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NStar Offers Customers Wind Power

If you're willing to pay a premium for your power, NStar is offering customers the ability to power their homes with environmentally-friendly wind power, The Boston Globe reported May 1, 2008.

Consumers will have a choice between having half or all of their power originated from wind farms.

Customers who opt for the green power will pay $4.25 a month for half their electricity from wind farms and $7.25, if they buy all their electricity from wind power. The program, called NStar Green, is the first of its kind for a Massachusetts utility.

"NStar, with 1.1 million electric customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, proposed the program last summer. The Boston utility signed 10-year contracts with two wind farms to buy a total of 60 megawatts, enough to power about 60,000 homes."

The wind farms are located in Maine and upstate New York.

Read The Boston Globe Article

 

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Federal Funds Rate Cut Quarter Point

The Federal Reserve cut its key rate, the federal funds rate, by a quarter point April 30, 2008.

At 2 percent, the rate is at its lowest point since December 2004. The rate cut was the seventh reduction in a campaign that has brought rates down by 3.25 percentage points since September 2007.

The hope in the real estate industry is that financial institutions will now be more willing to lend money to consumers.

Mortgage Interest Rates Rise Again

Average rates in the U.S. for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans increased to 6.06 percent from 6.03 percent the previous week, United Press International (UPI) reported May 1, 2008.

A year ago, the same loan averaged 6.16 percent.

The 15-year loan's average rate declined from 5.62 percent to 5.59 percent.

Read The UPI Article

Boston Ranked 5th Smartest Metro Area

Bizjournals, the publisher of the Boston Business Journal, has compiled a list of the smartest metropolitan areas across the country.

Madison, Wis. tops the list , with Washington D.C. and San Jose rounding out the top three. Boston ranked fifth.

The rankings were compiled as part of an article about how important an educated population is to an area's economic strength.

"A recent federal report proves the point. It shows that a worker holding a doctorate will earn 70 percent more, on average, than a colleague with a bachelor's degree and 215 percent more than someone who never progressed beyond high school."

Seventy-five percent of Madison's adults have attended college, about three percentage points higher than any other market, according to the study. Its high-school dropout rate of 4.3 percent was the lowest in the study.

Check out the "Brainpower" rankings for the top 100 metro areas.

Read profiles of the top 10.

Mortgage Applications Drop

U.S. mortgage applications declined 11.1 percent compared to the previous week and reached a yearly low, USA Today reported April 30, 2008.

The Data comes from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Refinance applications fell 16.7 percent while purchase applications dropped 4.8 percent.

Read The USA Today Article

Please Vote For This Blog

The FHA Mortgage Center, which is a resource for FHA loans, is holding a real estate blog contest. I'd appreciate your vote.

There is a $500 prize for the winner. If I win, I'll donate that money to Rebuilding Together Greater Haverhill, Inc., which helps revitalize homes and neighborhoods for low-income homeowners and communities in need, especially the elderly, the disabled and families, helping them to live in warmth, safety and independence.

Vote for the Massachusetts Home Buyer Guide blog. Thank you.

Vote for this site

Real Estate Blog Contest

presented by FHA Mortgage Center

 

Worst Places To Sell Your Home

Boston is not on Forbes' worst places to sell your home list.

Miami, Orlando and Phoenix top the list of 10 locations.

You can check out the rest of the list at the Boston Condo Blog.

Case-Shiller Shows 4.6% Boston Price Decline

The S&P/Case-Shiller index reported a 4.6 percent decline in February home prices in the Boston area compared to February 2007, The Boston Globe reported on its real estate blog April 29, 2008.

"Case-Shiller lags the reports from [The] Warren Group and the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, both of which released March data yesterday. But Case-Shiller is more reliable because it is based on repeat sales of the same homes, eliminating any bias caused by a change in the kinds of homes that are selling."

It is the 23rd straight month of year-over-year declines in the index, which has now dropped 12 percent from its peak in September 2005, according to the blog post.

Click here for more data from the S&P/Case-Shiller Index.

Read The Boston Real Estate Now Blog Post

Massachusetts Homes Sales Plummet In March

Massachusetts home sales declined 31.6 percent in March 2008 compared to March 2007, the Boston Herald reported April 28, 2008.

The data comes from The Warren Group, a publisher real estate market information. Just 2,637 homes changes hands in March in the Commonwealth.

The median price of a single-family home in Massachusetts sank more than 10 percent to $304,000.

Bank-owned properties and short sales certainly are putting downward pressure on prices.

Condominium sales dropped 35.6 percent, but condo prices fell just 1.8 percent.

Read The Boston Herald Article

Maxing Out Home Equity Will Affect Credit Score

Apparently maxing out your home equity line of credit will have an impact on your credit score, Bankrate.com reported April 24, 2008.

Read The Bankrate.com Article

Interactive MBTA Map

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has an interactive map on it Web site that provides train schedules, stops and more.

Pay Yourself Or Pay Your Landlord

Despite the state of the real estate market, the cost of renting in the Greater Boston Area appears to have remained steady or slightly increased,  Boston Globe reporter Binyamin Appelbaum wrote in the Boston Real Estate Now blog.

With prices down and interest rates low, renters have to ask themselves whether it makes sense to continue paying a landlord or buying a home of their own. Using a rent v. own calculator to consider the costs is helpful.

Read The Boston Real Estate Now Post

Mortgage Interest Rates Rise Above 6 Percent

For the first time in six weeks, average rates for 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage loans in the U.S. rose above 6 percent, CNN Money reported April 24, 2008.

Average rates, according to Freddie Mac, stood at 6.03 percent, up from 5.88 percent the previous week. Rates for 15-year notes rose to 5.62 percent, up from 5.40 percent.

Read The CNN Money Article

Mortgage Applications Plunge

U.S. mortgage applications plunged 14.2 percent compared to the previous week, Reuters reported April 23, 2008.

The data comes from the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The number of applications for home purchases fell 6.4 while refinance applications dropped 20.2 percent. The drop in applications coincided with a rise in mortgage interest rates.

Read The Reuters Article