Here’s a great idea.  Let’s kill all the Realtors.

I’m open to new and unique ideas.  However, things are a lot more complicated than this author suggests - I mean, he comes off in the article as someone just disgruntled that, although he made a killing selling his own home, he had to share the proceeds […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

I appreciate Tom’s concern, outlined below, but things aren’t quite so bleak.  It’s true that if you do the math, and divide the 65,000 single family homes and condos sold so far this year by the 40,000 licensed real estate agents, you get at the 1.6 houses per agent number he quotes.  However, of those […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

This may be the wave of the future.
In order to encourage attendance at an open house of a high-end property, one enterprising real estate agent used his personal connections to have a special guest star show up.

TV’s Oscar Madison (or, for those born 10 years later, Quincy, ME) (or, for those born 20 years earlier, […]

Popularity of this post: 7%

Blogging? Never heard of it.
Actually, creating a blog when you’re trying to sell your own home is a great idea. 
The key is constantly updating the content, plus including links to photos, sales data, articles in the press, etc.
Here’s how one person’s doing it.  He is still using a real estate agent, at the same […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

Every day I check my website visitor statistics to see how popular my site is, and to see where visitors are coming from.
I’ve been averaging about 100 visitors a day, I’d say, since the spring.  In August, the number dropped precipitously (!?), to around 60 or so a day.  The numbers haven’t recovered much, which […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

The New York Times continues its 400-part series on renting vs. buying with yesterday’s article on renting vs. buying.
You know, it’s cheaper to ride a bike to work than to drive your car.  I’m just sayin’ …
David Leonhardt, The New York Times

The thought has occurred to just about everybody who owns a home in a […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

There is still money to be made in real estate, apparently.  This investor put down $100,000 for nine condos, made some renovations, then sold off some of them, for a pretty-quick 100% return.
Not bad.  But, really, would you be willing to invest in a condo-development where a newly-renovated unit goes for under $25,000?
By Jane Hodges, […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

Even small investors should consider doing a 1031 exchange, whereby you sell one investment property and immediately put the proceeds toward another investment property.  You benefit, because you only pay taxes when you finally stop buying new properties…hopefully sometime way down the line, when you’re old.

By Vivian Marino, The New York Times
As real estate prices […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

The Boston Herald continues its nine-hundred part series on the "housing bubble", with this past week’s story about high inventory levels in the city.
But serious, as I’ve been saying for the past month, if you are a buyer, now is a very good time to be looking - there’s plenty of inventory and, although prices […]

Popularity of this post: 4%

Welcome to my million dollar home … in Somerville.
The high price of real estate has moved into less desirable neighborhoods, for better or worse.
By Kimberly Blanton, The Boston Globe
Dorchester, East Boston, Somerville, and the Fenway may lack Newbury Street’s boutiques, but they share one trait with the Back Bay: homes selling for $1 million or […]

Popularity of this post: 4%