New development units are fungible – if you’ve been in one, you’ve been in them all. Our work suggests that the condominiums at 1 Franklin are already struggling to hold their value, see our note below “When Losing is Winning.” With the sales effort at Winthrop Center getting ready to swing into high gear, we expect this trend to intensify. If you own at 1 Franklin and think you may sell in the next few years, we’d recommend accelerating your plans. …
Blog Posts
When it comes to what we call “real estate mulligans,” the name of the game for sellers is to get their money back (net of fees) ASAP. The problem is that the fees are significant - round trip you’re talking in excess of 10%. While mulligans aren’t necessarily a trend, it happens more often than you’d expect. Here are a few recent ones. …
Batterymarch Group LLC is a full service independent real estate brokerage firm specializing in the downtown Boston market. More about our services here.“The Batterymarch Insider” is a brief snapshot of our current market thinking. As always, our “terms of use” apply. We encourage you to subscribe. Batterymarch Group Featured in Banker & Tradesman …
The south side of Boylston Street isn’t typically thought of as a new neighborhood - it is, after all, part of the Back Bay. However, in recent years over 600 luxury condominium units have been built on the south side of Boylston Street, and there’s a substantial inventory pipeline behind that. We view this area as a new sub-neighborhood of the Back Bay, or “Back Bay 2.0.” …
The lack of supply narrative is changing pretty dramatically (see our report “The Great Boston Building Boom”). This is leaving many new developments struggling to find buyers, which is when investors tend to step in. Add to the mix the prospect of higher interest rates and we could be in for a bumpy ride. …
The dirty little secret of real estate brokerage is that brokers and their sales agents won’t stop you from overpaying – they’ll look the other way. Below is a brief look at the three common pitfalls. …
Trying to nail down what’s going on with real estate valuations is for the most part a fool’s errand, largely because the data is, for a lack of better explanation, manipulated. We’re launching our first in what will be a series of reliable valuation indices – the Batterymarch Back Bay Index© (BBBI). …
As former Federal Reserve Chairman Bill Martin famously said, the job of the Federal Reserve is “to take away the punch bowl just as the party gets going.” This party has been rolling along for years and we all may be in for a rude awakening should the Fed turn up the house lights and announce “last call.” …
Every once in a while a transaction comes along that leaves us wondering if the seller found a buyer or a victim. …
It’s true that many people take their property off the market during the holiday season and hope for a better result when the spring market rolls around. But the sellers that hang tough and keep their properties on the market during the holidays are generally serious about selling. They’re not concerned about the days on market racking up – they want out. …
A common refrain we hear over and over from the realtor community is that the value of real estate always goes up. While it’s true that the value of most assets increases over longer time periods, it’s not an iron clad rule when it comes to real estate. Just ask the seller at 73 Mount Vernon Street, unit 1. …
It’s critically important that buyers understand that just because the seller sets the fee, Massachusetts allows “rebating.” Rebating allows the buyer’s broker to rebate a portion of their part of the fee to the buyer at closing. In other words, buyers can, and should, negotiate a rebate with their broker. Saving a point or so on a large transaction is real money. …
