Martha's Vineyard Real Estate : About Real Estate on Martha's Vineyard
Data assembled by Link, the real estate listing service available to Martha's Vineyard brokers, finds that 18 percent fewer Martha's Vineyard homes have sold this year than in 2007. The median price is also down, by 12 percent.
"It is a wonderful time for a first time buyer to get into the market," according to Sheila Morse, Island Real Estate, Tisbury. "In Vineyard Haven, at this minute there are 47 properties available in the $500,000 to $700,000 range," Mrs. Morse said.
Judy Federowicz of Coldwell Banker/Landmarks agreed, "It is a great time to buy." She added that local banks are ready to lend money as well. "Our Island banks did not do those subprime loans in the past, and they did not resell the mortgages. We have really competitive mortgage rates on the Island."
Currently, on average, a home on the Island is on the market for approximately 400 days, according to Link data. "There are some homes that have been on the market for three years, but they were not priced properly three years ago," broker Neil Stiller of Cronig's Real Estate, Vineyard Haven stated.
"Do not be afraid to negotiate," broker Fred Roven advises. Further, Mr. Roven recommends that buyers "be realistic about the price. If the property price has been reduced several times, the seller probably cannot go lower."
Some support for prices
The national decline in real estate values is not uniform. There are badly hurt regions, but there are others where values have proven more durable and a few where values have continued to rise, albeit at diminished rates. Some support for Martha's Vineyard real estate values may be found in the most recent triennial revaluations, whose results have been posted for five of the six Martha's Vineyard towns.
Edgartown, worth roughly $6.25 billion, based on values three years ago, is the richest Vineyard town, worth $7.6 billion today, based on the latest values. Indeed, each Island town, except Chilmark, records increases in value in this latest round of revaluations. Chilmark, the richest town measured by real estate value per capita, will not report the official results of its latest revaluation for several weeks, so its value for the purpose of this report remains unchanged, at $2.9 billion. West Tisbury, worth $2.5 billion a year ago is now worth $3.1 billion. Oak Bluffs has grown very modestly, from $2.8 billion at the last reckoning to $2.9 billion today. Tisbury's real estate value, at $2.7 billion three years ago is at $3.04 billion now. Aquinnah, at $560 million before its most recent overhaul of real estate valuations, is still the least valuable Island town, but its current value is up sharply to $818 million.
All the real estate on Martha's Vineyard is valued for tax purposes at approximately $20.4 billion, up from $18 billion, according to 2005 figures, and that 2008 total will rise modestly when Chilmark values are finally approved by state Department of Revenue regulators.
Timing may be right
There are bargains now with signs in realtors' office windows highlighting the prices of homes dropped by thousands of dollars. For example, the Coldwell Banker/Landmarks Real Estate offices recently participated in a national 10-day sale, in which each featured home's asking price was reduced by ten percent.
"I think the price of homes on the Island peaked in the summer of 2005, and prices have come down 20 percent since then," adds Mr. Stiller.
Annually, resort community homeowners will put their places on the market immediately after a summer season, brokers report. Buyers looking for rental property will purchase now to get the property ready for the summer rental season. According the Link database, the two months with greatest volume of sales in 2007 were September and November.
However, the real estate professionals all agree that the current economy has buyers waiting to see if prices will come down further. "I think we are at or very near the bottom," says Mrs. Morse. "Now is the time for buyers to make an offer, because sellers know that the market is very slow."
