Michael Pahre considers the legal case lawyers could be building even now against the city's new five-students-and-you're-out law.

No, really. Jason Feifer details the scam, along with a couple of tips: Never send anybody money in advance just to see a place, and never trust somebody named Louis Pontecorvo.

Some renters lose their heat after apartment foreclosures:

New mortgage-company landlords in some foreclosed Boston apartments haven't made needed repairs or paid for heating oil.

This Globe story makes the point when it comes to certain mortgage companies - they're not trying to be evil, but they wind up being that way anyway.

Although mandated school busing here in Boston was implemented for a reason, I firmly believe that, for a number of reasons, it did noit work out the way it was intended.

It's a known fact that, for many years prior to mandated school busing, the all-white Boston School Committee had violated the Racial Imbalance Law in the most mean-spirited, egregious fashion, deliberately keeping de facto segregation of the Boston Public Schools intact.

I just signed a new lease for an apartment here in Boston and was thinking this morning about the rental market and how it differs so much from city to city, and even from section within city to section within city. Around here, if you see anything that even seems remotely passable at a decent price, you need to act immediately (as in same day), show up with check in hand, be pressured, give a pint of blood and some fingers, and then pay first/last/security/brokers fee in many cases.

Section 8 Voucher Re-Opened until Oct 31st.

The Boston Housing Authority has re-opened its Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) Program waiting list for Priority One applicants only. Priority One applicants are those families and individuals in most emergent need of housing such as victims of domestic violence, homelessness, displacement by fire or condemned housing and no fault eviction. Those applicants can submit their application with the Priority One Self-Certification form in person by October 31, 2006 at 5pm or by mail, postmarked no later than October 31, 2006. For a complete list of requirements, please visit the BHA's website at www.bostonhousing.org.

John reads in the Globe that Suffolk-county foreclosures are up 50% and he gets worried:

...Of course high-end condo prices are too high in the city, but people in the neighborhoods have also been riding the valuation wave. A collapse would be bad news not only for fat-cat developers but for the little guys too. Think economic downturn, layoffs, higher municipal taxes, crime wave, abandoned properties, etc.

But real-estate-agent John says relax, the Globe reporter is just showing (willful?) ignorance of statistics:

... However, nowhere does she report the most crucial data - yes, foreclosures in numbers increased, but did foreclosures in percentage increase? If the number of mortgage loans taken out last year increased by the same number as did the foreclosures, then you would expect more foreclosures.

In fact, the total number of condo sales in Massachusetts, in 2003, according to MLS, was 17,651. In 2004, it was 22,138. That is a 25.4% increase. (Single-family home sales increased a much-more modest 11.1%, from 45,000 to around 50,000.) Foreclosures increased a similar 27.8% in that time period, according to the article.

In Suffolk County (which is Boston, Chelsea, Revere and Winthrop, I believe), condo sales increased from 3,125 to 4,592, more than 46%. Foreclosures increased 49% between last year and this year, according to the article. ...