Did you see this one coming? From the Boston Herald: In a sign of the times for Boston’s luxury condominium market, the Bryant is on the auction block, sources told the Herald. The new nine-story brick-and-concrete building at 303 Columbus Ave. in the South End is the latest project to face the auctioneer’s gavel as [...]

I was just informed that the owners of Top Shelf in Beacon Hill are now going to open up a Tanning Salon at 125 Charles Street. Apparently, tanning machines are the rage with college students. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported: In Student Housing, Demand for Tanning Salons Still Hot Hmm….I wonder if Suffolk University [...]

For those that are keeping track, the last sale at 45 Province Street (according to LINK) was back in July 22, 2009 for $701,000.00 File Under: Selling at snail’s pace. View today’s new Boston luxury condo listings

Back Bay condo sales data. 1/1/07 – 9/1/07 Listings sold: 425 Avg. $: $907,015 Median $: $629,000 Avg. $/SF: $736 Avg. DOM: 105 1/1/08 – 9/1/08 Listings sold: 333 Avg. $: $997,346 Median $: $650,000 Avg. $/SF: $769 Avg. DOM: 89 1/1/09 – 9/1/09 Listings sold: 236 Avg. $: $981,496 Median $: $659,531 Avg. $/SF: [...]

The battle over extending the $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers has begun in Congress. Everyone knew this battle was coming. The tax credit is enormously popular — just like the cash-for-clunkers program. One could reasonably argue the tax credit and cash-for-clunkers are the only two truly popular stimulus programs aimed at the middle-class, amid [...]

Another economist thinks we’re going to have a double-dip recession — otherwise known as a “W” recovery. William White knows his stuff — and his opinion once again ties back to complaints that we still haven’t fixed the banking system, here and elsewhere across the globe. Who knows?

Is this going to be the next trend? Landlords, unable to rent their apartments, are now going to sell their buildings? Janet Lamb in my office just obtained a new listing, a 9 unit apartment building. 29 Grove Street – Beacon Hill – $2,250,000.00 9 – two bedroom units Rent roll: Unit #1 – Vacant [...]

From Shahien Nasiripour at the HuffingtonPost.com: Unable To Sell Their Houses, Millions Of Homeowners Are Turning Into Landlords Since 2007 about 2.5 million homes have been converted into rentals, according to an analysis performed for The Huffington Post by Foresight Analytics, a real estate market research firm based in Oakland, Calif. The conversions account for [...]

The following is from Banker & Tradesman: Where Were Bank Regulators? Why would you commit yourself to a loan that you know you can’t really afford? A special investigation in today’s Banker & Tradesman offers some clues about how and why that could happen. The report highlights what happened to Latino homebuyers who were misled [...]

From the world’s most reliable news source: In what forecasters are predicting will be the largest, most devastating disaster to hit Florida since the national economy collapsed, a Category 5 hurricane neared the Gulf coast this week, threatening thousands of repossessed and long deserted homes. According to meteorologists, the incoming tropical storm could leave as [...]