We are lucky, here in Boston, to be able to access so much information about residential real estate for sale. Our multiple listing service, MLSPIN, is on the cutting edge of technology. It provides sellers with a way to advertise their homes, allows agents a way to generate interest and awareness, and allows potential buyers a way to learn more and gather information and data. The other multiple listing service, LINK, does much of the same, although it is less accessible to buyers. The Boston Globe and Boston.com provides lots of data and information.
There are two weekly newspapers that are all about real estate – Boston Homes as well as a supplement distributed with the Boston Courant. Boston Homes includes LINK data while the Courant supplement pulls its info from MLSPIN.
But, neither is without fault, at least, according to Banker & Tradesman.
Home Turf War – Banker & Tradesman
[P]otential buyers will have to look elsewhere for fair and balanced reporting. Consider the featured home piece written by freelance writer Lise S. Beane about the condo at 36 Hull St. on Boston’s waterfront, listed for $650,000. Beane breathlessly touts the “pristine” home’s “high ceilings and shiny oak floors.” But she doesn’t tell readers that the home’s asking price has dropped by 5.7 percent since it first went for sale last July.
Boston Homes does not fare any better when it comes to telling the full story. In its May 24 -30 issue, correspondent Kathleen Zigmont writes about the “recently renovated, sun-filled” penthouse for sale at 346 West Third St. in South Boston as “one of the best deals in town” for $369,000.
But that article fails to mention that the condo was listed on Jan. 7 for $399,000 and saw three price drops since then. On May 8, the asking price fell to $349,000, according to MLS PIN, but the story did not provide the latest price reduction.
That’s true. Both newspapers are basically “penny fliers”, freebies that you get at the supermarket to read about real estate. There’s not much “editorial” content, if any. For a seller, a great way to advertise your listing. For a buyer, more information, but not much in-depth analysis of the market or anything.
