As you know, I love, love to blog about how to make your home sparkle and shine when selling it. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression, and so a buyer’s first visit to your house is crucial. With my past posts, I have focused more on the interior of the home and less on the exterior. So now it’s time to focus on the outside, and making your exterior as show ready as it can possibly be. Here are a few tips to keep in mind, and they can be used to your advantage primarily in the Spring market, summer months and early fall when the weather in Weston, Wellesley and Wayland is more cooperative and conducive to external beauty: (more…)

It’s all good…. As you’ve likely heard or read from a variety of sources, the Spring real estate market, in such towns as Weston, Wellesley,Needham, Wayland, Lexington and Concord to name just a few, is Hot, Hot, Hot. And with properties priced below $1 million and sometimes even below $1.5 million*, a better word to describe the market is frenetic. (more…)

In addition to organizing your clutter, cleaning out your closets, beautifying your home and making it downright sparkle, there are several other things to do prior to putting your home on the market. Here are some pre-listing-your-home items to consider as you begin your journey down the home-selling path: (more…)

If you are selling your home in Wellesley, Weston or Wayland MA, the Spring market is just ahead of us – traditionally a good time to sell.  The timing of the Spring* market is something that sellers often ponder and question in anticipation of putting their homes on the market. Adding to the complexity of the issue is that the timing of the Spring market varies depending on several factors. (more…)

This is a question that Weston MA home sellers ask time and again as we approach the holiday season, which officially begins in the real estate business at Thanksgiving and continues into the New Year. Specifically the question is, “Should I keep my Weston MA home on the market during the holidays?” And the answer varies depending on the scenario.

But before all that, a few quick perspectives…. First, as I like to say, home buying and selling happens every day throughout the year. That being said, late November and December are typically the slowest months in real estate. (more…)

Usually when we think about selling a home, we think about the property appealing to that one buyer (or many if you’re a lucky seller), who falls in love and buys it. But in reality the process is not that easy nor does it involve just one step. When you are selling your home, you ultimately have to sell it three times over. First, you need to sell your house to the Broker; second, to the Buyer, and third, to the Bank. There’s just one caveat – at every step of this three-part selling process, the pricing and perceived value of your home is an essential part. In other words, your home must be “priced to sell” as they say – not inflated or unrealistic. Because if it is unreasonably priced, simply put, it just won’t “sell” to the three B’s. And most of the time, all of these steps in the process need to successfully and sequentially happen in order for your property to sell.

When I first heard* this concept of selling your home three times over to the three B’s, I loved it. I thought it was brilliant and summed up the selling process perfectly. So that being said, let’s indulge ourselves and take a closer look at what this means: (more…)

Similar to my blog, Smelling Your Home, this is about one of the five senses and selling your home…though this time it’s about the visual sense and how to maximize what buyers see as they first enter your home. When buyers come to view your home, their senses are on high alert.   (more…)

I would love to take credit for this next post, but alas, it was written by Elaine Bannigan, the owner and founder of Pinnacle Residential Properties in Wellesley, MA, which is also my place of employment. Elaine, who has been selling real estate in Wellesley, Weston and surrounding communitie sfor over 30 years, wrote this for those who have lived in their houses for many years and are contemplating their next step in life. I thought it was quite pertinent, informative, well-written and poignant, and so I wanted to share it with you….. (more…)

This is another one with a hat’s off to The Nate Berkus Show.  Speaking of which, what am I going to do when his show goes off the air in May? Such a bummer. Anyway, I digress…. So yesterday morning I was racing to get ready and turned on Nate so I could see what he was discussing. Sure enough he was talking about a home’s entryway, and he was sharing some tips about how to optimize its look and appeal. As I pondered these tips, I realized that they can also come in very handy when it comes to selling your home. (more…)

I was talking with a client about just this question the other day.  She was curious whether having a lockbox on her door was in the best interest of selling her home.  Before answering the question, though, we need some background information….  (more…)