Context: 10 Years of Lincoln Sales Data 2013-2022 We have now analyzed TEN YEARS of Lincoln Single Family sales data, which provides an important context for the current market.  You can see how few houses sold in 2022, compared to prior years. See the trends in each price bracket? The story is complicated – fewer houses sold in 2022, but really it was just far fewer houses under $1.5M that sold, and the number over $1.5M grew in 2020 and stayed consistent. This is the story of a year that built on the pandemic move, the over-bidding, scarce supply, and rising interest rates. Exist ..read more

Slow Start to Spring Sellers often ask when the best time is to list a property for sale, and our pre-pandemic answer was always Valentine’s Day. It seemed that no matter the year or market, when a seller put a well-prepared house on the market early — but not too early — the sale price exceeded our expectation. It also left some room for our sellers to get the work done prior to listing even if it took longer than expected, because March is historically a great month to list, too. Typically, as spring warmed and we emerged from winter, so many other houses list that a balance would tip in fav ..read more

As we’ve been writing about since early in the pandemic, demand for single-family housing in Lincoln and the surrounding communities has dramatically reduced inventory levels. Houses are selling much faster than usual, and they are selling for an average of $446 per square foot, that’s up 36% from 2017, and 17% from 2020.  It’s easy to see in the white graph how the changes in demand preferences triggered by the pandemic erased the seasonality we’d usually see. You can see the pink diamonds on the white graph that show the increase in sale price per square foot, up to $446 in 2021. We con ..read more

Can You Check Off All Five? We are expecting our first frost this week. Are you ready? Clean Gutters (and Drains!) – In addition to gutters, you may have drains that move water away from your house or driveway. Keeping them clear of leaves keeps the water going where it belongs! Any Outdoor water? Blow out your irrigation system! Turn off outdoor spigots from the inside and drain them! Empty rain barrels.  Windows: if you have storms windows, be sure to check that they are in (and in the right track so there are no gaps). Want more daylight throughout the winter? Clean and Remove your sc ..read more

Most houses benefit from recaulking in the bathroom. Whether it’s behind the sink, around the shower door, or around the edge of the tub. Since I had to do it myself on my SUPER UGLY bath (to keep it workable while we wait to renovate) I got a step-by-step for you here. 1. Tools: This handy little corner angle caulking scraper I picked up at Home Depot (if you want). an exacto knife/razor blade hair drier caulk gun new caulk 2. Use the scraper and blade and your fingers to remove as much of the existing caulking, and even grout to expose the seam you are going to re-seal. 3. Really get in ..read more

Control Standing Water   Look out for pots, buckets, toys, tarps, anything that can collect water after it rains. Look under your porch, around your home, and through your yard for any container, and DUMP THEM! If you keep a birdbath or water feature, keep it cleaned regularly. Cleaning out standing water more than once per week is enough to disrupt their life cycle! Treat Standing Water   Treat standing water that you cannot dump. Here’s a link to a product many folks recommend, available at our favorite local hardware store, Vanderhoofs in Con ..read more

The Lincoln real estate market was strong entering 2020, following two years of stable prices and an uptick in demand. As the country plunged into lockdown, our practices changed, but the market barely skipped a beat. In review, 2020 was a banner year for Lincoln sellers, and more homes sold than in the 5 previous years. And, while sale price per square foot increased in some bands, price gains won’t firm up until we look back at 2021. COVID-Inspired Demand We weren’t sure how it was going to shake out, but as you can see from the graph below, more single-family homes sold than any year since ..read more

The competition buyers face this Spring season is unlike anything we’ve ever seen. Nearly all of what comes on the market is gobbled up immediately, leaving exceptionally low levels of inventory. But surprisingly, the data tells us that it is the buyers’ appetite — rather than sellers’ reluctance — that has changed. A full year into the pandemic, what changes are structural? What changes are fleeting? In our predictions, we should focus on understanding demand, because supply hasn’t actually changed much. Plus, in these small markets, fleeting excess demand can be absorbed quickly, balancing t ..read more

Unprecedented low inventory, low interest rates, demand… Despite the catastrophic pandemic, 2020 broke local real estate market records. No one predicted it, but the surging demand for more space was buoyed by historically low interest rates. For the many high-earning urban-dwellers of Boston, the only hardship was the competition. That suburban shift has left nearly nothing on the “shelves” so to speak, in so many of our local communities. It’s a very tough time to be searching for a home; competitive bidding means paying a premium even when you find “the one”. But this article isn’t for buye ..read more

Jeannine and Jess joined forces five years ago to create the Lincoln Real Estate Team. We have closed 66 transactions, working for buyers and sellers from Cambridge to Concord, Brookline to Bedford. That’s over $71M of real estate bought and sold since November, 2015! Some listings have been labors of love, some buyers have become friends. We have collaborated through it all, offering our clients the best of two agents’ dedication and service. We are particularly grateful for our Lincoln clients, who made us the number 1 agent team in town in 2020! In 2015, Jeannine was nearing 30 years as a R ..read more