Boston

H&R Sued In Massachusetts Over Minority Lending

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!If you think that this lawsuit is because H&R Blocks mortgage unit, Option One Mortgage, failed to lend to minorities and over charged them, you would be partial right.
According to the suit minorities were overcharged. What is interesting [...]

4Jun2008 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Cash Out Refinancing Leads To Massachusetts Foreclosure Surge

Way back in 2005 I wrote how Massachusetts families were using their homes as a ATM with cash out refinancing. At that time 14 percent of household income was coming from these cash out refinances.
Well, it looks like many of these folks are losing their homes now as they took too much out of the [...]

3Jun2008 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Massachusetts Borrows 1.27 Billion For Housing Fund

Ah, a government and their lust to spend money is never quenched.
Facing lower property taxes and declining prices, the state of Massachusetts has proudly borrowed 1,270,000,000 dollars to buy new homes for the housing commission and update previously existing housing stock. All this for affordable housing across a state where housing is becoming more affordable [...]

1Jun2008 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

Boston College Purchases Properties From Archdiocese of Boston

When the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston became embroiled in their clergy sex scandal, the restitution payments to their victims stressed the treasury of the church. Now as a way to raise money to pay the families of the victims the Diocese has sold off their former headquarters buildings and land for nearly 400 million dollars.
The [...]

5Dec2007 | Tom Royce | 1 comment | Continued

MIT Facing Housing Cost As Real Estate Market Changes

With the Massachusetts Institute of Technology occupying prime real estate on the Charles River you would think that the housing department would have an easy time with on campus housing, but this article from The Tech shows that housing concerns plague all of us.
The increased utility and maintenance expenses are putting pressure on the housing [...]

25Sep2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Trinity Place Penthouse Asks 15 Million to Break Boston Condo Price Record

If you have the cash, the Penthouse unit at Trinity Place overlooking Copley Square might be your new Boston crash pad. As real estate price for super deluxe properties soar, the timing of this 15 million dollar duplex offering a 360 degree view of Boston is perfect.
This 8 bedroom, 8 bath penthouse is the [...]

21Jun2007 | Tom Royce | 4 comments | Continued

Massachusetts Governor Puts Moratorium on Foreclosures

It looks like the governor of Massachusetts is going to put a moratorium on the ability for banks and lending institutions to foreclose on homes in Massachusetts for at least 2 months. While I appreciate his populist notions in an abstract way, Deval Patrick and Massachusetts is going to suffer from the law of unitended [...]

1May2007 | Tom Royce | 9 comments | Continued

Flatley Sells Properties to Wilder Cos. and O’Connor Capital Partners

Earlier this week we discussed that Thomas Flatley was thinking about selling his retail portfolio of 10 properties in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Not a man to take a long time to make a decision, word from the Boston Business Journal is that an agreement to sell has been reached with Wilder Cos. And O’Connor [...]

25Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued

Subprime Loans Lead to High Foreclosure Rate in Massachusetts

The high use of Adjustable Rate Loans and subprime borrowing in Massachusetts is leading to a very high default rate in the state, and with that record foreclosures. The high appreciation of homes in the past few years let people think of their properties as a bank to get money out of for living expenses [...]

5Mar2007 | Tom Royce | 3 comments | Continued

Yankee’s Buy Boston’s Hancock Tower

Not completely, but Boston’s famous Hancock Tower was sold to a New York company, Broadway Real Estate Partners, as part of a 1.3 billion dollar deal. If I was a Boston native, and a Red Sox fan, I would be less than thrilled to have New Yorkers owning their landmark building.
Beacon Capital Partners selling [...]

29Dec2006 | Tom Royce | 0 comments | Continued