Lowell Real Estate: Week of December 26, 2016

The following real estate sales occurred in Lowell this week:

December 26, 2016 - Monday

Christmas holiday

December 27, 2016 - Tuesday

250 Nesmith St Unit A-11 for $130,000. Prior sale in 1982

66 Berry Rd for $442,500. New construction

110 Bartlett St for $92,500. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

25 Livingston St for $144,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $335,000

December 28, 2016 - Wednesday

33 Acropolis Rd for $284,000. Prior sale in 1995 for $111,500

240 Jackson St Unit 617 for $230,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $209,900

379 Beacon St for $281,000. Prior sale in 1998 for $98,000

109-111 Alma St for $319,168. Prior sale in 1997 for $115,000

124 Hoyt Ave for $290,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $271,050

201 Thorndike St Unit 2-28 for $151,400. Prior sale in 2005 for $185,000

December 29, 2016 - Thursday

13-15 Chamberlain St Unit 13 for $141,960. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

1810 Skyline Dr Unit 9 for $138,999. Prior sale in 2010 for $119,000

363 Hildreth St Unit 11 for $85,000. Prior sale in 2015 for $80,000

110 Berkeley Ave for $199,000. Prior sale in 2011 for $130,000

281-283 Concord St for $160,000. Prior sale in 1951

250 Nesmith St Unit A-7 for $138,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $164,900

70 Austin St Unit 4 for $157,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $108,000

286 Burnham Rd for $210,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $230,000

183 Christian St for $255,000. Prior sale in 1977

December 30, 2016 - Friday

75 Walton St for $300,000. Prior sale in 1942

54 Walker St for $246,000. Prior sale in 2011 for $176,000

407 Walker St for $246,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $190,000

525 Beacon St for $333,000. Prior sale in 2003 for $320,000

123 Varnum Ave for $253,000. Prior sale in 1952

55 Winthrop Ave for $192,500. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

161 School St for $272,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $229,154

1401 Pawtucket Blv Unit 6 for $234,900. Prior sale in 2010 for $232,500

Lowell Real Estate: Week of December 19, 2016

The following real estate sales took place in Lowell this week:

December 19, 2016 - Monday

3 Dalton St for $194,900. New construction

6 Industrial Ave for $192,500. Prior sale in 1960

120 Westview Rd for $480,000. Prior sale in 2007 for $418,075

439 Varnum Ave for $420,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $392,000

December 20, 2016 - Tuesday

3 Rockdale Ave for $105,000. Prior sale in 1985 for $115,000

1227 Lawrence St Unit 301 for $105,844. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

825-827 Lakeview Ave for $465,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $470,000

30-32 Willard St for $245,000. Prior sale in 2007 for $250,000

37 Myrtle St for $325,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $209.000

December 21, 2016 - Wednesday

34 Newhall St Unit 104 for $115,000. Prior sale in 1999 for $49,900

608 Stevens St Unit F for $203,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $96,100

28 Walker St for $225,000. Prior sale in 1964

December 22, 2016 - Thursday

329 Plain St for $220,000. Prior sale in 1980 for $35,000

299 Pawtucket Blvd Unit 21 for $110,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $69,500

20 Emery Ave for $300,000. Prior sale in 1980 for $46,500

58 Bellevue St for $360,000. Prior sale in 2013 for $255,000

52 Lawrence Dr Unit 410 for $218,000. Prior sale in 2008 for $207,000

December 23, 2016 - Friday

495 High St for $337,500. Prior sale in 1979.

134-140 Willard St for $576,000. New condo

84 Shaw St for $185,000. Prior sale in 2009 for $175,000

68 Dover St Unit 6 for $174,900. Prior sale in 2012 for $134,000

266 Trotting Park Rd for $351,000. Prior sale in 1979

65 Smith St for $292,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $239,000

49 Florida St for $255,000. Prior sale in 1955

37 Court St for $224,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $120,000

10-12 Sidney St for $137,500. Prior sale in 1980

118 London St for $2017,500. Prior sale in 1998 for $99,000

405 Lawrence St for $160,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $125,000

53 Mt Vernon St for $250,000. Prior sale in 1992 for $81,500

35-37 Eighth Ave for $325,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $329,900

Lowell Real Estate: Week of December 12, 2016

The following sales took place in Lowell last week:

December 12, 2016 - Monday

120 Midland St for $266,000. Prior sale in 2002 for $282,500

64 Plummer Ave for $289,100. Prior sale in 2004 for $294,900

67 Weatherbee Ave for $280,000. Prior sale in 2003 for $230,000

30 Chippewa St for $240,000. Prior sale in 1994 for $60,000

December 13, 2016 - Tuesday

No sales

December 14, 2016 - Wednesday

119 Corinthian Dr for $445,000. Prior sale in 1999 for $219,900

1975 Middlesex St Unit 64 for $329,900. New condo

101 Blossom St for $305,000. Prior sale in 2000 for $117,500

126 Carlisle St for $320,000. Prior sale in 2011 for $191,900

December 15, 2016 - Thursday

30 Angle St Unit 48 for $110,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $126,000

103 Boynton St for $220,000. Prior sale in 2007 for $145,900

23 Norcross St for $227,000. Prior sale in 1952

128 Hoyt Ave for $196,000. Prior sale in 1962

200 Market St Unit 3009 for $110,000. Prior sale in 2011 for $60,000

December 16, 2016 - Friday

135 Beacon St for $369,900. Prior sale in 2010 for $300,000

246 Parker St for $403,000. Prior sale in 1954

216 High St for $200,000. Prior sale in 1958

200 Market St Unit 3302 for $152,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $198,900

265 Branch St for $115,000. Prior sale in 2008 for $103,000

30 Read St for $188,500. Prior sale in 2016 for $102,000

32 Rule Ln for $215,000. Prior sale in 1964

1271 Pawtucket Blvd Unit 18 for $143,500. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

78-80 Park Ave East for $397,698. Prior sale in 1994 for $138,000

Inclement Weather Closures

The three inches of snow that fell in Greater Lowell this morning created no difficulties in opening the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds at our normal time of 8:30 a.m. But chances are that before the winter is over, the weather will affect our operations at some point.

The registry of deeds is a tenant inside the Middlesex Superior Courthouse. When the courthouse closes, the registry closes. So on stormy winter days, the best way to learn whether the registry will be closed (or will have a delayed opening), is to use the public resources of the state's Trial Court system.

These are:

The Trial Court website which will be annotated with any court closing information relatively early in a storm - http://www.mass.gov/courts/


The Trial Court Closings account on Twitter, which is used to tweet-out news of closures - @macourtclosings;

The Trial Court recorded phone message line at 800/222-5178.

Of the three, I have found the Trial Court website to be the most reliably up-to-date.

Also, as soon as I have any news of closings or decisions that would otherwise affect our operations, I will put something on this blog and also on my own Twitter feed, which is @DickHowe.

Lowell Real Estate: Week of December 5, 2016

The following real estate sales occurred in Lowell this past week:

December 5, 2016 - Monday

58 Berry Rd for $449,900. New construction

228 Varnum Ave for $295,000. Prior sale in 1956

88-90 Boisvert St for $310,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $270,000

50 Agawam St for $314,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $320,500

December 6, 2016 - Tuesday

No sales

December 7, 2016 - Wednesday

50 Berry Rd for $439,000. New construction

200 Market St Unit 606 for $204,400. Prior sale in 2005 for $260,500

December 8, 2016 - Thursday

1847 Middlesex St Unit 9 for $140,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $128,000

16 Mansur St for $399,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $243,000

36 Nelson St for $280,000. Prior sale in 1978

815 Lakeview Ave for $500,000. Prior sale in 1989 for $275,000

December 9, 2016 - Friday

36 Hudson St for $93,000. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

220 White St for $269,001. Prior sale in 2003 for $198,000

145-149 Endicott St for $385,000. Prior sale in 1974.

485-489 Bridge St for $755,000. Pror sale in 2013 for $225,000

53 Third Ave for $248,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $234,900

Misspelled Names and Index Entries

A homeowner called to report that when she searched for her recently-recorded deed on our website, she could not find it, although she did find the mortgage and declaration of homestead that were recorded at the same time. It turns out that her name on the deed was spelled incorrectly. Let’s say the correct name was Hickam, but the deed spelled it Hickham (added a second “h” to the middle of the name).

I told her she should call the lawyer who handled the closing but added, after giving a disclaimer about not providing legal advice, that she still owned the property despite the misspelled name. I told her that people frequently changed their names - usually as a result of marriage or divorce - but continue owning the property without their new name showing up anywhere in the record. In such a case, when the person recorded some other document in the future, they would identify themselves by their current name and add a “formerly known as” or “also known as” to show the two names referred to the same person.

I also told her that while I could not change the recorded document itself, I could add her correctly-spelled name to the index entry for that document even though that spelling of the name did not appear in the document. She asked me to do that, so I did.

The general rule of indexing is to enter the name in the index the way it appears in the document. In this case, we had done that even though the spelling in the document turned out to be incorrect. My rationale for adding the correct spelling of the name to the index entry was that the purpose of the index is to assist researchers in finding documents relevant to their inquiries. Someone researching this person’s property would search by her correctly-spelled name. Such a search would not find the deed since the name on the deed and the resulting index entry was misspelled. I thought it would be better to increase the odds of that researcher finding this deed, and then making his or her own determination of the effect of the misspelled name.

So I guess a corollary of the “index it the way it appears in the document” rule is that it’s OK to index it a little more than that if the extra entry will help someone find the document. Our index entries have no independent legal significance, so adding an additional spelling of the name, even if that spelling is not contained in the document, does no harm.

I will say that my decision to add the extra name was made easier by the presence of the correctly-spelled name in the mortgage and homestead that accompanied this deed. This also is an important reminder for closinging attorneys to closely check the spelling of the grantee name on a deed. The closing attorney is the one who prepares the mortgage and the homestead, and so is more likely to spell the name correctly on those documents. But the deed is prepared by the seller’s lawyer who is not as well-acquainted with the name of the buyer and more likely to spell it wrong. But if the closing attorney misses it and the deed with the misspelled name gets on record, it’s the closing attorney who will have to deal with it. A little extra attention at the closing can save a big headache afterwards.

Electronic Recording

Electronic recording volume continues to hold steady at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds. From January through November, 51 percent of all documents were recorded electronically (30,327 of 59,101). Here are the percentages of electronic recordings for each month:

January - 49%
February - 46%
March - 50%
April - 50%
May - 50%
June - 51%
July - 50%
Aug - 52%
Sept - 53%
Oct - 55%
Nov - 55%

Mortgages are the documents most likely to be recorded electronically, with 68% of those recorded thus for in 2016 coming to us by that means. Discharges follow close behind at 59% recorded electronically, and 49% of deeds are recorded that way.

Median Sales Prices

Each year I calculate the median price stated on deeds recorded for each of the ten communities within the Middlesex North Registry District. This year, I decided to get a head start and did the calculations at the end of November, basing the 2016 median sales price on the first eleven months of the year (I'll redo the numbers in January for the full year). Here are the numbers for each town, compared to the previous year and to the highest price reached during the real estate bubble:

Lowell: 2016 median price of $229,154 is 4% higher than 2015 median of $221,000. Lowell's highest median was $254,900 in 2005.

Billerica: 2016 median price of $365,000 is 4% higher than 2015 median of $350,000. It also exceeds the bubble median of $359,900 from 2005 for the first time.

Carlisle: 2016 median price of $569,500 is 2% higher than 2015 median of $560,000. Carlisle's highest median was $597,500 in 2007.

Chelmsford: 2016 median price of $330,000 is 2% higher than 2015 median of $323,000, and exceeds the bubble median of $325,000 in 2005 for the first time.

Dracut: 2016 median price of $271,000 is 4% higher than 2015 median of $259,900, but still trails the bubble median of $275,450 from 2008.

Dunstable: 2016 median price of $430,000 is statistically the same as 2015 median of $430,400, and still trails bubble median of $460,000 in 2005.

Tewksbury: 2016 median price of $354,900 is 8% higher than 2015 median of $329,450, and exceeds the bubble median of $345,000 in 2005 for the first time.

Tyngsborough: 2016 median of $314,950 is 9% higher than 2015 median of $288,500, but still trails the bubble median of $350,000 in 2006.

Westford: 2016 median of $405,000 is 7% higher than 2015 median of $380,000, but still trails the bubble median of $420,000 from 2005.

Wilmington: 2016 median of $403,500 is 1% higher than 2015 median of $400,000. Both of these exceed the bubble median high of $384,450 from 2006.

Lowell Real Estate: Week of November 28, 2016

The following sales occurred in Lowell last week:

November 28, 2016 - Monday

549 Pine St Unit 18 for $125,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $82,500

152 Wentworth Ave for $320,000. Prior sale in 1978

115 Fairfield St for $299,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $295,000

15-31 West Third St for $280,000. Prior sale in 1980

November 29, 2016 - Tuesday

344 Stackpole St for $275,000. Prior sale in 2008 for $249,900

92 Swan St Unit 208 for $219,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $152,000

11 Oak Knoll Rd for $296,000. Prior sale in 1992 for $111,900

30-32 Boisvert St for $210,000. Prior sale in 1962

15 Emerson Ave for $314,900. Prior sale in 2009 for $174,000

216 Nesmith St Unit 4 for $284,900. Prior sale in 2002 for $240,000

39 Third St for $160,000. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

85 Delmont Ave for $347,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $298,000

172 Middle St Unit 311 for $184,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $200,000

November 30, 2016 - Wednesday

76 Newhall St for $178,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $175,000

110 Pleasant St for $340,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $320,000

48 Jewett St for $167,000. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

74-76 South Whipple St for $277,500. Prior sale in 2003 for $281,100

69 Epping St for $235,000. Prior sale in 2002 for $227,500

301 Woburn St for $380,000. Prior sale in 1989 for $150,000

20 Woodland Dr Unit 352 for $205,000. Prior sale in 1989 for $109,900

21 Virginia Ave for $330,000. Prior sale in 1959

1975 Middlesex St Unit 54 for $332,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $284,900

December 1, 2016 - Thursday

2310 Skyline Dr Unit 7 for $149,999. Prior sale in 2007 in $166,000

62 Lura St for $260,000. Prior sale in 1977

308-316 Roger St for $575,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $565,000

85 West Sixth St for $164,000. Prior sale in 1994 for $60,000

December 2, 2016 - Friday

20 Woodland Dr Unit 350 for $215,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $165,000

200 Market St Unit 411 for $300,000. Prior sale in 1988 for $172,202

114 Laplume Ave for $162,000. Prior sale in 1958

516 Concord St for $190,000. Prior sale in 1981

52 Huntoon Ave Unit 14 for $167,900. Prior sale in 2006 for $194,000

November recording statistics

The number of documents recorded in November 2016 was up substantially from last November. However, compared to the previous month (October 2016), the volume of documents held steady. Here are some numbers:

Nov 2016 vs Nov 2015

The overall number of documents recorded in Nov 2016 was up 23% from Nov 2015 (5778 v 4687)

The number of deeds recorded was up 30% (673 v 518)

The number of mortgages recorded was up 62% (1178 v 946)

The number of foreclosure deeds was down 27% (19 v 26)

The number of orders of notice was down 46% (25 v 46)

Looking at month-to-month statistics:

Oct 2016 had 629 deeds; Nov 2016 had 673.

Oct 2016 had 1178 mortgages; Nov 2016 had 1216.

Oct 2016 had 29 foreclosure deeds; Nov 2016 had 19.

Oct 2016 had 53 orders of notice; Nov 2016 had 25.

Oct 2016 had 5678 documents; Nov 2016 had 5778.

Foreclosure Auctions: Week of November 28, 2016

There are seven mortgage foreclosure auctions in the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds District scheduled for this week:

Monday, November 28: 13 Merrimack Way, Unit F, Tyngsborough, at 9 a.m.

Tuesday, November 29: 4 Pageant Way, Westford, at 11 a.m.
                                       423 Stevens St, Lowell, at 10 a.m.

Wednesday, Nov 30: 280 High St, Lowell, at 11 a.m.
                                  36 Second St, Lowell, at 10 a.m.

Friday, December 2: 18 Mill St, Dracut, at 11 a.m.
                                  33 Wamock St, Lowell, at 11 a.m.

Lowell Real Estate: Week of November 21, 2016

The following properties sold this week in Lowell:

November 21, 2016 - Monday

3-5 Osgood Ave for $324,000. Prior slae in 1974

825 Chelmsford St for $327,500. Prior sale in 1996 for $79,000

43 Seventh St for $135,000. Prior sale in 2013 for $64,000

111 Lundberg St for $291,500. Prior sale in 1983 for $82,000

72 Berkeley Ave for $320,000. Prior slae in 2007 for $315,000

25 Miriam Ln for $420,000. Prior sale in 1968

52 Huntoon Ave Unit 4 for $180,000. Prior sale in 1999 for $113,000

16 Bachman St for $224,000. Prior sale in 1980

November 22, 2016 - Tuesday

254 Cumberland Rd for $250,000. Prior sale in 2003 for $275,000

116 West St for $235,000. Prior sale in 2004 for $254,000

39 Bowden St for $225,000. Prior sale in 1946

122 Stromquist Ave for $175,000. Prior sale in 1950

52 Lawrence Dr Unit M515 for $225,000. Prior sale in 2009 for $170,000

431 Lakeview Ave for $410,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $425,000

21 Agawam St for $499,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $405,000

14 Ash St for $95,000. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

172 Jewett St for $60,000. New lot; former PAV Club

20 Powell St Unit 2 for $60,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $40,000

43 Fifth St for $213,675. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

November 23, 2016 - Wednesday

20 Woodland Dr Unit 335 for $215,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $239,900

1461 Pawtucket Blvd Unit 3 for $141,000. Prior sale in 2009 for $139,000

73 Aiken Ave for $520,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $360,000

200 Market St Unit 3115 for $110,000. Prior sale in 2006 for $140,000

977 Westford St Unit 12 for $137,000. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

172 Jewett St for $100,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $60,000

November 24, 2016 - Thursday

Thanksgiving - no sales

November 25, 2016 - Friday

345 Pawtucket Blvd Unit 8 for $98,500. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

Registry of Deeds: Holiday Schedule

Here is the schedule of the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds during the upcoming holiday period:

Thanksgiving

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 - open normal hours (8:30 am to 4:15 pm);

Thursday, November 24, 2016 - closed all day for Thanksgiving

Friday, November 25, 2016 - open normal hours

Christmas - New Year

Friday, December 23, 2016 - open normal hours

Monday, December 26, 2016 - closed all day for Christmas observation

Tuesday, December 27, 2016 - open normal hours

Friday, December 30, 2016 - open normal hours

Monday, January 2, 2017 - closed all day for New Years Day observation

Tuesday, January 3, 2017 - open normal hours

Lowell Real Estate: Week of November 14, 2016

The following real estate sales took place in Lowell this week.

November 14, 2016 - Monday

1217 Pawtucket Blvd Unit 58 for $162,300. Prior sale in 2009 for $130,000

26 Kearney Dr for $255,000. Prior sale in 1958

32 Hudson St for $125,000. Prior sale in 2009 for $74,900

200 Market St Unit B38 for $125,000. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

101 Glenmere St for $263,000. Prior sale in 1956

November 15, 2016 - Tuesday

651 Varnum Ave for $309,900. Prior sale in 2015 for $260,000

79 Fairlawn St for $267,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $220,000

200 Market St Unit 3109 for $100,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $139,900

November 16, 2016 - Wednesday

308-310 University Ave for $370,000. Prior sale in 2014 for $210,000

81 Longmeadow Dr for $519,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $250,000

101 Fairfield St for $270,000. Prior sale in 2013 for $215,000

116 Congress St for $120,000. Prior sale in 2010 for $125,000

2 Coburn Dr for $291,500. Prior sale in 1986 for $74,000

42 Staples St for $355,000. Prior sale in 2008 for $285,000

70 Austin St Unit 13 for $180,500. Prior sale in 2010 for $99,900

November 17, 2016 - Thursday

124-126 Crawford St for $319,000. Prior sale in 2005 for $329,900

28 Brian Rd for $288,000. Prior sale in 1959

69 High St for $1,150,000. Prior sale in 1999 for $240,000

21-23 Todd St for $320,000. Prior sale in 2015 for $287,000

33 Pemberton St for $175,000. Prior sale in 2016 foreclosure

November 18, 2016 - Friday

864 Central St for $149,175. Prior sale in 1972

856 Princeton Blvd for $279,900. Prior sale in 2014 for $245,000

15 Grafton St for $290,000. Prior sale in 2016 for $150,150

22 Juniper St for $225,000. Prior sale 2015 foreclosure

33 Bachman St for $285,000. Prior sale in 2011 for $154,900

80 Van Greenby Rd for $366,000. Prior sale in 1997 for $179,900

40-42 Shirley Ave for $330,000. Prior sale in 2012 for $180,000

15 May St for $190,000. Prior sale in 2009 for $152,000

408 Lincoln St for $152,900. Prior sale 2016 foreclosure

28 Llewellyn St for $265,000. Prior sale in 1996 for $119,900

11 Oberlin Ave for $408,700. Prior sale in 2010 for $343,500

253 Aiken Ave for $229,900. Prior sale in 2013 for $195,877

611-613 Merrimack St for $1,200,000. Prior sale in 1965

35-37 Sawtelle Pl for $137,500. Prior sale in 1996 for $27,000

New Notary Law and Electronic Documents

Earlier this month, I wrote about the new Massachusetts law on notaries public (Chapter 289 of the Acts of 2016). The law covers many things but is silent on electronic acknowledgements which I believe is an unfortunate oversight rather than an indirect rejection of the concept.

Electronic recording has been embraced by our users. Fifty percent of all documents and sixty-five percent of all mortgages at this registry are recorded that way. The march towards electronic recording will inevitably lead to electronic documents and electronic signatures, both of which were legalized back in 2007 by the Massachusetts Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (MGL ch. 110G).

An impediment to electronic documents (as opposed to paper documents that are then scanned) is the silence on our notary public rules on electronic acknowledgements. There's no point to having a client sign a document that only exists as an image on a glass screen if the notary public must affix an inked stamp to it.

The solution to this problem can be a very simple one. Just permit the notary to sign the document electronically and require the notary's name, office, jurisdiction of appointment, and expiration date of commission to also appear. The only thing that can't be done electronically is to put all that information in the form of a stamp that also includes the seal of the Commonwealth.

Much that has been written about electronic notaries dives deeply into complex technologies that would, among other things, render the acknowledged document tamper-proof and unalterable. While such a feature would be desirable, it is not essential to fulfilling the core function of a notary in taking an acknowledgement, which is to certify that the person signing the document is indeed the person he purports to be. All of the aspects now part of the notarial act - having the person signing the document appear in person before the notary, having that person identify him or herself with a drivers license or other reliable form of identification, can easily be carried over to the type of electronic notarization contemplated here.