by M. L. Weems

When George was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet of which, like most little boys, he was extremely fond. He went about chopping everything that came his way.

One day, as he wandered about the garden amusing himself by hacking his mother’s pea sticks, he found a beautiful, young English cherry tree, of which his father was most proud. He tried the edge of his hatchet on the trunk of the tree and barked it so that it died.

Some time after this, his father discovered what had happened to his favorite tree. He came into the house in great anger, and demanded to know who the mischievous person was who had cut away the bark. Nobody could tell him anything about it.

Just then George, with his little hatchet, came into the room.

“George,” said his father, “do you know who has killed my beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? I would not have taken five guineas for it!”

This was a hard question to answer, and for a moment George was staggered by it, but quickly recovering himself he cried:

“I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell a lie! I did cut it with my little hatchet.”

The anger died out of his father’s face, and taking the boy tenderly in his arms, he said:

“My son, that you should not be afraid to tell the truth is more to me than a thousand trees! Yes – though they were blossomed with silver and had leaves of the purest gold!”

Today we at Prudential Page Realty in Medway, Medfield and Wrentham, MA celebrate our great presidents.

BUSINESS | 1/12/2012 @ 9:51AM

Cities Where Real Estate Is Ripe For A Rebound

Lately economists and investors have been debating whether the housing market has hit bottom. It’s a complicated picture on a national level, but zoom in and it’s possible to identify cities that have not only reached a bottom, but are beginning to experience a recovery.

Take San Jose, Calif. The Golden State has gotten a lot of attention for its economic woes, but San Jose is a veritable oasis of prosperity. Employment in the capital of Silicon Valley is expected to expand 3.3% this year and it logged net in-migration in 2010 of 4,840 people. Job and population growth are fueling housing demand: New home construction in the area was up a whopping 97% in 2011’s third quarter compared to the year earlier.

San Jose is one of 10 metro areas that Forbes deems ripe for a real estate rebound. The folks at Local Market Monitor, a Cary, N.C.-based real estate research firm, helped us compile this list, sorting through housing and economic data for the 100 most populous cities and their surrounding suburbs, defined as Metropolitan Statistical Areas and Metropolitan Divisions by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. LMM assessed the change in home prices over the past 12 months and three years (on the latter, our reasoning is that markets that lost less value in the housing bust have the potential to recover faster), unemployment rates, 12-month job-growth projections, the change in population from 2006 through 2009 (the most recent data available from the U.S. Census) and new-home construction rates for the third quarter of 2011 as compared to the same quarter in 2010.

Full List: The 10 Cities Where Real Estate Is Ripe For A Rebound
All of the cities that made our list share one common factor: a relatively strong job market. “For real estate to do well you want to see two things: that incomes are growing rapidly like they are in a market like San Jose … and that the growth in jobs attracts other people to that market,” says Ingo Winzer, founder and president of Local Market Monitor. However, job growth should be looked at as a bullish housing indicator only if the unemployment rate is already relatively low – that suggests local companies are creating new jobs rather than rehiring for positions they cut during the recession.

That seems to be the case in Boston. The New England hub has a low 5.7% unemployment rate thanks to the presence of more than 100 universities and colleges in the metro area and a variety of biotech and financial services companies. “Income is well above average. The housing boom was mild, with a 16% rise in prices followed by a 10% drop. The recession also was mild, with jobs down just 2%,” explains Winzer. Clear Capital and Trulia also have positive forecasts for Beantown this year, and many of its neighborhoods graced Forbes’ 2011 Most Expensive ZIP Codes list for the first time. Other college towns offering real estate promise are Austin, Texas, and Raleigh, N.C.

Oil doesn’t just heat homes, it also heats up a housing market. Cities where oil and natural gas are key components of the local economy have not only fared well in the downturn, they’ve thrived. In Houston, where the heavy concentration of energy companies has earned it the nickname “Baghdad on the Bayou,” home prices shot up 21% from 2002 to 2007 and rather than falling, have stayed close to those 2007 levels since. The population has grown at nearly triple the national rate and median income is above average. Houston and other Lone Star cities also didn’t succumb to the levels of overbuilding that cities in neighboring Sun Belt states did, either.

Two surprising entrants on our list are Pittsburgh, Pa., and Rochester, N.Y., industrial-era boomtowns that went through several decades of economic decline. Pittsburgh has been one of the most stable housing markets over the past five years: Prices have been more or less flat since the market peak in 2007. Home prices in Rochester have dropped 15% since 2007, but its economy has managed to stabilize and hang onto jobs. “They [Pittsburgh and Rochester] are not high-growth markets yet, and they haven’t attracted new people yet,” says Winzer. “But they are both creating new kinds of jobs — high-tech and medical research-related jobs — and that’s why … they will do better than most markets this year.”

Another city on our list that has gone through tough times is New Orleans. The Big Easy sports a relatively low 6.5% unemployment rate, a forecast for 1.9% job growth this year and a steady influx of newcomers. “It is a really different kind of market because it is still heavily affected by what happened with Hurricane Katrina,” notes Winzer. The port city boasts an economy fueled by energy, tourism and construction. “The real estate situation is complicated by the large number of properties destroyed. Now that the economy seems to have stabilized, renewed population growth will spur new construction.”

One of the things to remember when looking at home price data for these recovery-ready markets is that price drops or increases of one, two, or 3% are a pittance compared to the double-digit percentage drops common in recent years. Real estate experts like Winzer agree that price fluctuations of 3% or less generally indicate that a market is stabilizing. If a city hovers within that range for several quarters or a year, it’s probably safe to say that market has found its bottom. All of the metro areas on our list have almost undoubtedly found their bottoms. New home construction, which remains depressed for nearly every market across the country, should take off in these markets later in the year. “Once these markets are truly recovering, you will see a doubling in activity,” asserts Winzer. “It’s the last thing that happens.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/morganbrennan/2012/01/12/cities-where-real-estate-is-ripe-for-a-rebound/

~Property Aficionado

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For Prudential Page Realty it’s business as usual

Medway, MA December 7, 2011– Today Brookfield Residential Property Services (“Brookfield”), a Brookfield Asset Management Inc. affiliate, announced that it has purchased Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, a recognized leader in global relocation and real estate brokerage from Prudential Financial, Inc. Prudential Relocation Services operates as Pricoa Relocation in Asia and Europe.

The addition establishes Brookfield as North America’s third largest residential real estate brokerage business and the world’s second largest global relocation services provider.  For Prudential Real Estate’s more than 600 affiliates operating across North America and their clients, the news means “business as usual.” Under a licensing agreement, Prudential Real Estate affiliates will continue using the Prudential brand based on the terms of their franchise agreements. The expanded scale of the combined businesses will ensure that the network remains at the forefront of the industry, positioned with leading-edge tools and technologies to best serve their clients.
“We are thrilled to join Brookfield, a leader in residential real estate franchising and employee relocation services and a brand name that is synonymous with strength, stability and growth,” said Al Rao, Broker-Owner “Locally, Prudential Page Realty is still the same great company, providing the same great service to homebuyers and sellers.”

Through its various brands, Brookfield’s residential real estate franchisees are now present in all 50 U.S. states, 10 Canadian provinces, Mexico and Portugal, with a network of approximately 80,000 real estate agents, 2,800 real estate brokerage locations and more than $150 billion in annual residential real estate transactions.
Brookfield’s parent company, Brookfield Asset Management, is a global asset manager with approximately $150 billion in assets under management. Brookfield is co-listed on the New York and Toronto Stock Exchanges under the symbol BAM and on NYSE Euronext under the symbol BAMA.

About Brookfield Residential Property Services
Brookfield Residential Property Services is a leading global provider of real estate and relocation services, analytics and knowledge. The company’s portfolio consists of leading brands, including Brookfield Global Relocation Services, the second largest provider of global relocation services, Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services, Brookfield Real Estate Services, Royal LePage, Real Living, Via Capitale and Centract. Through its real estate brands, it has nearly 80,000 real estate professionals in more than 2,800 locations, who transact over $150 billion annually. Its global footprint spans North America, the United Kingdom, France, China, Singapore, India, Brazil and Australia, and includes more than 2,500 employees worldwide. It is a division of Brookfield Asset Management, a global asset manager with approximately $150 billion of assets under management.

About Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services
Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services is a leading real estate brokerage franchise and relocation services business. Prudential Real Estate is one of the largest real estate brokerage franchise networks in North America, with more than 1,600 franchise offices in its Network. Prudential Real Estate franchises are independently owned and operated companies selected based upon outstanding performance records, high levels of customer service and business values. Prudential Relocation Services is a leading provider of global relocation services to Fortune 500 corporations. With locations in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, Prudential Relocation – which operates as Pricoa Relocation in Asia and Europe – offers a comprehensive suite of services to its worldwide clients and their transferees.

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For more information, please contact:
Paul Rao
Director of Marketing and Broker,Owner
Direct: 508.533.5122
Mobile: 508.254.5810
Email:PaulRao@PrudentialPage.com

Rick Fox
Fleishman-Hillard
Direct: 312.729.3734
Mobile: 312.286.4983
Email: rick.fox@fleishman.com

Prudential Real Estate Podcasts,  are created around a series of common real estate challenges Vist our website weekly to hear the latest episode.

Prudential Page Realty – your trusted real estate resource for timely, and up to date real estate information.

Is there a child you know who would love to have  a dollhouse of their very own, or perhaps

you might envision this dollhouse becoming a part of your holiday decor and memories for

years to come. Whether it be nostalgia or new memories in the making, enter to win this lovely wooden

dollhouse, ready for you to customize just the way you or the child in  your life would like it. Just click

on the “contact us” page, fill out your  information and enter the word “dollhouse” in the comments section

to be entered in the raffle. A warm and happy holiday season from all of us at

Prudential Page Realty . . .

This weekend – Sunday September 18th, the Prudential Page Realty team, with offices located in Medway, Medfield and Wrentham will be hosting the Fall Extravaganza featuring 43 homes all with Open Houses this weekend.

Visit any of the homes to enter to win a pair of Red Sox Tickets!

Below is a full list or click on the Open House Banner at www.PrudentialPage.com.

It’s the perfect storm of real estate right now – Great Prices and Value – Great Rates – and Great Inventory. Don’t miss out!

It seems as if overpriced homes are everywhere these days. They are beginning to dominate the Q&A sections of many real estate web sites.

One of the great things about having a real estate blog is that we get to see much of what our customers are thinking and doing in their efforts to buy a home or sell a home. Just the other day, I saw the following question that was entered into a search engine which pointed the searcher to our site: