If you are a Boston apartment renter you may find this week’s Forbes magazine of interest. Forbes on 10 cities to go from renting to buying:
Whether to rent or buy is a complex decision, but timing is important. In many U.S. cities, the premium to buy–the difference between what you’d pay monthly to own a [...]

Harris Interactive and Zillow.com perform a study each quarter that measures how homeowners view their home’s value versus actual market stats. Former studies show homeowners held a belief that their home’s values were steady or rising despite the reality that values were dropping, showing a standard optimism of homeowners.
In the last quarter of 2009 however, [...]

The number of Boston condos avail for sale on February 19, 2009 = 1,705
The number of Boston condos avail for sale (today) February 19, 2010 = 1,747

This is an interesting story that I heard. An applicant with a excellent credit score, high paying job and strong asset allocation was turned down to purchase an investment property at the Boston Ritz Carlton. The reason? The Ritz Carlton condo association has inadequate condo reserves, thus, non-compliant for the buyer to obtain an FHA [...]

The Real Estate Gossip Gosselin Report.
The property, which was the setting for the start of the “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ reality TV series, was originally listed for sale back in March of 2009 for $325,000. After 10 months, one price reduction, a lien, and a much-publicized divorce, the home finally sold for $258,000 [...]

Reacting to the national housing slump, developers are now building smaller homes:
The National Association of Home Builders says the typical home built in 2009 measured 2,480 square feet, down from 2,520 square feet a year earlier. That’s the first time average completed-home sizes have fallen by a statistically significant amount since 1982.
So what [...]

The government will soon scale back stimulus programs that have kept mortgage rates low, business reporter Walter Hamilton says. Buying a house is likely to get more expensive. Read the story here.

Here are some Boston condo sales stats:
The number of Boston condo sales from 1/1/10 – 1/18/10: 296
The number of Boston condo sales from 1/1/09 – 2/18/09: 224
Avg Boston condo sales price in 2010: $515,745.00
Avg. Boston condo sales price(same period in ‘09): $405,409.00

Excerpts from The Onion:
The U.S. economy ceased to function this week after unexpected existential remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke shocked Americans into realizing that money is, in fact, just a meaningless and intangible social construct.
What began as a routine report before the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday ended with Bernanke passionately disavowing the [...]

Yesterday, the Boston Globe Opinion section had an interesting editorial on how one idea can solve two real estate problems. The first problem, the lack of student housing and the second, the stalled downtown crossing Filene’s project. The solution create a “multi-university graduate village”.
The following are excerpts for the Boston Globe: Boston’s brewing battle [...]