Alison Socha
In the 1950s, the suburbs of Massachusetts saw exponential growth. The combination of a post-war economy, increased car ownership and mass-production of reasonably priced homes allowed individuals to invest in their future.
A lot has changed in the housing industry over the past 75 years, but what has remained the same is that home ownership is a critical step in achieving the American dream.
The reality of the present day, however, is that the lack of housing inventory in Massachusetts has driven costs to near unattainable heights, making the American dream out of reach for far too many.
Hardworking people in the Bay State can no longer afford a modest home where they’d like to live, generally close enough to desired amenities.
According to a recent U.S. Census data analysis, more than 200 suburbs of the 20 largest metro areas are now made up of mostly renters. Boston is one of five metro areas where suburban rentals are growing faster than the city itself.
Waiving Inspections Became Common
It is no surprise that in this market, homebuyers are choosing to make concessions to make offers more attractive to sellers. When supply is low and demand is high, offers get more and more competitive, regardless of pricing.
Over the past several years, a common trend in making an offer more enticing has been to waive the right to a home inspection. The National Association of Realtors reported that in April of this year that 20 percent of buyers waived the inspection contingency.
Home inspections often uncover unexpected expenses or even safety concerns. They can also put a seller in a situation where sales are delayed and money is lost.
In order to level the playing field, the Healey-Driscoll administration implemented a new policy regulating home inspections in Massachusetts that will go into effect on Oct. 15. This new regulation was a small part of the Affordable Homes Act that became law last summer, putting unprecedented levels of investment into housing, strengthened homeownership programs and incentivized housing creation.
The Greater Boston Real Estate Board supported the Affordable Homes Act as a way to reduce barriers to housing creation and ownership. We did, however, have concerns with the home inspection portion of the law as it was originally written.
GBREB Helped Refine Law
Through the advocacy of GBREB and our partners, the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities made key revisions to the original regulations in order to make this new policy less restrictive and more feasible to implement.
The ultimate implementation date of June 15 was not practical, so the state pushed it back to October to allow for training, outreach and form updates.
The 10-day window to complete an inspection can now be negotiated in order to avoid unnecessary delays.
Broader exceptions were also added to the policy for relatives and estate planning purposes and clarification to regulations has now made it clear that sellers must provide disclosures to buyers informing them of their inspection rights.
EOHLC has committed to supporting a successful rollout and will also assist in educating buyers, sellers, agents and attorneys of the new guidelines
As practitioners, it is our responsibility to advocate for our clients, while of course following the letter of the law. Although this portion of the Affordable Homes Act alone is not going to solve our housing crisis, we are hopeful that solutions are on the horizon.
Elected officials considering every avenue to increase homeownership while being willing and open to continued collaboration and feedback is what will get us back on track to the American dream.
Alison Socha is the chair of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board’s Government Affairs Committee and a past president of the Greater Boston Association of Realtors.
