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Fri, May 20, 2011
The Boston Business Journal announced yesterday a new report on Massachusetts Housing “Leaders and Laggards” based on data from the first quarter of 2011. Our Fair City did not make it into the Top Ten, or even the Top Twenty. Read the full article
Tue, April 05, 2011
Today the Senate passed, by a wide margin, H.R. 4, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011. Read the full article
Fri, March 04, 2011
Among the provisions of last year’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was a provision requiring small businesses to issue 1099 forms to every business to which it paid $600 or more in a single calendar year. Today, the House of Representatives passed a bill repealing the provision. Read the full article
Mon, November 15, 2010
In September, H.R.5297, the Small Business Jobs Act, was signed into law. At 266 pages, the bill covers a lot of territory, but one provision will be of particular interest to small landlords. Read the full article
Thu, September 02, 2010
Over at “The Big Picture,” money manager and financial writer Barry Ritholtz is known for being a pretty blunt guy. But today he brought to light an article that pretty much destroys what little respect I had left for the National Association of Realtors. Read the full article
Tue, November 03, 2009
Today I found a nice article at Smartmoney.com that summarizes several indicators that can help you make an educated guess as to whether housing prices in an area are likely to go up. Read the full article
Wed, July 01, 2009
Last May I attended a talk by Yale economist Robert Shiller in which he indicated that his company, MacroMarkets, was seeking SEC approval for a derivative product tied to home prices. Finally, this week the new “housing ETFs” are available. What are they about, and who should buy them? Read the full article
Sat, May 09, 2009
At last I’ve gotten to the question I promised to address last month: how do different kinds of investments perform in inflationary environments versus deflationary ones, and is there any way to protect yourself against both risks? Read the full article
Mon, June 23, 2008
One of the consequences of the subprime debacle is a sharp rise in foreclosed properties. Some areas are especially bad off; in May, the majority of homes sold in the Sacramento area were foreclosures. Foreclosures nationwide were up 48% in May vs.the previous year (RealtyTrac.com), and in Massachusetts they were up 32% (ForeclosuresMass.com) over the same period. The rate in MA would have been higher but for a new law that went into effect May 1st, forcing lenders to delay foreclosure proceedings by an additional 60 days. There seem to be quite a few ads claiming that great deals are available through foreclosure sales. Is buying foreclosed property a "can't-fail" way to make money? Read the full article
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