Today's Business: Spring Market, Mayoral Race, Business Climate, Social Security, Josh Kraft

On today’s program, we talk with the President of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors about the upcoming spring market. We’re also joined by the senior reporter from the Boston Business Journal, Greg Ryan to dissect the cities Mayors race. Tom O’Brien CEO of HYM investments talks about the business climate in Massachusetts. Mike Marshall of Marshall Wealth Management explains how to get the most out of your Social Security benefits. And finally, Josh Kraft candidate for mayor of Boston talks about his campaign.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the New England Business Report with Joe Short
Sleeve and Kim Carrigan, a weekly roundup and discussion of
the top business news impacting our New England economy.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Welcome everybody to the New England Business Report on this
Sunday morning. It is February sixteenth, and carraging along with
Joe Short Sleeve. Joe long weekend for lots of folks
and oh yeah, you.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Know aday about the long weekend and President's Day and
all the kids going off. But I was asked, I
wanted to say, you know, the first thing I asked, Kim,
where are we on sunsets?

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Cam at this point? I mean, oh.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Goodness, well, we're doing so well. You know, I think
the sunsets after seven point thirty, like by the middle
of March.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Can you want that?

Speaker 2 (00:37):
That is so good? You know what? You know what
the really tough part about all that is, I just
think we go the other direction in June.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Oh boy, do we have to go there right this
very moment.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
All right, with that little ray of sunshine, let's take
a look at what we've got coming up today. We
got a really great show coming your way. Yeah, first thing,
we're going to talk about. You know, we're talking about spring,
and it does seem very far away because obviously we've
just had this big snowstorm. It's cold here, and it
is President's Weekend, which is one that I think a
lot of people spend snow skiing. But the spring market,

(01:13):
when it comes to real estate, is just around the corner.
And most realtors will tell you that that's the most
important part of the year for them. It's really impactful
for their business. So we're going to get a preview
of what the spring market might look like, which means
a lot to other businesses. You know, the real estate
market has so much to do with that.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
What's normally you know what I mean, they talk about
a normal market. Okay, what's a normal market? At this point,
you are so right.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
Incoming president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors is going
to join us. Her name is Sarah Gustafson, and she's
going to be our guest. We'll chat with her about
real estate. Greg Ryan's coming up. He's the senior reporter
at the Boston Business Journal. Now he's going to talk
to us about the Boston mayoral candidate, Joshkraft and his

(02:00):
housing proposal that he released this past week. That's an
interesting conversation because we're going to get we're going to
get you know, obviously Gregg's read on that proposal, and
then a short time thereafter we're going to get to
hear from the candidate himself.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
That's right, Josh Kraft is going to be right here,
front and center on this program. So don't don't anybody move. Yeah,
Josh Craft will be up in our second half hour,
and we're also going to be talking with you know,
as Kim and I were discussing Josh Craft. Obviously, we're
a business program, and we always ask our questions from
a business point of view, and we're wondering, Okay, you

(02:36):
got your incumbent, Michelle woh, and you've got Josh Craft.
I mean, who is the business candidate? So I think
it was surely lay Younger. The Boston Globe wrote an
article recently and her headline was basically, want to make
business leaders squirm, ask them about Boston's mayor's race. And
one of the people she talked to is Tom O'Brien
of HYM Investments. Of course, they're beating that huge development

(02:57):
ten thousand units over there at Suffolk Downs which came
to screeching. So we want to talk to Tom will
be on the program. We'll talk to him and say, okay,
you know, where is the business community on Josh Craft,
Where is the business community on Michelle Who?

Speaker 4 (03:11):
What do they need to see? So on and so forth.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
And also let's say Mike Marshall is going to be
along of course Martial Wealth Management, and he's going to
be talking with his social security specialist Paul kill Day
to explain the decision to eliminate the windfall elimination provision
for employees of states and municipalities. Apparently he is saying

(03:36):
this is going to make a lot of people eligible
for an increase in social security, which is a great idea.
I guess so a lot of people have been pining
away for that. But Mike will explain that to us shortly.
But it does seem Kim coming back to today's program,
heavy on the business community, heavy on this Boston mayor's race,
and going to be interesting to hear what Josh Craft

(03:58):
has to say.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, I mean, he's been out certainly on the stump
in this last week and half since he officially announced
he's popping up in a lot of places, and I
think what's really interesting is that he keeps saying over
and over and certainly we can talk to him about it,
but in previous interviews that he doesn't really want to
talk about ideology so much, but he wants to talk
about what it is that he thinks he can do

(04:21):
that Michelle, who has not done so you know, it's
he's drawing a distinction between the two very early in
this race too, so that people can sort of get
in their lane what is important to them.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
Right And of course, if he is elected mayor or
wants to be mayor, obviously there's this whole question about
this Craft soccer stadium over there and Effett and if
you're mayor, what do you how do you how do
you recuse yourself from that? I mean, it's basically Dad's project,
So what do you do there? But we're going to
have to have that conversation with Josh Kraft a little

(04:58):
bit later in the program.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
But first, as we ment the spring real estate market
just around the corner, and typically a real tone setter
for the industry joining us to talk about what's anticipated
is Sarah Gustafson. She is the twenty twenty five, President
of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, Sarah. Great to have
you with us this morning on the New England Business Report.
Before we get started with those predictions about the spring market,

(05:21):
let's talk a little bit about rates. They've been hovering
right around seven percent. So what has that means meant
so far here in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 5 (05:32):
What we're seeing is because the race has stabilized, is
that is helping get some of the people who may
have been on the sidelines with the housing market off
of the sidelines.

Speaker 6 (05:41):
And that has been.

Speaker 5 (05:42):
Inherent in the increased in listings that we saw come
on in January. We wor up about seven percent in
single families and fifteen perccond condos. So we are now
seeing people, as we refer to it in real estate,
is mary the house and date the race. It looks
like people are starting to make foods based upon the
interest rates stabilizations we've been seeing.

Speaker 4 (06:03):
Sir, What was that phrase you used there against Sarah Marrett?
Would you say, marry the house and day there eight,
Marry the house and date the raid. Okay, all right,
I get it.

Speaker 3 (06:16):
My brother's a mortgage broker, so he'd appreciate that. Okay,
So you know, Kim and I are starting the program.
We said, you know, you guys often refer to a
normal spring market. Is there such a thing as a
normal spring market anymore?

Speaker 5 (06:30):
There's fluctuations in every market depending upon me here and
the market at that particular time. So what we're looking
for in twenty twenty five is we're starting to see
the inventory shortage that we've been experiencing for so many
of the past years, uh lessoning, which is what was
anticipated by the National Association of Real Grips. They did

(06:51):
expect doctor, You said that they would expect to see
about ten percent in streets and inventory, and based upon
what we are seeing in based on January numbers right now,
we do believe that is going to continue in the
Massachusetts area into our spring market, which is very exciting
because it has been a challenging market for some people
over the past few years. So it looks like we

(07:12):
should be being the more homes available for our buyers
out there. The caveat to that, though, is we are
still in a critical housing shortage. To have a normal market,
you figure about normal, and that's when you've mentioned a
normal spring market in a normal market, you have about
six months of inventory, which means that for the houses

(07:33):
that you have, it would take about six months for
all the buyers to purchase them. In most of our areas.
In January, we did see most of our towns still
below three months of inventory. So even though we're seeing
this up tip with more listings coming on that we
anticipate through the spring of twenty twenty five, we are
still in a critical housing shortage in the state. All

(07:56):
factors considered, it's going to feel a little better for
some buyers perhaps than in years previous. However, we are
still not at what we would consider a quote unquote
normal market for housing.

Speaker 2 (08:07):
So, Sarah, I think what you're saying is, considering the circumstances,
you do anticipate that the spring market's going to be
a pretty decent one.

Speaker 5 (08:15):
Yes, yes, we are. We are going to It will
still be busy, however, a buyers should have a few
more options perhaps than they did in previous years.

Speaker 2 (08:23):
So is it going to be a seller's market this
spring or a buyer's market?

Speaker 5 (08:28):
When we are below six months of inventory, it's considered
a seller's market. So, based upon the numbers that we're
seeing and as mentioned, still being in a critical housing
shortage with below three months of supply. It's still trending
to be a seller's market into the spring.

Speaker 3 (08:44):
Let's talk a little bit about days on the market,
how long homes are sitting at this point, and I
guess maybe if we talk about that, let's also let's
talk about in the context of the of the high
end and perhaps you know, somewhat of the mid range
and then a little bit more towards more four doable homes,
if you could break it down for a little bit.

Speaker 5 (09:03):
That is not data that I have in front of
me right now, and I'm happy to get that information
for you. So we are seeing overall, anecdotally throughout the
region that the days on market are starting to increase
slightly depending upon the price point and the homes that
are available.

Speaker 3 (09:25):
Right Okay, but then let's talk about it in terms
of what's selling. I mean, we hear that if you're
you know, price below you know, six hundred thousand, you
can count on your house going in a heartbeat, but
above that it slows down.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
Is that is that a fair characterization.

Speaker 5 (09:40):
It's always going to depend upon the market and the
pricing for the competition for the particular home miss available.
So it's working with a seeds engagents that can help
you ensure that your host priced appropriately for the market
that it is in to help it sell quickly and competitively.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Sarah, Sometimes in the real estate world, the state will
be broken up into regions in some regions are more
successful than other regions. Is that the case right now
here in twenty twenty five are they're parts of the
state that are more desirable and more homes are being
sold due to.

Speaker 5 (10:15):
The current housing shortage that statewide, we are seeing that
it is a critical shortage everywhere in the state, which
has caused people to perhaps look in different areas than
they otherwise would have because of the lack of inventory
that we've seen. So right now, statewide, we are still
seeing all markets are being.

Speaker 3 (10:34):
Sarah Gushuson is our guest. She is the president of
the Massachusets Association of Realtors, but she is also with
the Keller Williams Pinnacle in Central Massachusetts up there in Westboro.
What's the job of president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors?

Speaker 4 (10:52):
What's on your desk?

Speaker 5 (10:53):
Thank you so much for asking. Are the representative of
our over twenty five thousands of real term members the
state of Massachusetts, and we help ensure that we are
promoting home ownership and private property rights for those in
our state.

Speaker 4 (11:09):
What does that mean?

Speaker 5 (11:10):
We are advocates for homeownership through the legislation and the
state that's presented and promoted and servicing the consumers in
an ethical and.

Speaker 6 (11:22):
Professional manner.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
And do you get the sense that young people can
buy a house? Nowadays?

Speaker 5 (11:28):
Young people have the opportunity to buy a house that
they qualify for the mortgages in order to obtain housing.
The state has been very active with the rate the
reason susory dwelling unit build it has been passed. Hopefully
create more housing, that will create some movement that will
allow our younger generations to be able to become homeowners.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Tell us what you're seeing in Westboro at this point?
How would you size up the market out there and
who's buying, who's selling.

Speaker 7 (11:57):
It's still a.

Speaker 5 (11:58):
Very busy market. Fact that we are in the winter,
it's been a fairly mild winter. So the properties, if
they have come on and they have done competitively priced,
we are still seeing them continue to move oftentimes again,
if they are competitive in their pricing. They are still
seeing multiple offers and that's what it comes down to
us working with the seas eng agents that can help

(12:19):
guide you through the process and help you you abtain
your dream regarding homeownership.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
All right, Sarah, thank you so very much for being
a part of the New England Business Report. Very much
appreciate your insight. You know, Joe, housing, it's going to
be a big issue when it comes to this year's
Boston mayoral race, There's no two ways about it. This
past week, one of the candidates, Josh Kraft, coming up
with his proposal for housing, increasing housing, and of course

(12:50):
Josh Craft is going to be with us later in
the show. But coming up next we're going to talk
to Greg Ryan from the BBJ, talk to him a
little bit about theosal, how he thinks that compares to
what we have seen from the current administration. So coming
up next, Greg Ryan from the BBJ, This is the
New England Business Report.

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Speaker 3 (15:32):
And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning. You know, we're talking a lot about
politics today and in particular a Josh Craft's decision to
run for mayor or Boston, challenging Michelle Woo and he
is really running on a housing campaign. You know, we
talking about housing, new housing numbers for Boston. We need

(15:54):
to do more here and there, and he recently just
rolled out this housing plan, and so to speak, let's
bring in the senior reporter for the Boston Business Journal,
Greg Ryan, regular visitor here to the program. Greg, welcome.
So Kraft rolled out his housing plan. Tell us what's
in there.

Speaker 11 (16:13):
The goal here is to make it cheaper for developers
to build these projects so that they can actually start construction,
because there are tens of thousands of units in Boston
that are approved to be built but have not yet
started construction.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
So Greg, tell us a little bit about that particular
point and how it differs from what Michelle Wu has done.
We just want to hear, you know, maybe some comparison,
both of them agreeing that housing is a huge issue
in the.

Speaker 12 (16:39):
City, right right, So what Kraft is proposing to do
here is to move that threshold to thirteen percent, so
that thirteen percent of the apartments in a project would
be income restricted.

Speaker 13 (16:52):
For many of these.

Speaker 11 (16:52):
Projects, the numbers were that threshold was approved at a
higher percentage, so you know, sixteen seventeen percent up to
twenty percent.

Speaker 13 (17:00):
So the mayor of.

Speaker 11 (17:02):
Michelle Wu, she recently moved the threshold to twenty percent,
although these projects that we're talking about were a proof
before that threshold has moved up, so one of them
were right around sixteen or seventeen percent.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
So Greg, that's an interesting point because you know, as
I was looking at it and we moved it up
to twenty percent for affordability, it used to be thirteen percent.
Now Kraft is saying, Okay, if we move it back
to thirteen percent, then that'll get more units built, It'll
get more people involved in housing construction. Wu on the
other hand, says, well, wait a minute, here's what you're doing.

(17:35):
If you're doing favors for all your rich buddies, you're
not helping out the people who need the help the
most here. So you're stepping away from a mandate of
twenty percent. So where is the truth here? I mean,
where does the rubber meet the road in this twenty
versus thirteen?

Speaker 13 (17:52):
So I think it's a bit of a mixed bag here.

Speaker 11 (17:55):
So you know, it's not the mayor did move into
twenty percent, but that's not really the issue here. Crafts proposal.
It wouldn't change that twenty percent.

Speaker 7 (18:06):
Threshold going forward as far as.

Speaker 11 (18:08):
I know, and I should mention too. Another part of
this plan is rent control. Craft surprised a lot of
people last week when he proposed a form of rent
control for developers and for landlords rather in the city.
It's a lot different than Wu's, but I think that
is in part an attempt to address this charge that

(18:28):
he doesn't care about working class people.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
All the Crafts would be a voluntary situation where when
Wu ran, she wanted rent control and then backed away
from it once she got into office.

Speaker 11 (18:40):
Correct, she wanted it, and she got city council approval
for it, but it's like a few other of her
measures that didn't gain support on Beacon Hill and it died.

Speaker 13 (18:48):
In the State House.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
But his would be voluntary, correct, it would.

Speaker 11 (18:52):
Yes, that is a key difference, Michelle Wuse.

Speaker 7 (18:55):
That's not voluntary.

Speaker 11 (18:56):
You know, landlords would be required to keep rent below
you know, up to ten percent a year in.

Speaker 13 (19:02):
Terms of increases.

Speaker 11 (19:04):
Craft is actually a very similar percentage. You also cast
it at.

Speaker 13 (19:08):
Ten percent at absolute maximum. But it's voluntary.

Speaker 11 (19:11):
So landlords who agree to do this, they would get
a twenty percent property tax break in exchange.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
And what kind of appetite is there out there for
that at this point?

Speaker 11 (19:21):
I think I think there could be some you know,
I think, you know, landlords will have to crunch the
numbers this this proposal just came out a few days ago,
so and see, okay, well, you know, if I if
I cap my rents, like how much am I actually
going to get back here? And then property tax break?
But also depends on the income. It's a little complicated
because it depends on the income of the tenant. I

(19:42):
have to basically be making below two hundred percent of
the area medium income, So it'll it'll depend on the
map for each individual landlord.

Speaker 13 (19:52):
Greg.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
The thing that I think is really interesting, and it's
going to be really interesting in this race, is that
both of them have a lot in and yet they
have a lot of things that are different. Are people
going to understand a housing proposal like this well enough
to see a distinction between these two candidates.

Speaker 11 (20:11):
It really gets into the nitty gritty right even to you.

Speaker 13 (20:14):
Now it's like, what does this mean for me? What
does this mean for my rent? What does this mean
for my home sale price? You know, I don't know.

Speaker 11 (20:22):
I think I think this nitty gritty will be.

Speaker 7 (20:26):
Hard to get across the general public.

Speaker 11 (20:29):
But there's no question that housing is, if not the
top issue, one of the top issues.

Speaker 13 (20:33):
Craft has called it the biggest.

Speaker 7 (20:35):
Challenge facing the city.

Speaker 2 (20:37):
I think we would say something.

Speaker 11 (20:38):
Similar, So it will depend a lot on the messaging,
but I think it's going.

Speaker 13 (20:41):
To be a huge issue.

Speaker 3 (20:43):
Well, I wanted to expand upon that if we could
Greg Grindstein a report of the Boston Business Journal. Now
the Craft is betting this is the issue. Okay, this
is what's going to resonate with people, this is what's
going to get them to the polls, this is what's
going to get me elected. Is he right? I mean,
in terms of is this the issue? And if this
isn't you said it's the number one, give us an
idea of what's number two.

Speaker 11 (21:02):
I would say number two is probably, uh, the schools,
Boston Public schools, which is a perennial issue and improvement there.

Speaker 13 (21:09):
But right behind that, I would say it's actually bike
lanes and bus lane.

Speaker 7 (21:13):
You know, I was at Craft's.

Speaker 11 (21:16):
Campaig kickoff last week back got the biggest uh you
know gear from the crowd is when he mentioned Wu's
expansion of bike lanes, and just this week the mayor
came out and said, well, actually, we're going to.

Speaker 13 (21:26):
Review all these bus, bus.

Speaker 11 (21:28):
Lanes and bike lanes that went in, and we're actually
going to eliminate a bus lane on Boylston Street that
a lot of businesses have been complaining about.

Speaker 2 (21:36):
Really interesting, isn't it. This last week? It seems like
as he went out and talked about things, she had
a response to a lot of them. Do you think
that Michelle wu is an incumbent, is concerned about you know,
Josh Kraft.

Speaker 13 (21:53):
I think so.

Speaker 11 (21:54):
I think she she sees you know, I think she
sees him as a serious challenger and rightly so, you know,
she you know, suffered a few stepbacks in the past
few months, including the property tax or attempt to change
property taxes that died on vcon Hill, and so I think, yeah,
I think it's going to be a competitive race, which
is not always the case when a Boston merrial race

(22:17):
when there's an incumbent.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Yeah, well, it's not easy beating an incumbent in this city.
Is that? Isn't that correct? Greg Ryan?

Speaker 3 (22:23):
I mean, it doesn't really ever happen.

Speaker 11 (22:25):
Yeah, My last time was the fifties, I think, or
the forties.

Speaker 13 (22:28):
It's big up there.

Speaker 3 (22:29):
Yeah, So it's been a while, so buckle up all right.
He's Greg Ryan. He's the senior reporter with the Boston
Business Journal. We appreciate you taking time in joining us
this morning on the New England Business Report. Up next,
where god be talking with Tom O'Brien. He's a CEO
president of HYM Investments and of course the folks that
are planning and building ten thousand housing units over there

(22:51):
at Suffolk Downs.

Speaker 4 (22:52):
We'll be talking to him in just a moment.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
Kim and Jill will explore more business news that impacts
our New England economy when they return.

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And welcome back to the New England Business Report on
this Sunday morning, February the sixteenth, marching through February at

(25:40):
a pretty good clip.

Speaker 4 (25:41):
Hey, don't forget this half crazy clip.

Speaker 2 (25:44):
I can't believe it.

Speaker 4 (25:45):
I know it's a good thing, Kim, Oh, yes it is. Yeah,
that's a good thing. Let's put this all behind us
if we could. I.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
Hey, don't go anywhere, because in just a few minutes
we're going to be talking with mayoral candidate Josh Kraft
about his decision and what you know some of this is,
and she's going to be facing out there, okay, in
the news today, other business news that you know. Kim
and I have been keeping our eye on again then
Ken this comes back to the Crafts and this whole
soccer stadium idea over there. On evert and as Chest

(26:12):
in the Boston Globe, John Chest in the Boston Globe
wrote about how one of the problems with the stadium
over there is they don't have any public transportation.

Speaker 4 (26:20):
I mean, the trains go through effort, right and they
wave bye bye. They don't stop, you know, And.

Speaker 3 (26:26):
So there's this whole question about, you know, can we
get some public transportation over there.

Speaker 4 (26:31):
Because I don't know about you.

Speaker 3 (26:32):
My daughter works over at Encore Boston Harbor, and when
I try to go see her, I mean, it's a
freaking nightmare trying to get down that road. And if
you add a soccer stadium to it and new housing,
I mean I can't imagine what that road looks like.

Speaker 2 (26:44):
So yeah, I feel like congestion there is going to
be crazy. But I also know that we're working with
Bob Kraft here, who is a guy who built a
footbridge over one down there to get to the stadium himself.
So I do think he can come up with some
ideas for infrastructure to try to help that area maybe

(27:05):
even I mean, to me, it feels like if they
came up with some ideas, it might have been help
the folks that ever, I mean at the Encore.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Yeah, no doubt about it.

Speaker 2 (27:12):
To Our next guest is the managing partner of the
HYM Investment Career, one of Boston's most prominent developers. Tom
O'Brien is our guest. IM great to have you.

Speaker 13 (27:21):
Thank you, Kim, Good morning to you. Good morning Joe.

Speaker 2 (27:24):
Tom. We were excited to talk to you, certainly about
that project that's going on over in Revere and East Boston.
We're going to get to that in just a couple
of minutes. But before we do, in just a few minutes,
mayoral candidate Josh Kraft is going to be our guest here.
I want to talk to you, not necessarily asking you
to pick a candidate by any stretch of the imagination,
but we're just wondering how important you think, as a

(27:46):
business leader and certainly as a developer here in the
Boston area, how important you think this upcoming election is.

Speaker 15 (27:53):
Oh, I think it's really important for Boston. I think
we're at a really unique time in my history of
doing this work.

Speaker 13 (28:00):
You know, when you think about it, we.

Speaker 15 (28:01):
Have a person in the White House for the first
time in our lives, who's really rooting against Boston. And
so we definitely need leadership in Boston that will work
together as a team with all the different folks who
make our city work, from community leaders to business leaders,
employers in and so we need we're going to need
somebody to make sure that we defend Boston and all

(28:24):
the good work that we've done for all the years
that we've done to build this place, as you know,
as a strong economy and a wonderful place for people
to live.

Speaker 3 (28:31):
Tom O'Brian's our guests, CEO of HYM Investments. I'm looking
at the headline from last July fourth weekend, Tom and
the Boston Globe story written by Andrew Brinker, ten thousand
unit housing development Suffolk Downs is on hold, and definitely
here's why where are you on that project at this point?

Speaker 15 (28:48):
Well, that headline really wasn't accurate, to be honest with you.
I know that may surprise you sometimes in terms of
the way those headlines get put together. But we've delivered
our first building at Suffolk Downs. We have a four
hundred and seven five unit building called a Mayan that's
up and running and it's filling up with with residents,
and so that's going really well.

Speaker 13 (29:07):
We have a second.

Speaker 15 (29:08):
Building that we're working to get in the ground this year,
and we expect to get that in the ground. We've
got great partners in the governor and Lieutenant governor and
the mayor of Revere and the city councilors in Revere.
So I think we're going to get that building in
the ground in July. It's a hard environment in which
to build these buildings, but you know, as I said earlier,
now is the time to work in partnership with teams

(29:29):
of people to make these things happen.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
Tom.

Speaker 2 (29:33):
I know that headline was a little misleading, and if
you went on to read the article, it does sort
of explain your situation and your stance. You know, financial
situations change in the country, obviously from the time that
these these projects are approved, and then once you start
to put shovels in the ground. I know that you
have had some issues and you've said that how is

(29:53):
all of that going now? And where do you stand
with that part of it as you move forward into
some of the lab space and then onto e Boston.

Speaker 13 (30:00):
Sure, I think.

Speaker 15 (30:01):
Your listeners will certainly recognize the business environment that we're
all you know, operating in. It used to be that
when we were working on these projects prior to twenty
twenty two, if you hit a return on cost of
a five and a half percent on a residential project,
then you could finance that, you.

Speaker 13 (30:18):
Could move forward. That was driven largely.

Speaker 15 (30:21):
By the fact that interest rates at that time were
you know, certainly well under five percent.

Speaker 13 (30:26):
Today, as interest rates went up and as costs have.

Speaker 15 (30:28):
Gone up, it's more of a struggle, you know, to
get these projects in the ground. And so that's why
we all need to work together. There's a lot of
cities in America in which housing construction has restarted. That's
happened in you know, Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Chicago,
other places, and so we need to work together to
get housing started. That's for sure. We need new starts.

(30:49):
We've not had a new start in Greater Boston of
scale for probably about two.

Speaker 13 (30:54):
Years, and we have to work together to get these
things going.

Speaker 4 (30:58):
All right, let's work together here.

Speaker 3 (30:59):
So what do you need to hear from either Craft
or Whoo or whoever at this point, you know they're
at a city hall.

Speaker 4 (31:05):
What do you need to hear to move forward.

Speaker 13 (31:09):
So the project that.

Speaker 15 (31:10):
We have at Suffolk Downs is, you know, is pretty
well set and we understand what the parameters are on that.
I think the most important thing for people to recognize
on housing is you have to think through the history
of where we've been on this issue. You know, when
I first started off with working for Tom Menino in
nineteen ninety three, I was twenty nine years old, and
at that time there had not been any housing of

(31:32):
scale built for many decades, and Tominino was a great
leader in making things happen. And so by the time
we got to the end of the nineteen nineties, there
was some housing underway, and it was it was a
time when we were really anxious to make these housing
projects happen, and it took the mayor to work really carefully,
almost like piece by piece, project by project, to make

(31:53):
sure that these projects got in the ground. As things,
you know, continued to expand for Boston and as we
continue to do well, housing was added to the early
two thousands. But then the recession of two thousand and eight,
two thousand and nine, twenty ten.

Speaker 13 (32:06):
Hit us pretty hard. We recovered quickly.

Speaker 15 (32:08):
Which was different than between where we are now, and
we got housing restarted and built again beginning in twenty ten,
and under Marty Walsh we did a lot of that.
Today you have to recognize that we're in different circumstances
and that's where I think these other cities have recognized it.
So you have to have a really good fourth fright
conversation about what it takes to get each of these

(32:29):
projects underway.

Speaker 13 (32:30):
That's the most important thing.

Speaker 15 (32:31):
Each of these requires individual attention, and each project is a.

Speaker 13 (32:35):
Little bit different. There's not really a programmatic solution to
some of these. It requires rolling up your sleeves and
looking at each one.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Tama Brian is our guest. Tom. Let me ask you,
this is a restart possible when you have the administration
in Washington now putting a twenty five percent tear offf
on aluminum and steel coming out of Canada.

Speaker 13 (32:54):
Yeah, those, you know.

Speaker 15 (32:56):
From our perspective on the ground here, those really are
you know, not good.

Speaker 13 (33:00):
News for us here in New England. We h it is.

Speaker 15 (33:03):
It is difficult for us to kind of think through
where the steel will come from. Now, not all the
steel comes from Canada, and certainly not all of the
lumber comes from Canada, But it does affect the pricing,
that's for sure. So it doesn't you know, from our
our perspective on the ground here in New England, it
doesn't seem to make much sense and it is hurtful
to getting projects underway. Again, that's kind of why we

(33:26):
all need to work together and say, Okay, what are
what are the issues? How do we how do we
work this through? How do we think through how the
buildings are designed? Can we think through what the standards
are in terms of how buildings get delivered? Are there
different ways that we can approach capitalizing these projects? So
that's that's really what we need to do on each.

Speaker 3 (33:44):
One of these tom Historically, you know, the business community
has rallied behind Republican administrations. I think that's just sort
of I think that's fair fair to say, well, what's
your concern now with the White House?

Speaker 15 (34:00):
A Democrat all my life, and I think you know,
when you talk to a lot of Democratic leaders is
there's been a long history of Democrats doing a fine.

Speaker 13 (34:07):
Job leading the economy.

Speaker 15 (34:08):
I you know, honestly, the economy has been doing pretty
well in the last year, just generally in terms of
the consumer economy and the rest the issue has to
do with, you know, costs that have gone up post COVID,
So managing that is a challenge for everybody but the
But I, you know, I don't agree with Joe with
the premise that that Republicans, you know.

Speaker 13 (34:29):
Lead the economy or do well with the economy. I
think Democrats do a fine job in the ry. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (34:32):
No, I guess my point is that the business community
usually is pretty happy with a Republican administration.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
Is that not fair to say not?

Speaker 15 (34:41):
I wouldn't say you formally know, I mean, I you know,
I think you know certainly if you ask members of
the business community, how do you feel about tariffs or
how do you feel about tax cuts? When when we
have a deficit the way we have, I'm not sure
the business community lines up block.

Speaker 13 (34:55):
Step in that. Do people you care about projects happening?

Speaker 15 (35:00):
Yes, but I'm not sure, as I say, people line
up block step for those sorts of things.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
So, Tom, let me ask you, as a prominent developer
and business person here in Massachusetts, give me a give
me a grade when it comes to the overall business
temperature in the state. What do you think?

Speaker 13 (35:20):
Oh?

Speaker 15 (35:20):
I think the governor, Lieutenant governor are excellent in terms
of creating, you know, a strong business climate. The governor
lieutenant governor, they are the two of them are amazing
in their depth of knowledge around all kinds of different issues.

Speaker 13 (35:34):
If you ask them about.

Speaker 15 (35:35):
Transportation policy or environmental policy or anything like that, they
can turn on a dime and h and handle those
kinds of issues really, really well. So I think, you know,
the business community has.

Speaker 13 (35:46):
Great partners in the governor lieutenant.

Speaker 15 (35:47):
Governor, and so I think the business climate is pretty
solid in Massachusetts. I think, you know, in general, what
we have to do here's here's really what I worry about,
you know, and I said this at the beginning. For
the first time in our lifetimes, we have a president
of the United States. Imagine this, who is rooting against Boston,
no matter who the.

Speaker 13 (36:07):
Party member was. We've never had.

Speaker 15 (36:10):
That before in our lifetime. And so what we need
to do now in Boston particularly, is we need to
work together. So you know, somebody needs to be calling
corporate leaders and saying, what do you need, how do
you know, how do we help make sure that you stay.
I worry that there are quiet conversations in which those
corporate leaders.

Speaker 13 (36:30):
Say, well, you know, maybe we do need to.

Speaker 15 (36:32):
Think about North Carolina, or we do need to think
about Texas or whatever, and that's a really important thing.
So we do need collectively as a group of Bostonians,
we have to work together to keep what we've built
so so well together in the last ten fifteen years.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
All right, time, O'Brien's some great insight. Great to chat
with you today. We'll look forward to talking to you
again in the very near future. In the meantime, Joe,
we've got a little bit more going on in this show.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
All right, Time to talk with our retirement expert there,
Mike Marshall or Martial Wealth Management, and we're gonna be
talking about an interesting decision, a decision to end the
windfall elimination provision for employees of states and municipalities. Now,
Mike Marshall's with us right now, So Mike, bring us

(37:19):
up to speed here. You said, this is going to
make a lot of people eligible for an increase in
social security.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Explain this to us.

Speaker 16 (37:26):
That's right, Joe and Kim, good morning, and thanks for
having me. The windfall Elimination program, which was basically designed
so that state and local employees who were receiving a pension,
but they were not having Social security taxes with help,
they would have their social Security benefits lowered by virtue

(37:49):
of this windfall elimination formulors.

Speaker 13 (37:53):
You will. So basically what.

Speaker 16 (37:55):
Would happen is if you were getting a pension from
a state of local government and you qualified for Social
Security retirement benefits, those social Security retirement benefits would be
lowered by a certain amount based on the formula, the
windfall elimination formula. Well, that's all been eliminated now.

Speaker 13 (38:15):
So there's roughly.

Speaker 16 (38:16):
Two point two million people in this country now who
will be eligible for a higher Social Security retirement benefits
because of the elimination of the windfall elimination provision that
was done on January fifth of twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
And Mike, that means that those employees, once it's determined
who they are, will also get a payment in that's retroactive.

Speaker 16 (38:41):
Correct, Yes, that's correct for twenty twenty four, they will
get a retroactive payment and then they will get subsequently,
they will get higher monthly benefits as well going forward.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
So what do people have to do? Mike? What are people?
What should I do?

Speaker 16 (38:57):
If I'm hearing this Social Security Administration is evaluating how
to implement the Act and there are updates available. But
I'm fortunate to have with the Martial Wealth Management social
Security specialist Paul Kilday, and he can answer a little
bit more in depth questions. He is right up on
this and following it on a daily basis. Joe, Yeah,

(39:21):
of course. Well, I trest I just want to say
thank you for the opportunity. But this is this has
been a significant repeal to social the Social Security Administration.
So essentially, you know, as Mike said, basically, when you're
entitled to a public pension in both social Security in
the previous life or you know, last year and prior

(39:42):
to that, there would be a reduction to your benefit.
So if an individual stay was a public school teacher,
a firefighter, or state police officer, and they also qualified
for Social Security benefits, when they turned on their Social
Security benefits and their pension, there would be a.

Speaker 4 (40:00):
Reduction to their social Security benefit.

Speaker 17 (40:02):
Now, with that being said, there's also something I want
to bring up to the audience, which is called the
government pension offset. So the windfall Elimination provision applies to
the individual that is entitled to a public pension and
social security. The government pension offset applies to spousal benefits

(40:25):
and survivor benefits, so.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
That broadens it out quite a bit, doesn't it. Paul,
Let me ask you a time when people are concerned
about the solvency of social security, what do you you,
as an expert, see happening in the future, Because these
payments are going to come out, and as we mentioned before,
even retroactively, this is quite a big chunk of money.

Speaker 17 (40:48):
It's a great question. So you know, it's an incredibly
easy fix. And what I tell all of our clients
here is that you know, when it comes to Social
Security Trust Fund, the way they are hemorrhaging cash and
the fact that these government the government tention offset and

(41:08):
the windfall elimination provision are going away, that's going to
be that's going to entitle social security beneficiaries to more
social security benefits. Right, So in order to fix that,
it's going to require the administration to raise taxes. Social
security is not going anywhere. There are too many people
in this country that solely.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Rely on social security itself.

Speaker 17 (41:32):
It's just unfortunately going to increase taxes.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
All right, Well, we're talking with Paul Kilday. He's a
social security specialist. He's with Mike Marshall and Martial Wealth
Management and they're explaining this windfall elimination provision which went
into effect. I guess on January the fifth. Okay, so
again I'll ask you. I asked Mike Paul, what do
people do?

Speaker 17 (41:57):
So the first thing that you do, what I tell
everybody is you want to have a thorough consultation with.

Speaker 4 (42:03):
A social security expert. That's the first thing that you
can do.

Speaker 17 (42:06):
Now we can do that over here at Martiall Wealth Management.

Speaker 7 (42:09):
We have the abilities to.

Speaker 17 (42:10):
Really show clients what they're potentially missing out on. And
another thing I want to bring up is the fact
that the administration is not going to do anything for you.
You need to be proactive in everything that you do.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
I see people leave.

Speaker 13 (42:25):
Money on the table all the time. So the first
thing is speak.

Speaker 17 (42:30):
To is social security expert. And then you always have
the ability to call up your local Social Security office.
But what I tell my client base is that when
you call the Social Security office, you know it is
a government agency, so you may be on hold for
quite some time, but that is a great starting point.

Speaker 2 (42:49):
Mike, do you have any sense of when people will
start to see these dollars.

Speaker 13 (42:53):
That's a great question.

Speaker 16 (42:54):
I know that the Social Security Administration is updating folks
at www dot SSA dot gov. And what they're doing
now is they're trying to work out.

Speaker 7 (43:06):
The logistics or the distribution and.

Speaker 16 (43:09):
When that's going to take place so early, my guess
is I think we'll probably see something by the second half,
maybe June first of this year. I think it's going
to take a little bit for them to understand how
to implement this so that it gets done in the
most efficient way.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
Podcast.

Speaker 3 (43:26):
Yeah, call them up now, get on hold now, folks.
Need's a old security specialist with Martial Wealth Management. We
appreciate Mike Marshall joining us and getting a Paul on
the phone for us today.

Speaker 1 (43:40):
You are listening to the New England Business Report on
the Voice of Boston WRKO six 't eighty Joe and
Kim will be right back.

Speaker 9 (43:48):
Are you a brother or a sister of one of
Greater Boston's local trade unions and finally thinking about getting
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Speaker 3 (46:34):
All right, welcome back to the New English Business Support. Finally, well,
I guess I can say we saved the best for last. Right,
We've got the new candidate for mayor out there. He
is one Josh Kraft. Of course. He is the son
of Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. He's
the former CEO of the Boys and Girls Club in Boston.
He's fifty seven years old. He's a Democrat. He's challenging

(46:55):
Michelle Woo. Josh, welcome to the program. We do appreciate
you time taking time. Sure you're pretty busy these days,
so lay.

Speaker 4 (47:02):
It out for us. Why does Josh Graft want to
be mayor?

Speaker 13 (47:06):
Well, Joe and Kim, first, thanks for having me on.

Speaker 7 (47:08):
I appreciate it, and I.

Speaker 6 (47:10):
Want to be mayor because, first and foremost I love.

Speaker 7 (47:13):
The city of bost and most especially the.

Speaker 18 (47:16):
People I've gotten to meet and work with through the
last thirty five years. And I just feel like, or not,
I feel strongly that the city is headed in the
wrong direction, and housings are unattainable and unaffordable. There's no
families don't have confidence in the schools, the roads are
a mess, and I just feel like the current administration

(47:42):
as the city headed in the wrong direction. And our team,
what our vision is is not to get hung up
on idelology and slide deck. It's about getting results.

Speaker 6 (47:53):
Getting results for each and every citizen in the City.

Speaker 18 (47:55):
Of Boston, making an impact, and we're going to do
that not just listening to people, but actually hearing people
and understanding their concerns, their hopes and there are the
opportunities they'd like to see for themselves and their love.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Well, Josh, you've been in this race officially for about
two weeks, and in those two weeks, I think you've
had a real push to try to distinguish your plans
from those of the current administration. And one of the
things that you've talked about is that, and you just
mentioned it now, that housing is a real issue and
you feel that this administration has fallen short. You put

(48:32):
out a proposal this past week. Let's talk a little
bit about your proposal. What makes it different from what's
happening at City Hall right now.

Speaker 18 (48:40):
Well, I'll start with our often rent control program, and
you know, there's four things that distinguish it from the
policy that the current administration and.

Speaker 7 (48:53):
Their WU wanted.

Speaker 18 (48:55):
First is ours is an opten program where building owners
can choose, you know.

Speaker 6 (49:00):
The limit rent increases over a ten year period.

Speaker 18 (49:02):
In exchange, they get a twenty percent tax rebate on
there at the end of the year. It's also focused
mostly as much on affordable housing, but as much on
workforce housing, and will include buildings under seven units, but
of course luxury buildings won't be included.

Speaker 7 (49:23):
We're not going to have a rent control board either.

Speaker 18 (49:25):
We would have a website with the landlerts participating in
the program, so renters could go directly there and we
wouldn't need approval from the legislature. So that's our rent control,
our opt in rent control program that we feel doesn't
just benefit renters, but it also incentivizes building.

Speaker 7 (49:44):
Owners to get involved as well.

Speaker 13 (49:46):
So that's one of the things.

Speaker 18 (49:48):
There's also roughly twenty six thousand permitted units on the
sideline and the city of Boxon waiting to get shovels
in the ground for housing, and we figure our ways
to make that happened. You know, work with the affordability,
you know, on the affordability requirements as well as maybe
some tax incent because in the end, availability equals affordability

(50:13):
when it comes to housing.

Speaker 3 (50:15):
All right, well, let's talk about the affordability point. Some
projects will was but for twenty percent of the units
that need to be meet the affordable standard, you're suggesting
that perhaps we should go back to the original old
number of thirteen percent.

Speaker 18 (50:29):
Yeah, that Marty, Well, under Marty's administration, yes, we would
do that because you know, we're also focusing one of
the things we've heard and we've started pretty consistently from
Mattapan to Childtown for Rockbrea, is that there's obviously affordable
housing is the need, but also housing for workforce south

(50:52):
people that work.

Speaker 7 (50:53):
In the city and be they.

Speaker 18 (50:55):
Firefighters, police work for the city the City of Boston,
and we really need to find.

Speaker 13 (51:02):
A path for that as well.

Speaker 18 (51:04):
And you know, back to our often rent control program,
we would expand that from up to folks making two
am I to be included in that, and we know
that that would.

Speaker 7 (51:18):
Include a lot of folks in the workforce community.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Josh for a business show, and so we're always interested
in finding out what the business community thinks about candidates.
But I'd like to hear from you how you feel
about the business community and what you would do for
the business community in the city of Boston. Different from
what Michelle Wu has.

Speaker 18 (51:39):
Done, all right, Jim, So, from what I've heard, the
business community in a lot of cases has been shut
out or not allowed.

Speaker 13 (51:53):
To come to the table.

Speaker 6 (51:54):
And you know, I think in a city, I don't
care if it's the.

Speaker 7 (51:57):
Boston, Los Angeles, or.

Speaker 13 (52:02):
Boise, Idaho.

Speaker 18 (52:04):
It's all about bringing people together and the business community
needs to be at the table along with nonprofits, community leaders,
community organizers, and they're an essential part of this city,
not just because of the tax door employ people, they
cover healthcare the city is crucial and our administration would

(52:26):
include them.

Speaker 13 (52:28):
But we would also walk the.

Speaker 18 (52:30):
Fine line to make sure that they're not getting that
we're not just a business centric administration.

Speaker 7 (52:36):
We are a people administration that will include everybody.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Josh Graft is our guest. He is a candidate for
mayor of Boston. We're talking a little bit about his
housing plan here as well. Let's talk up if we
could have about the two soccer stadiums that are pending
here in Boston, of course, talking about White Stadium there
in Boston and the national women's soccer team looking to
innovate that stadium and have a home base, and then

(53:02):
also talk about your family's proposal that would be build
a soccer stadium there an Everett for the New England Revolution.
I guess my first question is how if you're mayor.
I know that's Evert, but there's a whole bunch of
concessions that have got to be made to the city
of Boston. If you're mayor, how do you navigate that?
I mean, it's a huge project and yet it's your family,

(53:25):
so it's a conflict.

Speaker 13 (53:26):
Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 18 (53:27):
Well one of the things, well, and I have two
answers for that, Joe.

Speaker 6 (53:31):
One is I would refuse myself from any business.

Speaker 7 (53:35):
Decisions that impact my family's business.

Speaker 18 (53:39):
And currently the part of the Everts Stadium that impact
boss and is the only thing that's in front of
the city. I would refuse myself from making hard decisions
on that project.

Speaker 7 (53:54):
In addition, though I want to be clear that I
have no.

Speaker 6 (53:59):
I do not receive an income from the Craft.

Speaker 18 (54:01):
Group, and I have no say or operational responsibilities in
the Craft group, and I've never in thirty five years
any project, be it Jillett Stadium to this stadium.

Speaker 7 (54:15):
I've had zero say and zero input.

Speaker 2 (54:18):
Josh, I know that we have talked about housing, and
I think that you have stated and I don't want
to put words in your mouth, so I'm going to
ask you what's the number one issue? Do you think
housing is the number one issue in the city when
it comes to this election.

Speaker 19 (54:34):
Yes, I definitely think that housing and pathways to workforce, housing,
affordable housing, homeownership is the number one issue.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
What would you say is number two?

Speaker 18 (54:49):
I think number two at this point would be the schools.

Speaker 13 (54:53):
I think that there's.

Speaker 20 (54:56):
A real disconnect between the school and I shouldn't say disconnected,
I'd say a lack of confidence with families and BPS
and as we said and the announcement speech.

Speaker 18 (55:10):
If you can't consistently get kids to school on time,
how are you going to build the trust with those.

Speaker 7 (55:15):
Families they are educating them correctly?

Speaker 3 (55:21):
Talk about Josh Kraft, Josh, you only got to answer
half my question, and I talked about the two soccer
stadiums and where are you on the National Women's Soccer
League coming to a white stadium there in Boston. I've
read I've read that you were opposed to the current
renovation plan.

Speaker 6 (55:37):
All right, Well, first and first, i'd say I am.

Speaker 18 (55:42):
I feel strongly that the white Stadium renovation plan needs
a pause for two reasons.

Speaker 13 (55:48):
One, one hundred million.

Speaker 18 (55:50):
Dollars spent on an entity that's public dollars. One hundred
million of public dollars spent on a private and that's
going to mostly ben Fit a private entity is not
something the city should be doing. In addition to that,
number two, when a majority of the community most impact

(56:10):
by the project is consistently and unequivocally opposed to the project,
I think we need to take a hard lawn pause
and listen to everyone. That being said, I am agnostic
to where the women's team plays, and I wish them
great success, but I just think the white stadium deal

(56:31):
for those two reasons, need.

Speaker 7 (56:33):
A serious pause.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
But Josh, wouldn't that benefit the kids in the schools
in the school district?

Speaker 7 (56:38):
Yes, it definitely would.

Speaker 18 (56:40):
But the white stadium is traditional for Boston for football seasons.
The teams would be able to play there to November.
So I think there's other pathways you could take to redo,
just the stadium and the amenities around it, bathrooms, et cetera.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
All right, So, Josh, are you enjoying it so far?
How you like in the campaign so far?

Speaker 13 (57:01):
Oh, it's been fun.

Speaker 20 (57:02):
You know.

Speaker 18 (57:03):
I enjoyed meeting people, talking to people, getting to know people,
and so that's been great.

Speaker 7 (57:09):
And I like to be busy, so.

Speaker 3 (57:13):
Well, you're gonna be busy. I love that you've got
that nailed downtid. All right, he's Josh Crafty as the
candidate for the mayor of Boston.

Speaker 2 (57:20):
Well, Joe, that's going to do it for this week's
edition of the New England Business Reports. It's been a
great show. Hope everybody has enjoyed it. We got another
good one coming up next Sunday morning at eight am.
Dine Out Boston is returning with an extra week.

Speaker 4 (57:34):
How about that.

Speaker 2 (57:35):
I would say that means it's a success.

Speaker 4 (57:37):
Right.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
We're going to talk to the CEO and president of
Meet Boston, Martha Sheridan. She's gonna talk about the impact
on the culinary community as well as the entire hospitality industry.
That's all coming up next Sunday right here on the
New England Business Report on WRK, the voice of Boston
AM six eighty