Script of the Interview

- Hi, it's Jeff Chubb with REN network and the Chubb Realty Group brokered by eXp Realty, we're here with Jason Bonarrigo of RMS Mortgage today, and ultimately, Jason, did you wanna say hi? But really we're gonna have a nice conversation in regards to what happened in this crazy year in 2020 and ultimately what we see for 2021. So lots happened I think in a year--

- It's been crazy, it's been crazy. It's been good, but it's been good but--

- It's been crazy good.

- So I think we're really lucky in the aspect that both of our industries from COVID, having, I mean I thought it was gonna go completely in the opposite direction, when COVID hit and the world shut down--

- Scary times.

- Yeah, I don't know about you, but I remember saying to my wife, like, hey, it's time to batten down the--

- Pack up camp and go back to school.

- Here we go to 2008 all over again, you know,

- There was a worry for all of us, I think, I mean, in all seriousness, I mean we were all concerned about what was going to happen and obviously still are in the bigger picture of things with everyone's health, but that being said, in our businesses, you know, very lucky and knock on wood, but we've survived and we've thrived really, you know, and interest rates have been low and people are buying homes and selling homes, and it's obviously been ironically one of the busiest years in our business.

- Who would have thought, it just took a world epidemic where the world shuts down, in order for--

- Total production.

- To make our real estate market completely change and one of the, you know, there's been a lot of changes in my world, not necessarily from, I mean, we're still selling a lot of houses, right? But it's weird in the sense of it's not the city anymore,...

2019 is in the rearview. So what did the real estate market do?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and here is the 2019 Real Estate Review for Cohasset, Hingham, Hull and Scituate.

Let’s start with the Cohasset market. Sales in Cohasset for 2019 were down 3.17% from 126 sales in 2018 to 122 sales in 2019. Not a huge movement in the number of houses, but none the less. Sales were down. The average sale price in Cohasset was down 3.17% as well year over year with an average sale price of $1,124,379 vs 1,161,208 in 2018. Inventory at the end of December in Cohasset is down 17.14% with 29 Single Family homes available to buyers to start the New Year.

Cohasset was the only town that we will be looking at that had depreciation in 2019.

In Hingham, sales were down 4.64% to 267 closed units in 2019. The average sales price was up 2.91% to $986,030. Inventory for the year ended down 21.15% with 41 Single family homes available to buyers looking to make a move in the beginning of the New Year.

Hull is the only market where the amount of sales increased year over year. In Hull, sales increased 15.33% to 158 Single Family homes selling 2019. The average sales price was up 5.86% to $521,170. Meanwhile the increase in sales put additional inventory pressure on the market with available Single-Family inventory down 47.37% to 20 Single Family homes available to start 2020.

In Scituate sales were down 1.38% to 286 Single Family homes sold in 2019. The average sale price was up 7.93% to $726,256. This is the highest percentage gain of the four...

2019 is in the rearview. So what did the real estate market do in Massachusetts?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and here is the 2019 Real Estate Review for some of the largest cities in the Bay State. We have the data we are sharing for all towns, so if you are specifically wondering how your town held up, then shoot me an email at [email protected]!

The Single-Family market in Massachusetts saw a .50% increase in the amount of homes sold to 52,999 units. The average sale price of $516,843 represented a 3.17% increase year over year. The biggest movement was related to inventory with the amount of Single-Family homes available to buyers decreasing 20.26% year over year to 6,993.

The Massachusetts condo market saw a decrease of .73% to 20,951 units sold. This was coupled with the 10.56% decrease in the number of condos available on the market year over year with 2,542 being available at the end of 2019. Prices for condos increased 4.13% to an average sale price of $521,744.

In Boston, both the Single Family and condo markets saw a decrease in the amount of sales, increase in the average sale price with a decrease in the amount of inventory available to buyers. The Single-Family market saw a 6.10% decrease in sales to 969 units sold in 2019 with an average sales price of $875,086. This accounts for a 5.73% increase in pricing. Inventory in 2019 decreased 28.43% to 73 Single-Family homes currently available.

The Boston condo market had 4,343 sales in 2019 which accounts for a 4.95% decrease in the amount of homes sold. Inventory in the condo market decreased 1.75% to 618 units with the average sales price for sold condos up 5% to $923,010.

In Cambridge, 567 condos sold...

Will the real estate market gains hold out as we go into the last month of 2019?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the market stats for the first 11 months of 2019 for a couple markets throughout Massachusetts. Today we are going to look at MA as a whole, Brockton, Canton, Dorchester, Framingham, Quincy and Reading.  

All of MA Real Estate

Decreasing inventory is the story to be told through the Bay State. With Condos continuing the trend and now down 8.43% year over year. Meanwhile Inventory for Single Families continued to shrink and is now down 15.14%.

Sales are down in both the Condo and Single-Family segments with condos down 2.46% year over year and the Single-Family market now down .85% when comparing the first 11 months of sales for 2018 vs. 2019.

Home prices continue to be up year over year with the average sale price of a condo at $521,276 which represents a 3.84% increase and the average sales price for Single Families up 2.89% to $517,921.  

Recap: Inventory is down. Sales are down. Prices are up.

Brockton Real Estate

Inventory in Brockton has been down by a significant amount pretty much all year, however we saw a small surge of new properties hit the market. Inventory is now down 2.70% year over year with 108 Single Family homes currently on the market at the end of November.

The decline in sales also continued in November with now 759 units closed for the first 11 months of the year. This represents a 7.33% decline in the amount of homes sold year over year.

The great news is that the average home price continued to climb to $318,996 which represents a 6.38% increase in the average price appreciation.

Recap: Inventory is down. Sales are down. Prices are up.

Canton Real Estate...

Will the real estate market gains hold out as we go into the last month of 2019?

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the market stats for the first 11 months of 2019 for Cohasset, Hingham, Hull and Scituate.

Cohasset Real Estate

Inventory continued to increase year over year with there now being 22.92% more inventory at the end of November this year then compared to the same time last year.

Sales are down slightly at 2.56%, but this only represents a 3 unit difference with 114 sales in the first 11 months of 2019 vs. the first 11 months of 2018.

The average sales price in Cohasset did take a little bit of a nose dive in November. For the first 10 months of 2019 we had seen point 2 percent decrease in the average sales price. With November in the books, Cohasset is currently seeing a -5.46% decrease year over year. The median home price looks even worse as it is down 7.93% year over year.

Cohasset Massachusetts Homes For Sale

Hingham Real Estate

Inventory in Hingham is now down 1.32%, but this only represents a one unit difference with 75 homes on the market at the end of November in 2019 vs. 76 in 2018.

Sales in November were stronger then compared to the same period last year. In the month of November we saw 29 homes close in Hingham which is compared to last November where we saw only 18 units close. With 250 closed homes in 2019, currently sales in Hingham is 5.30% behind where they were at the end of November in 2018.

Home prices for the first 11 months in Hingham are up 2.18% to $985,242.

Hull Real Estate

The decline in inventory for Hull stayed about constant being down 34.04% year over year with 31 single family homes currently...

Less and less homes for sale… For the most part that is!

I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the most recent market conditions update for a couple towns around Massachusetts.

In Massachusetts as a whole, we now have inventory up 1.64% for condos year over year. This is a large swing of nearly 9% considering last month we were looking at a 10.24% increase in inventory. Meanwhile in the Single-Family market inventory continued to tighten about 3% to 12.09% less inventory on the market then this time last year.

Meanwhile sales in both the Single Family and Condo market continued to build. Sales for Single Families are now up .24% year over year to 44,170 units sold while Condo sales are down 1.64% to 17,550 sales, this however is again an improvement from the -2.47% we saw last month.

Prices in Massachusetts continue to be up with the Condo market up 4.65% year over year and the Single Family up 2.89% year over year.

Quincy will be the only market that we look at that happens to have an increase in the amount of homes currently on the market. However in the condo segment we saw a big tightening month over month. Last month we had 34.69% increase in inventory yoy vs. the 16.13% we have this month. Meanwhile we did see inventory grow to 18.18% increase year over year in the Quincy Single Family segment.

Sales are up 4.64% at 316 units for the Quincy Condo market while showing a 4.67% average price appreciation to $412,562. Meanwhile sales for Single Families are down 11.03% to 371 units...

For the Most Part… Inventory Tightened!

With October in the books, we are continuing to see the great inventory tightening of the Fall of 2019. Okay, maybe it hasn’t been “great”, but none the less… There are less homes on the market!

I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the most recent market conditions for Cohasset, Hingham and Hull.

In October we saw inventory continue to tighten statewide as well as in the towns of Hingham and Hull. Cohasset however had a different plan in mind.

In Massachusetts as a whole, we now have inventory up 1.64% for condos year over year. This is a large swing of nearly 9% considering last month we were looking at a 10.24% increase in inventory. Meanwhile in the Single-Family market inventory continued to tighten about 3% to 12.09% less inventory on the market then this time last year.

Meanwhile sales in both the Single Family and Condo market continued to build. Sales for Single Families are now up .24% year over year to 44,170 units sold while Condo sales are down 1.64% to 17,550 sales, this however is again an improvement from the -2.47% we saw last month.

Prices in Massachusetts continue to be up with the Condo market up 4.65% year over year and the Single Family up 2.89% year over year.

Turning to the local markets, lets take a look at Hull first.

Hull continues to see inventory decrease with it now having 40 homes on the market which represents a 35.48% decrease in the amount of properties available to prospective buyers. Sales continue to be strong with a 17.80% year over year...

Jeffrey Chubb and his team, the Chubb Realty Group, has been ranked as one of the Best Real Estate Agents in Boston for 2019 according to Expertise, LLC. 

Expertise is a company that makes it easy to find the best local experts, every time. They believe that finding the right highly-skilled professional takes sigificant time and effort, including in-depth reasearch, ddetailed comparisons and deciphering which online reviews are reliable and authentic. 

Expertise features only objectively quantified and qualified professionals hand-picked by their selection process. They do the research to understand what's important when searching for experienced professionals so their readers trust that when they say a company is one of the best, it is. 

Their proprietary research and selection process identifies the top service professionals in over 200 different industries across the top cities in the United States. To date, they have analyzed over 10 Million companies. 

Their selection process is based off of the following criteria:
Reputation: A history of satisfied customers giving excellent recommendations
Credability: Established in their industry with licensing, accreditations and awards
Expertise: Masters of their craft, based on years of practical experience and education
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Professionalism: Dedicated to providing consistently quality work and impeccable customer service. 

Buying a Home in Massachusetts Can Be Scary… Until you know the facts!

Hi, I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you some truth’s when it comes to buying a Massachusetts home. There are many myths out there that are keeping our friends and family from buying a home…

“I need 20% down in order to buy a home” – This is the most common myth we hear. Potential Massachusetts home buyers are constantly being told they need 20% down in order to buy a home. This just simply is not the case. 71% of buyers who purchased homes put down 20% OR LESS. And today you can buy a home for as little as 3.5% down. If you are a Veteran then can even qualify for VA programs with 0% down. Consider this, the average down payment is 6%. AND down payments can even be gifted. (Thanks Mom and Dad!).

“I need an 800 Credit Score” This is the 2^nd biggest myth when buying a home in Massachusetts. In September, the average credit score for approved loans was 737. But there are FHA programs that will give a borrower a mortgage with a credit score of 580 or higher. Financing is complex which is why it always makes sense to speak with a mortgage banker. 

“Getting approved for a mortgage is hard when buying Real Estate in Massachusetts” – Last month 78.1% of loan applications were approved. I think it is important to remember that a bank isn’t trying to turn someone down, but they are cutting some pretty large checks and need to verify everything is in order. This can be a frustrating part of the process, but the good news is… They don’t ask for a blood sample AND you the light at the end of the tunnel results in a set of keys and owning a piece of the American Dream.

“Interest Rates are high” – Historically speaking we have some of the lowest...

Bye Bye FICO Scores? And What It Means to You.

I am Jeff Chubb and I wanted to share with you the news that the Federal Housing Finance Agency is now allowing Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to use an alternative credit scoring model, Vantage Score. And what this means for you and your friends and family when buying a home.

The FICO scoring model was introduced in 1989 and is used by 90% of lenders.

Compared to VantageScore which was introduced in 2006. It’s developers say this model is a more predictive scoring model that is easier to understand and apply.

Many banks are using a combination of FICOs and VantageScore models for mortgages, however until now this was not the case for mortgages secured by a government entity. How much does this matter? In 2017, government backed mortgages accounted for nearly 70% of all mortgages originated in the U.S.

Are we surprised that our Government Backed Mortgage agencies were late to the party?

So what are the differences, how does Vantage Score Group Credit Information?

-        Payment history
-        Age & type of credit
-        Percentage of credit limit used
-        Total balances and debt
-        Recent credit behavior and inquiries
-        Available Credit

Compared to the 5 categories that FICO uses:

-        Payment history
-        Amounts owed
-        Length of credit history
-        New Credit
-        Credit Mix

Both these lists...