Developer Steve Samuels has proposed expanding his Fenway-based holdings to include a new project in the Fenway / Longwood Medical area.

According to the Boston Herald and Boston Business Journal, the $250 million plan filed with the Boston Redevelopment Authority would include a total of 290 apartments, 195,000 square feet of retail and 225,000 square feet of office space. There will be additional parking, too.

Samuels & Associates is the company behind the Fenway Trilogy apartment and mixed-use building as well as the 1330 Boylston complex.

In addition, the company is in the process of closing on its purchase of the 950,000-square foot Landmark Center, across the street.

What this means is that an almost-completely new neighborhood is being carved out of what was one a long-street of parking lots and one-story buildings, many car-parts and light industrial in nature.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts passed legislation last week that will make it easier for Massachusetts’ homeowners to gain protection from creditors should they get into financial difficulty.

The law clarifies a long-standing one that allowed homeowners to hold onto their homes even if they stopped paying their bills.*

From the website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

St.2010, c.___ (S2406), effective March 16, 2011. This new law will provide radical changes to current homestead law.

* Automatically protects up to $125,000 in home equity without filing
* Protects up to $500,000 for those who file for homestead protection
* Allows spouses to both file– currently only one may file
* Clarifies that there is no need to re-file after refinancing
* Provides coverage for homes kept in trusts

Again what it’s saying is, when the law becomes effective, next spring, you will given homestead act protection of $125,000 (for free) automatically when you buy a new home. You can still file for protection of $500,000 for an a fee.

What this means is, if you owe credit card and other debt, they can’t force you to sell your home in order to pay them. Even better, if you should sell your home and make a profit, you can keep that profit (up to the limits) without having your creditors force you to pay them off.

** Check with your real estate attorney for details, exclusions, and specifics **

I don’t know whether or not the law is retroactive, meaning if you don’t already have homestead protection you should contact a real estate attorney or the state to find out if there’s anything you need to do (or pay) in order to be covered.

For more information, check out the Boston Globe and the Mass.gov website.

* Caveat: My understanding of both the existing and revised law is that homestead protection does NOT protect you from foreclosure – if you stop paying your lender, it will take your home away. If you stop paying your other bills, you will be protected from those creditors forcing you to sell your home in order to pay them back.

Mortgage loan rates jumped by about 3/4′s of a point, this past week, throwing another wrench into the works for the residential real estate market.

Freddie Mac‘s weekly survey showed an average rate of 4.83% for the week ending Thursday, up from 4.17% a month ago.

Ten-year US Treasury Note yields have also jumped. Mortgage loan rates mimic the direction of these notes because the average length of time a homeowner holds onto a mortgage is ten years.

I’ll have to check my economics book, but my understanding is that yields are going up because the government is about to issue massive amounts of additional debt, and they will need to increase interest rates to encourage investors to buy them. I’ve also read that yields have gone up because investors are expecting that the stock market will become more appealing during the expected recover over the next year or two so bonds have to increase yields in order to stay a competitive investment alternative.

Regardless, the news of rising rates is bad for just about everyone. If you’re refinancing, obviously, higher rates mean you may not be able to qualify. If you’re looking to buy, your loan approval letter is probably worth the paper it’s printed on.

I’m not convinced that rates are going in one rate and one rate alone.

I am amused by this guy, though, quoted in a Wall Street Journal article:

“I’ve been doing this 15 years, and I’ve never seen rates rise this fast,” said Wade Douroux, president and CEO of Resource Financial Services, a mortgage banking firm in Columbia, S.C.

He’s just a babe in the woods. Those of us with a little more moss on the tree remember quite well the 1980-1981 period when interest rates jumped ten percent in a period of about a year.

A beautiful Beacon Hill home is profiled in today’s Wall Street Journal online real estate site.

It is a two-bedroom, two and ½-bathroom, ~1,368 square foot home in a converted schoolhouse building, located on Phillips Street, on the top of Beacon Hill. It includes a fireplace, luxurious master bedroom with en suite bath and a second, smaller bedroom, also with bath.

The home comes with a deeded garage parking space. The building has a doorman, elevator, and on-site management. The common roof deck has views of the Charles River and, in the distance, Cambridge.

The Wall Street Journal pictorial has several large photos to enjoy.

Please contact us for more information and for buyer’s agent representation.

The seller is being represented by Tracy Campion of Campion & Company Fine Real Estate.

According to newly released data, most Massachusetts’ homeowners continue to hold equity in their homes, meaning they are in good position should they need to sell or even take out new loans or refinance.

CoreLogic, a leading provider of information, analytics and business services, today released negative equity data indicating that fewer than 15 percent of Massachusetts’ homeowners are “underwater” on their mortgages. Even better, as many as 50 percent of Massachusetts’ homeowners have “positive equity” in excess of 40 percent.

Nationwide, it was the third consecutive quarterly decline in negative equity for residential properties. (Decline in negative equity being a good thing.) CoreLogic reports that 10.8 million, or 22.5 percent, of all residential properties with mortgages were in negative equity at the end of the third quarter of 2010.

Over million homeowners have gone from negative to positive equity positions, according to CoreLogic, meaning their homes are worth more than they owe on their mortgage loans.

The company also estimates that the national homeownership rate is under 57%, about ten percent less than the rate quoted by the government. The difference is because CoreLogic removes the homes owned by people who are unlikely to ever see prices return to levels that would allow them to break even on home sales. In effect, their home investment is worthless.