Real Estate Search Blog

Boston real estate is hoppin’! There comes a time in life when an abrupt change can turn life completely around, in a good way. When looking to settle down and purchase real estate, most people do not stay within the limits of the town they grew up. Relocating to a different city can be an exciting, life-changing move.

The city of Boston has been opening its arms to newcomers since the first immigrant arrived at the Port of Boston long ago. Things have changed a great deal since then (though Boston has retained its soft spot for cobble-stoned streets and brownstones).

Here are a few highlights of exciting things that happened in Boston over the past year:

Boston residents and others were invited to skate on the ice at Fenway Park, home of the Red Sox. First Skate at Fenway Park was arranged in preparation for the NHL’s Winter Classic Game on January 1st.

The 2nd annual Boston Greenfest took over Boston last summer with music, art, seminars, workshops, and activities.

What would a major city be without a Restaurant Week? Boston area residents enjoyed the delicious cookery of over 200 restaurants.

Though not quite up there with Paris or New York, Boston Fashion Week has grown over the years to become a press-magnet and party-fest. All the better for its guests!

Renee Zelwegger and James Franco won the annual Harvard Hasty Pudding Award.

(Not a killer bee attack) Surrogates Filmed in Boston, along with many more movies:

• The Women, starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening and Eva Mendes: September 12.
• My Best Friend’s Girl, starring Dane Cook and Kate Hudson: September 19.
• Bride Wars, starring Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway: January 9, 2009.
• Paul Blart: Mall Cop, starring Kevin James: January 16, 2009.
• The Pink Panther 2, starring Steve Martin and Andy Garcia: February 6, 2009.
• The Box, starring Cameron Diaz and James Marsden: March 20, 2009.
• Real Men Cry, starring Mark Ruffalo and Ethan Hawke: June 2009.
• Ashecliffe, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, directed by Martin Scorsese: October 2, 2009.
• The Surrogates, starring Bruce Willis: November 20, 2009.
• The Company Men, starring Ben Affleck, Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones.

There’s no better time to explore Cambridge real estate than during Restaurant Week in Boston. From March 14th to 19th and March 21st to 26th, over 200 restaurants in Boston and its surrounding neighborhoods gear up to offer three-course lunches for $20 and three-course dinners for $33. Clear your schedule for the week, book a couple of relaxing nights at The Charles Hotel, and take your taste buds on an exciting adventure in Cambridge!

Chez Henri, Rialto, and Henrietta’s Table are just a few critically praised restaurants in Cambridge that are offering mouth-watering meals for Restaurant Week. Upstairs on the Square is located in Harvard Square and is a fun place to take kids because of its rosy decor. By visiting, you’ll soon find out that getting from place to place in Cambridge is half the fun of living there! If you’re travelling with your family, using the subway is a fun, safe, and easy way to visit landmarks in Cambridge and Boston.

Take a look at the full list of restaurants in Cambridge that are participating in Restaurant Week. For advice on relocating to Cambridge, Charles Cherney is an excellent Cambridge real estate agent who is passionate about providing people with helpful information about his beloved city of residence. Stop by his website today to browse the Cambridge MLS listings and to contact him for further information.

A proposed ban on texting while driving in Boston could make buying real estate in Boston even more appealing for families looking to plant roots in a safe city. The ban on texting while driving passed through the House on February 4th, and will head to the Senate.

Described as “one of the toughest laws on texting in the nation,” the ban would punish first and second-time offenders with fines, and drivers who cause an accident while texting could be faced with prison time (under reckless driving laws) and a fine. It would also require drivers to use hands-free devices when talking on the phone, and would ban junior operators from using their cell phones in any way while driving.

The new ban makes Boston an even more appealing city for individuals and families interested in relocating to a safer city. In some Boston neighborhoods, it’s possible to do without a car because of Boston’s convenient transportation options such as “the T” (the subway), buses, designated bike paths, and of course, sidewalks. Pedestrians should feel even safer after the ban on texting while driving is put into place.

For more information on Boston real estate, please visit Prudential Prime Properties on the web. Prudential Prime Properties is your source for only the most knowledgeable and professional real estate agents in the Boston area.

Thinking about relocating to Boston? Why not? The Travel Channel thinks Boston is one of the country’s most exciting places to visit — and we think Boston is one of the most exciting places to live. Here’s a list of Travel Channel highlights:

Man vs. Food: Adam visited Eagle’s Deli and challenges a customer to a giant hamburger-eating duel.

Samantha Brown: Sam competed in a sausage-eating contest in East Boston.

Family Travels: The show took viewers on a historical walking tour led by costumed colonials.

The first step in the relocation process is visiting the city you’d like to live in. Visit Boston for a week and try out its restaurants (see the previous entry on Restaurant Week), museums, and shopping areas. Unsure of which neighborhood you’d like to buy in? Do you love one particular neighborhood, but are you interested in researching comparable areas? Visit Prudential Prime Properties on the web to learn all about Boston real estate and look at the homes for sale in Boston.

Boston’s Restaurant Week is the perfect time to visit and take a look at what Boston real estate has to offer. Restaurant Week in Boston takes place this year from March 14th to 19th and March 21st-26th. This is your chance to sample all of the great restaurants that the City of Boston has to offer without emptying your kids’ college fund! At over 200 participating restaurants, a three course lunch menu is only $20.10, a three-course dinner menu is only $33.10, and a new two-course lunch menu is only $15.09 (an entree and either a dessert or an appetizer).

The list of restaurants isn’t available anywhere on the Web just yet, but here’s six of the 200 restaurants who fed Bostonians in last year’s Restaurant Week:

Via Matta (Italian, Back Bay) *

The Capital Grille (American, Back Bay)

Mamma Maria (Italian, North End)

Oak Room at The Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel (Steak, Back Bay)

Oishii Boston (Sushi, South End)

Top of the Hub (American, Back Bay)

*This blogger highly recommends Via Matta. Mmm.

Visit Prudential Prime Properties on the web to scope out the many options for real estate in Boston.

Considering relocating to Cambridge, MA? One of the many benefits of purchasing real estate in Cambridge is that there are plenty of parks and recreational areas within the city. Below is a small selection of places to run and play in Cambridge.

Dr. Paul Dudley White Path

Above is a picture of the Dr. Paul Dudley White Path, the 18-mile long bike path and walkway lining the Charles River. On any given day, the path is populated by runners, dog-walkers, bikers, walkers, and people-watchers.

Fresh Pond

Popular with runners and dog walkers is the 2.25 mile pathway encircling Fresh Pond, where wildlife is abundant in all seasons of the year. For the golf enthusiast there is the Fresh Pond Golf Course, which is open to the public and even offers lessons.

Danehy Park

For bocce and horseshoe courts, playgrounds, picnic areas, and sports fields, make a visit to Danehy Park. It is the largest park in Cambridge and holds frequent events geared toward families and children.

New playground at Cambridge Common

Located near Harvard University is Cambridge Common. Once an important site during the American Revolution, today it is a pleasant park and the site of the new Alexander Kemp Playground.

Charles River Canoe & Kayak

Not satisfied with just admiring the Charles River? Learn how to kayak or canoe by taking a class with Cambridge’s Charles River Canoe & Kayak. Once you learn the basics you can sign up for an exciting trip out to any location you’d like to explore, like Walden Pond, Sudbury River, or simply right down the Charles. The company recently opened a new location in Cambridge’s Kendall Square, right on Third Street.

For a full map of Cambridge’s public parks, recreation areas, and reservations, visit this website. There are plenty of reasons to browse the beautiful homes and condos that make up Cambridge real estate. Browse the drop-down Categories menu on the sidebar of this blog to look at past entries spotlighting various aspects of moving to Cambridge.

If your investment instincts are tickled by Boston MA real estate’s falling prices, there are some things you should do before you even begin talking to a real estate agent. Knowledge is power. To be well-informed about investing in Boston real estate is to be prepared for any surprises that might occur along the way. The following tips are provided by The National Real Estate Investors Association.

1. Buy your own home first. This is the best practice in the real estate investment process. You could eventually use your first home as an investment and rental unit for when you purchase an “upgrade” property later on down the line.
2. Read up. The original tip here is “go back to school,” but there are plenty of free resources out there that offer more flexibility. Browse the latest books, build an RSS feed of real estate blogs, take an online course, join a local investment group. Sometimes, the best way to learn is by talking to other people, so joining a group may be the most helpful option. You can learn from others’ stories of success (and failure.)
3. Learn your investment market. Again, joining local groups may be your best bet here. Even if you have lived in the Boston area your entire life, you may be unaware of the habits of renters and students. By talking to others with more experience, you’ll learn what to expect when investing in real estate in Boston.

Tourists visit Boston during the holidays each year because the city offers dozens of fun things to do during the holiday season. The city of Boston is arguably one of the best places to live in America purely for its abundance in arts and culture.

First, there is the famous Boston Symphony Orchestra, which puts on several Holiday Pops concerts each year. Many elementary schools both in the city of Boston and in its surrounding suburbs purchase discounted BSO tickets and offer annual field trips for students. Looking at real estate in Boston could offer your children the chance to appreciate music at a young age. And then there is the nationally acclaimed Blue Man Group, which puts on several performances just for Boston. The Boston Ballet’s performance of Nutcracker is always worth seeing, followed by a starlit skate on Boston Common’s Frog Pond.

Boston is certainly not short of opportunities for holiday shopping. There’s Downtown Crossing, Harvard Square, the Prudential Center, Boylston Street, Newbury Street, Copley Place, and the CambridgeSide Galleria, just to name a few places for festive holiday shopping.

One of the things you might be looking for when searching for a new place to live is the quality of the area’s culture. Stated plainly, some cities are not up to par when it comes to the quality of their museums and performance art. The city of Boston offers some of the nation’s best museums and performance groups. Take a look at some of the real estate in Boston, and have no worries when it comes to the quality of your child’s, and your own, life. Whether you are hunting for condos in Boston, townhomes in Boston, brownstones in Boston, or single family homes in Boston, Prudential Prime Properties may have exactly what your looking for.

Boston, MA may be one of the best cities to raise a family. Aside from being recently named one of America’s safest cities, the state of Massachusetts has also been named one of the top ten states for health care needs.

In October, 2009, Forbes.com reported the ten states with the best health care systems, which included Massachusetts. The report was based on a study performed by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund. Health care in Massachusetts was ranked highest among the fifty states.  The report ranked the states across five areas: access to health care, prevention and treatment, potentially avoidable hospital use and costs, health care differences among ethnic and income groups, and “healthy lives.”

If you’re looking to relocate, consider taking a look at the interesting properties that Boston real estate has to offer. It’s no surprise that Boston has ranked one of the healthiest cities in America. Patients from all parts of the country travel to Boston’s Mass General Hospital for the most advanced medical care in the country. The city is small and manageable enough to be known as “the walking city,” yet it is certainly not short of fun things to do for all ages. In any neighborhood in Boston, one can find several parks and playgrounds, such as Downtown’s Boston Common or South Boston’s own Castle Island. The city also continues to grow more and more bicycle-friendly as the years pass.

If you are interested in living in the heart of one of the nation’s healthiest states, there are plenty of homes in Boston and condos in Boston that are worth taking a look at. Whether you are after a small condo, brownstone, or home in the Boston area, browse some of the gems that real estate in Boston has to offer.

Looking to relocate to Boston? If you can imagine yourself spending your Saturdays wandering its quaint cobblestone streets, sipping a glass of merlot over dinner at a dimly lit trattoria, and topping off the night with a cool dish of mint gelato, then the North End might be the right neighborhood for you. Your search for real estate in Boston might just end at one of Boston’s most cultured neighborhoods.

The North End is Boston’s own Italian district, filled with over 100 family-run Italian restaurants, cafes, bakeries, gelato shops, gourmet grocery stores, and clothing boutiques. If you are looking for homes in Boston or condos in Boston, Boston’s North End may offer you an exciting lifestyle with culture right beyond your doorstep.

Prudential Prime Properties is currently featuring two luxury condominiums at 44 Prince Street in Boston’s North End. The properties feature modern finishes with Old World details such as a clock tower, a courtyard with a fountain, a garden, and a fireplace in every unit. Most units also have a patio, balcony, or deck. Pictured below is 44 Prince Street in Boston.

Below are the floorplans for Prudential Prime Property’s two condos in Boston.

The North End is also just steps away from Faneuil Hall, the TD Bank North Garden, Government Center, the Financial District, and the Mass Bay Transit System (MBTA). There’s no better time to check out all that Boston real estate has to offer.