A few business items that I’m thankful for: * This month (so far) we put 4 properties under agreement - Ford Realty a.k.a -The Boston Real Estate Blog. * Two Boston condo sales. * I still have John Keith as my main blog writer. * Our www.bostonreb.com readership is on the rise.

The Boston Globe reported that MA real estate prices are down but sales are up. New housing data show a healthy pickup in the number of single-family homes sold in recent weeks, while prices continue to drop.  Home sales were up 14 percent in October, over the same period in 2007 – the second straight month [...]

One of my bog readers emailed me this link regarding the economic outlook for Massachusetts. The article is titled Massachusetts: Best ‘New Economy State’ CNNMoney.com) — Massachusetts is the state best positioned for growth when the current economic turmoil recedes, according to the 2008 State New Economy Index released Tuesday. Washington, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Connecticut, [...]

Your job as a landlord just got a lot more bureaucratic and burdensome regarding tenant screening reports that you receive to help you select tenants. Most landlords may know nothing about two federal laws that were enacted to protect consumers against identity theft, a growing concern in our electronic age. These laws are the Fair Credit Reporting [...]

This is Your House… There’s an email being past around to real estate offices that I would like to share with my blog readers. This is your house as seen by… …Yourself …A Potential Buyer …Your Lender …An Appraiser …Your County Tax Assessor ——————————————————————— Source: email

Caption: My predictions on what the Boston real estate market stock market will do from now until the end of the year.

Earlier today, I spoke with a mortgage broker by the name of Charlie Micol from Home Advantage Mortgage. Charlie informed me that he has a mortgage program with only 5% down/ 30 year fixed @ 6%. In order to qualify you need a high credit score and the condo association needs to be a min 60% owner [...]

This is an expanded version of an earlier blog post. By using MLS data I noticed the following information: * In MA we have 45,732 properties for sale. * By using the keywords “bank owned” 605 properties are listed. * By using the keyword “foreclosure” 140 properties are listed. * By using the keywords “short sale” 1,924 properties are [...]

  Coldwell Banker has come up with a new twist on football rivalry, comparing home prices in some of the country’s major college football towns, and Boston College (Chestnut Hill) was ranked the 2nd most expensive housing out of the 119 college football markets surveyed. The study compared homes that are single-family, approximately 2,200 square feet, four bedrooms, two and [...]

I spoke with a broker who informed that he has a residential apartment building in Beacon Hill which he has put under agreement twice. Both times, the deal feel apart because neither buyer was able to get mortgage financing. Are mortgages for investment properties out of reach? Photo courtsey of Flickr