Fixed-Rate Loan Payments Can Go Up
If you have a fixed-rate mortgage, your payments will always stay the same, right? Wrong. Taxes and insurance premiums invariably rise – which means your house payment does, too.
Hot Property: Lutronic Headquarters
A recent renovation project by Vantage Builders updated the lobby, clinical space and offices of Lutronic’s Billerica headquarters.
Scaling New Heights in Public and Private Projects
A change of ownership this month will enable Gienapp Architects to expand its opportunities to pursue publicly-sponsored building projects as Imelda Barnhurst takes the reins.
Boston Mayor Shocks Real Estate with Office Tax Rate Hike
The scale of Mayor Michelle Wu’s planned massive hike to tax rates on office, lab and retail buildings comes at a terrible time. And she seems to be ignoring an important alternative strategy.
April 1, 2024
Setting the Record Straight on the NAR Settlement
The reporting on the recent $418 million settlement with the National Association of Realtors and several large national brokerage companies has been so atrocious that I must jump in.
Communities Already Own a Key Tool to Help Alleviate Housing Crisis: Municipal Property
Municipalities throughout New England have long struggled to create opportunities to help alleviate the region’s severe housing crisis, without realizing potential solutions may already be within their control.
Job Flexibility Keeps Workers from Feeling Hopeless
Research shows when employees don’t have control over their work schedules, it’s not just morale that suffers – mental health takes a hit too.
MCCA Made the Right Call
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority has a chance to make a dent in several problems problem by rethinking what it does with its 6.5 acres of empty D Street and E Street lots.
Turn on the Taps at Ex-Bases
Money for a sewer and water connection isn’t headline news – unless it means unlocking 6,000 long-anticipated housing units near a commuter rail station.
March 25, 2024
AG Gets Serious About Enforcing MBTA Communities Law
The attorney general’s lawsuit suggests that she will not wait to find out whether the loss of access to specific state funding programs will eventually persuade Milton to adopt compliant zoning.
Mass. Money Transmission Bill Protects Consumers, Levels Regulatory Playing Field
Massachusetts residents send billions of dollars every year using money transmission platforms like Venmo, PayPal and CashApp – but with zero state consumer protections.
Cambridge Should End Exclusionary Zoning in 2024
Beneath a facade of inclusivity and progressivism lies an ugly truth: Cambridge is not open to everyone. But the City Council should not settle for a surface-level fix.
Hot Property: 30 Dan Road
A former call center in Canton has been redeveloped as 135,600 square feet of GMP/advanced manufacturing space.
Stop. You’re Making It Worse
Recent hoopla about soft landings aside, the Federal Reserve’s drive to bring down prices has made immeasurably worse what was already the most expensive item in Americans’ budgets: the cost of housing.
Fenway Team Competes in a Crowded Field
On the front lines in the housing affordability battle, Suneeth John leads the Fenway CDC’s real estate team in identifying promising sites and finding financing sources to acquire and develop them.
Put Your Listings to the Nose Test
Nothing turns up buyers’ noses faster than a smelly house. They walk in, stop, take a whiff and are ready to turn around and leave. Some won’t even go beyond the front door.
Localizing Philanthropy for a Global Bank
Coming from the world of government administration, Rafia Zahir-Uddin has helped JPMorgan Chase to organize significant community investments in Massachusetts as its vice president for corporate responsibility.
Banker & Tradesman’s Editorial Cartoon: AI Takes an Old Form
As banks experiment with new uses for AI, it’s showing up in some surprisingly old-fashioned ways in familiar places.
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