Opinion
Going Beyond Dodd-Frank’s Requirements
The financial crisis exposed deficiencies in credit ratings assigned by the major rating agencies such as Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s. This was especially the case for fixed-income securities tied to real estate. According to industry estimates, nearly 50...
Mapmaker, Mapmaker
When Boston developer Norman Leventhal shook the money tree, it had most likely been grown in an orchard of his making. And then, he redistributed a lot of its yield back onto the orchard, often to grow and nourish trees for others to shake. With his passing on April...
Credit Unions Offer Great Mortgage Deals
Want to buy your first home with little or nothing down and maybe get a refund on part of your realty agent’s commission? Here’s one way: Consider joining a credit union that is aggressively growing its mortgage business. Credit unions have been expanding their...
How An IPO Is Like Running A Marathon
Late last fall, I completed my first marathon. Thanks to careful preparation and training, the race was a success and I met my goals. In the days that followed, it occurred to me that the marathon experience was similar to the IPO experience in many ways and provides...
Investing In The Future Of Public Housing
High quality public housing is a resource we cannot afford to lose, but because resources are very limited, every day and across the country hundreds of units are lost as they fall into disrepair. An innovation by the federal government piloted in the last few years...
Banker & Tradesman Editorial Cartoon
Banker & Tradesman Editorial Cartoon
Reverse Mortgage Paperwork On The Rise
Interested in a reverse mortgage without a lot of hassles? Better get your application in fast. As of April 27, the federal government is imposing a series of extensive “financial assessment” tests that will make applying for a reverse mortgage tougher – much like...
At Kennedy’s Dedication, Taking Stock Of Columbia Point
The continuing transformation of Dorchester’s waterfront was highlighted during the recent dedication of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, the country’s most innovative center devoted to public service and the role of the U.S. Senate in government....
Walsh’s Call For Housing Moves Ahead
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is finally ready to kick off his long-promised drive to build more homes, apartments and condos that the city’s beleaguered middle class can afford.
And with prices poised to soar again this spring, heaping further pressure on ordinary buyers
Banker & Tradesman Editorial Cartoon
Keeping The T In TOD
This winter has been a wake-up call about the fragile state of the MBTA. It’s also been a wake-up call about the importance of transit to the state’s economy. Some of the most valuable real estate in New England, in the heart of the regional capital, stood nearly...
Banker & Tradesman Editorial Cartoon
The Olympic Bid And Vaulting Ambition
The public statement last week by Boston 2024 that it would support a statewide referendum on the proposal for Boston to host the 2024 summer Olympics shows a limbic shift in the way input for modern state policy is evaluated, if not finally decided. The nonprofit...
Mortgage Complaint Line Brings Attention To Detail
Move over, Yelp. The federal government’s top consumer agency has just begun allowing mortgage borrowers to vent publicly – in full narrative detail – about the bad experiences they’ve had with financial institutions. Say your mortgage servicing company keeps...
King Street Shines A Light On Suburban Lab Market
Back in the day, pioneers in the development of commercial laboratory space, such as David Klem of the old Athenaeum Group and Lyme Properties and Bill Cummings, had to be smart, had to take on risk, and had to be very patient with biotech industry of the 1980s and...
When Employing Interns, ‘Free’ Can Cost You Big
Many organizations bring unpaid interns into the workplace because it seems like a win-win relationship: the organization gets “free labor” and the intern is happy for the opportunity to work in a particular industry. Unfortunately for employers, the interns don’t...
Commercial Incentives Key To Gateway Cities’ Job Growth
State government’s increased attention to and investment in Gateway Cities is both encouraging and needed. In recent years, there has been a tremendous surge in development in these 26 municipalities, but it has generally been on the residential side. Creating new...
Boston’s Hotels Hit The Big Time
Sales of downtown Boston condos are shattering records, while Cambridge is bursting at the seams with new research and lab centers – but it’s Greater Boston’s hotel market that has investors seeing green right now, and for good reason.
Real estate investors list Boston as the fifth hottest hotel market in the country, behind only the usual suspects – New York, Oahu, San Francisco and Miami – a new survey by PwC and the Urban Land Institute finds.
Banker & Tradesman Editorial Cartoon
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