Interesting article in the New York Times about real estate agents and how much money they make (some of them, at least…).
I don’t think anyone will shed a tear if the housing market collapses and real estate agents have to go back to breaking a sweat to earn their commissions.
In fact, here’s a little tidbit […]

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These people, on the other hand, are just crazy.  They make us all look bad.
By Adam Shell, USA TODAY

Kandy Walsh owns a second home near Tucson that has appreciated $200,000 in five months, and she’s ready to sell it. But not just yet.
The reason: She’s betting that if she waits six or 12 months more […]

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My blog might just have to become a "bubble-free" blog if I have to keep reading stories like this one, that appeared in today’s Boston Globe.
The issue I have isn’t that people are talking about inflated housing prices.  It’s that the data they are using to support their argument is flawed.
In this article, the author […]

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Hmmm.  Interesting article in today’s Boston Globe Magazine.  Not sure if I can agree with everything the writer says.  He puts a very pretty face on current day South Boston.  A good read.
As much as South Boston has changed and gentrified and yuppified, it has, in truth, not changed much at all. Still gritty, still […]

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Whoa.  Appraisers have been criticized for saying homes are worth more than they really are, but this is the first time I’ve read where they are being criticized for saying homes aren’t worth what they are being sold for.  Fear this situation - the seller wants to sell you a home at a certain price, […]

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Below is a report of sales and listing activity for the past week.
Information is derived from LINK, the online database that is used by most Boston real estate agents.
New listings: 107
Back on market (listings that went under agreement but deals fell through): 14
Price changes (almost always downward, but some go up): 93
Under agreements: 149
Off market […]

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Interesting piece of information from a study on hedging the risk of lower real estate prices.  It uses data from the last time real estate prices dropped, in the late 1980s.
The interesting part to me, however, is about the drop in prices, and about which cities were affected, most.  Not surprisingly (to me), the cities […]

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James Stewart, the awesome writer responsible for some of the best non-fiction books about Wall Street, has written an article about the housing "bubble" and why it shouldn’t matter to first-time homebuyers.  Worth a read.
By James B Stewart, Smart Money
(A)ll of this prompts an important question for first-time home buyers, people who aren’t speculators or […]

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Condo sales defied common expectations, as prices increased during the first quarter, 2005.
(Number of sales increased, as well, from 304 units to 366 units - the South End had 155 sales, 2004, 148 sales, 2005; Back Bay had 94 sales, 2004, 158 sales, 2005; Beacon Hill had 55 sales, 2004, 60 sales, 2005.  Most of […]

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From the Massachusetts Association of Realtors
Single family homes:

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