From the category archives:

Realtors

Picking a Massachusetts Realtor

Selling a Massachusetts home today is not like it used to be back in the middle of this decade. Quite honestly when you needed to sell a home back then it was as easy as convincing a dog that table scraps taste better than what’s in his bowl. Boy has the Real Estate landscape changed!

Back then the 3 P’s of marketing always worked…Put a sign in the yard, put it in MLS and pray:)

When you are selling a home today in Massachusetts you better be darn sure you do your homework on who will be representing your best interests in the sale.

Selecting a great Realtor to market your home should be one of your 1st considerations.

As a Realtor who has been selling Real Estate for almost twenty five years, I can tell you with certainty that the Real Estate agent you select will have the greatest bearing on whether you will be happy a happy camper or not. In the Real Estate industry there are some very good agents and some that have no business holding a license.

One of the things that puzzles me the most about the my business is how lackadaisical people are about selecting a Realtor. When people need a good doctor, lawyer, auto mechanic or a host of other things they do their proper research. Decisions are not made lightly. On many occasions this does not hold true with selecting a Realtor even though you would think it should given a home is often times a persons largest asset.

From being in the business I can tell you with certainty that there are three traits that you most successful agents have mastered.

These include the ability to price a home properly, a well designed marketing plan, and someone with effective communication skills.

Lets face it we all want our homes to sell for the most money. It is human nature. We all think our home is better than the guy that just sold down the street. Many home owners make their biggest mistake by going with the Realtor that gives them the highest price.

Guess what…there are unprofessional agents that know some people make decisions based on emotion and not logic. There are a certain segment of Realtors that will tell you what you want to hear to get your business.

Once the agent has you under contract and the home has been on the market for a while they start to badger you for price reductions or worse say nothing. You may be thinking what is the point of having an overpriced home? Some agents just don’t care because they are using your home as a means of drawing calls from buyers that could lead to  sales elsewhere.

So how do you avoid making a poor decision picking a Massachusetts Realtor?  Here are a few tips:

  • Ask good Realtor interview questions. Look for a Realtor that has a good track record in both seller’s and buyer’s markets. Past success is usually a great indicator of future success. Ask the agent for a few references. I would suggest asking for some of their most recent sales and not from some hand picked list that you know will be giving them glowing reviews.
  • Look over the market evaluation of your home very closely. Do the comparable sales look similar to your property? Remember you need to be looking at this information through the eyes of a buyer. If a similar home down the street had a brand new top of the line kitchen and other updates don’t expect to be getting the same price if you don’t have them.
  • Picking a Realtor based on the price they give you is really double whammy because more often than not you will be stuck with a lousy agent and an overpriced home. Even an outstanding agent will have difficulty selling an improperly priced home. There are countless homes that come up expired each week. The common denominator is most often the wrong list price!

The 2nd trait that most exceptional Real Estate agents have is the ability to market well. What this really means is the ability to market on-line. The days of people finding homes by looking in the classifieds and magazines are over! Almost 90% of all buyers find their homes by doing some kind of on-line search.

As a home seller you should be looking for a agent that has a very strong web presence. By web presence I don’t mean putting it into the Multiple listing service (MLS) and Realtor.com. While these things are important they are what every Realtor does.

The Realtor you select should have their own website and it should come up in local Real Estate searches. The ability for the site to come up in searches is of the utmost importance. A Realtor could have a very attractive website but if it does not come up in competitive searches it will not help YOU sell your home.

Massachusetts Real Estate marketing

For example if I am a buyer and I am going to be looking for homes or condos on-line, I am probably going to go to Google and punch in something like:

  • Hopkinton MA Real Estate
  • Holliston MA homes for sale
  • Real Estate Ashland MA

or something similar. A Realtor that can come up on the 1st page of Google for these terms knows what they are doing, as these are the most competitive terms to rank for. All the National Real Estate portals such as Realtor.com, Homes.com,  Zillow, Trulia, and Yahoo Real Estate spend lots of money to make sure their sites are on the 1st page of Google because they know that consumers use these kind of terms to find property. When a Realtor can get their website to the 1st page of Google guess what happens?

Lots of traffic and many more eyes viewing the homes they have listed for sale!

When doing these kind of searches today you will also notice that the agents that really know their way around the web 2.0 have started a Real Estate blog to market their properties.

Google loves blogs because they are not static like websites. The best blogs are updated on a weekly basis and will be used to showcase a homes best attributes. Search engines love fresh Real Estate content!

Besides a website and a blog you want to make sure that your home is found in the places where most people searching for a home visit.  One of the things I am most proud of as an agent is my ability to have my clients homes or condos all over the place on-line. Here is a list of the most visited Massachusetts Real Estate sites for selling a home or condo.

Let me say with great emphasis that there is a big difference between just being in these sites and doing a great job making your home stand out from the competition! What you want to see for your home is multiple photos taken with a high end camera, well thought out descriptions highlighting the best features, and video tour that takes a buyer through the home.

Lastly, you want a Realtor who communicates with you on a consistent basis. Most sellers want to know what is going on with the process of selling their home. Who wouldn’t! Make sure the agent has a plan to keep you informed. Does your Realtor call every agent after the home is shown to see what are the agents/buyers thoughts?

How is this information relayed back to you? One of the things I do for my clients which they really appreciate is a feedback report that can be viewed on-line. We give the client a password to the site and they are the only ones besides us that can see it. It keeps them in the loop on what buyers are saying and they just love it! The feedback helps us as well because if we see a pattern in the comments we can make suggestions to address the issue.

If you find an agent that does these things and you do your part keeping the home clean and making it easy to show, you will have a blueprint for a successful Massachusetts home sale!

Other related Real Estate articles:

_________________________________________________________________

About the author: The above Real Estate information on selling a Massachusetts home and picking a Realtor was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 24+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Upton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, Worcester and Douglas.

{ 0 comments }

Disclosing a Haunted Massachusetts Home

While working as a Massachusetts Realtor over the last twenty five years one of the questions that always seems to come up is whether or not a Realtor is obligated to disclose a murder, suicide, haunting or other type of paranormal activity that may have occurred in a home or other Real Estate.

Wikepedia defines a haunted house as a home or other Real Estate often perceived as being inhabited by disembodied spirits of the deceased who may have been former residents or were familiar with the property. Supernatural activity inside homes is said to be mainly associated with violent or tragic events in the building’s past such as murder, accidental death, or suicide.

Disclosing Murder, Suicide, and Haunted Homes in Massachusetts

This is one of those topics that I would be willing to bet at least half the Realtors polled would get the answer wrong. I am sure most Real Estate agents would say that they are required to disclose a haunted house or if someone died in a property by murder or suicide. They would be dead wrong:)

One of my beliefs is that every buyer should be entitled to know anything that could materially effect the value of a home or the ability to sell in the future. This in fact is one of the articles in the Real Estate code of ethics.

In Massachusetts anyways, a Realtor is not required to disclose these kinds of events in a property. Apparently lawmakers do not feel these kind of events are worthy of Real Estate disclosure. I suppose in the case of a haunted home it would be much harder to prove the actual existence of ghosts.

Many states require full disclosure of violent crimes such as murder and any other event that may stigmatize a property before it is sold. Not the case in Massachusetts!

Below is the excerpt from the Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93, section 114 that discusses Real Estate disclosure for alleged haunted homes, murder and suicide:

Afraid man of Massachusetts Haunted House

The fact or suspicion that real property may be or is psychologically impacted shall not be deemed to be a material fact required to be disclosed in a real estate transaction. “Psychologically impacted” shall mean an impact being the result of facts or suspicions including, but not limited to, the following:

  • (a) that an occupant of real property is now or has been suspected to be infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus or with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome or any other disease which reasonable medical evidence suggests to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupying of a dwelling;
  • (b) that the real property was the site of a felony, suicide or homicide; and
  • (c) that the real property has been the site of an alleged para psychological or supernatural phenomenon.

No cause of action shall arise or be maintained against a seller or lessor of real property or a real estate broker or salesman, by statute or at common law, for failure to disclose to a buyer or tenant that the real property is or was psychologically impacted.

While this is the case in Massachusetts you can not assume that in other states it is alright not to disclose known events such as a murder or haunting.

I find it kind of interesting that disclosure of a person who had AIDS was lumped into this kind of stigmatization. It does not seem all that similar of a disclosure issue?

If you are a Massachusetts Realtor another thing to pay careful attention to is purposely deceiving someone. While non disclosure may not be an issue, blatantly lying to someone certainly could be. If you are marketing a home that is well know to be suspected of being haunted and a buyer ask you a direct question about it you should always be truthful of what you know.

Other Real Estate articles worth a look:

Massachusetts seller’s disclosure statement

_________________________________________________________________

About the author: The above Real Estate information on disclosing murder, suicide and haunted Massachusetts homes was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 25+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Upton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, Natick, Worcester and Douglas.

{ 20 comments }

Realtor interview Questions

Real Estate interview questions for Realtors

Carefully interviewing a Realtor should be one of the most important things any home seller does when considering selling their home yet many do not.

Having been in this business for almost twenty five years I have found this to be pretty fascinating. There are lots of folks that will make contact with a Realtor from any number of sources including seeing a for sale sign in their neighborhood, visiting an open house, getting a post card in the mail or maybe even from a recommendation from a friend or relative.

One of the problems I have found is that many consumers think that all Realtors do the same things to sell homes. This could not be further from the truth!

In most businesses 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people. The old 80/20 rule. In Real Estate it is a mind boggling 94% to 6% ratio! That is just an amazing statistic. Given these figures is there any wonder why there is so much dissatisfaction from consumers? It is really easy to get stuck with a Realtor who does not do much business or have a great work ethic.

Unfortunately getting into the Real Estate industry is very easy. Take and pass a Real Estate test and you have made it. It shouldn’t be that easy but that’s the way it works.

So how do you avoid getting stuck with a poor Real Estate agent? Ask great Real Estate interview questions! Trust me when I tell you, these questions will make an unskilled Realtor very uncomfortable.

There is no better recommendation than a track record of success. As a home seller you will be paying a Realtor quite a bit of money to sell your home. Why not work with a top producing agent? There is a reason most agents continue to be successful year after year.

In most circumstances it does not cost you anymore to work with a terrific agent than someone who does very little Real Estate business. The interview questions below will go a long way in determining whether you are hiring a pro or not!

Time in the Real Estate business and production level

  • How long have you been selling real estate in Massachusetts?

Experience is important but does not necessarily mean that a newer agent couldn’t be a rising superstar. Many of the other Real Estate interview questions below, however, will help determine this.

  • How many homes did you sell last year as a seller’s agent?

This is a very important question! Do you want to work with an agent who sells 5 homes a year or someone who sells 25? Do be fooled by the agent who does very little business telling you that you will get better personal service. That is a bunch of hogwash! There is a reason why they only sell 5 homes a year.

  • Of the homes you sold last year, again as a seller’s agent, what was the average number of days from the original list price to the accepted offer?

This is a very telling statistic because it speaks to how well the agent did their job from day one when they recommended a list price to you. Don’t get caught with an agent that gives you an inflated value just to get your business. “Buying a listing” is a very common thing that agents do when competing with other Realtors.

  • What was the average ratio between the listing price and the selling price?

This question boils down to two things. Pricing the home correctly from day one and the Realtors negotiating skills.

  • What kind of market share do you and your company have?

This is not extremely critical but you should at least be working with someone who has some general knowledge of the area and has sold other local homes in the past.

Personal service to the seller and testimonials

  • Do you have a personal assistant?

Busy Real Estate agents have a hard time doing everything well on their own. When a Realtor invests the money to hire their own staff member you know they care about personal service. A Realtor can’t be in two places at once. A helping hand and good team work says a lot about a skilled agent.

  • Can you provide me with at least 3 recent references?

A good Realtor should be able to provide you with references that you can call. Of course every Realtor is going to want to give you a hand picked list that they know the client will say wonderful things. Instead ask them for the last three homes they sold and look up the owners names and call them. This will give you a better picture of the clients satisfaction level.

Internet marketing and advertising

Realtor interview questions Massachusetts

  • I have read the Internet is an extremely valuable tool for selling homes. How will you market my home online?

This quite possible may be one of the most important questions you ask the Realtor! You want to align yourself with a Realtor that has a strong understanding of both online and social media marketing. Over 90% of all buyers find their home online. The Realtor you choose should be marketing your home EVERYWHERE!

  • Do you have your own personal Real Estate website for marketing homes and if so does it come up in competitive Real Estate searches such as State, City and the worlds Real Estate or homes?

This is a very important consideration when hiring a Realtor. A great agent will invest in having a great website that not only looks fantastic but more importantly attracts buyers for local Real Estate searches. Most consumers will type things like the city, state, and the words Real Estate or homes for sale. As an example Hopkinton MA Real Estate.

You want your home in the spotlight which can be achieved when the agent you hire understands search engine optimization (SEO) and gets their site on the 1st page of Google for keyword searches buyers most often use.

  • Do you have a Massachusetts Real Estate blog to market your clients homes and if so is it ranked highly by Google? Do you use your blog as a marketing tool to drive traffic to my home?

Like a website, Real Estate blogs are great vehicles to promote properties. You can create entire blog articles about a single home that promotes their best attributes using multiple photos and descriptions.

  • Do you use social media marketing sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach a wider net of Realtors and potential clients?

Sites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming remarkable tools for a Realtor to use to cast a wider net to reach potential buyers and sellers. With Facebook you can have your own business page to promote your business including properties you may be marketing.

  • Do you use video and virtual tours to market your homes?

Video is another important medium that has really caught on in recent years. Buyers love to see a video tour of a home they may be interested in viewing. A video tour can be especially helpful to a relocation buyer. The tour used be the agent should be quick to download. Another consideration would be syndicating the video tour to Youtube which gets quite a bit of traffic.

  • Is my home “enhanced” on the most visited Real Estate websites such as Realtor.com, Trulia.com and Zillow.com?

This is an extremely important interview question. Real Estate marketing is all about presentation and standing out from the rest of the competition. It is not enough just to be included in the most visible Real Estate sites.

The agent should be presenting your home with numerous photos, detailed descriptions highlighting your homes best attributes, and an embeddable virtual tour. Survey after survey says that buyers looking online skip the homes with a couple of photos and no descriptions. This is a huge piece of the marketing! Make sure the agent shows you exactly what your home will look like online. It is obvious that many sellers do not check on their agent. Trust me folks, you would be flabbergasted if you knew what a poor job some Realtors do marketing homes.

  • Do you have a good camera?

Not only is having lots of photos important but the quality can not be overlooked. You should be looking for an agent that has a good camera with a wide angle lense.

Preparing and staging a home for sale

  • Can you show me how to make my home more marketable?

A Realtor should be able to give you some simple advice on how best prepare your home for the market.  Things like whether or not it would be worthwhile to make an improvement or properly staging a home for sale. The general rule on improvements is to make them when they are really going to enhance the saleability or give a large return on investment.

Communication and feedback throughout the home sale process

Massachusetts Real Estate transactions

  • When a buyer calls on my home will you ALWAYS be the one they speak with?

It makes sense that the Realtor you hire is the one who speaks with the buyer when an inquiry is made. At many Real Estate offices this is not always the case. Often times there is an agent who answers the phone and they get the lead. This is not ideal if the agent has never seen the home before and the buyer is asking specific questions about the property.

  • How will you communicate with me regarding your efforts?

One of the biggest complaints against Realtors is a lack of communication. You will want to nail down how the Realtor will keep in contact with you. It it by phone, email, text? A Realtor should be flexible and work however the client desires. Above all else there should be regular communication. See Realtor communication skills.

  • Do you have a feedback system and if so, how does it work?

Anyone that I know that has ever sold a home wants to know how the showings go. The Realtor you hire should be prepared to call the buyers agent after the showing to find out what the level of interest there is and the buyers general thoughts.

  • How readily accessible will you be? Do you have a cell phone that I can reach you on when I need to?

Real Estate is a business that people should be able to reach the person they hired to sell their home. A Realtor who has a phone that can receive email is a real plus.  You want to make sure your agent will be taking your calls as they come in. For some reason many agents never answer their phone. This is not a good sign!

  • Once the offer is accepted will you be attending all the inspections on my home?

A full service Realtor should be at the home inspection, bank appraisal, etc. You are paying this person a lot of money. Make sure they earn it! They are your fiduciary.

  • How will you verify that the buyer is qualified to buy my home?

The Realtor should be verifying the the buyer is qualified by making sure that there is a legitimate pre-approval letter accompanying the offer and speaking with the buyers lender.

  • What are your fee structures and why?

The Realtor should be making sure they explain to you how they get paid and what exactly they do for the money earned.

  • As far as production goes if I called the owner of your company would they tell me you were one of the top producing agents in the company or a middle of the road agent?

In life you get what you pay for. Why not hire the best if it costs you the same!

  • Will you allow me to terminate our contract if I am not completely satisfied?

This is an important question because a Realtor that is confident they will get the job done should have no problem with this clause.

There are some truly great Real Estate agents out there. It just takes a little bit of time and effort to find them. Don’t settle for any Realtor that walks through your door or you will end up disappointed.

Related Real Estate articles:

_________________________________________________________________

About the author: The above Real Estate information on how to interview a Realtor with great questions was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 24+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Upton, Mendon, Hopedale, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, and Douglas.

{ 14 comments }

Divorce and Massachusetts Real Estate

One of the realities of being a Massachusetts Realtor is that I often encounter folks that are going to need to sell their home due to a divorce.

The divorce rate today is higher that it has ever been. It is just a fact that people do not stay together for better or worse like they used to.

The divorce rate of course opens up the opportunity for Realtors to be helping those that need to sell what usually amounts to their largest marital asset.

Purchasing a Massachusetts home together can represent a significant outlay of funds for one or both members of the divorcing party. When it comes to a divorce both members are going to have have an active interest in ensuring that their part of the investment is protected whether there was a cash outlay or not.

Divorce can often times be a highly charged emotional event. Even in an amicable divorce there could be times when discussing the sale of the home could lead to rash decisions. Keep a close lid on your feelings and make sure that you are not led by emotion into a bad decision. You will need to keep in perspective that this should be a smart business decision.

There are typically three scenarios when selling a home in a divorce:

  • One spouse keeps the home and buys out the other parties interest.
  • One spouse keeps exclusive use for a specified period of time, typically when the youngest child turns eighteen, after which the home can be sold.
  • The home is sold immediately and the profits are shared amongst each spouse.

Both parties should really be thinking about what it is that they would like to do. Does one party want to sell and the other would like to keep the home? Is it financially feasible for one party to keep the home? In the event one party does keep the home how will the other party be compensated?

For purposes of this article I will focus on some of the considerations when selling a home during a divorce.

Possible Tax Benefits Selling a Home During Divorce

Taxes selling a Massachusetts home

There are many that do not realize there are tremendous tax benefits when selling a home due to the Real Estate capital gains tax law that went into effect in 1997 known as the Tax Payer Relief Act of 1997.

The current capital gains tax law when selling your personal residence allows for an exclusion of up to $250,000 in profit if you are single and $500,000 if married!

In order to be eligible you must have lived in your home for two of the last five years. The home must be your personal residence and can not be an investment property.

In a nut shell what this means is that the parties could get a tremendous tax break if the home is sold while you are still married. Selling the marital home will allow up to $500,000 in profit to be excluded from federal capital gain taxes. A couple may apply for this tax break if they file a joint tax return. If you choose to file separately, each partner can still claim up to $250,000 on their tax return, provided that they still meet the two-out-of-five years in the home qualification.

If the parties have owned the home for a significant amount and there has been a large equity growth this can amount to a significant tax savings. If one party chooses to remain in the home but plans on selling in the near future there could be quite a difference in tax savings.

Can I afford the home after the divorce

Selling Massachusetts home in a divorce

One of the unfortunate things I see a lot in a divorce is one parties desire to “win” at all costs.

There have been occasions where one spouse insists on keeping the home even though it is not a prudent financial decision because they see it as winning a large battle.

If they end up keeping the marital home there are times when they later realize that maybe taking on such a large debt and all the expenses that come along with home ownership was not such a good idea.

When going through with a divorce and keeping the marital home you need to make sure you can afford the mortgage payments. So many couples getting a divorce underestimate what it’s going to cost them to live once the divorce is finalized. One of the things that should be done when contemplating keeping the home is to develop a comprehensive budget before you lock yourself into a divorce settlement.

The emotional side of things should also be considered as well. Does the home have treasured memories shared together or is it a place you would rather forget about. Going back to the part about “winning” is what clouds many peoples judgments when it comes to both financial and emotional decisions.

Selecting a Realtor in Divorce

When couples go through a nasty divorce selecting a Realtor is something that most are not going to do as it will more than likely be court appointed.

When the relationship is amicable however, selecting the  Realtor to work with is an essential part of the process. Just like any other Real Estate transaction you should be looking for a Realtor who has a strong track record of success.

Given that over 90% of all buyers today find their homes online you want to work with an agent that is going to provide dominant internet exposure. The agent should have their own website that comes up on local internet searches, as well as placing your home in the most traveled consumer sites for looking at properties.

Customer service selling Massachusetts home

I should emphasize though that it is not enough to just place your home in the popular sites. This is what the average agent does.

You should work with a Realtor that is going to spend the time adding great photography, expanded descriptions of your home, as well as some kind of video tour.

These are the type of things that make a difference and help your home stand out from the competition.

Above all else in a divorce you are going to want to work with a Realtor that has great communication skills.

Given there are two parties involved who might not be sharing the same roof anymore, you are going to want to work with someone who understands the nature of divorce and all the feelings that come along with it. The agent is going to have to have a certain level of patience as all communications will more than likely be repeated multiple times.

Selecting a Realtor is a process that should be done together. What I have witnessed 1st hand over my twenty four years in the business is that if one party selects who they want to interview, the other party may feel slighted in the process. The natural instinct is to feel that the Realtor is going to play favorites.

When I am hired to represent a couple in a divorce I want them both to be present for any interviews that take place. I want them to know that I represent both of them equally. The goal is always to get the best terms and conditions in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of headaches.

Creating an atmosphere of trust where either party can call me at anytime is very important. Getting a divorce is stressful enough as it is. Adding a home sale on top of it can make you feel like your life is totally upside down. Making the home sale process go as smooth as possible is always one of my missions.

Related Real Estate articles:

_________________________________________________________________

About the author: The above Real Estate information on divorce and selling a home was provided by Bill Gassett, a Nationally recognized leader in his field. Bill can be reached via email at billgassett@remaxexec.com or by phone at 508-435-5356. Bill has helped people move in and out of many Metrowest towns for the last 24+ Years.

Thinking of selling your home? I have a passion for Real Estate and love to share my marketing expertise!

I service the following towns in Metrowest MA: Hopkinton, Milford, Southboro, Westboro, Ashland, Holliston, Medway, Franklin, Framingham, Grafton, Hopedale, Mendon, Upton, Northbridge, Shrewsbury, Northboro, Bellingham, Uxbridge, Worcester and Douglas.


{ 8 comments }

Picking The Wrong Massachusetts Realtor Can Get Ugly!

June 18, 2010

Tweet As a Realtor, knowing how to market your services as well as a clients property online can be very powerful. In the Real Estate field it can certainly be the difference maker in whether or not a client chooses to hire you or NOT! It is not that hard to figure out that Realtors [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Marking a Property Under Agreement or Accepting Back Up Offers in Real Estate?

May 13, 2010

Tweet In Massachusetts when you are marketing a seller’s home and you procure a ready willing and able buyer to purchase a property you have hopefully started your journey to a successful closing. One of the things that Realtors are required to do is change the status of the property when we have a signed [...]

1 comment Read the full article →

Picking a Dominant Online Metrowest MA Realtor

May 2, 2010

Tweet It is a fact that 90% of all home buyers start their search for a home online. The days of buyers using newspapers and magazines as a viable means to find a home are over! Keeping this in mind, the goal of any Realtor that is worth their commission is to make darn sure [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Realtor Communication Skills The Number One Complaint!

April 28, 2010

Tweet If you look at any of the National Real Estate surveys the number one complaint from consumers against Realtors who are representing home sellers is the lack of communication skills. There are countless stories of sellers signing a listing contract and then never hearing from their Realtor again unless they initiate the contact. Obviously [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

How Not to Sell a Massachusetts Home

April 26, 2010

Tweet Every week on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) you see countless homes that come up “expired”. For those that are not familiar with the term, an expired listing is a home that did not sell. When looking over the possible common denominators of why some homes do not sell the reason is usually pretty [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Why Accompanied Showings in Real Estate are a Big Mistake

April 21, 2010

Tweet In the Metrowest Massachusetts area where I am located it is pretty rare to see an accompanied showing. In towards Boston it becomes much more common place. Some areas around the country have them and others don’t. Why? Who knows but more than likely it has to do with tradition. I am glad the [...]

13 comments Read the full article →