Home prices take a breather

OK, can't exactly call it a warning, nor is President Obama suddenly turned into a housing bear. But the president certainly alluded to the potential of a new bubble in his big housing speech Tuesday.Yes, I know, all the housing market cheerleaders keep telling us there is no bubble, that things have changed, that the market will even out, even magically correct itself. Yet just because all those nasty subprime mortgages are a thing of the past doesn't mean we are somehow immune from another housing bubble. We are seeing the housing market heat up far too quickly, driven by the Fed's campaign Continue reading >>>

Dover-Sherborn Schools Top Boston Magazine Best Schools List

Boston Magazine recently ranked the school systems in the Greater Boston area, and learned something Dover-Sherborn parents may already know: the local schools are really good.In fact, the best: Dover is ranked #1, Sherborn came in at #2. The magazine rated 147 school districts in the Greater Boston area in its annual “Best Schools” list published on Monday. The rankings were based off nearly two dozen factors, including enrollment, average class size, graduation rate and SAT scores.Both school systems have a graduation rate of 97.5 percent, with 91.6 percent going on to college, according Continue reading >>>

Boston, MA Apartment Real-Time Vacancy Rate of 3.4% August 25th, 2013

BOSTON, MA, August 28, 2013 /24-7PressRelease/ -- With less than one week until the huge migration of apartment renters on the September 1st move in date, the real time apartment vacancy rate in the Greater Boston Massachusetts area is 3.4% according to the BostonPads database. There are a total over 2,840 available apartment units in their industry leading real estate database that covers Massachusetts and the Greater Boston footprint. The BostonPads database continuously gathers data through its network of sites and is the largest real time apartment database in New England. The 3.4% is based Continue reading >>>

Dorchester hot now?

OK, can't exactly call it a warning, nor is President Obama suddenly turned into a housing bear. But the president certainly alluded to the potential of a new bubble in his big housing speech Tuesday.Yes, I know, all the housing market cheerleaders keep telling us there is no bubble, that things have changed, that the market will even out, even magically correct itself. Yet just because all those nasty subprime mortgages are a thing of the past doesn't mean we are somehow immune from another housing bubble. We are seeing the housing market heat up far too quickly, driven by the Fed's campaign Continue reading >>>

Norton Schools Ranks 101 on Best Schools in Boston List

Norton Public Schools came in at No. 101 this week on an annual list that ranks the best school systems in greater Boston.The rankings, compiled by Boston Magazine, ranked the 147 school systems located inside the Route 495 belt. Dover came in at No. 1 on the list, followed by Sherborn at No. 2. Nearby, Mansfield ranked 78, Easton ranked 83, Foxborough ranked 64 and Taunton ranked 130.The list was compiled using statistics from the Massachusetts Department of Education, including including student-to-teacher ratio, average class size, expenditures per pupil, rate of college matriculation, and Continue reading >>>

Concord ranks sixth in Boston magazine’s ‘best schools’ edition – Wicked Local

“Boston” magazine named Concord as having some of the best schools in Massachusetts in its September 2013 issue, ranking the town number 6 out of 147. For the magazine’s “Best Schools” issue, which hit newsstands Tuesday, “Boston” spent months compiling data released by the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, which included information on schools in 147 communities. The schools in each of the cities and towns were ranked in 20 different categories, including average class size, student-to-teacher ratio, rates of college acceptance, as Continue reading >>>

Suffolk Downs casino would give Boston $32m yearly

A Suffolk Downs casino would pay Boston at least $32 million annually — and potentially far more — while guaranteeing at least 4,000 permanent jobs and providing East Boston an upfront payment of $33.4 million, under an agreement signed Tuesday with Mayor Thomas M. Menino. The deal includes provisions that would substantially increase the annual payment to the city if the casino is highly profitable. Under those provisions, the deal could be worth $52 million for Boston annually, based on projections from a city consultant that the resort would gross $1 billion per year in gambling revenue. “It Continue reading >>>

Medfield Among Top 50 for Schools Ranked by Boston Magazine

Medfield has good schools, we know. How good? The schools are among the top 50 in greater Boston, according to the most recent edition of Boston Magazine.Medfield was ranked in 37th place, based on its class size average, per-pupil spending, graduation rate and other factors.According to the magazine's analysis, 99.1 percent of Medfield students graduate from high school, and 91.5 percent attend college. Eighty-one percent of the student AP exams had scores that earned college credit.The full list of schools and other ranking criteria can be found on Boston Magazine's website. The best town Continue reading >>>

Boston Magazine Ranks Melrose Schools in Greater Boston’s Top 100

Boston Magazine recently ranked Melrose as having the 92nd best public school system in Greater Boston.The magazine rated 147 school districts in the Greater Boston area in its annual “Best Schools” list published on Monday. The rankings were based off nearly two dozen factors, including enrollment, average class size, graduation rate and SAT scores.Here's a snapshot of some of the top schools in the Greater Boston area:1. Dover2. Sherborn3. Lexington13. Winchester23. Belmont45. Arlington80. Wakefield85. Stoneham88. Cambridge92. Melrose124. Medford136. SomervilleTo see the complete Continue reading >>>