Blog Archives

Impact Investors: Reward homebuyers for Social Good or Community Building?

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Two years after the Women’s March, why share the Facebook post below — a message sent to a closed group of leading real estate agents across the US? As a daily parade of headlines and talk shows attest, there’s growing…

Posted in #REonTap, Affordable housing, Buyer agent, Co-Living, Crowdfunding, Housing Justice, Impact Rebates, Intentional Communities, Mlllennials, Pope's Encyclical, RE2020

Hack the #RETransferTax: What would MLKing do?

Posted on January 18, 2019 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Q: Yesterday’s headline in @BostonGlobe begs a question about distributive justice, the holy use of money, & some would argue redistribution of wealth. What does each of your traditions say about those issues & what implications does that have for…

Posted in #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders, Affordable housing, Crowdfunding, Crowdsourcing, Housing Justice, Housing policy, Idea Bar, Impact Rebates, Luxury buyer agent, Real Estate Roundtables

Tidal Wave of #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders or Virtual Town Hall Meeting?

Posted on September 16, 2016 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

.@BostonGlobe Millennium sales office opened in China before Boston, @CambMA for sale too #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders pic.twitter.com/FGsWetP1mw — Bill Wendel (@RealEstateCafe) September 1, 2016 If “Foreign buyers at Millennium Tower show that Boston is on a world stage,” is that was a good…

Posted in #REonTap, #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders, Affordable housing, Bidding wars, Bubble Hour, Consumer protection, Defensive Homebuying, Housing bubble, Housing Justice, Real Estate Bubble

#SpeculatorsWithoutBorders extracting affordable housing from Cambridge

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

A controversial protest organized by Black Lives Matter Cambridge resulted in extensive media coverage and an open letter last week in the Cambridge Chronicle entitled, Fight for affordable housing in Cambridge is fight for black liberation. Unfortunately, the same publication rejected my comment so posting here…

Tagged with: Cambridge
Posted in #SpeculatorsWithoutBorders, Affordable housing, Bidding wars, Consumer protection, Housing Justice, Investigative Reporting, RE2020, Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights, RECALL: Real Estate Consumer Alliance

What’s “out of sync” with housing? Can we solve by next #LeapYear: 2020?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Let’s use what’s left of this Leap Day to catapult into the future by asking what will the real estate industry look like in the NEXT Leap Year — 2020? Because we’re eager to begin creating a public awareness /…

Posted in Affordable housing, Bidding wars, Blockchain, Commission Reform, Consumer protection, Defensive Homebuying, Disrupt Real Estate, Fee-for-service real estate, Great Senior Sell-Off, Housing Justice, Impact Rebates, Intentional Communities, Pope's Encyclical, RE2020, Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights, Real Estate Roundtables, RECALL: Real Estate Consumer Alliance, reVRM, Trend analysis, Unbundling the Commission

The beginning of the end of “CONCEAL estate”?

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Earlier today, the publisher of a leading real estate news site posted this comment on Facebook: “Foreign buyers are not as active as before due to the value of the dollar, says Realogy CEO Richard Smith, but not meaningful to the…

Posted in Affordable housing, Bidding wars, Blockchain, Consumer protection, Housing bubble, Housing Justice, Luxury housing, Real Estate Consumer Bill of Rights, RECALL: Real Estate Consumer Alliance

Disrupting real estate: What’s Pope Francis got to do with it?

Posted on September 2, 2015 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Calls to disrupt residential real estate have echoed inside and outside the industry the past year, but no change will come close to the impact of climate change. The Pope’s encyclical — On Care for our Common Home — begins with the environment but…

Posted in Consumer protection, Disrupt Real Estate, Housing Justice, Impact Rebates, Luxury homes, Mlllennials, Pope's Encyclical, RE2020, RECALL: Real Estate Consumer Alliance, Spiritual Home

Will Pope’s encyclical expand Housing Justice Movement?

Posted on June 24, 2015 by Bill Wendel — No Comments ↓

Homeownership rates are falling in Massachusetts and across the nation, and housing is back in newspaper headlines and nationally syndicated talk shows. Here’s one perspective, that knowingly or unknowingly, points to the Pope’s encyclical on the environment and the prospect of a grassroots movement for…

Posted in Affordable housing, Bubble Hour, Great Senior Sell-Off, Housing bubble, Housing Justice, iCovery, Luxury housing, Pope's Encyclical, Price trends, Real Estate Bubble