Hyde Park is one of Boston's neighborhoods. It's a bit of a bedroom community about five miles south of Boston proper. It's a middle class town where many of the city's teachers, firefighters, and police live. 

Hyde Park really needs some nice local restaurants! I'm not talking about Applebee's or Kentucky Fried Chicken. I'm talking about an individual restuarant or small local chain that provides a higher quality of food in an attractive environment. I'm talking about a restaurant where the locals can sit at a bar and not have to worry about an unsavory character walking through the door. I'm talking about The Reagle Beagle or Cheers or The Peach Pit with a modern twist.

Roslindale Village is another neighborhood of Boston that has almost perfected this nice local establishment. Roslindale Village has at least three great restaurants;  Birch Street Bistro, Delfinos and Sophia's Grotto. Hyde Park should try and model itself after the success of Roslindale Village.

I think a nice local restaurant or two would help provide a bit of cohesiveness to a community that could use a reason to create a bit of common ground. Just my two cents.

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I am watching CNBC right now with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac getting killed but the national banks spurring an overall market rally! This is a textbook suckers rally! The market will continue to rally today but the market will end down from today's open by the end of trading on Friday. This market is completely screwed!

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I am tired of hearing or reading about people being stabbed or shot in Dorchester. For those of you that don't know Dorcester, it's Boston's largest neighborhood and currently home to many poor people. It's also where Donnie Wahlberg, Mark Wahlberg and Donna Summer grew up.

It seems as though violence is almost a daily occurence in Dorchester. I do a ton of business selling real estate in Dorchester and am there on almost a daily basis. I travel up and down Blue Hill Avenue often and have come upon the scene of a stabbing or shooting on multiple occasions.

Do I feel safe in Dorchester? Yes, I feel safe in Dorchester during the vast majority of time that I am there. There have been a scattering of occasions that I might've felt less safe.

I know a ton of people that live and work in Dorchester and there are so many great people that live and work there! As the old axiom goes; it takes only one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Well, that is true of Dorchester.

I wish I had the answer to help reduce the violence. I know this may sound naive but I think the abuse of drugs and alcohol are a big issue. Can we get rid of the abuse? I don't think so.

Anyhow, I thought I'd add my two cents after reading today's story; one man stabbed on Geneva Avenue and killed, one man shot on Algonquin Street and in critical condition.

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I am sick of witnessing Section 8 Rental Voucher Program fraud! Huh?! What is the Section 8 Rental Voucher Program? Well, here is a summary from http://www.hud.gov/progdesc/voucher.cfm :

The Section 8 Rental Voucher Program increases affordable housing choices for very low-income households by allowing families to choose privately owned rental housing. The public housing authority (PHA) generally pays the landlord the difference between 30 percent of household income and the PHA-determined payment standard-about 80 to 100 percent of the fair market rent (FMR). The rent must be reasonable. The household may choose a unit with a higher rent than the FMR and pay the landlord the difference or choose a lower cost unit and keep the difference.

Now, let me tell you (before I get hate mail) that I think that overall this is a wonderful program. The majority of people who are lucky enough to be approved for the program are very nice people who are trying their best to make the most of their lives. It really helps people who are in economic trouble find suitable housing when there most likely isn't any other alternative besides a homeless shelter.

In my experience, this program is utilized most frequently by minority women with dependent children.

Here are the problems that I witness; I notice too many of these women driving around in brand new cars which include most recently a Chrysler 300 which sell for about $30,000. I notice too many of these women covertly allow their "boyfriends" to move into their unts. I notice too many of these women having children by multiple men in order to increase their public benefits. I notice too many of these women not paying their share of the rental payments to the landlord. There are other issues that I see but these seem to be some of the most egregious.

"Too many"?! What is "too many"?! I can't give you an exact percentage but I just know that it is "too many".

I know that you might not agree with my opinion and I do feel sad because many of these women have been dealt a crappy hand. But these are American tax dollars going to waste! Again, this is a wonderful program with the majority of people absolutely needing the benefits but as in many cases a few bad apples can spoil the bunch.

Just to give you a sense that I'm not a total bastard, I provided the full Thanksgiving dinner to a Section 8 tenant to a family in Dorchester a few years back who could not even afford a freaking turkey! It was actually a nice feeling to be able to help.

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I feel like I am sitting aimlessly on a 27' sailboat (the perfect size for one man to handle) somewhere in the Doldrums, watching the flotsam and jetsam slowly bounce by on the unfolding waves. Nothing is really happening. The sun rises and the sun sets. Every so often a small breeze excites my mind with no real headway made. I see a storm over the horizon which both scares and entices me, for a storm brings wind but also brings rough seas. I am getting low on food and am hoping that I can sustain myself on the offerings of the sea. Water is rationed. I see a seagull land on the top of the mast which leads to feelings of hope. I can't see any land but know it can't be too far off. It's been about a month and a half out in these Doldrums. I am hoping that I can sustain myself and have pleasant thoughts of wind and land...

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I am working with an excellent buyer. He is not only motivated but knows how to weight out the pros and cons of a real estate deal. He is a carpenter by trade.

Well, he got himself tangled up witha mortgage broker who works for his old boss. The boss and the mortgage broker will go nameless but I'll give you a hint; the boss owns a real estate company and a mortgage company which are both located within the confines of the city of Boston.

Anyhow, the mortgage commitment date was July 2nd. The mortgage broker faxed me a gussied up pre-qualification letter on July 1st and profusely promised the buyer that there would be no problem getting the loan. I let the buyer know about all of his options prior to the mortgage commitment date and continued to update him as we moved along as the mortgage commitment date was coming and going.

The freaking mortgage broker cannot get the loan! Are you kidding me?! Now the buyer is going to lose his $5,000 deposit plus other costs. I am beside myself. I want to wring this girls neck but I will defer. This woman is just about the worst mortgage broker I have ever dealt with in my entire career! I really would like to let you know who this company and person is so you can make sure to avoid them in the future but discretion prevails. Grrr...

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I know I just wrote a blog about IndyMac but I gotta' harp on this ongoing market turmoil. There is just a ton of bad financial news circulating out there. Where do I begin?

The instability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; the run on IndyMac Bank: Anheuser-Busch is now a foreign company; rediculously high gasoline prices; the DJIA below 11,000 for the first time in two years; inflation fears; rampant foreclosure activity; the upcoming presidential election; General Motors teetering on bankruptcy (although they deny it); the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; etc.

I don't mean to be a fearmongerer but this could be the beginning of the next Great Depression. Think about it; what preceded the Great Depression? The answer is the Roaring 20's. Think about the 90's and the accumulation of wealth and the parallels to the 20's. The 20's was a post-war society where mass production, the radio and movies created great wealth. The 90's was a post-war society (if you count Desert Storm) where the internet, technology and real estate created great wealth. Eh... forget about all that stuff.

I see the effects of this economic downturn everyday in my job. I am constantly talking with people who are upside down on their mortgages. Hell, if you bought your house anytime after 2004 you are most likely upside down on your mortgage. It's horrible and either nobody cares or they are powerless to help.

President Bush and Congress have tried an economic stimulation package earlier this year which was a joke and now might pass a bailout resolution. Everytime I think we are about to turn the corner something else happens. I have been thinking we would turn the corner for a good 6-9 months. It hasn't happened. Well, I have no good solutions. Just thought I'd vent.

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) has said that IndyMac's failure was the second-largest bank failure based on FDIC figures although the FDIC said its data showed it was third behind the collapse of First RepublicBank Corp in 1988. Either way, this is huge and does not bode well for the American economy.

I was over at the Yahoo! Message Board for IndyMac Bank (IMB) both last night and today and have been reading many of the posts and many are very interesting. Some are from worried depositors, some are from borrowers who are no longer paying their mortgages, some are from rascists blaming the collapse of IndyMac on Jews. Here is a link to the page:

http://messages.finance.yahoo.com/mb/IMB

By the way, I think that those rascist remarks are really sick and I wish that people would see people as people who are all born, all breathe and all die in the same way.

This bank failure portends future bank failures. I personally think that Bank of America, with the recent purchase of Countrywide, is in more trouble than they or any politician will publicly admit.

Some have blamed the failure of IndyMac squarely on the shoulders of Senator Chuck Schumer. I tend to agree with these people because Senator Schumer commented publicly on the woes of IndyMac Bank which caused a run that the bank couldn't overcome. To clarify, I also blame Senator Schumer but only because of his position and not his religion.

The whole situation is sad. Depositors have no access to their online accounts, the bank branches are closed until Monday, depositors can withdraw money only from ATM's. Depositors with more than $100,000 in their bank accounts and investors with more than $250,000 in their IRA accounts in their may be out of luck. I'm sure that there are a lot of sad stories associated with this bank failure. I'm sure we'll all be hearing more about this in the coming weeks.

The issues with both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doubly troubling. I shudder to think of the problems associated with a collapse of those financial instituions. But that's another blog for another day. Later, Jon

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

I had the chance to explore a bit of Southwestern Rhode Island and Southeastern Connecticut this weekend. I took a drive around Watch Hill and Misquamicut Beach yesterday. Watch Hill is absolutely gorgeous! As you probably know, I sell real estate and I think it would be a dream to sell some of those properties. Actually, I'd just like to get in and take a peek at some of those properties.

I also explored Mystic a bit. I had dinner on the outdoor patio of a great restaurant called the S & P Oyster Company. I also had a drink at The Riverwalk and an Irish Pub called the Harp & Hound. I later met my friend Brian at the Harp & Dragon in Norwich and finished the night at Leffingwells at Mohegan Sun.

I took a ride abound Stoningtonborough today after visiting my buddy Brian at the Pequot Golf Club. Anyhow, Stoningtonborough is a vey cute village on the water. Then, I dragged my tired ass home to Quincy on a long one and a half hour ride. Maybe I'll order some pizza. Later, Jon

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!

It is so annoying to take the time to type out a comment and then be insulted by having to type that stupid CAPTCHA code! Seriously, how many bots are trying to leave comments on your profile?! None to a miniscule amount, that's how many! If you are worried about people leaving strange and/or unwanted comments on your profile there are other ways to combat that. You can disable HTML or review comments before allowing them onto your page.

To disable the CAPTCHA settings go to My Account from the MySpace Home Page, click Spam, uncheck the "Require CAPTCHA [?] to add comments" box and click Save All Changes. It's that simple!

The only types of profiles I can think of that would benefit from enabling the CAPTCHA setting would be Tom and profiles of hot chicks with over 10,000 friends! Also, it's anti-social to require all of that work in order to leave a comment. And aren't we here to be social?! Later, Jon

Subscribe to my blog! You know you want to!