Category: general info

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analytics general info

$500K In Provincetown And The South End

Provincetown waterfront or the heart of  Boston’s South End. Two great condos priced at $500K (+-).  One in a waterfront complex in Provincetown and the other a new construction one bedroom/ one bath condo on Washington Street in the South End. Zero Worcester Square #F is being marketed at $822 per square foot, and 381 Commercial #9 is being marketed at $852 per square foot. An interesting comparison….and remember my caveat…descriptive copy has been taken directly from MLS.

 

Zero Worcester Square #F, $495K, ..1/1, 602 sf. Fabulous new construction one bedroom residence with private elevator access. This is a unique opportunity to live in an elegant contemporary space surrounded by a charming nineteenth-century view! This sun-filled corner home has walls of windows, a southwestern exposure looking over the Square, private balcony and hardwood floors throughout. The beautiful kitchen has three windows, gas cooking and is fully applianced. Located just steps from the best of the South End’s restaurants and shopping!

 

 

 381 Commercial St #9,  Bull Ring Wharf. $499K, 2/2, 586 sf . A charming home filled with Cape Cod charm provides the ultimate in beachfront living. Situated in the heart of Provincetown this newly renovated 2 bedroom condo has been updated with new custom tiled bathroom, new kitchen cabinets with granite countertops, new appliances and gleaming refinished wood floors throughout the living room and bedrooms. Quite simply this condo is the perfect Provincetown getaway or rental. There are 2 expansive common decks to enjoy sun bathing and beachcombing, all just steps from your door. Parking for one car, common laundry and extra storage for owners. Pets and weekly rentals allowed. Very strong rental history! Buyer to assume remaining sewer betterment.

 

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architecture general info

Changes In The Old Neighborhood

Interesting story on southendpatch.com regarding the wonderful wooden house on Taylor Street in the South End right off of Dwight Street . Hopefully things will work out to everyones satisfaction as it is a very special property and one which many south-enders are so familiar with.

Neighbors on Taylor St. House Demolition: Conditions Were Unsafe

The original stop work order put on the 8-10 Taylor Street wooden house property was because of environmental and project concerns, neighbors say. Now, it’s related to an entirely different issue.

Imagine sitting in your home one morning and feeling the entire floor shake. That’s how Taylor Street resident Louane Hann was notified of the construction happening on her street last Tuesday.

“I was working from home, and all of a sudden, I felt the earth move,” she said. “There was a guy with a backhoe and a guy with a hose, and they were ripping the house down.”

Hann said neither she nor anyone else in the neighborhood was notified that construction would begin at the wooden house at 8-10 Taylor Street, and that it would involve demolition of the building.

“We get notices about someone getting a roof deck you can’t even see half the time, and no one got a notice about this,” she said. “It’s unbelievable.”

Couple the lack of notice with the complete surprise that the building, which neighbors thought had been approved for a renovation and addition, was being completely demolished. And the day of demolition left dust everywhere, debris on neighbors’ porches and properties, and even broke a window at a home next door, said nearby residents.

“During the demolition I saw two kids standing outside watching, and I remember thinking, ‘Is it safe for those kids to be breathing that?” Hann said. “All of these old homes have lead in the paint,” she said.

Neighbors said they called Boston’s Enviornmental Department to complain about the mess and to voice the worry that the old home contained lead paint that was now swirling through the air on their street.

Through those calls to the city, the Landmarks Commission learned that an extra wall on the property was demolished that was not included in the project’s original plans, the home’s east wall.

A stop work order was posted on Friday, Jan. 25th and the owner was asked to appear at a public meeting of the Landmarks Commission on Tuesday.

By Monday, Jan. 28th, the project’s architect Scott Slarsky said the city’s Inspectional Services team had come through the site and determined there was no asbestos or lead paint, and lifted the stop work order due to the environmental concerns. But that still left a stop work order related to the site’s demolition of the property’s east wall.

Property owner Ramy Rizkalla said contractors and inspectors found the east wall was bowing in, it was rotting, and there was termite damage, and a structural engineer ruled the wall was unsafe to leave on the property. Rizkalla said the decision to take down the wall was approved by the city’s Inspectional Services department. However, it is the Landmarks Commission that requested the hearing on Tuesday.

“Though they aren’t going to comment on the design of the east wall, they did want to review the rebuilding, so that’s what we’re going in for on Tuesday,” Rizkalla said.

So for now, the project is still on hold until Tuesday night’s meeting of the South End Landmarks Commision. The meeting will take place at 6:45 at Boston City Hall, room 801.

But for neighbor Hann and other neighbors who feel like they were fed some kind of bait and switch between the plans that were presented to them and the actual demolition, the damage is already done.

“We’ve lived there about 20 years and really value that house as one of two remaining wooden houses in the South End,” said Hann, who wasn’t in favor of the orignal plans to begin with because she felt certain modern elements in the design didn’t fit in with the neighborhood. The demolition of the extra wall adds insult to injury, she said, calling it “obnoxious and insulting.”

“Now it’s really heartbreaking to look at that house,” she said.

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architecture general info

Zero Worcester Square In The South End. WOW!

Zero Worcester Square is another great New Boston Ventures project going up on the corner of Worcester Square and Washington Street in the South End. David Goldman and his team have yet another success on their hands after their recent success at the Modern and the Modern 2.0.  The great team at Sprogis & Neale is marketing the project which has been selling very well.

From South End Patch

Zero Worcester Square Development ‘Ahead of Schedule’

Developer David Goldman said six of the nine units have already been sold.

Construction on the new development at the corner of Washington Street and Worcester Square, the former  Hite TV and Radio building, is “ahead of schedule,” according to the site’s developer.

New Boston Ventures, which bought the property in early 2012, said the new Zero Worcester Square condominium building was scheduled to be finished in the summer of 2013, but may be done earlier.

The six story, 10,000 square foot development will house nine units, with two at the garden level, one duplex unit, four one-bedroom units, and two penthouse units, Boston Ventures prinicipal David Goldman said. Behind the main building will be a separate townhouse.

“Construction is ahead of schedule and already six of the nine condominiums are sold,” Goldman said. “Steel is being installed right now.”

One of the building’s remaining condos is listed for $695k for a 1,100 square foot, two bedroom, one and a half bath duplex. “The living/dining/kitchen is only ten steps up from the sidewalk, and the two bedrooms are below.”

Construction on the property began in August. The large Hite Radio and TV sign was donated to the South End Historical Society.

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analytics general info

Goode & Farmer Report Provincetown- January 2013

Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet Real Estate Market 2012 Year-End figures.

For a year filled with anxiety and trepidation, a polarizing presidential election and talk of falling off the fiscal cliff, the real estate market in many places started to purr like a fine tuned engine. Many cities and towns throughout the country experienced substantial increases in the number of sales as well as climbing prices. In some places such as the downtown Boston market, sales and prices were up as inventory fell to low levels not seen in many years. The news on the Outer Cape was as positive and the year-end sales reports surpassed what many in the industry expected.

Total sales in Provincetown were up 36% from 169 units in 2011 to 229 in 2012 and volume closed was up 51% from $84M to $127M in 2012. There were 166 condominium sales in 2012 totaling $70M vs. 113 condos sales in 2011 totaling $43M – an increase of 63%. The average sale price for condominiums in Ptown was up 12% over 2011 to an average sale price of $421K.

Single family sales in Provincetown were also very strong with 52 sales in 2012 totaling $47M vs. 31 sales for $23M in volume in 2011 – a whopping increase of 104% in volume. The average sale price for a single-family home was up 21% to an average of $912K. Provincetown leads the way on the Cape for positive real estate news and tends to follow the key downtown Boston in performance stats more than other towns on the Cape. Downtown Boston experienced a 23% increase in sales and an average increase in sales price of 5%.

An important development in Provincetown is that inventory of properties for sale has dropped by around 25% since last year at this time. For the past several years the number of condos and single-family homes for sale year after year had remained relatively stable. This market dynamic begins to build a case for spring 2013 being a historically opportune time for those sellers who have been waiting on the sidelines to put their property on the market. This evolving supply and demand dynamic may be the best for sellers in several years.

Other towns on the Outer Cape did well too. The number of sales in Truro was up 49% over 2011 with 97 sales in 2012 vs 65 in 2011 and an increase in total volume of 60% to $51M. The Truro market consists mostly of single-family homes.

In Wellfleet, the number of sales increased 54.5% from 66 sales in 2011 to 102 in 2012 with a total sales volume of $49M, representing a 60% increase. Wellfleet is predominantly a single -family sales market too. These sales and volume increases in both Wellfleet and Truro are representative of the entire outer Cape real estate market.

 

So, we have heard it from all corners…real estate is back! And nowhere is this more evident than in Provincetown and the outer Cape.

We don’t want to be accused of having “irrational exuberance,” but we are seeing and feeling buyer excitement that we have not seen in many years. But, buyers do need more choices. Sellers are more confident as well that this is the time to sell. These buyer and seller attitudes coupled with a continuation of rock bottom mortgage rates and an improving economy bode well for 2013 being a great year to jump in the market and own a piece of paradise.

Please call or stop in if you are considering selling or if you are just curious as to what your home is worth. Our business philosophy is that the best-informed sellers are the happiest and that is what we do best!

 

 

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architecture general info trends

Far West End Activity In Provincetown

In the Far West End, from West Vine to The Moors, there are three large developments that have been going up in stages over the past few years. It has been fun to watch these substantial developments emerge from the ground, go to market, and then watch the second phase go up. These 3 developments consist of 6 condos with 6 more being built on W Vine; 17 condos total at Herring Cove village; and 9 single family home sites at Pilgrims Landing. A total of 38 units, a substantial number of quality properties and indicative of the energy and excitement  of the real estate market here in our little fishing village.

(As always my caveat stating that much of the descriptive property below is direct from Cape Cod MLS so I am not responsible for spelling and grammar.)

57 West Vine is currently 6 townhouses with an additional 6 being built.

#C,$659K, 2bedroom and 3 bath, 1300 square feet. New construction townhomes in Provincetown’s west end are underway and can be purchased at pre-completion prices with the opportunity to customize some interior finishes. Constructed to the highest standards these tri-level townhouses feature: Anderson true-divided light windows, brick patios, mahogany decks, landscaped grounds, a/c, basements, laundry, and 2 parking spaces. The exteriors of each unit will be a mix of painted clapboard & gray stained shingles to give contrast to each home. The entry level is an open floor plan for kitchen, dining and living w/ gas fireplace. Each bedroom with ensuite bath is on a separate level to maximize privacy for you and your guest. Oak floors, tile/stone baths, crown molding, & 5-panel doors are just a few of the details that set these homes apart. Your new Provincetown home for summer 2013 awaits!

 

Phase ll at Herring Cove Village is the last phase of this successful and beautiful development on Bradford Street Ext. out at at the Moors.

#16, $1.399M, 3bedroom and 4 bath,  2,160 square feet. Introducing the brand new, top of the line, model unit for Phase II of Herring Cove Village, the West End’s most luxurious condominium, boasting countless amenities.These spacious free standing homes are built with entertaining in mind. The oversized designer chef’s kitchen is the hub of the floorplan,& features custom cabinetry, Thermador appliances, large custom center island, a contemporary gas fireplace, and conversation area. Sliders from the kitchen lead to a bluestone patio & large exclusive yard. There are beautiful dark stained maple floors and 9 foot+ ceilings throughout. The master suite has a walk in closet and a sleek double sided fireplace between the bedroom and large marble bath. The other 2 BR have ensuite baths. Enjoy water views from a 2-tiered roof deck that houses a hottub. Wired for central sound and home automation.

 

#12, $895K, 2 bedroom and 3 bath, 1,400 square feet. A one-of-a-kind unit at Herring Cove Village, the West End’s most luxurious condominium. This 2BR/2.5BA unit is laid out on 3 levels, and is the only unit with this size and layout in the newest section of the development. The high end kitchen & living room are on the first floor, with a gas fireplace to warm the atmosphere. Sliders from this level lead out to a blue stone patio, great for outdoor grilling and entertaining. Each of the floors above houses a private bedroom suite, with oversized living space & en-suite bath featuring custom tile work. From the third floor bedroom, continue up to a huge waterview roof deck that is plumbed and wired for a hot tub as an upgrade amenity. The unit has CAC and is wired for central sound and home automation. Shed storage and 2 parking. Under constr, Int. photos depict similar unit.

Pilgrims Landing is a 9 lot subdivision at the very beginning of Commercial Street being developed at what is know as the Murchison Estate. There are two building lots #8 and #9 on Commercial Street and 6 house lots in the gated section of the development. It looks like lot #2  is being built now and when done will be is one of the most dramatic homes in town. It is so exciting to see such a modernist home being built.  Of course the Murchison house, otherwise know as the Gropius House stands atop the subdivision and is lot #7, is one of the most incredible examples of modernist architecture anywhere.

To see more of the original “Gropius House” go to Building Provincetown Blog. David Dunlap has done an incredible job over the years publishing wonderful facts about many Provincetown buildings. His blog is an absolute joy to explore.

Next I will highlight east end and downtown developments. Watch for these posts in the new year.


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analytics general info

Signs Of Recovery Even With The Cliff!

A repost of Jennifer McKim’s article in the Boston Globe follows. It shows significant evidence that we are in a real estate recovery even in the broader Massachusetts market.  We have been experiencing The Recovery in downtown Boston and on the outer Cape for months now, but this broader evidence is very welcome news as we enter the NewYear.

The pullquote below from the article states what we are hearing all aross the country. Good news especially as we deal with the ramifications of the possible Fiscal Cliff.

“It feels like a housing market that has now switched into the mode of helping drive a recovery,

The Boston Globe/December 28, 2012/Jennifer McKim GLOBE STAff

  • Analysts say prices remained stable, while the number of single­family units sold rose steeply
  • A surge in home sales in November and strengthening property values are adding to a growing sentiment in the real estate industry that 2012 will mark when the housing market in Massachusetts officially began its recovery.

SOURCE: The Warren Group
JAMES ABUNDIS/GLOBE STAFF With the supply of available properties still thin, homes are selling quickly and prices are edging up, prompting real estate specialists to predict that the days of bargain prices for residences are likely to be over soon.

“This year marks the shift in housing,” said John Ranco of Hammond Residential Real Estate in South Boston. “Over the next couple of years we will start to see prices heat up a little bit.”

Last month, 4,539 single-family properties traded owners — the best November for sales since the market peak in 2005, the Warren Group, a Boston company that tracks local real estate, reported Thursday.

The number of single-family home sales through the first 11 months of 2012 exceeded that of all of last year, and the year will probably be the strongest since 2006.

Through the first 11 months of the year, home prices were about where they were for 2011 — at a median price of $288,000 — a trend that industry officials said represents a stabilized market.

In the more active market in Greater Boston, median prices were 1.1 percent above where they were in 2011, at $456,500 for single-family properties, according to the Greater Boston Association of Realtors. It’s been seven years since the housing market in Massachusetts first showed signs of slowing, and during the steepest period of the downturn values plunged 20 percent, the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices show. Prices have since rebounded modestly, though values have also bounced during the past three years.

But now, prices appear to be on the upswing — with Boston area home values up 1.6 percent in October, compared with the same month in 2011, according to Case-Shiller, which measures repeat sales and is largely considered the best marker of the housing industry.

“It is clear that the housing recovery is gaining strength,’’ said David M. Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices.

This good news comes despite uncertainty over the socalled fiscal cliff and possible changes in the mortgage interest deduction, which provides thousands of dollars in annual savings to many mortgage holders.

There are still many unknowns that could turn the market around.

However, Eric Belsky, managing director of Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said he foresees a strong spring season, propelled by tight inventory and low mortgage rates. He also expects markets outside of Boston to strengthen.

“It feels like a housing market that has now switched into the mode of helping drive a recovery,” Belsky said.

Meanwhile, the condo market appears to be even stronger. The number of condos sold in November, 1,635, was 33 percent above the number a year earlier, according to the Warren Group. Year-to-date condo sales rose 27 percent, compared with a year earlier.

Prices are up, too. The median condo sales price was $275,000 in November, more than 7 percent higher than a year earlier.

Warren Group chief executive Timothy M. Warren Jr. said the condo market is thriving because young people and baby boomers are increasingly interested in living in the city, with all its amenities. “Urban living is gaining ground,” he said.

Both condos and single-family homes are selling faster this year, too. And so the supply of available properties is tightening: The number of single-family homes on the market last month was 25.9 percent fewer than in November 2011, with similar declines in the condo market.

Mary O’ Donaghue, president of the the Northeast Association of Realtors, said she expects that improving consumer confidence, low interest rates, and tight inventory will keep housing moving in the spring.

“We are entering a spring market with close to ideal conditions,” she said.

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architecture general info style

Provincetown Contrasts

December is a month of contrasts here in Provincetown. On one hand the streets are uncrowded, morning walks with the pooch can be totally solitary, yet evenings out for dinner at The Mews or Jimmy’s can be packed and boisterous.

The stores and homes are decorated for the holidays, including our sweet Beachfront Realty office done up for the Holidays with garland, lights, wreathes and ribbon. Next door The Adam Peck gallery is decorated to look like a ginger bread house. (Pictures to come)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other contrasts are of the physical type.  Take a look at these pictures of Commercial Street  taken Friday….watching weekday strollers and locals walking downtown during the reconstruction of Commercial Street is like looking going back to the 1800″s. Not a motor vehicle in sight. The reconstruction of Commercial Street has become quite a fall/winter event. The street has been dug up, a thick layer of heavy gravel has been put down, and a temporary layer of asphalt over that…all to be finished this spring.

 

 

 

 

 

Then you drive out to Province Landing and you see this vision of modernity…This home is rising from the sand on Lot #2 at the development. (More on this in a future post)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

….and of course the beauty that is the Moors on a gorgeous late fall day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Categories
analytics general info

Cape Bargains?

Below is an interesting post by Scott Van Voorhis contrasting sales and price performance in different towns on the Cape, as many towns are experiencing sales increases but with price decreases. Provincetown is experiencing a more positive cycle of price and sales increases. Through November 30 as per Cape Cod MLS the average sale price of a single family home in Provincetown was $827K a 5% increase with a median price of $762K. 46 single family properties have sold year to date, an increase of 45% over 2011 year to date.

Through November 30, the average sale price of condominiums in Provincetown was $413K, an increase of 10% year to date with a median price of $399K.  149 condos have sold year to date an increase of 49%.

See Scott’s post below.

Posted by Scott Van Voorhis
If you are looking for a second home, there may be bargains to be had right now on the Cape.

Sales are up big time across the sandy spit, even as median prices fall in the Mid-Cape towns of Chatham, Harwich, Orleans, according to data from The Warren Group.

Chatham saw the biggest price decline, falling more than 14 percent, year-to-date, at the end of October to $550,000, while Orleans fell 3.7 percent, to $505,000, and Harwich slid 1.1 percent to $335,500.

Heading farther out towards Provincetown, Wellfleet prices dropped 5.7 percent to $511,250.

Other towns on or close to the Cape Cod Canal are also seeing prices fall. Sandwich is down 6 percent to $280,000, Mashpee fell 7 percent to $310,000, while Bourne saw a 5.8 percent decline to $251,500.

Venturing off Cape to the islands, Nantucket prices fell 9.1 percent to an ultra-affordable median of $1,090,000.

The Outer Cape appears to be bucking the trends, with Provincetown posting a 16 percent rise, to $680,000.

Brewster and Dennis also posted price increases as well.

Of course, there is the whole issue of rising sea levels and increasingly extreme weather – Cape living may not be a picnic in years to come. It’s an area already poorly served by the power companies and prone to outages.

The cost of insuring a home on the Cape is also soaring.

Still, I say go for it. But beware of beachfront bargains!

 

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analytics general info

Massachusetts Tops In Listing Prices, Provincetown Is Higher!

Scott always has good posts. This one is surprising showing MA is #1, (in the continental US) or #2 in  the whole USA when it comes to the average listing price for single family homes. To put that in context, Provincetown’s average singe family listing price today is $1.378M, more than twice the state average.

High listing Prices? Massachusetts has them beat!

Posted by Scott Van Voorhis

Basically, the good old Bay State is No. 1 in the continental U.S. when it comes to the listing price of a typical four-bedroom, two-bath suburban home, Coldwell Banker finds in a new survey.

The average listing price here is pushing half a million at $489,063 for your basic subdivision home. That’s far above the national average, which weighs in at $292,152.

Now to be clear here, Hawaii ($742,551) actually has the highest listing price for the entire country, but given the obvious land constraints of the island state, it’s a little like comparing apples and oranges.

Interestingly, Massachusetts listing prices even beat out California ($431,625), New Jersey ($425,625) and Connecticut ($411,884), which has the hedge fund capital of the world in Stamford.

We also have more than are our share of spots in the top 100 when listing prices for two-bedroom, two-bath homes are broken down by individual towns and cities.

With an average listing price of $1.1 million for a two-bedroom, two-bath home, Weston ranks No. 14 in the country. But Los Altos in Silicon Valley has anything in Massachusetts beat, with an average listing price of $1.7 million.

So what’s happening here? We are heading into our third decade here in Massachusetts of anemic construction of suburban, single-family homes, with no change in sight.

In fact, Gov. Deval Patrick’s belated proposal to tackle the growing mismatch between supply and demand in the Bay State housing market focuses almost exclusively on construction of apartments, townhomes and condos.

The problem is well-paid professionals who relocate here to take jobs in our growing biotech and high-tech fields aren’t selling their spacious 4,000-square-foot colonials in Texas and North Carolina and saying gee, can’t wait to move into a tiny 1,100-square-foot condo next to a train station up in Massachusetts.

Instead they are bidding up whatever available suburban homes they can find within the 495 beltway, and, if they have the bucks, paying for teardowns in which new, outsized homes replace old capes and ranches in Concord, Wellesley, Hingham and other upscale suburbs.

OK, your turn on the soap box. What’s your take?

 

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general info

Real Estate Recovery Sounds Familiar

Steven Syres Boston Globe column this morning provides a terrific real estate review for 2012. Conditions vary in Boston’s downtown neighborhoods as well as Cape Cod towns, but his basic points are spot on.

Stevens Column follows.

 

The story of this year’s economy is told in a mountain of statistics. Some of the most interesting numbers measure the condition of residential real estate markets.

Those markets, the epicenter of our economic woes of the past five years, are obviously important. Thankfully, the news about home sales — both locally and across the country — has turned out to be one of the most upbeat economic developments of the year.

The combination of pent-up demand, relatively low home prices, and incredibly cheap mortgage rates has become a powerful market force. Residential real estate activity is expected to account for more than half of the nation’s admittedly weak economic growth over the final three months of this year, according to Pat Newport, an economist at IHS Global Insight in Lexington.

The housing market still has a long way to go, but the economic benefits are spreading beyond homeowners to builders, bankers, and even makers of household appliances.

So where do we go from here? There is no single answer that applies to all markets across the country, but real estate activity around Massachusetts this year offers an interesting hint about our local future.

Trace 2012 home sales in Massachusetts and the pattern starts to look a lot like the state’s residential market as it began to recover from the local real estate depression of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The good news: That recovery stuck. The bad news: It took seven years from that point for home prices to recover.

Sales volume is rising more than 20 percent this year, and the statewide inventory of homes has fallen sharply. But median prices have remained completely flat or increased very modestly, depending on whose reports you read.

In most economic markets, rising sales and falling inventories usually put pressure on prices. Oddly, that’s not happening to residential real estate in Massachusetts so far.

And it didn’t happen here 20 years ago, either.

“We had exactly the same thing back in the ’90s,” said Tim Warren, chief executive of Warren Group in Boston. “We had two years of increasing sales volume before median prices started to edge up.”

I take some comfort in that echo. Otherwise, I’d worry that the failure of home prices to rise under current conditions signals another stall ahead. The experience of two decades past suggests that’s not necessarily so. In fact, it may be a normal part of a long, difficult recovery.

So what’s actually happening right now? I asked a variety of real estate experts and most pointed to potential sellers who remain reluctant to list their homes at current prices. The inventory of motivated sellers — pressed by the threat of foreclosure and a hundred other factors — has met much of the demand this year. But that supply of homes for sale is getting short.

Statewide inventory amounted to 8.9 months of supply in October of last year, according to the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. That figure has fallen more than 43 percent to 5.1 months this October, and that’s reason to worry.

“If we don’t have more inventory to put out there, buyers who really want to buy won’t,” said Trisha McCarthy, president of the realtors association.

No doubt you’ve heard stories about homes getting snapped up in no time, often for more than listed prices. That reflects a thin inventory of attractive properties current owners are reluctant to put on the market.

McCarthy recently led a routine conference call among association leaders spread across the state and she said 14 of 16 expressed concern about the inventory available for sale in their local markets. “Most of them used the word ‘fragile’,” she said.

There are other, big-picture reasons to fret about the real estate recovery, above and beyond inventory issues. Wellesley College economist Chip Case did not sound very optimistic the other day.

“I think school is still out about whether people believe home ownership is a good idea anymore,” he told me. “There are just a lot of reasons to be cautious.”

With the consequences of the last housing bubble, caution is good advice. But the Massachusetts real estate recovery of 2012 looks a lot like our rocky road out of the collapse of the 1990s.

That’s good news for buyers and owners with patience.