Time again for my twice-monthly Pinnacle Report covering the Weston, MA real estate market.  And believe it or not, as I am writing this, Weston Public Schools were closed today and now tomorrow AND Halloween has been postponed until Friday, November 4.  Holy Early Winter….  Actually I say that in jest (fingers crossed).  But I must say that never in my life have I ever experienced snow/storm days in October or a postponing of Halloween.  Yikes.

And now on to the real estate front….  Three single-family homes came on the market in the last two weeks in Weston, and five sold.* Given the time of the year, it makes sense that our inventory (96) is decreasing slightly and that the number of new listings is slowing down. In terms of the upcoming time frame, Thanksgiving and the start of the holiday season is just three weeks away, which traditionally marks a bit of a slowdown in the real estate market.

To fully enjoy all of the market stats, please click Weston Pinnacle Report 10-17-2011-10-30-2011 for the details.

* Sold means “pending/under agreement” and not yet closed.

Before we get into the details of the question, it seems that most people have moved the laundry room out of the basement and onto either the 1st or 2nd floors of their houses.  First, from a practical perspective, the basement is a long way from where most of the laundry is generated – primarily in the bedrooms, which are usually on the second floor and where people have their laundry hampers.  Second, the basement environment isn’t always an uplifting place to do laundry.  While it can be dark, dreary and moist on the lower level, the first and second floor options offer windows, light-filled rooms, dry spaces plus they are fun places to decorate.

We moved our laundry room in our Weston, MA home from the first floor to the second floor years ago, and I must say that I love it.  But what is your preference?  Laundry on the 1st floor has many positives, including the fact that it’s close to the living areas, kitchen, family room, etc. where we spend quite a bit of our waking time.  And laundry on the 2nd floor also has its attributes, especially given the proximity to the bedrooms which then means not as much walking and stairs to do the laundry and to put it away – which is my least favorite part of the job.  So please do tell – what is your laundry preference?  I can’t wait to hear…..

I have a quick question for home buyers and anyone who has ever been a home buyer …. You’re at the closing table, and your fabulous, talented real estate agent (wink, wink) hands you a gift in honor of your new home.  Would you prefer a gift certificate (something you get to choose through an American Express or Natick Collection gift card, for example) or a gift that your agent has picked specifically for you?

This is something that I often wrestle with, and I usually opt for the hand-picked gift because I find it to be more personal.  BUT I just posted the question on my Facebook page (linked here if you would like to comment directly on Facebook), and several wanted gift certificates instead.  So please let me know your thoughts – I can’t wait to hear….

Calling all of you ghouls and goblins out there….  Don’t miss the Weston, MA Haunted House this Saturday, October 29 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at the Woodland School, 10 Alphabet Lane.  Sponsored by the Weston High School Class of 2014, the evening promises to be one of scares, screams and just plain fun.  Admission into the Haunted House is $7 per person, and it includes a haunted tour and craft activities. There are also refreshments for sale.

I have been to this event countless times, and it’s always an exciting, amusing and sometimes hair-raising night.  It’s great for the kids too, but they need to be accompanied by an adult (in other words, no drop-offs).  The class of 2014 is “Dying to see you!” Enjoy, and Happy Halloween.

As you may know, the Fall real estate market generally runs from the beginning of September right around Labor Day until Thanksgiving or thereabouts.  So at this point, in late October, we have four to five weeks left in the traditional Fall market.  In other words, the race is on – sellers and their agents are working hard to move their real estate (think public open houses and price reductions) before Thanksgiving and the holidays begin and buyers become engaged with and distracted by all of the festivities of the season.

To provide you with some evidence of this increased intensity to market and sell real estate, I analyzed the Weston, MA real estate inventory over the last two weeks (October 9-23) from a few different data points/perspectives:

• Public open houses – Weston had 28 public open houses last Sunday, October 16, and 21 yesterday on Sunday, October 23.  In other words, 28.6% (28/98) of the active listings had public open houses last Sunday, and 22.1% (21/95) had them this past Sunday.  Another marketing push while buyers are still actively looking.  (Just as an aside, you may notice that many of the times for these Fall open houses take into account the New England Patriots schedule.  If possible, I always try to schedule my open houses much before kick-off time.)
• Price reductions – In these past two weeks, we have had 16 price reductions – wow – with an average price change (for the most recent price reduction) of 6.5%. Interestingly, more than half (56%) of these price reductions happened below $1,000,000, 19% happened between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000, and 25%  happened above $2,000,000.  The average list price for the 16 properties with the price reductions was $1,728,125, and the average days on the market (DOM) was 265.  These are both high numbers, especially when you look at the average list price of solds/closeds in the last six months of $1,332,344 and average DOM of 124.  The reason for these high numbers is in large part due to some of the high-end homes which have been on the market for hundreds and hundreds of days.  You’ll see when you click the detailed summary which is linked below….
• Accepted offers/Under agreement (UAG) – Six homes sold** during this time frame.  To put this number into perspective, I have been tracking the sold** data since 2010, and the largest number of solds** in a two-week period*** is 10, which was during the height of the Spring market, and the lowest number is 0, which was during the cold, icy and bleak winter.  And so six is just slightly above the median.  Of note, the average list price of these sold** homes was $2,539,833, and the average DOM was 200.  These numbers are fairly consistent with the average list price of active listings right now of $2,442,453 and DOM of 210.  While three of these six sold** homes did not have price reductions, three did, resulting in an average price change of 11.6% – again a very high number, and you’ll understand when you see the detailed summary which is linked below….

For the full details of the price changes as well as accepted offers/UAGs in the last two weeks, click The race is on.  And as always, I’m curious to hear your thoughts too.  Do you, as consumers or buyers, notice this push to market and sell homes as we near the end of October?  And/or when you were selling your home, did you feel the pressure of the clock ticking as the holidays neared?  I can’t wait to hear….

* I did not track the number of public open houses on Sunday, October 9 as it was a holiday weekend (Columbus Day) and therefore would not have been indicative of a typical Fall Sunday of public open houses.

** Sold means “pending/under agreement” and not yet closed.

*** I track this data using consistent two-week periods throughout the year.  All of the data is based on information provided to and compiled by MLS Property Information Network, Inc.