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One of my blog readers sent me this email.
If I could be President Obama’s Mortgage Czar, the first thing I would mandate is that all existing and future mortgages become assumable.
This would immediately make available financing for the real estate market–and might even be a way for banks to deal with some of those famously-toxic [...]

Comparing Feb 2008 with Feb 2009 Boston proper condo sales are down but prices are up according to MLS data.
Feb 2008 – Boston proper condo sales
Number of sales – 50
Avg. list price – $796,314.00
Avg. sales price – $750,815
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Feb 2009 – Boston proper condo sales
Number of sales – 30
Avg. list price – $1,187,997.00
Avg. sales price – [...]

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President Obama has grabbed what the real estate industry considers the sacred cow of tax reform: mortgage-interest deductions.
Among the many tax increases on the affluent laid out in his budget proposal Thursday was a plan to reduce the itemized deduction rate for families with incomes over $250,000 to 28 percent, down from 33 or 35 [...]

The nation’s jobless rate is now at 7.6 percent, the highest in more than 16 years. The Federal Reserve expects the rate to climb to close to 9 percent this year, and probably will stay elevated into 2011.
So do you want to buy a condo?

Have you ever seen the Hyundai commercial on TV that annonces it will allow customers to return their cars with in a year of a purchase or lease if they lost their job, no questions asked.
High-end homebuilder, Toll Brothers are now offering to cover your mortgage for up to six months if you lose your [...]

Have you seen this bumper sticker?

As if things weren’t bad enough. An alert email was sent out by LINK to real estate brokers warning them or recent robberies at Sunday Public Open Houses. The most recent was last weekend in South Boston.

Forbes Magazine ranked the 10 best and the 10 worst housing markets in the country. Boston was ranked the 7th BEST.
Read the full story Forbes.com