Opinion
Columnists, guest columns, op-eds and editorials published in Banker & Tradesman and its special sections.
Guest Columns and Op-Eds
From high officials to lone operators, read a diverse cross section of perspectives on the issues facing the Massachusetts real estate and banking industries today.
Pitches for op-eds and special section guest columns should be directed to managing editor James Sanna at jsanna@thewarrengroup.com.
Another Rent Control Ballot Initiative Rears Its Ugly Head
We’ll need industry-wide coordination to fight a proposed ballot question that aims to repeal Massachusetts’ ban on rent control. With your help, we’ll stop it again.
A Close Inspection of Home Inspections in Massachusetts
Through the advocacy of GBREB and our partners, state housing officials made key revisions to the original regulations in order to make this new policy less restrictive and more feasible.
A Little-Used Piece of Massachusetts Law Holds Great Potential
Massachusetts’ 40Y “starter home statute” offers towns and cities a high-impact tool to create reasonably priced homes for young and old, alike.
Not Just Florida: Extreme Weather Raising Mortgage Risk in Mass., Too
Massachusetts has seen seven, billion-dollar weather disasters in the past two years. It’s a fundamental shift lenders can’t ignore.
Invasive Weed Trips Up Builder in Pepperell
Young parents buying new homes have many concerns. Whether their builder may have knowingly spread an invasive weed and glass on their property should not be among them.
Mass. Needs More Senior Housing, But These Aren’t Like Most Multifamily Projects
There is an extremely high demand for senior housing in Massachusetts, but good senior housing projects aren’t just rebranded apartment buildings.
There’s 2M SF of Offices Waiting to Be Converted to Housing, But They Need Help
Greater Boston’s high construction and capital costs have made most conversions prohibitively expensive. A solution needs state, municipalities and industry to collaborate.
To Hit Our Housing Goal, We Need to Add New Tools
Massachusetts is an incredible place to live. But the high costs of housing are making it harder to live here. Three bills before the Legislature would help.
Amid Headwinds, College and Lab Projects Move Forward
These three projects are bright spots offering valuable lessons. All three required years of work and complex transactions. All are entering construction during unprecedented uncertainty.
What Agents and Brokers Should Know About a Buyer’s Right to a Home Inspection
Under a new law, sellers or their agents are prohibited from selling a home on the condition that a buyer waives an inspection.
Cities Who Fight the Housing Market Lose Talented Workers
There’s at least one way that policy gooses local housing demand with no economic benefit: requiring city staff to live in the city they work for.
Massachusetts’ Growing Ranks of Older Homeless Straining the Safety Net
Here in one of the wealthiest states in the wealthiest nation on Earth, a quiet crisis is unfolding as more and more older adults are losing their homes.
Scott Van Voorhis
Commercial Interests
Columnist Scott Van Voorhis analyzes the commercial real estate market, state politics, housing and more with the perspective of a journalist with 40 years’ experience covering businesses in Massachusetts.
Let the Celtics Arena Games Begin!
Buried at the bottom of an otherwise routine column, a Celtics beat writer dropped a potential bombshell: The team’s new owner is looking to build a new home for Boston basketball.
How Boston Missed Its Biggest Chance to Rein in Rents
British developer Scape entered the Boston market with dreams of “solving” Boston’s housing crisis with 2,000 units of student housing. Now they’re dust in the wind.
Three Big Ideas for Fixing Boston’s Housing Production Problem
The decline in housing production in Boston, a city already beset with some of the nation’s highest prices and rents, has gone from bad to worse to simply catastrophic.
No Crying in Mass. About This Part of Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
As things stand now, some of the wealthiest homeowners in the most expensive Boston suburbs are in line for a big fat tax break.
Lew Sichelman
The Housing Scene
Syndicated residential real estate columnist Lew Sichelman has been covering real estate for more than 50 years. He is a regular contributor to numerous shelter magazines and housing and housing-finance industry publications.
Protect Your House from Break-Ins
Thefts from the houses of sports stars Ketel Marte, Travis Kelce, Patrick Mahomes and Rob Gronkowski should raise the hackles of every homeowner – celebrity or not.
Contractors Air Their Gripes
Contractors and tradespeople have tales of their own to tell. From their point of view, it’s not always their fault when things don’t go smoothly.
Equity Contracts Aren’t So Hot
There comes a time in practically every homeowner’s life when they consider using the equity they’ve built up in their house for one purpose or another.
The Property Insurance Conundrum
Recent storms highlight just how few Americans go without homeowners’ insurance – 1 in 7 – and how nearly everyone does without flood insurance.