proprietor of Lamacchia Realty, mentioned consumers are taking longer to search out their houses right here as properly. “With all of the bidding wars, many consumers misplaced out on the homes they wished and needed to proceed their search earlier than lastly getting a proposal accepted on a house,” Lamacchia mentioned.

6. Financing

Nation Seventy-eight p.c of consumers financed their buy, down from 87 p.c in 2021.

Right here This rang true to Lamacchia.

“Due to rising costs over the past two years, consumers have needed to get inventive about the best way to come to the desk with a money provide, and plenty of did,” he mentioned. “Many pulled cash from their 401Ks, borrowed cash from household, took out fairness traces on present houses, and so forth.”

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7. Typical purchaser

Nation The common vendor age was 60, up from 56 in 2021.

Right here “Many owners who would have listed their houses in 2020 or 2021 delayed as a result of COVID and out of concern of getting strangers coming of their houses,” Lamacchia mentioned. “These metrics will doubtless present these results for years.”

8. So little analysis for such an enormous purchase

Nation Sixty-seven p.c of the consumers and 80 p.c of the sellers interviewed only one actual property agent earlier than deciding whom to rent.

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Right here James Nemetz, senior vp and supervisor of Hammond Residential Actual Property mentioned Massachusetts sellers are extra savvy and interview a number of brokers.

“You at all times hear that axiom that sellers at all times must get three opinions,” Nemetz mentioned. “We at all times assume after we go to an inventory appointment that we’re up in opposition to different opponents. On this area, particularly within the excessive finish, we’re often competing in opposition to one other agent.”

9. Keep just a little longer

Nation The standard vendor owned the house for 10 years, up from eight in 2021.

Right here Nemetz finds that situation is taking part in out in Larger Boston as properly: “Suppose an empty-nester nonetheless has a mortgage. Let’s simply say that the youngsters went to school, they took a half-a-million-dollar mortgage on the home, they usually have that mortgage at two level seven 5 p.c,” he mentioned. “Unexpectedly, downsizing turns into costly for them, as a result of truly, they’ll must pay extra for a smaller residence. They usually’ll lose that two level seven 5 p.c price, and the brand new price can be nearer to seven p.c.”

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10. Down funds

Nation The median down fee was 14 p.c of the acquisition worth. Of their 2021 report, NAR mentioned the funds have shrunk since 1989, when the common was 20 p.c.

Right here Shant Banosian, govt vp of gross sales at Assured Charge, mentioned Larger Boston consumers are placing down much less, however he provided a ray of hope for residence consumers.

“Consumers who’re staying available in the market are literally beginning to win as a result of there’s much less competitors,” Banosian mentioned. “Houses are priced higher than they had been six months in the past. Issues like mortgage contingencies and residential inspections are again. It’s a bit much less overwhelming as a result of issues are transferring slower and consumers have extra safety.”

Jim Morrison may be reached at JamesAndrewMorrison@gmail.com. Subscribe to the Globe’s free actual property e-newsletter — our weekly digest on shopping for, promoting, and design — at Boston.com/realestate. Observe us on Twitter @GlobeHomes.

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Massachusetts

How much snow in Massachusetts? Here are the storm totals for December 20

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How much snow in Massachusetts? Here are the storm totals for December 20



Next Weather: WBZ Update

03:57

BOSTON – More than five inches of snow fell in several towns in eastern Massachusetts on Friday. Boston picked up 4.4″ of snow, one of the biggest snowfalls in almost three years. 

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Here are the latest snow totals from the National Weather Service, Rob Macedo, the SKYWARN Coordinator for the National Weather Service in Taunton, and WBZ-TV Weather Watchers.  

Norwood 6.0 inches
Dedham 6.0
Walpole 5.5
Needham 5.5
Danvers 5.3
Topsfield 5.0
Cambridge 4.9
Newton 4.5
Boston 4.4
Randolph 4.0
Foxboro 4.0
Milford 3.2
Rehoboth 3.2
Millville 3.0
North Attleboro 2.0
West Yarmouth 2.0
Worcester 1.0



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Stunned Massachusetts educators, ADL call for MassCUE apology after ‘hateful’ anti-Israel and Holocaust rhetoric at conference

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Stunned Massachusetts educators, ADL call for MassCUE apology after ‘hateful’ anti-Israel and Holocaust rhetoric at conference


Local educators and the ADL are pushing for an apology from MassCUE after the group’s recent “jarring” conference when speakers reportedly spewed “hateful” anti-Israel and Holocaust rhetoric.

MassCUE’s fall education tech conference — held in partnership with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents at Gillette Stadium — apparently went off the rails during a panel on equity in education. That’s when the discussion reportedly delved into the current Middle East conflict in Israel and Gaza.

“Speakers leaned very heavily into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a very one-sided, dangerous rhetoric,” Uxbridge High School Principal Michael Rubin told the Herald.

That included references to “Israeli genocide” and “Israeli apartheid.”

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A panelist also suggested that the teaching of the Holocaust has been one-sided, and “two perspectives needed to be taught,” recalled Rubin, whose grandparents survived the Holocaust, during which the Nazis killed 6 million Jews.

“It was jarring, unexpected, and unprofessional,” added Rubin, who’s also the president of his synagogue.

Following complaints from several shocked conference attendees, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England chapter recently wrote a letter to MassCUE, as the ADL pushes for a public apology.

“It is difficult to understand why an organization dedicated to education and technology would allow a panel discussion ostensibly focused on school equity to instead veer into a complex and controversial foreign conflict,” ADL New England’s deputy director Sara Colb wrote to MassCUE’s leaders.

“It is all the more concerning that once the conversation veered in that direction it was not stopped or redirected to the advertised topic,” Colb added. “Allowing a presentation purporting to be about equity and inclusion in the classroom to include a one-sided narrative of a foreign conflict, replete with hateful, biased rhetoric, does a disservice to attendees by leaving them with a biased and misinformed account of the conflict.”

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MassCUE (Massachusetts Computer Using Educators) is the Bay State affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education.

More than two months after the fall conference, the organization has not addressed the Israeli-Palestinian discussion.

“At MassCUE we take feedback very seriously and work hard to ensure we take any and all necessary steps to address concerns that are brought to our attention,” said MassCUE Board President Casey Daigle. “This process takes time. Please know we are working through our procedures internally.”

The silence from MassCUE’s leaders has been “really concerning,” Rubin emphasized.

“How comments like these about the Holocaust don’t warrant an immediate response is really, really, really confusing to me,” added Rubin, who was given the 2024 MassCUE Administrator Award two days before this panel.

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“If a student was targeted by a racial slur in our buildings, we would be involving local authorities, contacting families, sending a letter to the community, but MassCUE is working through their internal procedures. It doesn’t add up,” he said.

The executive director of the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents said M.A.S.S. was “troubled to hear that any of the speakers at the conference may have made statements that are inconsistent with the anti-racist values of our organization.”

“We are working with MassCUE to learn more about the content in question,” added Executive Director Mary Bourque.

Other than ADL’s push for a public apology from MassCUE, the ADL is calling for the organization to:

  • Review its policies and vetting protocols for presentations at programs and make all necessary improvements to ensure that presenters stay on topic, and that “participants will not be subjected to this sort of inflammatory propaganda again.”
  • Listen to the concerns of impacted members and participants, and elicit their thoughts on how to “counter the harm this presentation caused.”
  • Issue a public statement acknowledging the problems with this program and reinforcing MassCUE’s values of inclusivity for everyone.

“At a time when incidents of antisemitic hate, including in our K-12 schools, are at record highs, it is deeply wrong and dangerous to provide a platform for such hateful rhetoric or to allow a platform to be hijacked for such purposes,” the ADL deputy director wrote. “It is surprising to have to make this point to educators who purport to be concerned with equitable and inclusive classrooms for all students.”

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Updated snowfall forecast: Latest timeline, expected totals map for snow in Massachusetts

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Updated snowfall forecast: Latest timeline, expected totals map for snow in Massachusetts


Brace yourself! It’s back to winter in Massachusetts with snow in Friday’s forecast and a deep freeze this weekend.

Friday will be mostly cloudy and cool, but temperatures will drop through the afternoon and evening, increasing the chance for snowfall.

Bitter cold weather will follow the snow with arctic air gripping the region on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.

Latest snowfall timeline

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A few ocean-effect sprinkles and flurries are possible during the day, although impacts will be low with no more than a patchy coating, Boston 25 Meteorologist Shiri Spear said in her latest forecast.

Steadier rain and snow will fill in around 4 p.m. and impact the evening commute.

“As things cool down, the chance for snow is going to grow and grow during the late afternoon and evening hours,” Spear said. “Some of the worse travel conditions are probably going to be during the evening.”

The snowfall should wrap up by midnight.

An isolated snow shower or flurries are still possible on Saturday, but most areas will be dry with more clouds than sunshine.

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Expected snow totals

A widespread coating to an inch of snow is likely for much of Massachusetts.

The “jackpot” areas, including northeastern Massachusetts, the Merrimack Valley, MetroWest, and interior southeastern Massachusetts could see 1-2 inches.

“Some spots could locally go up to 3 inches,” Spear said.

Cape Cod and the Islands might be too mild for sticking, but flakes will be flying.

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Arctic air arrives

Frigid temperatures with highs in the upper 20s and low 30s are on tap for Saturday.

Sunday will bring freezing sunshine with temperatures in the teens and 20s.

For the latest on the forecast, visit the Boston 25 Weather page.

Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts.

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