Harvard’s real estate market is showing some evidence of recovery since the bottom fell out in 2008. Sellers this year are waiting a little less time to make a little more money. The current average sales price for a single-family home is $593,708, which is 12 percent higher than in 2013. And sellers these days have to wait only about half as long as they did a few years ago to receive an offer, currently 79 days compared to 145 in 2013. But the market still has challenges with inventory and turnover, and for many homeowners who wonder if now is the right time to list their property, the answer is a fickle “It depends.”
Based on single-family homes only for the nine-month period of Jan. 1 to Sept. 30 for the respective years. Source: MLS Property Information Network.
Since the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, real estate agents analyze recent sales to determine which parts of the market are moving well and which might be lagging. Broker Rhonda Sprague, who owns Harvard Realty, is grateful that some of the most heartbreaking aspects of the downturn seem to be over.
Tough market is over
“People aren’t desperate to get out and taking huge losses, or losing their houses. We were not immune to foreclosures and short sales here. It was a tough market, but that is over in Harvard,” she said.
The most pressing question for many potential sellers is “Can I get back what I put into the house?” While noting that nothing is certain, Sprague sees reason for optimism: “I think prices have gone up a bit. Maybe not as much as all of us would like, but we’re holding steady. We haven’t had the dramatic price increase you’d see around the cities, but we’ve done pretty well.”
Harvard resident and Re/Max Traditions agent Jenn Russo agreed. “Things have started on an upward trend. We are making progress,” she said, noting that sales have come close to the 2004–2005 levels, when average sales prices were between $660,000 and $680,000. But, she continued, “I certainly have had clients who have put more money into the house than the market can sustain. The interest rates have been very favorable for buyers, so some people have been willing to take a loss on the profit but move into something else at a fabulous rate, and that justifies it for them.”
Uneven rebound
The majority of homes sold in the Harvard market look, on paper, fairly similar. With an average of 3,000 square feet, these well-cared-for, older homes tend to be priced somewhere between $400,000 and $699,000, and have waited on average three months for an offer. Currently, just under half the homes for sale in Harvard fit into this midrange. Over the past 12 months, 51 homes have sold in this price range, which represents more than 70 percent of the sales during that time period. This part of Harvard’s real estate market seems healthy, given the amount of time the current inventory has spent on the market. “Harvard maintains a pretty strong market in the fours and fives and sixes,” said Sprague.
Based on single-family home sales for the period of Sept. 2014 to Sept. 2015. Source: MLS Property Information Network. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
However, some parts of the market have not been as quick to rebound as others. “The sale of existing houses in the high-end market hasn’t been as good as it was in the old heyday before the crash,” Sprague said. “We used to sell considerably more houses priced at $800,000 and above.” Analysis of the past 12 months of sales reveals just nine homes sold for more than $800,000, which represents about a sixth of the total sales of single-family homes. Currently, Harvard has 14 homes for sale priced at $800,000 or more, including six homes priced at more than a million dollars, a section of the market that saw just two sales during the past year.
Suzanne Dutkewych, an agent with TP Hazel Sotheby’s in Harvard, notes that the needs of a high-end buyer may be different than for someone shopping in the midrange. “Typically they are willing to wait for the right property. It is very specific to what each buyer wants,” she said.
Dutkewych also notes that there is some regionalization to the health of the high-end market. “Further east, there’s more recovery, but they also didn’t suffer as much as we did. Middlesex County did not suffer as much as Worcester County [in the economic downturn],” said Dutkewych.
Challenge at the low end
Real estate agent Ann Cohen, a former Harvard resident who works with Keller Williams Realty in Concord, has noted a challenge at the other end of the market, with homes priced below $400,000. “If you want to sell your cheap house in Harvard, this might not be the best time to do it,” she said. That’s because there are currently 10 homes on the market priced for less than $399,999, at a price point that saw only five sales last year. “I’d say that market is saturated. Ten seems like an inventory of two years’ worth of homes.” Of course, “They go quickly if they are priced well,” she added.
Includes all single-family homes currently for sale, under agreement, reactivated listings, and pending sales. Source: MLS Property Information Network. CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Most brokers believe that properly pricing your listing can make a significant difference in how long a house waits for an offer. One trend this year was multiple offers received on the same property, a phenomenon that has been more prevalent closer to Boston. “The spring market was a little bit of a frenzy for certain properties,” said Russo, who believes that realistically pricing a property can create a situation where multiple buyers compete for the same house.
Surrounding markets can also affect sales in Harvard. Cohen believes there was an “uptick” of demand earlier this year because Acton, Boxborough, and Concord had too few houses available. “There were lots of exasperated buyers last year,” she said. “But that’s changed now there is more inventory all the way around, so I see it cooling. What it really comes down to is being realistic and reacting to the market appropriately.” Of course, she added, “You can sell something, and sell it quickly, at all price points if everything is done right. Even in the most challenging of those price ranges, something can sell in a week or two. You just have to take all the considerations you can.”
Preparing for a sale
Those “considerations” might include repairs, staging, inspections, and marketing. Some agents encourage sellers to do a pre-inspection so they can take steps to fix problems proactively. But fixing problems is just one of the important preparation strategies for getting a listing to sell quickly. Cohen always recommends professional staging and marketing because “98 percent of buyers do their first look online. If you don’t have a great online presence and enhanced marketing, you’re at a disadvantage. The pictures and videos become the emotional pull for the house,” she said.
“The way the space is arranged is critical in terms of first impressions,” said Dutkewych, who often recommends clients depersonalize rooms by removing extra furniture and knickknacks before taking photos. Sprague, who has owned Harvard Realty for 15 years, agreed: “It’s really important to have the listing glisten, to look great in pictures.”
But how can sellers be sure they’ve priced their homes realistically? The answer is often not in their tax assessment, which might be the first place a would-be seller would look. “Tax assessments aren’t based on current home sales or inventory, and estimation sites like Zillow don’t consider the desirability of the location, the inside of the home, etc.,” said Russo, who uses “comps,” or comparisons between active, pending, and recently sold homes in the neighborhood, to help price the homes she sells. She believes that pricing a home properly takes professional expertise: “An experienced agent can provide great insight into valuation based on several factors, including location, size, updates, and what buyers are looking for.”
What buyers want
So what are buyers looking for when they decide to purchase a single-family home in Harvard? Russo said that many buyers have been looking for a home with character and some land: “People want something a little different than the traditional home. They also want to raise chickens, have a backyard farm, and lots of buyers want a [flexible interior] with an open layout.” Buyers are willing to do some work to improve or personalize a home, she said, but might be more reluctant to take on major renovations such as redoing a kitchen and all the bathrooms for a home priced at more than $600,000.
‘Move-in ready’
Cohen agreed that buyers want “move-in ready” homes, often because to afford a home in Harvard, families must have two wage earners, which leaves them less time for renovations. But, she said, some of the most attractive features of a home have nothing to do with granite countertops or stainless steel appliances: “People love generator hookups and a kickass heating system. People want the well water to be clean and pure. It’s not sexy. But it’s safe, and noted by savvy buyers who are looking to differentiate one house from another. Not having to spend money on the foundational things makes cosmetic updates easier to bear.”
One thing nearly all buyers coming into Harvard have in common is an appreciation of the town’s school system, which was recently recognized by Boston magazine as number seven in the state. But, Cohen added, Harvard buyers can be “quirky”: “The Harvard buyer is different than buyers in other towns. They want some privacy. They don’t mind driving the extra 10 minutes. They have a commitment to conservation and green and beauty. There’s an understanding of quality that might be more pronounced than in some places.”
Start early
Selling to a buyer who notices and understands quality requires some preparation. For those who hope to sell in the next year or two, these real estate agents provided some advice. Sprague advises potential clients to enlist local help as early as possible: “I would say the first thing they should do is invite a local Realtor in, who knows the town of Harvard, to tell them what needs to go, where they need paint, what things they should fix if there’s money to be spent, to get it all polished up and gleaming.”
Cohen said, “If you are doing work, get a permit, and have a licensed contractor do the work.” Also, do the Title V septic permitting well ahead of time, thus avoiding nasty surprises and delays. Cohen also agrees that contacting a broker even two years before you hope to sell your home can help clients avoid paying for things they don’t need: “I encourage clients to move before they have to. Don’t wait until you have health problems. Be thoughtful about it so you can prepare your property in a thoughtful and methodical way.”
Pay attention to presentation
Dutkewych tells clients to make sure they don’t focus exclusively on preparing the inside of their home. “The first approach to the house is the drive up. You want the presentation on the outside to be just perfect, whether it’s plantings, trimmed shrubs, removing limbs, or making sure there’s fresh paint. Bring light into the house.”
And Russo recommends finding a professional you can trust, who “has a sense of the wide array of technology and tools out there to best assist you in selling your home.”
For most sellers, showing off their home’s unique attributes and the special character of Harvard is what will help close the sale. “The days of the cookie-cutter house having the most interest is kind of over,” said Cohen. “People will pay for naturalistic landscapes and views and pond access and town center location. Those are all treasures. Hearing 495, not so much.”
