Do you remember when the screen door would slam as Johnny ran across the porch to the sidewalk and yelled, "I'll be back later!" He joined his gang of friends and went to the ball field to be outdoors all day. At the turn of the twe…

They arrive in packing crates, hidden in the wood slats and shavings that cushion manufactured goods from the other side of the earth. Sometimes they travel around the country in cordwood, delivered conveniently at suburban patios a…

A little introspection will go a long way towards choosing the right management company for your property. Take the time to examine the makeup of your resident population, the physical needs of the infrastructure and the personalities an…

Those of you who use Yahoo, know that it runs "news" items in the center of its web page. Those news items are frequently updated, even though they are not always "news" items in the conventional sense of the word. Sometimes, they are cu…

The previous columns in our Fiberglass Window series were about strength and efficiency properties as they apply to the use of fiberglass. Fiberglass enables windows to handle anything the demanding climate changes in New England throws …

Realtors agree: Kitchens sell. In fact, homeowners returned 85.2 percent of their investment on minor kitchen remodels and 80.4 percent on major remodels, according to a 2006 Cost vs. Value report in Remodeling magazine, prepared in coop…

It's decision time at a meeting between a board and a property manager and the discussion takes an unexpected turn to a document that is back at the property manager's office. Missing from the discussion is an obscure line item from …

A s the housing slump continues throughout New England, developers in Rhode Island are adapting their projects to reflect the changing times. Some developers have opted to rent out their units as apartments instead of putting more produc…

During recent years, while the real estate industry was inflating with breathtaking speed, the mortgage industry blossomed right along with it. When the bubble burst, what resulted in the overblown mortgage industry could be summarized a…

You just got a notice from your condominium board of trustees that they need to spend $3,250,000 on major projects that have been put off for many years. In theory, everyone has agreed to put off the repairs in favor of "saving" on the m…