PHOTO CAPTION: Boston-area Realtor Beth York and Kendra Todd, host of My House Is Worth What?, film in Eric Drysdale’s Back Bay apartment.

With homeowners across the country experiencing a roller coaster ride in the real estate market over the last few months, home-selling and home-value shows have never been hotter. One of these shows, HGTV’s My House Is Worth What?, made a stop in the Back Bay in an episode that premiered last week. Eric Drysdale, owner of a one-bedroom 694-square foot apartment on the corner of Newbury and Dartmouth, found out along with millions of viewers just how much his home was worth.
My House Is Worth What? travels from city to city and profiles homeowners who have done work on their homes to improve the overall value. Local realtors tour the homes and give homeowners the pluses and minuses of their properties before revealing the home’s appraisal.
“It was fun, kind of a novelty thing,” Drysdale says. “Although I have a background in real estate and I knew exactly what my house was worth. I didn’t need a free appraisal.”
The inside scoop on how Drysdale ended up showing off his home renovations on national TV starts with an email that realtor Beth York of Cambridge’s Coldwell Banker received from the My House Is Worth producers asking for applicants to be on the show. York, who has a background in broadcast television production, quickly pulled together an audition tape she made walking through her own home, and soon she found out that she’d been chosen.
York was then charged with finding a property in the Boston area that the show could profile – one to which the homeowner had done considerable renovations but one that also wasn’t currently on the market. She immediately knew where she’d look.
“If you’re going to come to Boston, you have to go downtown to the Back Bay,” she says.
York is friends with Drysdale and knew he had done a lot of work on his apartment, and she was betting that he would be open to the prospect of sharing his home finances with the nation.
“It’s slightly intrusive – some people don’t want everyone to know how much their house is worth,” she says.
Drysdale agreed to participate because of his friendship with York – even though it meant he had to miss a day of work for the filming. (Participants are not compensated for their appearance on the show other than homeowners receiving free advice from a real estate expert.)
“Beth seemed excited, and I figured I’d help her out,” he said.
The show was taped during one day at the end of October. York gave host Kendra Todd -- a former winner of The Apprentice, a real estate expert and an author – a tour of Drysdale’s apartment for the cameras. She and Todd discussed where Drysdale had invested in renovations -- $19,500 in the kitchen, $1,700 in the living room, $2,600 in the bedroom, $10,000 in the bathroom. They also talked about where there was room for improvement – storage, flooring and staging.
At the end of the day, York and Drysdale filmed the “reveal” scene, where York gave her appraisal. Those who watch the show know that it is famous for staging this scene for the most possible drama, with the camera panning back and forth between the realtor and homeowner several times before the amount is revealed.
“At the end, they do have us pause for dramatic effect, and they say ‘Wait,’ and they pan, and pause. It was pretty funny,” York says. “But his reaction was totally accurate.”
York gave Drysdale an estimated value of $429,000 for his apartment, which was $21,000 less than Drysdale’s guess of what his property was worth. But Drysdale says he wasn’t discouraged since he doesn’t plan on moving any time soon.
Both have been amazed at the reaction to their appearance on the show. York organized a viewing party with family and friends and has enjoyed getting calls from friends saying they saw her on TV. And she’s getting ready to film another segment for the show later this year at another Boston-area home. She is eager to show the country that Boston is still a place for homeowners to get value for their real estate dollar.
“A lot of sellers are believing the hype that prices need to fall,” she says. “But that hype really hasn’t hit Boston and Cambridge.”

The planned for July opening of the Mandarin Hotel on Boylston Street is likely to be moved forward a bit because of a fire on the fourth floor of the 14-story building at 776 Boylston Street earlier this week.
Officials estimated the loss at $2 million.
The fire swept through three rooms on the fourth floor, igniting and consuming construction materials apparently being stored in what is to be a fitness center.
The fire was brought under control immediately by Boston firefighters who remained on the scene to oversee the cleanup.

The Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) has received initial approval from the Bay Village Architectural Commission (BVAC)) for a new four story building at 122 Arlington Street at its monthly meeting earlier this week.
The BCAE has owned the two story property to be demolished for more than 20 years. It owns as well the Gamble Mansion on 5 Commonwealth Ave. That prime piece of property which it has owned for almost 70 years, is presently under agreement to sell.
The plans call for demolition of the present building at 122 Arlington to be replaced by a new state of the art building. At the initial hearing in January before the BVAC, the materials to be used in the construction of the new structure were changed by replacing the metal planned for the exterior wall with more glass and the rear wall of the building with traditional red brick that is common in the neighborhood.
The building will be the sole educational center for the BCAE as it seeks to offer the classes that its students seek to take. The BCAE officials have met in the last two months with staff members of the BVAC as well as community groups in Bay Village seeking input on how to make this building fit into the neighborhood.
The proactivity and the desire to include the neighborhood in making key construction decisions have paid off. All those who expressed concern have agreed on the general design and materials for the building.
Commissioner Sally Withington asked about the possible future use of the building if the BCAE was no longer the owner. The answer was that this building would likely have some residual use as a residence.
A motion was passed calling for initial approval of the project with the following conditions: the further study of the Winchester St. elevation; possible use of more brick on the front façade of the building; and a review of the glass to be used.
All these issues will be presented to the BVAC before final approval.
The next meeting of the BVAC will be on April 8 and if it is approved construction will take about ten months.

The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved an amendment spearheaded by Councilor Michael Ross limiting the number of unrelated college students living in an apartment to only four. Before a packed conference room with more than 100 proponents and opponents in attendance the commissioners heard testimony on the matter for more than three hours on Wednesday.
Many of the proponents repeated the arguments that the quality of life has deteriorated in their neighborhoods as speculators buy large single family homes and multi family homes and fill them with students who sometimes number as many as ten living in a single residence.
“This is a victory for Boston families,” Ross said. “Boston is a college town and we need to act and function and have certain regulations in place to protect residents of the city.” Ross pointed out that many other cities have regulations in place to limit the number of the students in a residential unit.
He also said that local universities and colleges are able to presently house about 50% of the student population. In data from 2006, Ross pointed out that about 70% of Kenmore rental units are occupied by students while in Back Bay about 11% and in Beacon Hill about 8%.
“I have witnessed the impact on our neighborhoods and have seen great streets turned into school ghettos forcing families to move out,” said Captain Evans who oversees Back Bay and Fenway police district.
He further related how he has responded to scenes of parties and has seen as many as 12 students living in a single apartment. He also said that these uncontrolled parties drain police resources.
“This is rent control,” said one opponent of the measure.
Another opponent stated that this is a measure to regulate the market.
One opponent pointed out that the city will be forced to give abatements to the building owners who will now have the full use of their building limited.
In recent transactions with speculators paying high prices for these properties, tax bills have risen on some properties from $2,500 to more than $13,000 over the last six years.
Dot Joyce, a spokesperson for Mayor Thomas Menino said, “As with other zoning violations, the Inspectional Services Department will develop an enforcement strategy to respond to any property owner reported or found to be in violation of the code. We will work with local colleges and universities to educate students and property owners to adhere to the letter of the law.”
Menino is expected to sign the amendment shortly.
Support for this measure passed the city council unanimously last December. At the hearing, all city councilors or their representatives appeared to voice their support of the measure.
One student from Northeastern speaking against the amendment stated that this will not solve the behavioral problem of the students.
“We have waited too long,” Jeff Doggett from Northeastern University said. “This amendment will not only support the neighborhoods but will protect the students.”

Oscar winner Tom Hanks was in Boston last week to promote HBO's "John Adams," a seven-part miniseries based on the novel by David McCullough. Hanks was one of the project's executive producers. The series begins Sunday night and stars Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney, who play John and Abigail Adams. Hanks is shown with Mayor Thomas Menino during a tour of Faneuil Hall.

Maybe the signal will not be so strong as Verizon expected it would be.
That may have been the message Verizon was handed when the Back Bay Architectural Commission refused to allow the construction of a 10 foot by 20 foot shed on its building on Newbury Street.
Verizon, who has telecommunications equipment at 341-347 Newbury Street, may have hit a dead spot as the Back Bay Architectural Commission (BBAC) refused to allow the construction of a 10 foot by 20 foot rooftop utility shed on top the building, which is being converted from a parking garage to office space.
The representatives of Verizon told the commissioners that they need this location to accurately deliver their service. The commissioners suggested that the owners be asked if the structures that are already on the roof could be used rather than construct more structures that are more visible from the street without present generation use antennas that look like smoke stacks which are problematic to the commissioners.
The motion was denied without prejudice.
In other matters:

Casino gambling almost dead?

Gocvernor Deval Patrick has not yet learned that submitting legislation is not the same as the legislation becoming law.
He is finding out this harsh reality as he continues to be a proponent for casino gambling in Massachusetts – which would include a casino in Boston, although it would likely be located in East Boston.
The governor believes, and he is probably correct, that the construction of three casinos would raise hundreds of millions of dollars in licensing fees, create thousands of jobs, and create as well a new and robust tax revenue stream for the state.
But this is Massachusetts, where state government isn’t necessarily run by the governor. Rather, the speaker of the House of Representatives, in this instance, appears to have the upper hand in calling for economic policy shots – and casinos are not a shot that he wants to take, and the legislature is largely behind him.
Without the speaker’s acquiescence or his outright approval, legislation tends to go nowhere.
With regard to the governor’s casino legislation, the appearance is strongly given that it was dead on arrival at the state house when the governor filed it.
The governor, regrettably, did not do his homework in such a way that his legislation was unassailable.
The house leadership picked up on the lack of data and study that should have accompanied the casino legislative package.
In the ensuing battle of words that has been ongoing, the legislature has come to hold the better hand in this shamefully transparent card game likely to affect taxpayers and property owners, and those with children in public schools than anyone else.
The legislature doth protest too much about casino gambling somehow being impossible for Massachusetts but possible everywhere else it flourishes, including Connecticut, which is about 80 miles from Boylston Street.
There is almost no doubt casino gambling would generate enormous sums of money for the state.
But the issue is a battle between the executive and the legislative branches – and the executive doesn’t know how to fight.

The former governor of New York

The most compelling questions in the sad, sad saga of the former governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer is – did he think he wouldn’t be caught?
And what did he really think when he did get caught?
And what is his wife doing standing by his side?
In the words of the ages old adage – what goes around, comes around, and it certainly has come around for Spitzer.