April Deeds for Lowell: A closer look

The number of deeds recorded for the city of Lowell this April showed a considerable increase over the number recorded for the same month last year. Today I tried to determine what kind of transfers were represented by those deeds.

Of the 156 deeds recorded for property in Lowell during the month of April 2010, about two-thirds involved arm's length sales of property with the other one-third being related party transfers. Of all the deeds, 90 involved one party or entity selling to another for what seemed to be fair market value (58% of the total). An additional 20 deeds were conveyances from banks (presumably ones that had recently foreclosed on the property) to third parties (13%). While these sales may have been at a discount, they are close to FMV (or perhaps the new FMV). Thirty-seven deeds (24%) involved related party transfers such as spouses conveying to a single spouse (maybe an ex-spouse?) or similar transfers for no consideration. Another 9 deed were individuals conveying property into trusts of which they were the trustee.