WalkScore.com  ranked 2,508 neighborhoods in the largest 40 U.S. cities to determine which city is the most walkable. Boston ranked #3 out of 40 cities. Click here to find out how each Boston neighborhood ranked.
Top walking cities:
1. San Francisco
2. NYC
3. Boston
4. Chicago

Home prices fall at record pace

There’s a lot of mixed messages out there.

 
Existing-home sales rose unexpectedly while inventory declined, led by a surge of sales in the West, according to the National Association of Realtors.
Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – jumped 6.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate 1 of 4.74 million units in December from a downwardly revised pace of [...]

New Boston condo listings in the last 24 hours – 10
Boston condos that went under agreement in the last 24 hours – 13
* MLS also documented 9 properties that were re-listed with another company.

Retail executives and shoppers will remember 2008 as the year the party ended, and 2009 to be the year of the hangover. Already, Circuit City, Linens ‘N Things, Sharper Image, Expo Design Centers of Home Depot and several Macy’s stores are all closing down.
To make matters worse it was reported today that tens of thousands of jobs were cut nationwide [...]

In the last few days I have seen an increase in traffic on both my web sites. I also see more internet sales leads coming in as well. Just curious, are other Boston real estate brokers seeing the same thing?

From Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal
Lending at many of the nations largest banks fell in recent months, even after they received $148 billion in taxpayer capital that was intended to help the economy by making more loans readily available.
The article goes on to state “It has failed” said Campbell Harvey, a finance professor at Duke University’s [...]

Are you a property owner, or going to be a property owner? If yes, did you read the book “Little Pink House” by Jeff Benedict.
The book is a true story about how Susette Kelco in 1997 plunked down her life savings to purchase her dream home which was a Victorian fixer-upper overlooking  Long Island Sound.
A [...]

Who’s buying what. Boston condos currently under agreement.
$100,000 or less – 92 Boston condos under agreement.
$101,000 – $299,999 – 157 Boston condos under agreement.
$300,000 – $499,999 – 104 Boston condos under agreement.
$500,000 – $699,999 – 34 Boston condos under agreement.
$700,000 – $899,999 - 12 Boston condos under agreement.
$900,000 – $999,999 - 9 Boston condos under agreement.
$1,000,000 – $2,999,999 [...]