http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/ en-us Copyright 2009 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:27:58 -0500 Fri, 17 Jul 2009 23:11:53 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=1.53 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Some of my fellow agents were busted for failure to provide consumers with the lead paint disclosure. As a broker, I complain about paperwork. But there are certain papers that consumers must see and understand, before going forward. If you... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/lack_of_disclos.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/lack_of_disclos.html Buying and selling Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:27:58 -0500 Just call it the battle of the dueling statistics. As the housing market hits bottom, you can alternately become either extremely depressed or mildly elated depending on what stat you look at. Just take Thursday, when another gloomy batch of... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/housing_market.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/housing_market.html Markets Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 A month ago I wrote about my client’s quest to get a re-appraisal for her refinance. Well, she did just that and she got the loan she wanted. She writes: Hi Rona, What a difference a few weeks make! I... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/a_month_ago_i_w.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/a_month_ago_i_w.html Mortgage matters Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:50:31 -0500 With Boston luxury condo sales dragging, maybe the developers of some of these pretentious new addresses could take a page from their Big Apple cousins. Some multimillion-dollar New York apartment owners, unable to find any buyers domestically with a job... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_russians_ar.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_russians_ar.html Buying and selling Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 Remember those broken promises? Shaun Donovan told a room full of Realtors that buyers would be able to get their $8000 credit at closing. Then the back peddling two days later. Then, Shaun was at it again, promising the National... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/remember_those.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/remember_those.html Buying and selling Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:22:47 -0500 It could be signs of a true turnaround building in the Boston market. Or maybe we are just one of these high-priced, low construction markets where prices have hung on more stubbornly than in condo deluged Miami or Las Vegas.... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/our_stubborn_bo.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/our_stubborn_bo.html Markets Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 Matt asked: I need help figuring out how much of my income should be devoted to owning a home. As a 1st time prospective homebuyer I don't want to over extend my family's finances at all. Some people say 33%... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/matt_asked_i_ne.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/matt_asked_i_ne.html Buying and selling Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:56:13 -0500 That is the intriguing, if somewhat depressing, idea floated by Yale economist and housing guru Robert Shiller in an interview posted on the Yahoo! Finance website. Speculative overbuilding in markets like Phoenix and Miami helped inflate the last housing bubble,... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/boston_epicente.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/boston_epicente.html Markets Tue, 14 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 Sam Schneiderman, Broker-owner of Greater Boston Home Team continues his Monday series. Most buyers elect to have a professional home inspector inspect the property that they want to buy. Personally, I always recommend an inspection, especially on new construction. The... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/sam_on_the_home.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/sam_on_the_home.html Buying and selling Mon, 13 Jul 2009 15:02:53 -0500 I love that line, which comes from a New York Times piece on the now absurd degree to which banks have tightened mortgage lending standards. After years in which all sorts of fraudsters and folks with little or no... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_credit_pend.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_credit_pend.html Mortgage matters Mon, 13 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 There are two kinds of homeowners: the ones who buy fixer-uppers and the ones who create them. Then again, there are people who fixer--up the same house more than once. Reading about Scott and his Natick home inspires me to... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/keeping_up_with.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/keeping_up_with.html Building and Repairing Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:53:53 -0500 OK, just when I am throwing my hands up in the air over hapless mortgage rescue programs, Congressman Barney Frank comes along with a pretty good idea. It’s pretty clear the battle to save struggling homeowners stuck with crazy subprime... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/time_to_save_th.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/time_to_save_th.html Mortgage matters Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 Following up on what Steve sent me yesterday, this is the worst of the silly little things that lead to fairly serious damage to homes. The worst case of a tiny neglect that led to big damage was in a... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/an_ounce_of_pre.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/an_ounce_of_pre.html Building and Repairing Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:08:04 -0500 Is it time to pull the plug on some of these wonderful sounding, and frankly pathetically ineffective, mortgage rescue efforts? The past two years has brought one dramatic announcement after another of big new government initiatives to curb the rising... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_futility_of.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/the_futility_of.html Mortgage matters Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:00:00 -0500 Stephen Roberts reports his impressions of DIY gone haywire. Steve says: Every Dad loves to tinker around the home, after all, his home is his castle. I can attest, some tinkering can lead to more costly repairs in the long... http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/give_the_doityo.html http://www.boston.com/realestate/news/blogs/renow/2009/07/give_the_doityo.html Building and Repairing Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:30:50 -0500