Faster than you can say “eeni meeni miny mo” when guessing where the foreclosure market is going, the Globe comes out with a story saying it’s going to get worse soon:

Massachusetts could face a second wave of foreclosures as tens of thousands of distressed and bank-owned properties hit the market, slowing the state’s nascent housing recovery, officials from the Massachusetts Housing Partnership said yesterday.

Clark Ziegler, executive director of the state’s quasi-public, affordable housing agency, said there are about 64,000 distressed properties in so-called shadow inventory poised to go on the market because they have delinquent mortgages, are in foreclosure, or already are owned by a lender. …

“The reality is that there are more [foreclosed properties] to come, and it will stretch out how long it takes the recovery to play out,’’ Ziegler said. “It is a cautionary tale.’’

It’s a confusing tale too.

File under: Eeni Meeni Miny Mo Paper rock scissors

What happened to that dog? You know, the canine named “Trouble,” the beloved Maltese poodle left behind by the late Leona Helmsley, who died in 2007. From the WSJ blog:

Trouble initially inherited a $12 million trust fund, which was later reduced to $2 million by a Manhattan judge in 2008, at the request of Trouble’s trustees. (The remainder went to charity.)

That’s “enough money to pay for Trouble’s maintenance and welfare at the highest standards of care for more than 10 years, which is more than twice her reasonably anticipated life expectancy,” said the general manager of the Helmsley Sandcastle Hotel, where the dog now resides, in an affidavit.

Life is good for Trouble, infamously dubbed “rich bitch,” by the NY Post: “Trouble is no trouble. She is alive and well and thriving,” says Howard Rubenstein, the spokesman for the Helmsley estate.

The dog’s security costs the Helmsley estate $100,000 a year.

Hmm … $100k a year for security – that’s something to bark about.

Foreclosure filings in the U.S. fell for the second straight month in February — and last month’s filings represented the smallest year-over-year annual increase in four years.

But wait (and there’s always a wait). New laws by states may be hindering and slowing down foreclosure filings, masking the true extent of the problem by putting artificial caps on filings, experts warn.

Well, okay. We’ll concede that argument. But aren’t there other signs of an improving housing market and economy? Don’t the latest foreclosure figures follow that general trend?

There are all sorts of theories out there. Take your pick.

File under: Eeni Meeni Miny Mo

The highly ambitious Columbus Center development over the Mass Pike is now officially dead.

They may be cheering in the immediate neighborhoods surrounding the proposed $800 million project. Columbus Center would have been a big pain for them.

But the Columbus Center — with its planned five buildings of condos, hotel rooms and stores — would have been good for the entire city, linking the Back Bay and South End and creating a more coherent urban flow in the area.

Then there were the hundreds of jobs, most of them in construction, that would have been created at a time when jobs are so desperately needed. But now it’s not going to happen.

Your thoughts?

File under: Time to move on.

The blog posts below indicate that the Back Bay, Beacon Hill, South End & South Boston are all showing improvements in sales and prices compared to the same period last year. Would you say it’s time to call the bottom?

South Boston Condo Sales 1/1/10 – 3/10/10
South Boston Condo Sales: 67
Avg. $: $315,493
Median $: $329,750
Avg. $/SF: $357
Avg. DOM: 93

South Boston Condo Sales 1/1/09 – 3/10/09
South Boston Sales: 52
Avg. $: $313,947
Median $: $320,000
Avg. $/SF: $344
Avg. DOM: 138

Boston South End Condo Sales – 1/1/10 – 3/10/10
Number of Boston South End Condos Sold: 53
Avg. Boston South End Sales Price: $611,351
Median South Emd condo Sales Price: $575,000
Avg. $/SF: $544
Avg. DOM: 134

Boston South End Condo Sales – 1/1/09 – 3/10/09
Number of Boston South End Condos Sold: 44
Avg Boston South End Sales Price: $539,704
Median South End Condo Sales Price: $467,000
Avg. $/SF: $532
Avg. DOM: 122

Any thoughts?