bostonbubble.com

[Shoeshine]

This Forum is in dire need of freshening up.

Less sub-forums with fresh Titles and new simple catch all descriptions.

When a sub forum hasnt been posted within in over a month,
it's a sign something is wrong or needs adjusting.

I suggest changing the Forum into 3 simple sub forums categories.

1. General or Open Discussion with a new catch all description.

2. News like you have now.

3. References

Or some type of change, anything will better than how it now stands now.

A simple change will breathe life into this place

Please take a look at how many sub forums are never posted in,
this is a sign the sub forum how outlasted its usefullness.

Simplify the forum with new description and many of the people who have left might come back and post again.

I like this place, it's just that it is so dead, it's not worth checking out anymore.

3 Simple categories and the place will liven up again.

This place could once again be the top local Boston forum for housing.


If anyone else would like to weigh with ideas how to liven up this place,
I would like to reqd them.
.
.
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[admin]

Thanks for the suggestion. I have gone ahead and consolidated the forums and simplified the descriptions. I had actually looked into this awhile ago when steverino suggested something very similar but concluded that there was no simple way to do this with the forum software. I looked into it again this morning and discovered a few features I had missed the first time which made the process much simpler, so I went ahead and revamped it all.

All the old posts have been retained, they have simply been moved into the remaining forums.

- admin

[john p]

I think the nature of this whole real estate bubble has thrust itself into the forefront of economics and every day life.

I think that while we try to contain ourselfs to the "subject matter", the subject matter has spilled over to impact so many things. The subprime mortgages torpedoed the banks, and that led to a credit market meltdown that just dried out the working capital and siezed up the economic engine.

While this site started with a bunch of guys providing data and analysis during a sellers market to a buyers market, to now almost a depression. I mean when the Boston Globe called the Real Estate Bubble bursting in 2006 as the story of the year, I thought that was the banner year/ 15 seconds of fame real estate would ever get. Seeing it cause a banking meltdown was surreal, and when you think about it, McCain was trending above Obama before the market meltdown in September, so I think it is safe to say that the subprime mess had a big impact on the election. All throughout this we had discussion and the real estate and stock markets were having their own discussions and behavior was deformed and changed forever. This whole "Bailout" mentality is kind of new; I've really never seen it other than a real small amount of citizens on welfare. What was first just simple research to do some due dilligence to make sure you weren't going to get ripped off buying a house has drilled and drilled down and the subject matter has not found refusal.

I think that the reason why this sit might seem "stale" is that people aren't buying homes right now so they're not doing research. I think the smart people are keeping their eye on the market all the time to understand all the surrounding context and the behavior of all the components and how they will model out in the future. It's pretty complex and it overlays a bizarre distortion which is irrationality. It's like trying to navigate through a maze of those funny mirrors that are constantly moving around. I think you need ot just get in there and develop the skills to react, adapt and recognize.

I study this all the time and many new developments catch me off guard. For example, my wife and I want to refinance and the first group we talked to said that we could do it for $8k in closing costs, PMI and we'd only save a bit with the lower rate; they said our place was worth significantly less than we bought it for in 2006 (yikes). It is of course assessed at more than we paid and "zillows" more than we paid. How can "experts" be so wildly apart? Bummer for me I guess, but I wonder how many people won't be able or want to sell their place because of the same problem, they'd rather just stay put unless they can't afford the place?

Bottom line, the "experts" are mind boggled, Karl Case, who almost has his life's body of work in this is mind boggled. At least for Karl, it is complex and unpredictable enough to at least be interesting to follow. It must be difficult to try to clearly categorize and package this sort of subject matter as it has gone from a solid category to a liquid that spilled over and into other categories, and now is just gaseous and randomly permeating and affecting other completely different areas.

[Shoeshine]

Wow, you really did consolidate things

this might work

the first sub forum has a great name and description,
I think you have covered all the bases with that name and description

The second one is good, thou the description is a little wordy
I think the Title of this forum says it all, the description is almost unnecessary.

Last, but not least, Open discussion is great.

This change should breathe some life into this place

Consider shortening the news and reference sub-forums description,
and I think you have a homerun.

Forums in general have become more Blog like,
and you have moved this Forum in this direction.

I think your first sub-forum should see some action.

The new Title and description, Greater Boston Real Estate and beyond is great.

Could make this forum a little more national, which is good.

Nice Job

[admin]

OK, I've made the description for the "News" forum more succinct. I do tend to have a verbosity problem, so thanks for the feedback.

- admin