It’s safe to say it’s a buyers market. The signs are all here. reasonable interest rates. I know, there’s some reports out there about getting the lowest rates in years. I haven’t seen or heard of anyone actually getting those super low rates but tha ads are still running at a feverish pitch and this helps drive sales.

It’s difficult to see any sign of plummenting prices. In fact, the prices are holding reasonably well. But then again Realtors(TM) in the past have not been the first to point out any declines in home sales, save the requisite MLS data.

The prices have definitely leveled. This brings opportunity both for buyers and sellers. Buyers can still get in on some pretty nice deals. Unfortunately, they’ll have to deal with homeowners that probably missed the boat by selling a year ago.

RealEstateCafe has an interesting CapeCod bubblemap documenting “sales below assessed value

Tower Records, which filed chapter 11 in August, will be liquidated by Great American Group. Although this is a California-based company many in Boston see this as a sign. Surprising to me that Tower didn’t see the signs 7 years ago when Napster launched.

I told you that, to tell you this. Real Estate investors, Realtors(TM) and anyone that has made money off restricting the flow of information to home buyers should take Real Estate 2.0 as a warning. When experts say that “information wants to be free they’re not just talking about music. Real estate is being nudged or run over depending how you look at it by new companies like Zillow.com and homepages.com. These companies break down the barriers to traditional information collection and sharing among homeowners. The stranglehold on information that Realtors(TM) have ridden via the MLS(TM) will seem less relevant than the news tools that promise to help bring buyers and sellers together. Look for similar draconian changes in the rental markets.

One company that seems to get it is Boardwalk Properties. I must disclose that I’ve done some consulting work with Boardwalk Properties and during discussion, some of their intentions were revealed to me. I remain under NDA regarding most of their plans so I decided to catch up with Demetrios Salpoglou, to try and get some insight from the source into Real Estate 2.0 trends.

This is what he had to say, [Converstation not transcribed -mp3 only]

Finally, if the news you’re getting all seems pretty positive for sellers, you might want to start compiling your own numbers. Or subscribe to this feed as we help you cut through the B.S. (Boston Sales) and deliver exactly what you need to know about the Boston Real Estate Market.

From BostonRealEstateBlog.com, this is Brent Norris.

Original audio source

Filed under: Boston real estate podcast