Mayor Menino is ready to crack down on landlords in Allston and Brighton. WHDH Boston reports that Mayor Menino walked through some of the apartments offered to students and was displeased by the state of some of the rentals. He told reporters: "I wouldn't want my kid here, I wouldn't want anyone here this place is a pigs sty, and for a landlord to tell me it ok for a student to move in here, he's wrong."

Landlords blamed the problems with the units more on the tenants. However, that still did not stop city inspectors from citing violations that needed to be addressed. A Boston real estate lawyer can tell you more about the types of violations that you need to be on the lookout for, but most of the violations dealt with repairs. Kevin Watters, a Boston landlord said, "A lot of times what happens is tenants move out they leave a lot of things behind, they wreck the place while they live there, so all we have is a very short window in order to take care of these repairs."

Boston developer Michael David Scott, owner of Southeast Properties, has been indicted on federal fraud charges with regards to a real estate scheme that left countless abandoned properties in city neighborhoods. The Boston Globe reports that Michael David Scott was indicted on 62 counts of wire fraud, bank fraud, and money laundering. He is accused of fraudulently enabling borrowers, many of whom were low income, to borrow hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to buy condos in Roxbury and Dorchester.  

The Boston Herald reports that the W Boston hotel may be going into foreclosure. Prudential Insurance Co. is pushing for the hotel to foreclose. While a Boston real estate lawyer can better explain the process of foreclosure, if the W Boston does go through foreclosure, it may end up costing the city of Boston more than $10 million in city loan funds. Prudential initially invested $192 million into W Boston. 

Prudential is opposed to the developer Sawyer Enterprises' idea to rent out a quarter of the high end condos in the building by saying that rentals of the condos will only bring about wear and tear. The rentals may also prevent future sales of the condos because of the stigma attached to being a rental property. Prudential submitted a court filing that stated: "The debtor has demonstrated no ability to mount a fresh sales campaign to rehabilitate its business or otherwise reorganize nor does it have any prospects for such reorganization on the horizon." 

Mayor Menino has criticized the real estate plans of Vornado Realty Trust. According to the Boston Herald, Mayor Menino is angry over Vornado's plan to bid for an ownership stake in the John Hancock tower while it fails to complete a project in Boston's Downtown Crossing shopping district. Mayor Menino told reporters that it was just wrong for the real estate developer. He said: "It's wrong. It's about greed. All they want to do is enrich their bottom line."

Vornado stopped construction of a $700 million mixed-use high-rise in the center of Boston's Downtown Crossing shopping back in 2008.

Mayor Menino has taken a stand against owners of abandoned properties. The Boston Herald reports that Mayor Menino has created an abandoned property task force to check on properties weekly in order to ensure that owners make "necessary repairs." Mayor Menino warns that if property owners do not cooperate, they will need to go to court with their Boston real estate attorney in order to fight an order to make repairs.

This is all part of an effort by the city of Boston to fight against blight and potentially dangerous properties. Mayor Menino told the Boston Herald: "We don't need buildings like this in our city." He was referring to the abandoned Roxbury warehouse that was engulfed in a fire over the weekend. The fire consumed a whole block of abandoned warehouses. The fire may have been started by fireworks set off by people who may have been illegally squatting on the block. One of the buildings in the blaze was on the city's fire department list as a dangerous building.

While it seems that home sales in the Bay State have dropped overall, there are a few bright spots in the real estate market. According to the Boston Globe, there are a few Greater Boston areas that are reporting home sale increases during the month of July compared with July 2009. In Cohasset, real estate agent Tom Hamilton says that the drop in home sales for Massachusetts did not correlate well with his own experience in the market. He said, "When I saw the sales numbers, I said, 'That is completely inconsistent with the July we had.' Business is good. Business is very good."

The thing that real estate insiders worry about is the fact that it is only a measure of success in one month. Overall, a dip in home sales has been felt not only statewide, but nationwide. Experts worry that this may signal a slowdown in the overall economy. Barry Bluestone, dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University, told the Boston Globe, "You're only seeing an increase from what were relatively low sales levels."

The Boston Herald reports that 1 in 10 households with a mortgage could face foreclosure this summer. Approximately 9.9 percent have missed at least one of their mortgage payments, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. It seems that there are more homeowners struggling with their mortgages. The number of homeowners having issues with making mortgage payments was steadily moving downward, but has recently risen.

As more Americans are facing unemployment and reduced working hours at work, foreclosures have risen and are expected to continue to rise. Over 2.3 million homes have been foreclosed on by lenders since December 2007. Jay Brinkmann, Mortgage Bankers Association's top economist, said: "Ultimately the housing story, whether it is delinquencies, homes sales or housing starts, is an employment story. Only when we see a consistent increase in employment will we see an increase in sales and starts, and a sustained improvement in the delinquency numbers."

A man in Laveen, Arizona was shocked when he was informed by his HOA that a flag in front of his home does not conform with HOA rules. He claims that the HOA rules are at odds with Arizona and federal law. Andy McDonel told ABC news, "The HOA is in the wrong. I have the law on my side."

The flag in question is a yellow flag that measure 3 feet by 5 feet. It has a picture of a coiled snake and the tagline "Don't Tread On Me." The phrase has recently been used by the Tea Party movement, but McDonel claims that the flag is meant to illustrate the sacrifices made by our founding fathers.

While he refuses to take it down, he will be facing fines from his HOA in a few weeks.

Boston homeowners may need to find other ways to get a mortgage modification because the federal government program aimed at helping homeowners facing foreclosure may make matters worse. Fox News reports that local homeowners like April and Scott McMeekin are getting frustrated with attempting to modify their mortgage with their lender. The couple sought help after April became unemployed and Scott's hours were reduced. April McMeekin told Fox, "We called our mortgage company and talked to them and they actually told us about the modification and said it would be perfect for you. It will work for you guys great."

Sales of homes in Massachusetts fell in July which is the first time there was a drop in sales all year. The Boston Herald reports that the Massachusetts Association of Realtors has said that the sale of single family homes was down 28 percent from a year ago. This is the biggest year over year slide since March 2008. Other industry insiders have noted the drop in home sales in the Bay State. The Warren Group has said that home sales have fallen 26 percent after Massachusetts enjoyed a full year of increased real estate activity.