Rona reporting: I am pleased to share this Somerville Patch article about the real estate statistics for the first half of 2013. Chris Orchard summarizes the facts and figures for you. Here is a summary of his summary: Sales volume is down. Sales prices are up. This is true of both single family houses and
Rona writes: Sometime in the very near future, our Congress is going to start picking apart our current tax structure. This examination of allowable deductions is not part of the New Year’s Eve wrangling that is going on as I write this. But, for at least a month, I have been getting frantic emails from
Rona reports: I just spoke to Loren Shapiro at Asset Mortgage. He's an all-around good guy and trusty lender. He called his credit rep to fact-check on a question that frequently comes up: Suppose I want to shop around for a lender. Does my credit get damaged by having multiple lenders making credit inquiries (checking
by Rona Fischman As you know, my company only works with buyers because it reduces the conflict of interest that occurs when one agent in an office lists a house that another agent in the office has a buyer who wants to buy it. It is hard to get the highest price for the seller
by Rona Fischman Housing is part of the picture in any discussion about what is wrong with the American economy. Earlier this year, the Boston.com Real Estate Now blog virtual book discussion was on The Big Short, by Michael Lewis. For those of you who missed it, here are the links: How mortgage finance changed
With interest rates dropping to around four percent, I am getting a flurry of questions about refinancing. Interest rates are expected to stay low for more than a year. So, my general advice is to look before you leap. Refinancing is not as good a deal as you may think. In January, 2009 at BREN,