I now have a feeling of what it must be like to be a reality TV star.  There's nothing quite like taking 10 minutes of video and interview and cutting it down to about 20 seconds for a local TV news sound bite.  Have a look at my (very brief!) interview on the Channel 5 WCVB TV news broadcast Wednesday night:

The Boston Channel

Interesting story idea, but not a whole lot of detailed information there.  Sound bites only.....of course.  And paraphrasing.  So if I sound stupid, please blame it on the editing!

And if you want to fast forward, the quote of the day comes in the last 10 seconds from Ed Harding on the anchor desk:

"Another thing to keep in mind, is with lenders once again requiring larger down payments, that's more money that you have tied up in a home that could be invested elsewhere."

With the stock market down 40% in 6 months, I am sure he must mean under your mattress!

Since a large portion of our business at Charlesgate Realty Group is leasing, I am not about to take a typical knee-jerk real estate agent reaction and bash renting.  I think it is a great option for a lot of people (especially in cities like Boston).  I also think buying can be a great option for many people.  It all depends on individual circumstances as to how I would advise people.  But I am going to try to put together a detailed rent vs buy analysis for Boston based on current, local market information in the next week or so look for that soon.....