The Bridgewaters, Massachusetts

The Trend in Home Sales in Bridgewater MA 02324 – Improving, or...?

Home prices in Bridgewater on average have been rising in recent months! While home prices on average are down 11.8% compared to 2010, and they are up 13.5% since August of 2011.

The current average listing price of homes for sale in Bridgewater MA is $299,902, up 2.3% from a month ago. Compare this to the current median sales price of $244,000 - where half of sales are above this amount and half below it.

Below is a chart of the trend of median prices of homes for sale in Bridgewater MA over the past 5 years through December 2011:

Bridgewater Recently Sold Homes

So what does all this mean? Well, if you're looking for a home in the town of Bridgewater, you better not mess around too much. Both sales of homes and prices of homes are up.

You can still buy a home with no money down with a VA Loan or with a USDA Rural Development Home Loan. With the FHA Mortgage program, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.5% down. With a MassHousing loan, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.0% down. When you’re ready to buy a home, find out how much house you can afford to buy in Bridgewater or in the surrounding area.

Be sure to contact me, Lew Corcoran, toll free at 1-800-941-5616, when you're looking to get pre-approved for a purchase of your next home. Otherwise you may end up frustrated, disappointed and, unfortunately, perhaps misled.

The Trend in Home Sales in West Bridgewater MA 02379 – Improving, or...?

Home prices in West Bridgewater on average have been falling in recent months! Home prices on average are down 16.3% compared to 2010, and they are down 9.3% since August of 2011.

The current average listing price of homes for sale in West Bridgewater MA is $308,487, down 1.0% from a month ago. Compare this to the current median sales price of $238,500 - where half of sales are above this amount and half below it.

Below is a chart of the trend of median prices of homes for sale in West Bridgewater MA over the past 3.5 years through December 2011:

West Bridgewater Recently Sold Homes

So what does all this mean? Well, if you're looking for a home in the town of West Bridgewater, you may be able to find a bargain. While sellers aren't in control of this market, buyers still should be reasonable in their offers when negotiating.

You can still buy a home with no money down with a VA Loan or with a USDA Rural Development Home Loan. With the FHA Mortgage program, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.5% down. With a MassHousing loan, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.0% down. When you’re ready to buy a home, find out how much house you can afford to buy in West Bridgewater or in the surrounding area.

Be sure to contact me, Lew Corcoran, toll free at 1-800-941-5616, when you're looking to get pre-approved for a purchase of your next home. Otherwise you may end up frustrated, disappointed and, unfortunately, perhaps misled.

The Trend in Home Sales in East Bridgewater MA 02333 – Improving, or...?

Home prices in East Bridgewater on average have been rising in recent months! While home prices on average are down 7.8% compared to 2010, they are up 22.3% since August of 2011.

The current average listing price of homes for sale in East Bridgewater MA is $272,221, down 1.2% from a month ago. Compare this to the current median sales price of $226,800 - where half of sales are above this amount and half below it.

Below is a chart of the trend of median prices of homes for sale in East Bridgewater MA over the past 5 years through December 2011:

02333, East Bridgewater Recently Sold Homes

So what does all this mean? Well, if you're looking for a home in the town of East Bridgewater, you better not mess around too much as listing and sales prices of homes are climbing.

You can still buy a home with no money down with a VA Loan or with a USDA Rural Development Home Loan. With the FHA Mortgage program, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.5% down. With a MassHousing loan, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.0% down. When you’re ready to buy a home, find out how much house you can afford to buy in East Bridgewater or in the surrounding area.

Be sure to contact me, Lew Corcoran, toll free at 1-800-941-5616, when you're looking to get pre-approved for a purchase of your next home in East Bridgewater or in the surrounding area. Otherwise you may end up frustrated, disappointed and, unfortunately, perhaps misled.

Tips on Getting a Low Interest Rate on an Investment Property Mortgage
By Peter Harper, MortgageFit Community

Buying your investment property can be tricky. You need to get the best mortgage in order to lower the cost of buying the property. So, how can you get the low interest rate on the mortgage that you will be taking out against the investment property?

There are some tricks that can help you in getting a real good offer on the investment property. In fact, getting a low interest rate mortgage is important because you may face problems in the future in making the payments in case the interest rate is high. Then, you may have to try and refinance the mortgage in order to save your investment property.

Taking Out a Low Interest Rate Mortgage

In order to get a low interest rate mortgage on your property, you will have to:

Have good credit - In order to get a low interest rate mortgage, you need to have good credit. The better your credit score, the better will be the offers on the mortgages that you will have to take out in order to finance the investment property. In fact, you need to have a credit score above 730 in order to get the best mortgage rates.

Have a clean credit report - In addition to having a good credit score, it is also important for you to have a clean credit report. That is, there should not be any missed payments, any judgments or liens, any collections, or any foreclosures listed on your credit report. If you have any of these negative items listed on your credit report, you won't be able to get mortgage at the best available interest rate.

Have high affordability - You need to have high affordability in order to get a low interest rate mortgage. What that means is you are actually required to show the proof of your income to the lender while applying for the loan. It is in general considered that if a person has high affordability, he will have the ability to go on making the payments on the home loan. This lowers the risk on the part of the borrower and thus the lender may offer you a low interest rate.

Have a low debt-to-income ratio - In order to get a good offer on the mortgage, like a low interest rate, it is important for you to have a low debt-to-income ratio or DTI. DTI is the ratio that shows your total debt payments against your net income. The lower the DTI, the better will be the mortgage offer.

These are other things or eligibility criteria that can help you in taking out a low interest rate mortgage. Other than this, you are also required to follow some important things in order to get low interest rate mortgage offers on the investment property. It is important for you to shop for different mortgage offers and then compare them. This will help you in understanding as to how the change in the interest rate and the loan term is going to affect the home loan payments.

Now, how can you so easily compare amongst the different offers? In order to compare amongst the different mortgage offers, get a hold of a mortgage calculator. There are various websites that offer free usage of a mortgage calculator. After shopping for different mortgage offers, you will have to enter the details of all of the offers one by one into the calculator. This is going to help you in comparing amongst the different offers, thereby helping you to get the best of offers – like a low interest rate mortgage for your investment property.

How Calculating Mortgage Payments is Essential For Your Home
by Peter Harper

It's the dream of every individual - to purchase their dream home. And, it's one of the biggest financial commitments that you make in a lifetime. However, it's usually not possible for you to have the entire amount that you'll need to buy your dream home. For this, you take out a mortgage loan. With the help of suitable mortgage calculators, you'll be able to find out the amount that you can afford to pay monthly on your mortgage loan before you actually take out one.

The mortgage lender takes into account several factors such as the down payment that you'll be able to make, your income and your credit score before approving your loan request. By having good credit scores, it becomes very easy for you to get a mortgage loan at low interest rate. But, if your credit scores are 'less than stellar,' then the lender may not approve your mortgage loan. If, by chance, they approve your loan application, then you'll have to pay high interest rate.

How to Calculate Mortgage Payments For Your Home

The mortgage calculators help you know the amount that you'll have to pay on your mortgage loan. Read on to know how you can calculate the mortgage payments for your home.

1. Find out the cost of your homeowner's insurance - There are very few lenders who will allow you to pay your homeowner's insurance premiums separately. So, you will need to include the cost of your homeowner insurance policy along with your monthly mortgage payment. When you're know the annual insurance cost on your home, divide this amount by 12 and then add the result to your monthly mortgage payment.
2. Add up cost of private mortgage insurance - It may happen that you did not make a down payment on the mortgage or you are putting less than 20% down on the purchase of the home. In that case, your lender may ask you to pay a monthly mortgage insurance premium (PMI or MIP). This mortgage insurance provides assurance to your lender that in case you default on your mortgage loan payments, the mortgage insurer will pay off the mortgage lender for any unpaid balance after the sale of the home.
3. Enquire about the tax that you'll pay on your property - You need to calculate the property tax that you'll have to pay along with your mortgage payment. Again, there are very few lenders who will allow you to pay your property taxes separately. You'll need to divide the amount of the annual property tax by 12 and then add the result to your monthly mortgage payment.
4. Add up the closing costs - The closing costs that are connected with a mortgage include the administrative fees that the mortgage lender will charge you as well as the fees that are charged by the lawyer or title company. If you are refinancing a mortgage, in most cases you'll be able to 'roll the closing costs into' the new mortgage. The closing costs are considered as a part of the mortgage and are added up with the total amount that you borrow.

You need to keep several factors into account when you are planning to make your mortgage payments. If you miss out on making any of your monthly payments, it may lead to a distasteful and stressful situation. It's advisable that you follow the necessary steps in order to avoid any unpleasant situations and try to handle such situations properly should they arise.

Why Should Homeowners Refinance Their Mortgage in a Falling Housing Market?
by Peter Harper

The current economical condition of the nation has both its positive and negative effects on the people – irrespective of what they are doing. So, in case of the housing market too, the economic condition has both its positive and negative effects. From the year 2010 on, mortgage interest rates have been low, and people have been refinancing their home mortgages. The only good thing of the economic downturn is that mortgage interest rates fell to historical lows.

Why Homeowners Should Refinance

Homeowners should refinance their home mortgages in this falling housing market:

1. In order to save home – Though the housing market is on the downslide, if a person faces problems in making the debt payments, then he/she can refinance the home loan. This helps in changing the terms and conditions of the home loan, thereby helping the person to go on making the mortgage payments. This is important because if you miss payments on your mortgage, you could lose your home as the lender will foreclose on it in order to get their money back.

2. In order to lower the interest rate – A refinance helps you in lowering the interest rate on your mortgage. Thus, as has been said before, it helps you to continue making the payments on your mortgage. In addition to the interest rate, the loan term may also get extended through the refinance. This too could help considerably lower the monthly payment.

3. In order to save money – Even if you aren’t having much problem in making the monthly payments on your mortgage, if you refinance the home mortgage, you may easily be able to save money on the mortgage payments. This is mainly because with refinancing, the monthly payment that you're required to make on your mortgage is lower.

4. In order to retain the investment – By refinancing your mortgage, you'll be able to retain the investment that you have made on your home. That is, as refinancing helps you in retaining your home even in case of financial crisis, you may be able to retain the investment. It may be important to retain the home as this may not be a good time to sell it.

5. In order to lock in a low rate – As mortgage interest rates are still low, now may be the best time to lock in a lower interest rate. This could prove advantageous to you if you're a struggling homeowner. You're required to pay more on the interest if you take out a long term refinance loan, but it might be worth it if the value of the home increases later on.

6. In order to build greater equity – Retaining the link from the previous point, you may note that as you go on making the monthly mortgage payments with a lower interest rate, you will be building equity in your home faster. This will also help in increasing the equity in your home. And, as home values will improve, you may be able to net a bigger profit when you do sell the home.

You can see that there are various reasons why homeowners should refinance their home mortgages in this falling housing market. Thus, you can see that even though the economic situation is poor and even though the housing marketing is struggling, it's important for the homeowners to refinance the home loan.

Operation Veterans Van

On August 8th, the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) 11-passenger, volunteer driven, Ford van that transports patients from the Veterans Affairs clinic in Hyannis to the VA hospital in Providence, Monday through Thursday, broke down on the return trip.

The immediate problem was fixed and the van was back in service the next day, but it has other major mechanical deficiencies and is no longer reliable for long trips. So, it has been replaced with a 6-passenger van provided by the Rhode Island Department of the DAV. That cuts by 20 per week the number of seats available to Cape Cod veterans, many of whom no longer can drive that distance and depend on this service. Thus, a new larger van needs to be acquired.

Cape & Islands Chapter 1, Korean War Veterans Association, which currently provides most of the drivers, is heading a fund drive to raise money to purchase a brand new, 2010 12-passenger van which retails for about $24,500, but will be sold by Ford Motor Co. to the DAV for $14,100 "while supplies last". A checking account has been opened at Rockland Trust in the name of "Operation Veterans Van" to receive donations.

The KWVA, and Hyannis Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2578, as well as Hyannis American Legion Post 206, which by itself donated funds to purchase the old van, have pledged significant sums toward the purchase of the new van, but additional donations from other organizations, veterans or otherwise, and individuals, in any amount, are needed soon to take advantage of the offer from Ford and to restore service to the pre-existing level.

The van serves veterans from all over Cape Cod and the Islands, not just the mid-Cape area, and is a vital link in the VA health care system, which registers, insures, and pays for the operation of the vans. The names of substantial donor organizations or persons will be lettered on the new vehicle.

Donations may be made at any branch of Rockland Trust.

With gratitude,

Lawrence Cole, Harwich
Secretary, KWVA
Phone: 508-432-2464
Email: coleslaw1@verizon.net

The Trend in Home Sales in Bridgewater MA 02324 - Improving, or...?

Home prices in Bridgewater on average are falling! Home prices have fallen 9.2% since June of 2011.

However, the current average listing price of homes for sale in Bridgewater, MA is up. The average listing price is $314,274, up 1.1% from a month ago. Compare this to the current median sales price of $243,270 - where half of home sales are above this amount and half are below it.

Below is a chart of the trend of median sales prices of homes in Bridgewater, MA over the past 5 years through August 2010:

Bridgewater Recently Sold Homes

Median Sale Prices of Homes in Bridgewater, MA

The number of home sales in Bridgewater, MA is down 33.8% from year ago levels:

Bridgewater Recently Sold Homes

Number of Home Sales in Bridgewater, MA

So what does all this mean? Well, if you're looking for a home in the town ofBridgewater, you may be able to find a bargain. Both prices and sales of homes are down significantly from where they were a year ago.

You can still buy a home with little or no money down. You can buy a home with no money down with a VA Loan or a USDA Rural Development Home Loan. With the FHA Mortgage program, you can purchase a home with as little as 3.5% down. With a MassHousing Loan, you can purchase a home with no money down or with as little as 3.0% down. When you're ready to buy a home, find out how much house you can afford to buy in Bridgewater or in the surrounding area.

Be sure to contact me, Lew Corcoran, toll free at 1-800-984-3341, when you're looking to get pre-approved for a purchase of your next home in Bridgewater or in the surrounding area. Otherwise you may end up frustrated, disappointed and, unfortunately, perhaps misled.