Opinion
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Massachusetts Can’t Retreat on Housing Reforms
The push to build more housing in Massachusetts has reached a critical point. Gov. Maura Healey can’t give in to a vocal minority that wants fewer families to call the state home.
Housing Debate Clouded by Vague Language
Perhaps if we got more granular about what we mean when we say “affordable,” we would have more success creating affordable homes and talking with each other rather than – at best – past each other.
Letter to the Editor: Eviction Sealing Bill Hurts Good Renters
It would cause landlords statewide to raise application minimums for income, credit and other screening metrics. It would ignore the clear alternative to the problem of discrimination based on past evictions.
Banker & Tradesman’s Editorial Cartoon: Barriers to Building
Local officials are getting creative with efforts to prevent development of new housing within their borders. Just answer these riddles, solve this Rubik’s cube, then…
Which Comes First? A Buyer’s Dilemma
Young people have many options when it comes to homeownership – perhaps too many. Should they get married first or buy their first home? Buy a dream car or a house? Find a dream house or a dream mortgage rate?
To Get Real Housing Production, Let’s Break Out the Carrots
It’s become increasingly clear that the MBTA Communities housing law is no silver bullet. So why not make new housing a profit center for towns and suburbs, rather than a perceived drag?
Be Bolder, Think Bigger to Solve Our Region’s Housing Crisis
Even if every possible new unit is built under the MBTA Communities reforms, we’d just end up right back where we are today, without housing policy in place to support the sustainable long-term growth of this region.
What’s Next for the Spring Market?
Whether you’re a brand-new agent or a 40-year veteran, I sat down with market intelligence expert Rick Sharga to get the answers you need to cope with what’s ahead.
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