“Ask Toni & Maria” is a real estate column written by Toni Gilardi and Maria DiTullio from Elite Boston Landmark Realty. Have them answer your questions in an upcoming column by emailing info@bostonlandmark.com.
Ladies, always enjoy reading your column. You missed an opportunity to remind businesses and residents to sweep up/clean up around their own property. Just like City Hall, we all have a responsibility to be good neighbors.
Best, Tina
Hello Tina,
You are absolutely correct. Keeping this neighborhood clean is a collective effort! For the most part owner occupants are pretty diligent. Any property owner who is not on the premises 24/7 finds it more difficult to control. (You can’t fix what you don’t see. NO EXCUSE) Sometimes, it is not the occupants of the building where the trash is found. We have heard stories of people from the sub-burbs, who do not want to pay for trash removal, dumping on our City Streets. The list goes on. Talking to your tenants or even providing the proper trash/ recycling bags helps. If the City would STOP allowing trash on the Streets overnight mishaps would be avoided. Perhaps the City could provide and maintain more barrels??? We have to start somewhere.
Hi Toni and Maria,
I bought my place back in 2010 and received the new homeowner’s tax credit. I believe one of the terms for keeping that money is that you must be a resident in that place for three years. However, I am likely relocating for work in the next few months and am unsure if I should just rent out my condo and pay back the money to the government, or if I should keep it unoccupied for a few months until it has been three years, and then rent it out or list it. What are the specific terms for the credit? Can I list my home prior to the three year time limit, so long as settlement does not take place until after?
Thanks,
Anonymous
Hello,
Thanks for writing in. We did a little checking for you and found it to be true. You would need to have the property as your primary residence for 36 months. You can get more facts, rules/regulations on the IRS Web-site. We also recommend you seek private advice from your Accountant. Good luck!
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Have to disagree with Toni and Maria about the City not allowing trash overnight preventing mishaps. The trash pickers will adjust their hours right along with everyone else, tenants will still put their trash out at the wrong time and not bagged properly and more city trash barrels are more places for people to throw their household trash. FYI ….The only way Boston can change the pickup hours in the Northend is to negotiate a new contract with the company who picks up the trash. Then the drivers would have to be consistent about when they pick up.