Archive for the 'Boston Apartments' category

photo credit: Boston.com

Enhancing the Landscape: "For a casual passerby, it is easy to overlook the entrance of the Southwest Corridor Park, one of Boston’s largest and most prominent public spaces. It presents itself along Dartmouth Street like an alley between commercial buildings, offering little indication of what lies just a few feet away: a plush, linear park that stretches for 4.7 miles, running from the Back Bay to Jamaica Plain."...Read More

Downtown Crossing Luxury Apartment & Retail: "The 27-story glass-and-stone tower will rise on a vacant lot at LaGrange and Washington streets that once hosted the Gaiety Theater. Scheduled for completion in the summer of 2013, it will also include two or three small retail shops."...Read More

Changes for Fanueil Hall: "Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., a New York real estate firm, said it has closed on the acquisition of a 63-year lease for Faneuil Hall Marketplace from General Growth Properties, a Chicago mall operator."..Read More

The Halloween Season: Two scary classic films for the price of one? Yes, please! Check out the schedule of double features over at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square...Read More

photo credit: Boston.com

Interested in Living in Boston?: Take a look at this list of the most expensive neighborhoods in Boston - compiled by Rental Beast...Boston.com

Renting the New Way of Life?: "Boston real estate agents say they are starting to see an increase in the number of people in their 50s and 60s looking to lease apartments. While real estate firms don’t break down statistics by age, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Boston said aging renters have helped drive up its overall rentals by 25 percent this year compared to last year." Read more..Boston.com

Live Like a Cambridge-ite in Somerville: "The new housing complex will feature a high-end community kitchen, a yoga studio, and a wireless suite for residents who prefer social networking to reality television - amenities that would appeal to the hip, young population of Kendall Square." Read more about this new project...Boston.com

Food Trucks Take the Streets of Boston: If you haven't gotten the chance to check out any of the great food trucks lining the streets of Boston here is a great article to entice you..Boston.com

Boston Realty Advisors (BRA) was featured in the July 15th, 2011 issue of The Real Reporter because they are currently handling two exciting listings in Back Bay that will prove to be great rehabilitation projects. 

493-497 Commonwealth Avenue

Formerly the JS Waterman Funeral Home, BRA's listing at 493-497 Commonwealth Avenue has been out of use for several years, and is finally going to be brought back to life.  It is a 19,500 building currently in "shell condition."  This makes the building a blank canvas.  It may possibly become a residential space, but the central location could make for great offices or other forms of commercial space.  The building is right on the edge of Kenmore square, which is a great area and will soon benefit from major improvements to Boston's Green Line.  Boston Realty Advisors has not announced any definite details of a deal, but whatever happens, Kenmore square will soon have a new great space.

463 Beacon Street

Just a few blocks away, this beautiful building is currently a 20-room lodging house offering nightly and weekly rates.  This property may stay as is, but according to BRA founder Jason Weissman, it is possible that the space may work as a single household.  He also told The Real Reporter that converting the space to condominiums could be a viable and possibly more valuable solution.  The building has 2,400 square feet of frontage on Beacon street, easy access to Massachusetts Avenue and a slew of prestigious Universities, and six parking spaces in the rear.

Interested in these listings or looking for more information on buying or renting real estate in the Boston area?  Contact Boston Realty Advisors today!

...and interest rates and housing prices are rising!

The American Dream..."Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and..."

Work hard, and have a family.  The government and banks will help you buy a home that's affordable.  Live a good wholesome life, retire and leave your debt-free home to your kids. 

The American Nightmare...

Work hard, and have a family.  Buy a home you may not be able to afford, then have your wages drop or worse - lose your job, and lose your home!  Then realize you will have little or nothing left to give to your kids when you're gone.

The tax law subsidizing home ownership has and does help us have and enjoy the American Dream, the 'Apple Pie'.  Now, some say we've had too much pie, that it costs too much, it 'makes us fat' or worse, it kills us...

Recent propsals to remove ingredients from our Great Americal Apple Pie Recipe would result in loss of a fixed rate mortgage and removal of the IRS tax deduction of mortgage interest and real estate taxes on your primary residence..both are no better than a plain baloney sandwich!

The Obama administration released a proposal this past Friday that would make major changes to the U.S. housing finance system; restructuring it to reduce its dependence on federal subsidies.  Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration currently finance more than 90% of mortgages. 

The plan is to slowly put Fannie and Freddie out of business by gradually reducing the value of the loans they can guarantee and raising the prices they charge lenders. Plans will also require larger down payments from borrowers. The Treasury secretary, Timmothy F. Geithner, has indicated he expects these changes to take 5-7 years to fully implement, stressing that the housing market will dictate how slowly or quickly the agencies close.

So do we have to dream a new dream?  Go on this kind of fiscal diet?  Will we ever eat Great American Apple Pie again? 

Don't worry!  Home ownership has been and should be the engine that helps drives this country.  History has shown that in the long run, property values increase. 

Housing, like many other businesses, is cyclical- and despite the fact that there have been some bad patches,  no one should change this system without either coming up with an alternative plan, or make changes over a long period of time and include some protections for certain situations/owners.  If not, housing will devalue once again, and this time, there will be many who will be "under water" who would not have been of these changes dp come about.  At best they may have to change their lifestyle, be locked into staying in their homes that they cannot afford and worse yet, they could lose their homes.  

We do not want to see people on the street trying to find the Great American "Apple Pie" that is no longer available to any of  us.

Here is more of what may be coming:

New York Time - Shockwaves on the housing market?  

FORTUNE - Earthquake, are we really capable of handling this change to the mortgage industry?

Karl Case is a noted Professor of Economics at Wellesley College and founder of the research firm Fiserv Case, Shiller, Weiss Inc.  The S&P Case Shiller Indexes are the most widely accepted measure of home prices in the U.S.

He has been addressing the Realtors in Boston for years and for the first time in a long time, he has positive things to say about the housing market.  He said "the bust was a huge affordability program."  The Bubble was inevitable and the correction was needed - just like the correction we had in the late 80s and early 90s which was a precursor to the run up again in the early 2000s.

The above chart shows the now more affordable homes in Massachusetts based on the comparison of income to home values.  In addition, the combination of  historically low interest rates and what he calls imputed value of owning due to tax advantages - mortgage and real estate tax deductions compared to renting.

Housing is one of the leading economic engines.  With home prices down and interest rates down which in combination lead to a lower cost of owning the same home, we now need confidence that tomorrow will be better than today.

The "Spring Market" seems to have arrived early.

Boston Realty Advisors is hiring new and experienced agents who want to work in our residential leasing division.

As a full-service real estate firm with commercial divisions and residential sales, we offer opportunities to grow in your business. To learn more about our motivated team environment, please contact Kristy Ganong.

Bed bugs are back, and may even be living in Luxury Buildings in Boston!

1. Receive a thorough inspection by a qualified exterminator, who will confirm the identity of the pest.
   
   
2. Seal cracks & crevices in walls and floors.
   
   
3. Secure loose wallpaper and eliminate other areas of insect harborage.
   
   
4. Properly treat or remove infested furniture.
   
   
5. Mark infested items that are thrown away so others will know not to bring them into their home and spread the infestation further.
   
   
6. Frequent laundering of bedding and clothing during extermination process.
   
   
7. Frequent vacuuming of carpets and steam cleaning of furniture and mattresses during extermination process.  

 

1. Never pick up free roadside furniture (it may be tempting, but it isn’t worth the risk).
   
   
2. When traveling, make sure to keep your clothing in your luggage and your luggage in the bathtub (this may sound strange, but bugs have a hard time crawling up slippery surfaces).
    
3. Bed bugs like warmth, they have even been known to enter laptops and DSL ports.
   
   
4. When looking for bed bugs pay more attention to wood and upholstered furniture. Bed bugs seem to prefer wood and fabric over plastic and metal. Pull back the sheets from the mattress and look for bugs along the seams or tiny blood spots on the mattress.  Also look along the edges of the box springs and in the seams of the bedding.  You might also smell a strong musty smell. 
   
   
5. Many pest control services employ the trained nose of a rescue dog (often a beagle) to sniff out live bugs and viable eggs. Make sure that you check out the dog’s credentials, however. There have been a few instances of people trying to pass off the family pet as a super-smeller. 
   
   
6. Bed bugs are not known to transmit any infectious disease. The bites look very similar to that of a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect. Some bites may be unnoticeable while others might turn into larger sores. 
   
   
7. To treat a bed bug bite, treat the area with antiseptic soap to reduce the infection. Don’t scratch!  If it becomes infected, contact your health provider.  

 

 It appears that Boston real estate developers are finally believing that the recent and expected successes of Boston luxury Condos and Boston luxury Apartments are critical to the viability of commercial development such as the blighted Downtown Crossing's "Filene's Project."

The Boston Globe Article  says it all - there is quite a bit of interest in the purchase of the Filene's development site from Vornado who stopped development due to the downturn in the market a few years ago.

This is not the case in all cities across the country and not so in all of Massachusetts or even all parts of Boston. In any case, we should be pleased that there are positive signs of recovery.

Posted by : David Friedberg, CEO - Residential Division