03.1.2008 | 10:10 pm | General Life
Google has introduced a cool new feature for Google News. You can now target just the local news for example this link will give your just the news for North Reading. Here is snippet of what Google is providing:
Today we’re releasing a new feature to find your local news by simply typing in a city name or zip code. While we’re not the first news site to aggregate local news, we’re doing it a bit differently — we’re able to create a local section for any city, state or country in the world and include thousands of sources. We’re not simply looking at the byline or the source, but instead we analyze every word in every story to understand what location the news is about and where the source is located.
Go give it a try. I use it daily now to see what is going on around the area.
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03.1.2008 | 9:08 pm | Real Estate
Are you a realtor in the North Reading Market? You can easily build up some leads using Google Adwords. I would suggest doing some reading on it first but here is a good piece to point you in the right direction. You can click on the picture to make it full size.
You could be in the listings above. Remember to do some reading first! Or try reading the blog at Boston Web Consulting.
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02.29.2008 | 3:05 pm | Real Estate
As a follow on to the following post, here is some good advice for those who can only buy a house with 5 to 10% or so down.
With no one quite sure when real estate prices will stop sliding, young homebuyers who can put down only between 5 percent and 10 percent of the price of their homes may see what little equity they have eroded by their homes’ falling values. This can leave them “upside down,” or owing more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. (Boston Globe)
I think people are more cautious in today’s market anyway but certainly make sure that you are getting a good deal. And while no one can the predict the future yet, I think you should buy if you know you will be settling in for the long run. History has proven that real estate will tend to go up in value. Try not to think short term too much - that is how most of this housing bubble started in the first place.
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02.28.2008 | 6:52 pm | North Reading, Real Estate
Well, just reading the local paper. It is apparent to me that there are still lots of new houses on the market. Each major realtor that has homes for sale in North Reading has ads in the local paper that includes new developments - over 5 actually including townhouses. I also see the word “Reduced” in many of the ads.
BTW, I was reading this great article on the duality and potential conflict for buyer agents. Buyer beware! Here is a snippet to get you curious:
However, the article doesn’t expose widespread conflicts of interest that contributed to the real estate bubble and their growing cost to society.
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02.28.2008 | 4:42 am | Local Government
North Reading has what I think a crappy policy when it comes to a broken mail box due to a snow plow. Yes it happened to me! I mean I know it is going to happen and all but… Wait let’s get to the North Reading policy. If your mailbox is broken, you know the one where you had to dig for over an hour and then pour concrete is broken - you get a whopping $50! Um hello I don’t want the money I just want them to fix it.
Here is a town that has the right policy:
BROKEN MAILBOX POST
Palmer Township will first attempt to repair broken mailbox posts. If the post is broken beyond repair, it will be replaced with a pressure-treated 4′ x 4′ mailbox post kit. A cedar 4′ x 4′ mailbox kit is available for the replacement of a cedar, metal, plastic, or other material post which is more expensive than a pressure-treated post. If a resident is not satisfied with what the township provides, he/she may purchase his/her own post kit and submit the paid receipt to the township. The township will then reimburse the resident an amount equal to the cost of our standard replacement post kit.
BROKEN MAILBOX
Palmer Township will first attempt to repair the mailbox. If the mailbox is damaged beyond repair, the township will replace it with a standard plastic or metal mailbox. If a resident is not satisfied with the replacement the township provides, he/she may purchase his/her own mailbox and submit the paid receipt to the township. The township will then reimburse the resident an amount equal to the cost of our standard replacement mailbox.
If it is determined that the original placement of the mailbox post possibly led to it being damaged, such as the mailbox itself protruding in the cart way, township crews will adjust the placement of the new post to help prevent future damage.
YARD DAMAGE BY SNOWPLOWS
Property owners who identify the edge of the roadway with a vertical marking device: (Examples: Metal posts with a reflector on the top, wooden stakes, metal re-bar, or other device placed at regular intervals along the edge of roadway that will be visible to the snowplow operator. This device should be a minimum of 36″ tall.) Within a reasonable amount of time following the end of a snow event, Palmer Township will pick up any snowplow damaged yard material that remains. In the spring, Palmer Township will restore the area damaged by placing new topsoil and reseeding the affected area.
Property owners who DO NOT identify the edge of the roadway with a marking device: Palmer Township will not be responsible for any damage to these properties.
Just fifty bucks to replace my mailbox. Well, we have sent in the picture and receipt to get our $30 (since the mailbox only costs that much) and then I will wait until the ground gets soft so I can dig once more!
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