Curious about what's happening in the market for Winchester Homes? I decided to sharpen my pencil and do some number crunching today. Take a look at latest statistics:

These numbers only tell you part of the story. You also need to look at how long properties have been on the market. According to MLSPin, here are the average Days On Market for Winchester Homes:

Single family homes: 107
Condos: 112
Multi family homes: 61

Want to take a look back in time? Here's what was happening in the Winchester real estate market in March.

Okay, I admit it - Google has some very good products that I would have trouble giving up, but as they get bigger and bigger, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with so much of my informaiton in the hands of one company.  Google has just come up with Dashboard.  This new service lets you see how many different Google accounts you have and what the company stores about you. 

Think they don't know much about your life?  Obviously if you use Google Docs, Gmail, Google Alerts or Google Analytics, these are Google products.  But Google has also bought up Picassa, YouTube, Blogger and Feedburner as well. 

The good news is Dashboard gives you easy access to your privacy settings for each of your accounts. 

Of course, Google is touting this as a great thing, but I'm still feeling the hand of Big Brother.  What do you think?

I bought an HTC Hero on Friday. This is a Google phone that runs the open source Android platform. I’m a big fan of open source. I use Firefox as my browser and I built my website on Wordpress. When you open up code to everyone, you get excited people sharing to make wonderful things together!

I warned my husband to expect at least 3 days of me interrupting him at all hours to show him some new cool feature that the phone can do. Even he was impressed when I took him outside, pointed to a star and said, “I wonder what star or planet that is?” whipped out my phone, opened up Google Sky Map and found out we were looking at Venus.

It’s not just fun, but a serious work tool as well. My mobile MLS runs much faster than it did on my Treo. I can also group all communication with a client together, integrating text messages, email, voice mail and phone calls together. I don't need to call my phone to retrieve voice mail messages.  Instead they are downloaded to the phone as WAV files.  I can see a list of the messages by name and play them in any order I want, forwarding and rewinding by just flicking my finger.  I can even email a voice mail message.  Did I mention that the phone is totally customizable? Pretty slick.

With 10,000 apps for the Android, it looks like my husband is going to have to put up with my gushing enthusiasm for much longer than 3 days!

There has been an incredible increase in Facebook email scams in the last few weeks.  I've had 3 hit my inbox in the last week and a half. Here's the latest:

This scam is trying to get you to download and open a file.  What nasty virus do you think is hiding in this one?

Yesterday another enterprising scammer hit me with this one:

Notice this one looks a lot slicker since it's an html email, not just text.  This time if you click on the link, you'll be taken to their phishing Facebook site.  The purpose of this scam is to get your log in information.  Scammers have successfully used this ploy to get access to people's Facebook accounts and then ask their friends for money. 

Here's the first scam that hit my inbox last week.  This is another one trying to get you to download a malicious file.  Notice how all of these scammers try to make it look like the email is truly coming from Facebook.  Each email is different but the purpose the same.

Just remember, there's NO REASON why Facebook would tell you you need to log in to make any change to your account or ever ask you to download a file.  Stay Safe!

Last week the Senate voted to extend the first time buyer tax credit. Today the bill passed Congress. It is expected that President Obama will sign the bill in the next day or so.

The new bill will extend the $8,000 1st time buyer tax credit to include all properties under agreement by April 30th as long as they close by July 1st 2010.  The income limits have been expanded as well. Single people can now make up to $125,000 while married couples can earn up to $225,000 and still take advantage of the tax credit.

This time there is also a provision for move up buyers. If you have been in your house for at least 5 years, you can sell your present primary residence, purchase a new house and receive a tax credit of $6,500.

Here’s a comparison chart showing the difference between the current 1st Time Buyer Tax Credit rules and the new regulation.

There's no question that you have to stay vigilant when you're on the web. This is the 2nd Facebook scam that's come to my inbox in the last week. Remember to NEVER click on a link in an email telling you that you need to log in to upgrade or change something.They're only looking to steal your log in credentials.

Notice how they attempt to make the email look legitimate by making the email look like it comes from a Facebook account.  They also add in a physical location at the bottom of the email as well.  Scammers are very good at making their emails look like they have come from the real company.  Don't Be Fooled!

Tomorrow the Plymouth and South Shore Association of REATLORS is holding it's free Marketing and Tech Fair commonly known as PassTech.  I'm excited to be on the panel "Help!  How Can I Become A Tech-Savvy REALTOR?" from 12 - 1 PM.  I'm honored to be speaking along with Gerry RealtyMan Bourgeois. 

Other topics are "Learn the How To's of Social Media Marketing" with A J Gerritson.  Spencer Taylor of Union Street Media will also be giving a video lesson. 

The vendor fair keeps adding more exhibitors, too.

I've heard great feedback from previous PassTech's and I can't wait for tomorrow.  Here are directions to PASS is you need them.

The leaves are falling from the trees, Halloween has come and gone and we've turned the clocks back. It's time to take a look at what's happening in the Malden real estate market.

Malden Real Estate Market Statistics as of November 2, 2009

The average days on market is another important statistic to look at. Malden single family homes sold in an average of 99 days on the market. Malden condos sold in an average of 100 days on the market while multi family homes in the city sold in an average of 109 days.

Let's compare this to what was happening in Malden in February 2009:

The fall market is historically busier than the winter market, so it's not surprising that the number of months of inventory are down significantly from the winter time. The average sales price of single family homes and condos has continued to slide. Multi family homes have actually had a significant increase in prices. This is primarily due to the fact that there has been a decrease in the amount of short sales and foreclosed multi family properties in the city in the last few months, so less distressed sales translate to less "red tag" sale prices.

I know have daily updated market stats as well and you can go back over the last 5 years to see the trends. Check out more Malden real estate statistics.

Bring your ghosts, goblins and ghouls to Medford on Friday October 30th from 3-4:30. Each year the Medford Chamber of Commerce along with local business in Medford Square and along Salem Street open their doors and pass out candy.

This annual event is for kids 9 and younger. Parents, feel free to dress up as well - it's all part of the fun! Stop by ERA Andrew Realty right in Medford Square for candy and to view one of the largest Department 56 Christmas Villages.

Another day, another scam.  Today's scam is an email telling people that their Facebook password has been changed.  In order to access your new password you need to download and open a zipped (compressed) folder.  Here's what one of the 3 emails I received today said:

Notice that the "From" address makes it look like the email is legitimate.  Don't be fooled - it's very easy to fake a "From" address in an email.

I know you've heard it time and time again, but don't download anything if you weren't already expecting it and never give out your passwords!