The Wall Street Journal has an article why the best places to live in a recession are college towns.
While college towns have long been considered recession-resistant, their ability to avoid the depths of the financial crisis shaking the rest of the nation is noteworthy. The ones faring the best right now are not only major [...]

Should I dare say, this is good news about the stock market (housing) today and NOW is the time to get off the sidelines and buy a Boston condo.
Is it possible that Bradley one of my blog readers a Boston real estate blog reader – who’s long held prediction will now come true.
I wonder [...]

Demand for existing homes climbed in February above expectations, driven by foreclosure sales that are sending prices plunging.
Home resales rose 5.1% to a 4.72 million annual rate from 4.49 million in January, the National Association of Realtors said Monday. About 45% were foreclosure and short sales.
The large number of these distressed property sales is driving [...]

From the Boston Condos for Sale Blog:
In what seems to be a developing trend, the Macallen Building in South Boston is beginning to offer a sizeable chunk of its remaining inventory (still owned by the developer, Pappas Properties) for rent. Certain units have been identified as rentals, however, in effect, the entire inventory also [...]

The new website for the new federal initiative, “Making Home Affordable”, is now live. The site walks homeowners who are in trouble through the process of finding out if the 270 billion dollar federal program is available to the homeowner.

Several real estate agents appeared before the Arnold City (St. Louis) Council Thursday to protest a proposal that would require them to pay for a permit to post directional arrows to open houses.
The permit, which would cost $50 per real estate office, would allow all agents in that office to post unlimited directional arrows on [...]

New money is about to flow into a part of the real estate market that has been squeezed hard by the credit crisis: mortgages too large to be purchased or backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Federal Housing Administration.
Higher-cost areas throughout the country traditionally have depended on the ready availability of “jumbo” [...]

A report released this month by the National Center on Family Homelessness states that one in every 50 children in the nation is homeless, while in Massachusetts more than 17,505 youngsters don’t have permanent homes.
The report ranks states based on the extent and risk of child homelessness, state policy and planning efforts and child well-being. [...]

This is a real home for sale, with fake people. I think this probably takes home staging one step too far.
.
No doubt it makes potential home buyers jump… just probably not into a contract.
Thanks to Redfin forum writer for the pictures.

Wells Fargo executives stated that they expect community banks to suffer more than the bigger banks from problems with commercial real estate loans. They think that next up in the financial crisis: Scores of community banks face failure after years of gorging on commercial real estate loans. Well Fargo sees pain for small banks
But not [...]