A Guide to Preparing Your Boston, MA Home to Sell

Making your Boston, MA real estate more appealing to buyers

Selling Your Boston, MA Home

So you’ve decided it’s time to sell your Boston, MA home? Congratulations! There are a few things to consider before putting the for sale sign in the front yard though. Before listing your home, you'll want to make sure that it will appeal to as many buyers as possible. The more potential buyers it attracts, the quicker you’ll get your home sold. Follow this guide to preparing your Boston, MA home to sell, and you’ll be setting yourself up for success.

Evaluate your curb appeal. The first thing that potential buyers will see is the exterior of your home. Start with your landscaping. While somewhat seasonally dependent, you'll want it to appear neat and tidy no matter the time of year. Ensure that your walkway, porch or landing, and front door are clean. A fresh coat of paint can be a quick and easy facelift for your front door.  If lighting fixtures and hardware are worn, consider replacing them. If buyers are intrigued by the outside, they will be excited to see what the inside has to offer.

Make your interior sparkle. Go beyond the regular surface cleaning that you do on a consistent basis, and dig into those cleaning tasks that take a bit more effort. Some things to consider: clean windows outside and in, re-caulk sinks and bathtubs, dust light fixtures and ceiling fan blades, clean your carpets and rugs, thoroughly clean appliances inside and out, etc.  If you don't have the time or means to complete these chores, consider hiring a professional to do them for you.

Remove the clutter. Clutter makes your home appear smaller and can also give it a messy appearance. Focus your energy on your countertops and storage areas.  Countertops should be clear of any unnecessary items, so store small kitchen appliances elsewhere for the time being. Consider packing up knickknacks and books on shelves to give a more open appearance. Potential buyers will want to open closets, cabinets, and drawers to get a feel for the home’s storage space. Be certain that all of these areas neat and orderly and do not appear overstuffed.  If you are having a difficult time finding space for your belongings, visit the idea of renting a storage space while selling your home.

Depersonalize. As potential buyers are touring your home, they are trying to envision themselves living in the home. Items that reflect your personal life and taste can make it difficult for them to do so. Pack up the family photos, and remove the children's artwork from the fridge. If you have any highly taste-specific décor, your may consider swapping it out for something more neutral. When those viewing your home are not distracted by your belongings, they can better gauge whether or not the home will suit their needs.

Attend to minor repairs. While you don’t want to invest a ton of money into your home before selling it, there are certain minor things that you should do. Repair leaky faucets, patch any holes in the walls, realign doors that don’t open and close properly, etc. Most of these repairs do not take long to complete and will help prevent unnecessary checks in the cons column of the checklists of buyers.

Enlist an objective set of eyes. No matter how much time and energy you put into preparing your house to sell, it’s still worth having someone who has no emotional investment in the house give you a second opinion. Your real estate agent can be the perfect individual to do so. He or she works to sell the homes of many each and every year, so utilize his or her expertise!

Once you’ve addressed all of these areas, you’re ready to get the sales process on the road! Taking the time to prepare your Boston, MA house before listing it will pay off in helping to reduce the amount of time that it will spend on the market. As a longtime Boston area realtor, I have assisted many in making the sale of their homes as streamlined and stress free as possible. If you’re considering selling your Boston real estate, please contact me. I’d love to help you sell your current home and even find you the perfect new home.

Patti Fine

Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com

Patti Fine Real Estate

Greater Boston Area Homes

Search Greater Boston Area Homes

Why to Sell Your Boston, MA Home Now!

Would you like to sell your Boston home? Do you think that you missed your chance, now that summer is a distant memory and the holidays will be upon us soon? As your Boston real estate agent, it’s my job to tell you that this isn’t true. Now is actually a great time to sell!

Not convinced? The KCM Crew just shared a slew of reasons why home sellers should jump into the real estate market right now. I’ve summed them up for you here:

• Demand is high. You can’t sell your Boston home if there aren’t any interested Boston homebuyers. So, even if you think a different time of year will work better for your schedule, you should focus on the demand from buyers. Right now, that demand is high. Mortgage rates have fallen again, due to the government shutdown, so buyers want to act before they shoot back up! To prove it, home sales have increased for 25 months to a double-digit percent!

• Supply is increasing. The best time to sell is when inventory is low, because that’s when Boston homebuyers have few options and will negotiate in your favor to get your house. As inventory increases, buyers will have more options, and you’ll have to negotiate in their favor. Inventory has already slightly increased, but it’s expected to continue rising as more homeowners come out of negative equity.

• New construction is back. For a long time, Boston home sellers only had to compete with other sellers and not new construction. But it’s back now that the Boston housing market is recovering. This means that buyers will have the opportunity to buy your home, or that shiny new home down the street. Acting now is a smart plan, before the new construction hits the market!

• Interest rates will rise. Like I mentioned, buyers are eager to act now, before mortgage rates rise again. Almost all industry experts predict that rates will be up a full percentage point by this time next year. While this means less buyer interest, it also means that if you’re looking to move up or down, you’ll be affected by this too. Sell now, and you can snatch a low rate for your next house.

• It’s time to move on. There is a reason that you’re thinking about selling your Boston home now. Is it for a new job? To grow your family? To retire? To be closer to family? Whatever your reason is, you no longer have to wait. The housing recovery is here, and it’s a great time to sell. Why not move on and accomplish the life that you imagine?

Hopefully these points helped to show you what a great opportunity Boston home sellers have right now in the Boston real estate market. If you’re still coming up with excuses, see if yours is one of the top five bad reasons why homeowners decide not to sell. Realty Times created a rebuttal for each, so check out their article!

When you decide that it is time for you to sell your Boston home, contact me! As a Boston real estate agent, I’d love to help you out.

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

What to Look For In a Boston Real Estate Agent!

When selling your Boston home or buying a Boston home, you want to know that you have an experienced, highly credible Boston real estate agent with you throughout the process. You want an agent who represents a successful real estate firm, and one with excellent testimonials and web presence.

I am proud to announce to you today that Keller Williams Realty has been named the largest real estate franchise in North America! It is home to more than 90,000 associates around the world, with 12,000 gained in the past year. This is partly due to the business model of the company and the success of its real estate agents.

Keller Williams Realty has been around for 30 years and continues to add innovative services for real estate customers. They are growing in size and success, and I am proud to represent them as a Boston real estate agent!

Knowing that I stand behind such a prominent, growing company is one reason why you should consider me as your Boston real estate agent when buying a Boston home or selling a Boston home. Another reason is my list of testimonials.

I have been a resident of Boston, MA for 30 years, I have over three decades of experience in real estate, I have award-winning sales achievements and I have been nationally recognized for superior customer service. While this all plays a role in who you choose to represent you as your Boston real estate agent, testimonials remain number one.

Testimonials are reviews coming straight from the mouths of past homebuyers or home sellers just like you. Who better to put your trust in than people who were once in your shoes?

My web presence is also extensive, which is how you know that I’m a prominent Boston real estate agent. Perhaps that is how you found me! My interactive website is loaded with home-buying and home-selling tips, listings, information about Boston, Boston events, Boston schools and relocating to Boston. You can look up closed transactions, and you can read about my home-buying advantage.

I am also active on my Facebook page, Twitter page and LinkedIn page. My blog is updated weekly. You have so many ways to get a hold of me, to learn more about me, and to check out my latest real estate tips, advice, news and market reports.

When you’re ready to buy a Boston home or sell your Boston home, contact me! As a Boston real estate agent, representing the largest real estate firm in North America, you know you’re getting experience, honesty and success when working with me.

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

New Tips for Staging Your Boston Home to Sell!

As your Boston real estate agent, it’s my duty to help you with the home-selling process in Boston, MA. One part of that is staging your home to sell.

Now, many staging tips you’ve probably already heard. Declutter your home. Get rid of anything personal, like family photos and kid’s drawings on the refrigerator. Repaint the walls. Power wash the exterior. Display potted flowers on your front porch. Rearrange the furniture. Clean!

These are typical staging tips that are very important if you want potential homebuyers to imagine living in your home. You want your home to come off as a model home that is move-in ready, not a home that is being lived in by another family. Everything should look as perfect as it can.

However, today I’m going to share a few out-of-the-box ideas to help you stand out from other Boston home sellers. The key to staging is also to help potential homebuyers remember your home above the rest! Here are some new ideas:

• Add color pops to your neutral décor. Neutral décor is important, but you don’t want it to be so neutral that it looks blah. Add some hints of color, such as couch pillow shams, a throw rug, curtains and flower vases. Try to stick to one color scheme. You could also create a focal point with paint, such as painting one wall a bright color. More tips are available in this Realtor Magazine blog. 

• Use the right type of lighting in each room. Certain lighting can show off the features of certain rooms better than other lighting. House Logic recommends that you use halogen lighting to show off art, for task lighting or for mood creation. Use LED lighting on stairs, under cabinets and for landscaping. Fluorescent lighting is best for garages, closets and laundry rooms. 

• Make homemade air fresheners. You want your home to smell good for showings and open houses, but you don’t want homebuyers gagging on artificial chemicals! Huffington Post shared some great homemade options. One option is to cut an orange in half, cut out the pulp and fill the skin with salt. Or, dab a few drops of vanilla extract on a cool light bulb, then turn it on. 

• Create focal points. Define the best feature of each room, then decorate the room so that your other furnishings fit around it. Is it a fireplace in the living room? A built-in entertainment center in the family room? A table in the dining room? Use the lighting and color bursts we already discussed to enhance each focal point to make it memorable. 

Hopefully these tips will help you create a setting in your home that Boston homebuyers will remember and want to make their own! Have questions? Need help? Contact me, your Boston real estate agent! 

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

Latest Boston Real Estate Market News!

Lots of new real estate reports have been released at the national and local level. As your Boston real estate agent, I’d like to keep you informed as much as possible about what is going on! If you’re gearing up to sell your Boston home, or to buy a Boston home, you should know what’s happening in the Boston real estate market.

The Case-Shiller Index released its latest report about home prices. Nationally, home prices jumped 12.2 percent in top metro markets from April to May. That’s a huge jump! Although, it’s important to know that this number includes the re-sale of foreclosures, which throws the number off a bit.

In Boston, MA, home prices rose by a modest 1.8 percent in May over April, according to Boston.com. This is a much better number to look at, considering it is based off local statistics only. Historically, home prices are still relatively low, so it’s still a good time to buy a Boston home.

It’s good news for Boston home sellers, too. While home prices only rose 1.8 percent month-to-month, prices are still up 7.5 percent from a year ago! Nationally, the median existing-home price rose 13.5 percent in June, compared to June 2012, according to the National Association of Realtors. So the Boston real estate market is doing quite well in its house recovery.

Another sign of a strong, permanent housing recovery is that foreclosure inventory and distressed sales have decreased to their lowest levels since tracking began in October 2008. All three housing measure index components rose as well. Home sale conditions rose five points, home sale expectations increased seven points, and traffic of prospective homebuyers rose five points.

What does all this mean? It means that housing sentiment is high! According to DS News, eight in 10 Americans believe that owning a home is a good financial decision. The number of renters who want to own is up, and more than half of renters say owning a home is a top priority, according to a NAR report.

What does all this mean for you? As a Boston home seller:

• Home prices and home values are rising, meaning you can sell your home for a great price!
• Buyers are eager, meaning your home is likely to sell very fast.
• Because mortgage rates and prices are rising, if you want to move up in the Boston real estate market, now is the time to do it.

What it means as a Boston homebuyer:

• Home prices are rising, but they’re still low by historical standards.
• Mortgage rates are rising too, so the sooner you buy a Boston home, the more you’ll save.
• Homebuyer sentiment is up and more renters are entering the market. Beat the competition!

If you have any questions about all this, contact me, your Boston real estate agent. I’d be happy to help you out!

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

Should You Use A Real Estate Agent To Sell Your Boston Home?

When it comes to selling a Boston home, I think every home seller considers selling FSBO, or for-sale-by-owner, without the help of a Boston real estate agent. With inventory low and Boston homebuyers eager to buy, it seems like a golden opportunity to sell on your own and save money.

Boston.com reported that Boston is now the fifth most competitive home sales markets in the country, according to a recent Redfin study. This means that more than 56 percent of winning offers in Boston, MA were over the asking price!

Even so, as an agent who knows the Boston real estate market like the back of my hand, I can assure you that even in a seller’s market, you should use the assistance of an agent. Why? Statistics speak for themselves. Here, I’ve summed up information from an infographic, with stats gathered from the National Association of Realtors and Northwestern University.

• Selling FSBO takes 19 more days to sell, on average. Twenty percent of sellers end up relisting on MLS, which takes around 68 days longer to sell than realtor properties.
• Realtor properties sold for $41,000 more than FSBO listings in 2012. So, really, you will not be saving money by going it alone.
• The total number of property sales by FSBOs tumbled from 20 percent to 9 percent in the last decade, even with FSBO kits and the power of the internet readily available.
• A whopping 70 percent of FSBOs said they had significant difficulty selling. Mostly, sellers said they had difficulty with writing up contracts and understanding the legal paperwork involved with the sale. 
• Sellers also said pricing the home was difficult, knowing how to prepare/fix the home for a sale was difficult, and many other factors named in the infographic.

As you can see, many home sellers assumed that selling FSBO would save time and money, but in the end, they experienced more stress, their homes didn’t sell or they sold for less than what they could have sold for, and they took longer to sell.

If you’d like to sell your Boston home fast, and for a price that satisfies you, contact me! As your Boston real estate agent, I can take care of the complicated paperwork and legal matters, I can help you stage your home to sell, and we can come up with an asking price based on market statistics.

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

It’s Prime Time to Sell Your Boston, MA Home!

As your Boston real estate agent, it’s my job to keep you in the loop with current real estate news. This week, the latest Case-Shiller index was released for the month of March. Great news! On average, U.S. home prices rose 10.9 percent in March, when compared to March of last year. This is huge!

All 20 cities tracked by Case-Shiller saw price increases, with Boston, MA prices rising 6.7 percent. These numbers are higher than expected, with the biggest jump seen in seven years! So if you’d like to sell your Boston home in the near future, but you haven’t yet, what are you waiting for?

Allow me to explain in more detail why now is the ideal time to sell your Boston home:

• Home prices rose, as explained above, meaning that if you sell now, you’ll receive much higher offers from potential homebuyers than you would have a year ago. That's the best news a Boston home seller could ask for!

• Housing inventory is still low. There aren’t too many houses on the Boston real estate market right now, which means if yours is, it’s going to get a lot of attention from buyers! Many Boston home sellers receive numerous offers, allowing them to raise the asking price to a level that satisfies them.

• Home sales are also up. Even though inventory is low, Boston homebuyers are eager to buy while  mortgage rates are still low. If you put your house on the Boston real estate market, it’s nearly guaranteed that it’ll sell fast.

• Homes are selling fast. Half of the homes sold in April were on the market for an average of 46 days, down from 62 in March and 83 one year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors! A whopping 20 percent of houses went under contract in just one week in April, and one-third were sold within two weeks. If you want or need to move fast, now is the time to do it.

• Your golden opportunity will slip away if you wait. Inventory is still low, but it is increasing. According to the Wall Street Journal, it increased 11.9 percent in April from March. Also, new home sales recently skyrocketed. This means that with new homes and more inventory comes more competition and less interest in your home.

Hopefully, as your Boston real estate agent, I’ve made it clear what a fantastic time it is for you to sell your Boston home! When you’re ready, contact me. Together, we’ll get it sold in nothing flat!  

Patti Fine
Phone: 617-642-7585
Email: pf@pattifine.com
Patti Fine Real Estate
Greater Boston Area Homes
Search Greater Boston Area Homes

Why to Sell Your Boston, MA House This Spring!

Today is officially the first day of spring! This means that the busy Boston real estate market is just around the corner. Homebuyers are already out, eager to buy a home before prices and mortgage rates go up, making this a prime time for Boston home sellers to finally sell their homes!

Are you still not convinced that now is the time to sell? True, home prices are predicted to continue rising at a slow and steady pace, so if you wait, you might get a better offer. Then again, homebuyer demand might disappear.

As your Boston real estate agent, I want to assure you that the choice is yours! But if you’re feeling confused, here are the reasons I would give to sell your Boston home now:

1. Lenders are easing up on down payment requirements just in time for the spring real estate market boom. This means two things. One, buyer demand will be high for your home. Two, if you want to move up and buy a larger home, this is a great time to do it! 
2. Homes are selling faster because of the high demand of homebuyers. Realtor Magazine just reported that the median time homes were on the market in February was 98 days, compared to 123 in February 2011. At times, market time has been as low as 14 days!
3. Mortgage rates have risen for the past few weeks, and last week, 30-year fixed rates reached their highest levels in more than six months. With mortgage rates and home prices increasing, along with predictions that they’ll increase more, homebuyers want to buy now. If you plan to buy another home after you sell, you should want to buy now, too.
4. Rent prices are still soaring in Boston and Worcester. Boston.com reported that the Bay State has some of the most expensive rents in the country. With these prices, along with all the reports of a recovering housing market, you better believe that homebuyers will be pooling into the market this spring and summer. 
5. Because it’s possible that home prices will continue to rise, housing inventory is still at record lows. This may change as the weather gets warmer, but right now, you’ll get a slew of homebuyers looking at your Boston listing. If you want to sell your home quickly in the Boston real estate market, with the possibility of receiving multiple offers, now is your time!

As you can see, there is a lot going on as the housing market transitions from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market. Many factors are causing homebuyers to want to buy a Boston home quickly. Take advantage! When you’re ready to sell your Boston home, contact me, your Boston real estate agent!

Patti Fine 

Phone: 617-642-7585

Email: pf@pattifine.com

Patti Fine Real Estate

Greater Boston Area Homes

Search Greater Boston Area Home

Curb The Kid-Clutter In Your Boston, MA Home!

You’ve decided to sell your Boston, MA home. Congratulations! As your Boston real estate agent, I can tell you that you’re making a fabulous choice. Home prices are up the most they’ve been up since 2006, and home sales are the highest they’ve been since 2007! Boston homebuyers are trying to buy now before prices and mortgage rates go up, so chances are, your Boston home will sell in no time.

As a Boston home seller, it’s important that you stage your home to sell. That means that when it comes time for potential homebuyers to view your home, every room is clean, spotless, clutter-free and stripped of personal items. The home should look more like a model home than a home with a family living in it. You want your home to look move-in ready for the homebuyer!

However, when children are involved, staging your home gets a little more complicated. Children have a lot of stuff! As your Boston real estate agent, I’d like to lend you some tips on how to control your children’s clutter so that your home still comes off as move-in ready.

• If you have a lot of homemade artwork laying around or hanging on the refrigerator, now is the time to recycle it. I know, it has sentimental value. So before you do, take a photo of each piece that you love or want to remember. Then, you can add all of those photos to a scrapbook or a picture frame. That’ll be a great keepsake for your grown child someday!

• Invest in storage bins that have wheels underneath. Or, if you already own a lot of storage bins, try your luck at DIY by attaching wheels yourself! Wheels allow you to easily store bins underneath beds or cabinets. But they also make it easier for kids to pull them out when needed. Inside, you can store loose toys, games, clothes, diapers, dolls or anything else you want hidden!

• Make storage part of a room’s décor! In this idea from Better Homes and Gardens, they suggest you cut two squares of decorative fabric, preferably with patterns that match the décor of the room they’re going in. Then, you sew them and add a zipper to the side so children can easily get toys or accessories out of them. Hang them on the inside of a closet door so they’re not taking up space!

• Do your children have a lot of tiny toys that they’ve collected over the years? Those tend to get loose more often, and they’re hard to store away in a large bin. Instead, use an empty toolbox to store them! Toolboxes are made for tiny tools, nails and bolts, so why not use the little compartments for toys? When showing your home to homebuyers, they won’t even know toys are inside.

Hopefully these kid-friendly, clutter-removing tips will help you prepare your home for the Boston real estate market. For more ideas, check out this Apartment Therapy article.

When you’re ready to sell, contact me! As a Boston real estate agent, I can work with you to show your house, host open houses, attract local homebuyers, negotiate prices and close a deal!

Patti Fine 

Phone: 617-642-7585

Email: pf@pattifine.com

Patti Fine Real Estate

Greater Boston Area Homes

Search Greater Boston Area Home

Why Conditions Are Perfect For Boston Home Sellers Right Now!

Now that it’s mid-December in Boston, MA, I’m sure your mind is fully concentrated on holiday decorations, gifts, parties and festivals. But as your Boston real estate agent, it’s my duty to inform you that if you’ve been wanting to sell your Boston home, every report shows that now is the perfect time to do it!

While the Boston real estate market has been known to take a snooze this time of year, this year, Boston homebuyers are still out to buy during the holidays. Home prices are on the rise and mortgage rates are still low, so they don’t want to wait!

As a home seller, you shouldn’t either.  Take some time out of your holiday preparations in Boston, MA to plan for a home sale! Here’s some proof I’ve gathered for you as to why you should do this:

1. Boston ranks fifth in the country as the best cities for home sellers! Here in Boston, MA, we have a low percentage of distressed properties, and a low inventory of homes for sale, according to Movoto Real Estate. This increases the home prices and the speed at which homes sell. The average time on the market for Boston homes is only 50 days! 
2. As far as listing prices go, Boston ranks second in the country for having the highest, according to a Coldwell Banker survey. This means that, in the Boston real estate market, we’re dealing with a seller’s market now! Listing prices are rising and home sellers seem mostly pleased with what they are getting for their homes.  
3. Home prices are rising nationally. In fact, CNN Money reported that home prices experienced their biggest rise in more than two years in the third quarter! It’s no wonder, then, that Boston.com stated home sellers “are playing the Grinch instead of Santa for a change.” By this, they mean that during a typically “sleepy time of year,” sellers are holding off on price discounts.

What does all this mean for you as a Boston home seller? It means that conditions have turned in your favor. There is no need to wait, because home prices are higher here in Boston than in most other places in the U.S.! At the same time, mortgage rates are low, so serious Boston homebuyers are still out looking for homes in a city where inventory is low. Low inventory means less competition!

Would you like to sell your Boston home this holiday season? Contact me, your Boston real estate agent! I can help you sell your home in the Boston real estate market for a price that you deserve.

Patti Fine 

Phone: 617-642-7585

Email: pf@pattifine.com

Patti Fine Real Estate

Greater Boston Area Homes

Search Greater Boston Area Home