Five Questions With: Joseph Luca

Joseph Luca, a Realtor with RE/MAX Preferred in North Providence, recently was named 2015 Realtor of the Year by the Northern Rhode Island Board of Realtors. He spoke recently with the Providence Business News about the market in northern Rhode Island, and why he switched from commercial to residential real estate as a career.

PBN: How did you get into real estate as a profession?
LUCA:
I liked being able to work with clients. It’s interesting, when I started [in 1993] I was doing commercial real estate. I changed over to residential because I enjoyed interacting on a personal level with my clients. It’s a very different experience when you’re helping a family with children looking for a home. Or conversely, working with empty nesters who are trying to downsize. You can really share their enthusiasm and their excitement. As opposed to finding a nice commercial property for someone. I really enjoy helping people.

PBN: Why are families choosing homes in the northern Rhode Island towns and cities, over other locations?
LUCA:
What’s nice about northern Rhode Island is it is very family-oriented. If you’re in Cumberland or Lincoln, you have many traditional housing developments. If you’re in rural areas, like Burrillville or North Smithfield, where it’s a little less densely populated, it’s still a homey, old New England value system. People who want to locate in Kent County, Washington County, they want proximity to the beaches. When you’re in northern Rhode Island, you want to be a little bit isolated, but not a lot. You can be “all the way out” in Cumberland, but within 17 minutes, you can be in Providence. It’s more like sub-rural than suburban.

PBN: What are some of the challenges of home sales in this region?
LUCA:
In some parts of the state, one of the major challenges is property taxes, some areas more than others. If you’re looking in North Providence, Johnston, Central Falls, Woonsocket, it may really affect you. It can really impact the amount of house someone can afford on a monthly basis. It’s reducing the attractiveness of those places. In particular, a city like Woonsocket, the mayor is trying to change things there, but there is still a disincentive for people outside Woonsocket to invest in multifamily houses and commercial properties.

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PBN: Is the tax rate something buyers pay close attention to?
LUCA:
Absolutely. On the commercial side, if you’re looking at an investor, who wants to buy three-, four-, five- residential unit housing, they are going to know very well what the status is of taxes, and the penalty for non-owner occupied housing.

PBN: Where do you see the market heading?
LUCA:
The market is improving. It’s stronger. I’m licensed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Massachusetts is a stronger market. The reason why it’s stronger is jobs. If we had a better source of higher skilled jobs in Rhode Island, we’d have more people chasing higher valued property, and driving prices up. Massachusetts is a more viable market because you have a higher percentage of the population that has higher income, middle to upper middle class, which can drive up the prices. Jobs drive everything. When the Rhode Island economy, when the jobs come back, everything will fall into place. First-time home buyers in Massachusetts are looking at $175,000 to $250,000 homes. First-time home buyers in Rhode Island, many times, you’re looking at $70,000 to $120,000 homes. There’s a big difference.

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