The Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) has settled its lawsuit with the MBTA.
The suit arose after the state appeared to be reneging on promises it made to extend MBTA and public transportation services, as part of the deal to build the depressed Central Artery / Third Harbor Tunnel.
I’m mostly happy, although I think the state could […]

Popularity of this post: 6%

Much as some experts would disagree, there is a line of thought that we have seen the worst of the housing market slump.
Price drops and declining sales in the Massachusetts housing market moderated in October, two housing reports showed yesterday, suggesting that the months long slump in the real estate market may be nearing its […]

Popularity of this post: 13%

Two articles of interest in the Globe, over the past couple of days.
First up, Kimberly Blanton did a question & answer with Boston.com readers. Seems like it was a good exchange of ideas.
Not surprisingly, the questions followed the line of “how low will prices go” and “how can Realtors be so full of shit”.
And, […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

The following was left as a comment from a reader, regarding my posts on Boston traffic and congestion pricing. I think it’s interesting, and worth thinking about and discussing.
I don’t have the time to do that right now, but if others wish to comment, please do!
I am not against reasonable measures to control congestion […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

Strong rumor on the street is that Gibson Domain Domain, Boston’s largest independent real estate company (and, disputably, the largest real estate company, overall) is about to become a franchise of Sotheby’s Real Estate.
(In fact, this may have already happened. I don’t get out, much.)
No one at Gibson was available for comment, mostly because […]

Popularity of this post: 21%

Creative re-use and redevelopment of existing structures can be a great thing, when done correctly.
The Walter Baker Co. chocolate factory complex in Milton and Dorchester Lower Mills is an example of a development done right.
Over the past twenty years, most of the property has been redeveloped into condominiums.
Now, the final piece of property is about […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

So, how do you increase the value of your home?
Get your property to be featured on PBS’ “This Old House”.
How much is the “This Old House factor”?
Boston magazine covered it, in this month’s issue:

The wildly popular WGBH-produced program—currently working on a house in East Boston—has been fixing up places around the Hub for nearly 30 […]

Popularity of this post: 26%

A hot topic over the past several years is whether or not Boston is losing its young urban professionals, or “Yurbies”, as they’re commonly called. More importantly, the question is, why? (Readers of this blog will remember I answered this question, by stating, “Because that’s what young people do … they move.”)
Data supporting […]

Popularity of this post: 5%

My new hobby is pushing the city of Boston to implement “congestion pricing” - charging drivers to come into a city all the time or during specific times, to reduce traffic congestion and encourage the use of public transportation.
The City of London was the first major city to implement it (oh, alright, it was somewhere […]

Popularity of this post: 9%

Recently, Harris Interactive had an online poll “Most Prestigious Occupationsâ€? which places real estate agents at the bottom of the list.
The National Association of Realtors© countered that “agents” was too broad a term; if Harris had substituted “Realtor©”, the results would have been different.
In NAR’s opinion, Realtor® is to Real Estate Agent as Mercedes® is […]

Popularity of this post: 5%