Colleen M. Sullivan
Banker & Tradesman Staff
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 22, 2015
It’s quiet out there.
Too quiet.
The calendar will tell you that the vernal equinox, also known as the start of spring, was last week. But the plastered-on, don’t-shoot-the-messenger grins of the local weathermen tell a different tale – and every listing agent currently drumming their fingers across their office desk could echo it: Spring, and the spring market, have been delayed.
Despite persistent record low rates and a considerable level of buyer interest, inventory is still being choked off, with little on the market and many buyers simply not finding much of interest. Battered by the tough winter, sellers are still licking their wounds – or at least repairing their roofs – and many are simply not yet ready to take the leap into the market.
“I do suspect it’s going to be a really good spring,” said Alex Coon, head of Redfin’s Boston area offices. “Rates are driving that, though I think we’ll some questionable [sales] numbers for April, due to February. But we’re going to need a continuous week of decent weather, and th
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 15, 2015
Fannie Mae has released a new analytics tool, exclusively for the use of lenders, which is intended to help underwriters sniff out problematic appraisals – and it’s causing some consternation among appraisers.
The product, called Collateral Underwriter (CU), draws upon
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 12, 2015
Millennium Tower Boston, the new residential skyscraper rising on the former Filene’s site in Downtown Crossing, is 70 percent sold, developers Millennium Partners announced.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 11, 2015
Needham-based Kriss Law/Atlantic Closing & Escrow hosted its spring real estate agent education event this week, one of the state’s largest professional education programs, with more than 800 local agents attending the program Monday at the Newton Marriott.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 8, 2015
The official records may not quite have confirmed it as yet, but every Bay State resident knows in their heart: This has been the worst winter ever. The question is, will it also put a damper on the spring market?
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Mar 1, 2015
Buyers have spent more than a decade doing more and more of their home searching online – but could 2015 be the year agents finally get to join them in their bunny slippers and conduct their showings that way, too? With the advent of 3D tours, some think the time has come.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Feb 27, 2015
Big outside forces are shaping the development environment in Boston, and the city and state need to have more far-sighted leadership if they hope to harness them to the metro’s benefit, according to a panel of analysts and developers hosted by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) last night in the Seaport District.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Feb 22, 2015
It could be the end of the world as brokers know it, or it could give them the green light to rule over their agents with an iron fist: Either outcome is a possible depending on how the Supreme Judicial Court rules in a case it’s currently deliberating, Monell v. Boston Pads.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Feb 15, 2015
Much like the snow clouds over Boston, the lingering gloom of the foreclosure crisis never quite seems to let up – and a causal reading of the headlines might lead one to suppose it’s actually getting worse. Compared to the same time the prior year, foreclosure petitions nearly doubled in December, while foreclosure actions were up 15 percent and foreclosure deeds – the final stage in the proceedings – were up 38 percent, according to the latest data provided by The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Feb 8, 2015
In 2015, America seems to be well on its way to living the quantified life: With straps for your wrists to count all your steps, apps for your phone to keep track of your financial accounts, and thermostats for your wall that let you tweak the temperature in your living room from 1,000 miles away, could apps that let you keep track of all the mundane tasks of homeownership the next big thing?
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Feb 1, 2015
The struggle for control over where and how listings are displayed has shifted to a new battleground, with Zillow and Trulia now pushing an all out-effort to get multiple listing services to cut out the middleman and send them their listings directly – and so far local MLSs are proving receptive.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 30, 2015
With the governor ordering all but essential workers off the roads during last Tuesday’s blizzard, most people were content to sit at home in their bunny slippers – but at least one agent was out in the market, working her tail off.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 30, 2015
Strong optimism in the growth prospects for the 2015 housing market was the unifying factor at panel of housing economists at the Inman Connect conference this morning in New York City.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 29, 2015
In a wide-ranging talk Thursday morning at the Inman Connect conference in New York City, Rupert Murdoch reassured real estate agents that his acquisition of Move Inc. was intended to form a partnership with the industry, one that doesn’t include challenging the existing real estate model but rather leveraging NewsCorp’s other media assets to take advantage of the growth he expects in the sector.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 25, 2015
A recent decision by the state’s Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) has dealt a blow to local municipalities’ attempts to bring lenders to heel, reversing two local ordinances that imposed additional restrictions and requirements on lenders attempting to foreclose on homes in Springfield.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 25, 2015
Eleanor White has been involved in affordable housing reform since the 1960s, helping lead the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency for over a decade before starting her own consulting firm, Housing Partners, in 1995. She recently returned to Boston after a stint in Oslo, where her husband was U.S. Ambassador to Norway, and has a fresh perspective on the state of the city’s housing needs.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 18, 2015
Professor Barry Bluestone, Northeastern University economist and head of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at that institution, has long advocated for the city and local colleges and universities to take a more proactive approach to housing the tens of thousands of students who come to Boston each year – and to him, the Olympics seems like a perfect opportunity to push that agenda forward.
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 16, 2015
I caught sight of an interesting post on the Credit Slips blog earlier today. Law professor Nathalie Martin of the University of New Mexico reports that some lenders in her state may be trying to find a way out of the state’s strict judicial foreclosure laws....
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 11, 2015
With inventory improving and mortgage rates once again bouncing along at record lows, plus a bevy of positive economic news in December, one might expect that 2015 will be a boom year for housing. But that optimism may be misplaced, as many potential buyers are being...
by Colleen M. Sullivan | Jan 7, 2015
Like a flustered EMT with comatose patient, federal officials are desperately prodding the housing market to try to revive the sluggish purchase side, but it’s not clear how much their efforts can do to turn it around, local lenders and experts say.
