Holiday Hours

Just In Boston Properties will be closed Saturday Decemeber, 22nd through Wednesday December, 26th. We hope you have a great weekend and if you really need to get in touch with us, please leave a message on our voice mail. We will be checking it intermittently through out the weekend.
Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays

Happy holidays from Just In Boston Properties! We have had a blast the past week both personally and professionally. Our mini ski-trip was blessed with 2 feet of powder and plenty of wood for the fire. Sorry, we were too busy having fun, we forgot to take plenty of pictures.

But Tuesday was back to reality as we returned from Vermont and had to pull our office together for our first annual holiday party. It was so much fun and I hope we can make it even better next year. Thanks to everyone who came and we hope to see you again soon!

We were able to snap two pics in the middle of hosting....

Holiday Party! Click on Invite to view....

Let it snow, let it snow....

It's that type of year in Real Estate where we can manage to take a day off, or two, or three. Quite frankly, there is not much going on between now and New Year's with everyone more focused on the holidays. We sold a big chunk of inventory over the past few weeks and as a result we are going to take a hard-earned mini vacation. (I can't remember the last day I took off, I think it might have been in October.) Plus we heard that Jay Peak is going to get dumped on with the storm coming on Sunday. So Justin, Dennis and I are heading up north to go skiing/boarding. We hope everyone has a safe weekend and has fun in the snow! We'll see you on Tuesday.

Ronan Park Dog Run

As some of you may know, I live on top of Meetinghouse Hill in Dorchester and I enjoy our lovely Ronan Park like many of area residents. The improvements to the park have been wonderful and we hope to continue the improvement of the park. Below is an open letter to members of the community to review the proposed dog park to be situated on an unused corner of the park. Many of the residents are in favor of the dog park and I think it will be a great addition to the area. Please see below....

Hello Dorchester Dog Owners and Friends-

Our dog park designer will be presenting plans for the proposed Ronan ParkDog Recreation Space at the next Meetinghouse Hill Civic Associationmeeting. The meeting starts at 7pm on Wednesday, December 19 and is held in the First Parish Church (the steeple-less church at the intersection of Church and Adams). The entrance is on the right side of the building. This is the annual holiday potluck meeting, so feel free to bring some tastytreats to share! Some of us have seen a sneak preview of the design plans, and they look fabulous! We hope that if you care about Ronan Park and the area you will be able to come and share your ideas. Apologies in advance if you receive duplicate copies of this email, I wanted to make sure I reachedeveryone. See you soon!

-Paige, RoDogRun

It's cold outside

Well it looks like winter is upon us. I sold my old car last spring, and I just realized that I left my ice/snow brush in the trunk. Looks like I will be making a trip for a new one and let's add some ice-melt and a shovel to the list.

And to turn to less trivial topics, I would like to mention home heating. I just read that the cost of oil heat is expected to rise 39% this winter and natural gas about 10%. Ouch. One more reason to keep the thermostat down this winter. I like to focus on the fact that I am being 'green' by freezing my butt off, somehow it makes it more bearable.

What concerns me is renters and homeowners are going to face some tough choices this winter, add this to the mortgage mess and I think we are going to have a tough time this winter in the real estate market.

On the bright side, great information about heating assistance can be found on the Massachusetts DHCD website. There is good info there for renters and homeowners too. They have information about heating subsidies and low cost loans to help winterize your property and some general tips:

• Caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows that leak air.
• When the fireplace is not in use, keep the flue damper tightly closed.
• Set your thermostat as low as is comfortable and consider an automatic setback thermostat to save additional money.
• Clean or replace filters on furnaces every other month.
• Make sure that warm air registers, baseboard heaters and radiators are not blocked by furniture, carpeting, or drapes.
• Close your curtains and shades at night; open them during the day.
• Have your oil-fired heating system serviced annually and your gas-fired heating system serviced every three years.

Stay warm!