Author name: Boston REIA

Housing America’s Older Adults We have posted a lot about the growing segment of retiring baby-boomers and where/how they’re going to live.  A new report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) says “housing inequality is becoming increasingly evident among older Americans as the number of older households climbs to unprecedented levels” and with […]

“Coming Soon” …another class action lawsuit against the real estate industry? An award-winning real estate law attorney recently offered a definition of “Agency” in the Word of the Day series he writes for real estate agents: http://bit.ly/AgencyRETalk   (share via social media) Given his audience, no surprise his description asserted that there are times the homebuyer

Did Someone Get Killed in that Property You’re About to Buy? When you’re researching a property, have you ever wondered, “did someone ever die or get killed here???”  An eerie online site called DiedInHouse.com will, for a small fee, generate a report using millions of records to determine if a death occurred at any valid

Seven Questions for Contractors Seven Questions for Contractors By Pete Youngs How long have you been in business in this area? This is important because you want them to be established. In many cases, you may run into a company that is new and you will have trouble getting older references and such. If they

FLASHBACK: Bidding wars plunge in Boston, #BiddingWarBacklash next? Despite 24 years of experience, the first eight months of 2019 have been the worst ever for the Real Estate Cafe, the first online / offline, cybercafe for real estate when we opened in 1995. Now, two headlines this week make us glad that we’ve encouraged buyers

Demand for Vacation Homes Sees Increase We have had several posts about owning vacation homes – whether to rent them out, use them as a 2nd home or both.  With that in mind, a new report from the National Association of Realtors says that increased financial wealth and low mortgage rates have boosted the demand

Four Seasons of Homeownership – Fall Fall is firmly upon us and with that in mind, today’s infographic from Today’s Homeowner (from their 4 Seasons of Homeownership) goes over some simple things you can do to prepare your home for winter.  Happy Friday!!! Hat tip to TodaysHomeowner.com.   The post Four Seasons of Homeownership –

Housing Starts & Building Permits Down in September The U.S. government is reporting that privately‐owned housing starts in September were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,256,000.  This figure is 9.4% below August’s revised estimate but is 1.6% higher than September, 2018.  Single‐family housing starts in September were at a rate of 918k, which

Top 10 Markets for Flipping The good folks over at Realtor.com said that it seems like everyone is getting into real estate game or at least dreaming about it.  In fact, they remind everyone that it’s just not as easy as it looks on HGTV and that something called reality sets in.  That’s why their

Vetstein Says “Yes, Always!” to Owner’s Title Insurance in Boston Sunday Globe Magazine Piece Benefits and Affordability Of Owner’s Title Insurance Coverage Praised In Widely Read Article When my friend Jim Morrison, formerly of Banker and Tradesman and now a freelance real estate reporter, contacted me about an article on owner’s title insurance, I was