I just read some data, comparing the cost of living in 1965, compared to today. Interesting, how some things are cheaper, relatively, today, and somethings, more expensive. Housing costs more, even after adjusting for inflation, than it did, 41 years ago. Incomes have not increased as much, so housing takes more, percentage-wise. None of these [...]

Another entry from the Amazing Blogoff of 2006 (courtesy of the Bloodhound Realty blog): Question: I’m being transferred and need to sell my house in a new subdivision. Unfortunately, the builder is still selling new houses. To make matters worse, I bought during the summer of 2005, and the builder has actually reduced its price [...]

From the Bloodhound Realty blog: Question: I am selling my house with one agent and the buyer does not have any agent. My agent brings the buyer and they put in an offer. How much commission will I owe to my agent? Is it 5% or 2.5%? My Answer: Haha. Good question. If you are [...]

The six-story building at 120 Kingston Street has been sold, for $9 million. Hudson Group plans to raze the property, which was valued in 2004 at $3.3 million, and build residential units on the block-long, 14,447-sf commercially zoned site. Plans for that project are still in the preliminary stages pending approval of the city … [...]

From the Globe, today: Dear Barry, When we had our home inspection, the seller was present during the entire process. We never felt free to converse candidly with our inspector. Shouldn’t the inspector or our agent have asked the seller to excuse himself during the inspection? — Michael My answer: Yes. I’m not sure why [...]

From today’s Real Estate Journal: Question: I recently put in an offer on a vacation home in the Catskills, with a $10,000 earnest-money deposit. It was occupied by tenants when we saw it. The offer was accepted, we had the home inspected, and the tenants left. But this morning we did our final walk-through before [...]

What good is a home inspection? A lot of good, I can tell you that. When you write up your initial offer to purchase a property (be it a single-family home or condominium), you and your agent will include at least a couple of buyer’s contingencies. Usually these include 1) a mortgage loan contingency, which [...]

From today’s Globe: DEAR BOB: I liked your suggestion a few weeks ago to get a home sold in a slow buyer’s market by increasing the sales commission to 7 percent with 4 percent going to the buyer’s agent who produces an acceptable buyer. However, when I told my listing agent I wanted to increase [...]

Condo sales fell 18.5 percent, to 2,103 sales in August, and prices declined 3.3 percent, to $278,000, according to data released by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. In August, it took 109 days to sell a single family and 108 days to sell a condo. A year earlier, the time on the market for each [...]

Snuggled deep between Bay Village and the Theater District is Lyndeboro Place, a street of several single-family townhomes. One of these rare-gems is now on the market, a three bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, 1,980 square feet home. 2 Lyndeboro Place, MLS #70452778, $939,000 Beautifully restored in private courtyard features four fabulous levels; Eat-in-kitchen w/stainless appliances, [...]