Massachusetts single-family home sales rose in January 2011 compared to a year ago, by about 5 percent, the best January for home sales in four years. Condo sales, according to Warren Group January data, have fallen off a cliff — down 18.5% from a year earlier.
The Warren Group’s data, as reported in the Boston Globe, [...]

So if you’re on Twitter today, you should definitely check out the hashtag #matownslogans. Here are some of the gems from the Twitterati:

Rockport: Gloucester’s spinster aunt.
Medford: If you have to ask where Meffa is, you’re not from around here.
Somerville: Cambridge’s Kid Brother With The Perpetually Runny Nose
Revere: Well, we’re not Lynn
South Hadley: Where downtown is [...]

Over at the Wicked Local Wellesley website, reporter Lenny Megliola noted that there was an interesting real estate transaction in his Wellesley neighborhood. The buyer of a property was listed as “Queen Elizabeth 2nd.” What ensues is Megliola’s preparations to go pay a house call on Her Majesty. It’s a fun read.

The Boston Massachusetts Association of Realtors said the bad weather was to blame for  huge declines in January home sales. Single-family homes put under agreement fell 7.3 percent compared to January 2010, and condo sales fell 12 percent from a year earlier. We don’t necessarily doubt that bad weather hasn’t helped, but it doesn’t explain [...]

Numbers that came out yesterday from the Warren Group and and Massachusetts Association of Realtors paint a similar picture. Statewide,  single-family home sales are increasing while prices continue to drop. In other words, it finally seems like we’re hitting the trigger point in the market where prices drop to the point it’s getting buyers off [...]

Witches In Real Estate
Well, I never once thought I’d write about witches in real estate, but the Wall Street Journal video below shows how foreclosure buyers in Massachusetts are using witches for house cleansings.
The rest of the country must think we’re nuts.

As if the world of foreclosures in Massachusetts isn’t already confusing enough after the Ibanez ruling, anti-foreclosure advocates are hoping to lobby state lawmakers on a range of proposals. It’s truly bewildering, but you can read the details in a report on Boston.com. Much of this has already been reported — like Secretary Galvin’s idea [...]

In the wake of the recent SJC ruling in the Ibanez case, Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin is thinking of a temporary fix to immediate title questions. The issue is kind of urgent because in some cases, the SJC’s recent ruling seriously calls into questions issues of ownership for those who bought foreclosed properties [...]

News is just breaking that the Supreme Judicial Court has ruled against Wells Fargo and U.S. Bancorp in the Ibanez case. The court ruled against two specific foreclosures, but the decision has far-ranging implications for potentially thousands of foreclosures in Massachusetts. The case goes to the heart of ownership of foreclosed properties and sloppy bank [...]

One of the most interesting court rulings is expected soon is the Supreme Judicial Court’s ruling on the Ibanez case. The case may have some far-reaching consequences both in Massachusetts and for the entire country. The central problem the court will be grapling with is the validity of securitization of mortgages as they have been [...]