David Bates, Realtor at William Raveis Real Estate

10/27/2026

On Saturday, I will host an open house at one of the most idyllic locations in all of Greater Boston. Check out the video for 65 Rebecca, Scituate!

One of the most idyllic places you could ever have a home: 65 Rebec...

10/26/2026

https://youtube.com/shorts/_-viUR4KIuk?si=VBqq2yyVd8SGnnip

The Norwood Bicycle Depot served the community for 47-years. Create...

10/22/2026

As the only agent involved, I was delighted to sell the mixed-use building that included The Norwood Bicycle Depot and the two apartments above it.

Over 40 years of operation, my client’s business became a part of the community. It provided untold joy to thousands of kids and parents and even was responsible for providing bikes for law enforcement.

The property is perfectly located in downtown Norwood and is a stone’s throw from the commuter rail. It has parking, a garage, and 4,760 square feet. The new owner is intending to keep consistency on the use and should have retail/office space available if you are looking.

10/18/2026

On Success and Failure

Sometimes, I think the best quotes about success and failure are attributed to Thomas Edison, holder of 1,093 U.S. patents.

Of his most famous invention, which folklore contends took him 1,000 fails to succeed in inventing, Edison described the challenging journey in this more empowering way: “The lightbulb is not an invention with a thousand failures; it is simply an invention that required a thousand steps.”

Certainly, after 999 shortfalls, some would have been inclined to write Edison off, call him crazy, tell him to get a real job. Fortunately, years later, Edison was able to reflect on 999 failed attempts from a much more beautiful perspective: “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So true.

Sir James Dyson, another member of the thousand-patent club, famously asserted it took him 5,127 tries to invent the bagless vacuum. Dyson’s optimistic insight into failure is: “Successes teach you nothing. Failures teach you everything. Making mistakes is the most important thing you can do.” Dyson defined the relationship between success and failure more succinctly, as one being a function of the other. “The key to success is failure,” he insisted.

Yet, maybe these quotes are more about perseverance than they are about success and failure? Today, one meaningful failure is enough to crush the enthusiasm of many. But 999 failures? 5,126? It seems fair to say those are the work of immortals.

Perhaps for that reason, my favorite quote about success and failure comes from an accomplished Everyman, Pete Rose, who once defined his ordinariness, saying, “I’m just like everybody else. I have two arms, two legs and four thousand hits.”

Baseball’s all-time leader for hits summed up his journey in the batter’s box this way : “When you play this game twenty years, go to bat ten thousand times, and get three thousand hits, do you know what that means?" For others, it would mean a trip to the Hall of Fame, but for Rose it meant, "You’ve gone zero for seven thousand.”

I feel I’m on the verge of a breakthrough with my business. It undoubtedly took failure to get to this point. But maybe more the Pete Rose–type failure than the Edison/Dyson–type failure.

10/10/2026

Based on their September 28 single-family inventory and how fast they sell homes, you might be shocked at which Massachusetts communities have the fewest months of supply (see map locations with “?”). I was.

At the time I scrutinized 79 key communities for their months of supply, an MLS report covering communities statewide revealed that Massachusetts had 2.5 months of single-family inventory.

What makes the towns with the fewest months of supply surprising?

The towns that are most bereft of single-family home inventory aren’t the big-city locations, like Boston (3.3 months of supply) or Cambridge (2.68).

And while the towns with the biggest comparative demand to their supply aren’t found in the most well-known urban locations, they’re also not found in the most illustrious suburbs. Newton (3.15 months of supply) and Weston (3.7) were in the bottom half of the 79 towns I reviewed. Concord (3.84), Manchester (4.56), and Dover (5.73) were bringing up the rear. Brookline was dead last, rocking 6.08 months of supply.

A few other surprising characteristics of the low-months-of-supply communities concern what they lacked. The four towns with the fewest months of supply didn’t have a Top 20 high school ranking among them. And only two of the four sported commuter rail stations. In a notoriously high-priced era, two of the communities had exciting median home prices in the 7s, but two had medians that topped $1 million.

The four towns where inventory has been moving the fastest aren’t top of mind to most Bay State residents.

So which towns were they?

At No. 4 is Peabody (1.31 months of supply). No. 3 is Weymouth (1.25). And tied for first are Melrose (1.11) and Medfield (1.11).

10/06/2026

How often do you list a Massive Four-Family, on a GIGANTIC lot, in a key urban location, with almost unlimited garage parking--that is close to a revitalized downtown and train station. Check it out!

On an awesome scale of 1-10, this investment property probably rank...

10/02/2026

I have been enjoying youtube videos of Ground Marshalls escorting fighter pilots to take off. They use over-the-top theatrics and at the same time there is a certain formalness and respect that is doled out. I decided to tribute that type of videos with my new listing @ 65 Rebecca Road, Scituate, which shows a ground marshall escorting a house to its FOR SALE launch.

Made my first AI assisted property video. I became engrossed in vid...

03/10/2026

You might think the most important moment in a listing’s life is the closing. It isn’t.

It’s the first few days after it hits the market.

That’s when demand is highest—when buyers who haven’t yet found what they’re looking for come out at warp speed to see the new listing.

These buyers have seen a lot of property. They know what they want and what they typically get—and don’t get—for the money.

So when they tour a new listing, their fingers are already on the offer trigger.

Then their perfect home comes to market and—kapow!—the buyer who had been hoping to throw in lowballs at mundane properties is suddenly chomping at the bit to submit a ridiculous over-ask.

Today, however, at least one big brokerage wants to restrict a portion of its new sales inventory from coming to the market at large at the get-go.

How might inhibiting a listing from reaching the widest possible audience impact its final sales price? My experience tells me: maybe significantly.

Back in the day, I wrote a weekly column for Curbed Boston, a popular real-estate blog. At the time, the Hub was overflowing with over-ask offers, and I had heard of a Cambridge single-family that sold a million pre-inflation dollars over the ask. So I contacted the listing agent and asked how many total offers he had received.

Surprisingly, he answered: “Two.”

So you can see—all you need are two exceptionally qualified buyers to blast an offer into the stratosphere faster than liquid hydrogen.

I know when I talk of yesteryear it sounds like I’m saying I used to walk four miles through the snow to get to the log-cabin elementary school I attended. But check out the following, more recent million-dollar over-asks.

In the last ten years, MLS—the most widely distributed listings platform in the Hub—reveals the details of nine more Cambridge single-families that sold at least one million buckaroos over asking. One even sold for $2 million over ask.

Those sales had two key qualities.

One, they found buyers immediately, when the listings were new to the market.

And two, no buyer’s agent was responsible for more than one million-over-ask sale.

I’m not privy to the offer situations behind all these seven-figure premiums paid. But consider this: what if there was even one situation with only two competing buyers—and instead of marketing the property at large, the listing company had restricted the marketing in such a way that the second buyer and buyer’s agent didn’t even know the property was available for sale?

How much might that have cost the home seller?

You don’t need a million-dollar over-ask offer for this policy to affect your home sale. Any program that lowers exposure and demand can reduce buyers, showings—and the final sale price.

02/16/2026

Are Boston’s Million-Dollar Condo Buyers Choosing the Suburbs Over the City?

My latest breakdown reveals an unusual trend.

In 2021, Boston sold 1,372 condos for over a million dollars.

Four years later? Just 1,091 sales.

So despite inflation and appreciating prices, the city sold 20% fewer high-end condos.

Higher interest rates might be the easy explanation.

But if that’s the reason, why did million-dollar condo sales in Middlesex County jump 33% over the same period?

In 2025, Arlington — located in Middlesex — nearly doubled its 2021 total. Waltham, also in Middlesex, more than tripled 2021.

At higher condo price points, Middlesex’s rise was more impressive.

While 2025 saw 33% more $1+ million condo sales, Middlesex also recorded 79% more $1.5+ million sales — and three times as many $2+ million sales.

Newton, the suburban king of high-end condo growth, 11X’d its $2+ million sales — going from three to thirty-three. Last year, a Ledgebrook townhouse in Newton nearly broke $3 million, settling at $2,985,000.

What gives? Why are elite suburban condo sales rising while city sales taper?

The question begs a closer look. But certainly, what you get for the money plays a role.

In a time when home offices and flex space are prized, my survey for sale Boston condos priced of $1–$2 million showed that only 26% offered at least 1,500 square feet of living space.

In Middlesex County, 79% did.

And parking? About one in five of those Boston condos had at least two spaces.
In Middlesex, more than three in five did.

Of course, if doesn’t hurt that condo fees in Middlesex average roughly $500 less per month than comparable Boston inventory. But that alone isn’t the full explanation.

Are traditional city buyers choosing suburban life instead? Are more downsizing sellers staying local?

Possibly.

In many Middlesex towns, newly constructed single-family homes are scarce — and wicked expensive.

Meanwhile, many elite-tier condos there are newly built townhouses, a.k.a. “attached” single families.

They live like singles.

But sell at a discount to newly constructed detached homes.

02/09/2023

It was late at night and I was scouring some recent sales when I noticed something strange.

I was reviewing Boston's luxury sales for Q4 when I noticed something strange, that a "Stephen King" was associated with one of the most expensive sales of t...