Hi Folks–

I’ll be offering the real estate investing workshop again next Wednesday February 4th from 6:00 – 7:30. This workshop is a lot of fun.

We cover different approaches to real estate investing (owner-occupied multi-family, condo conversion, “flipping”, rehab/development, and rent and hold), drawing on interviews with a number of local investors and reviewing several real-life examples in detail.

I’ll also introduce you to a great number of tools and resources to help you better understand different markets as well as specific investments. The focus here is on building the skills to get started in investing, and identifying the types of opportunities that may be right at this particular point in time.

You can register here or send me an email that you plan to attend. Look forward to seeing some of you there.

Best,

Rachael

Hi Folks–

Just finished updating market data for Cambridge, Somerville, Medford, and Massachusetts for 1999 through 2008 by housing type (condominium, single family, multi-family).

In all markets, the peak for prices was 2005 or 2006. Condominium prices have held up fairly well since then in all markets, though volume of sales is down. Single family prices (with one exception) are down somewhat as are the volume of sales. Multi-family sales (again, with the exception of Cambridge) are down most significantly in price, and sales volume is up — presumably in response to perceived bargains. The full data, analysis, and charts are here. The data source for this is MLSPIN, real estate transactions involving realtors.

Next, I’ll be working on month-by-month data on active, under agreement, and sold properties. This will give us a better sense of the current market and where it’s headed.

A happy new year to all.

Rachael