Yearly Archives: 2013

WASHINGTON, D.C. - May 9, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Menino’s Building Energy Reporting and Disclosure Ordinance was approved today by the Boston City Council in a 9-4 vote. The Ordinance requires large commercial and residential buildings to report and disclose their energy and water usage, and greenhouse gas emissions in order to encourage investment in energy efficiency and further the City’s climate action goals.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - May 7, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Mayor Thomas M. Menino today announced legislation filed with the Boston City Council to update the powers of the Boston Fair Housing Commission (BFHC). A Home Rule Petition (HRP) will add Gender Identity as a protected class, consistent with the 2012 changes made to Massachusetts’ housing discrimination laws, giving the BFHC direct enforcement authority over housing discrimination based on actual or perceived gender identity in the City of Boston. The Home Rule Petition will also strengthen the language that prohibits owner occupants from publicly engaging in housing discrimination through advertisements, or statements.

BOSTON - May 1, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A New York man pleaded guilty today to theft of government property and money laundering in connection with a scheme to cash U.S. Treasury tax refund checks fraudulently obtained using the stolen identities of Puerto Rican residents

BOSTON - April 26, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- Thousands of Massachusetts residents at risk of foreclosure are receiving notices in the mail alerting them to their eligibility to request a loan modification, Attorney General Martha Coakley announced today. Homeowners with questions can seek immediate assistance through the AG’s HomeCorps program, which is celebrating its one-year anniversary today.

WALTHAM, MA - April 23, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR) reported today that for the second straight month a shortage of homes to buy pushed the number of closed home sales down in March. Median home prices went up for the sixth straight month. Both sales and median prices of condominiums were up in March

BOSTON - April 22, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- MassHousing announced a loan closing today of $26.5 million to preserve affordability for senior citizens at the 236-unit Sherwood Village apartment community in Natick. As a condition of the loan, Fairway Estates Limited Partnership, an affiliate of Cornerstone Corporation, which owns Sherwood Village, will seek to extend its federal Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) contract and the affordability on 235 apartments for the longest term possible - typically 20 years - when the current HAP contract expires in February 2014.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 22, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- To the residents, property owners, and proprietors of the impact area, I am so grateful for the resiliency of this great city, and the kindnesses that we have witnessed in this past week

WALTHAM, MA - April 18, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR) reported today that both the REALTOR® Market Confidence Index (RMCI) and the REALTOR® Price Confidence Index (RPCI) hit all time highs in March. With the number of homes for sale declining, REALTOR®-members who responded to the survey said they are seeing an increase in multiple-bid offers, but that single-bid offers are still just as common

BOSTON - April 12, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- In an effort to increase the rehabilitation of distressed and abandoned properties in Massachusetts, Attorney General Martha Coakley today opened the application period for a $5 million grant program. Utilizing funds recovered through the nationwide state-federal settlement over unlawful foreclosures, the Abandoned Housing Initiative Receivership Fund (AHI Fund) will assist local communities in mitigating the impacts of the foreclosure crisis.

Springfield, MA - April 11, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A confidential survey link is up on the city’s website seeking input from residents who have experienced housing discrimination. The link to the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PP5KC63 and residents can access it by going to the city’s website home page. In addition, a series of listening sessions will be taking place in the coming weeks for residents to tell the city about the barriers to fair housing they might have encountered

WALTHAM, MA - April 9, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- The Massachusetts Association of REALTORS® (MAR) reported today that March pending home sales were positive for the 22nd time out of the past 23 months compared to the year before. Condominium pending sales were also up. Pending sales figures (also called homes under agreement) are a leading indicator of actual housing sales in Massachusetts for the following 2-3 months.

BOSTON - April 9, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A former employee of the New Bedford Housing Authority (NBHA) has pleaded guilty and been sentenced in connection with stealing $13,800 from the agency by submitting fraudulent expense reimbursements, Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office announced today. The former employee also pleaded guilty in connection with making more than $30,000 in unauthorized credit card charges, stealing more than $50,000 from a longtime friend, and possessing cocaine.

BOSTON, MA - April 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- MassHousing announced $18 million in loan closings today for the Voke Lofts in Worcester, which will transform the vacant former Worcester Vocational and Technical School into 84 units of mixed-income housing

BOSTON - April 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A Weston real estate developer and entrepreneur who was apprehended in Cyprus nearly eight months after he was indicted on federal criminal charges was convicted yesterday of wire fraud in connection with his defrauding several individuals in 2008.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - April 8, 2013 - (RealEstateRama) -- A confidential survey link is up on the city’s website seeking input from residents who have experienced housing discrimination. The link to the survey is: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PP5KC63 and residents can access it by going to the city’s website home page. In addition, a series of listening sessions will be taking place in the coming weeks for residents to tell the city about the barriers to fair housing they might have encountered.