The Charles Street Inn, located at 94 Charles Street, is now up for sale. Asking price $3.9 million, which includes the building and two parking spaces.

“Inflation hasn’t ruined everything. A dime can still be used as a screwdriver” —Quoted in P.S. I Love You, compiled by H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Boston’s 1.1% drop in home prices since last year was one of the lowest among metro areas tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller index. Boston’s low unemployment rate of only 6.2% is much lower than the national average of 8.6%. Translation: There’s reason to be cautiously optimistic for the 2012 Boston condo sales market. Your thoughts?

Interesting debate on MSNBC Morning Joe, whether President Obama’s policies are helping or hurting the national economy.

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The National Association of REALTORS held their annual meeting last week. The purpose was to compile homebuyer stats. Here are some of their results:

- Four out of 10 buyers in 2011 were first time buyers, down from 50% last year;

- For first-time buyers, the median age was 31; median income was $62,400. The typical home was 1,570 square feet and cost $155,000, with mortgage and interest payments being $794.

- The typical repeat buyer was 53 years old with a median income of $96,600, up from $87,000 in 2010. The typical home was 2,100 square feet and cost $219,500, with the mortgage and interest payments being $1004.

- About 91% of buyers used the Internet and bought through a real estate agent and 70% of those who did not use the Internet used a real estate agent.