If you are distressed with the state of democracy on a national level, I highly encourage you to delve into your local politics. It’s messy, there are strong conflicting opinions, and there will always be some unhappy with the results, but if you’ve ever witnessed our local government in action, you know that the democratic process is alive and well in our little corner of the universe. Case in point: Cambridge’s City Council and Somerville’s Board of Aldermen have both recen

It’s good to be a seller in a sellers’ market. That said, it’s still critical that you hire a list agent who will understand your particular goals and needs, net you the best outcome and manage the process effectively so that all goes smoothly through the closing. And ideally, your agent should be someone you enjoy working with — you will be spending a lot of time together, after all. So how DO you find the best agent? There’s certainly no one size fits all, but here is some

Don’t worry about Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction of six more weeks of winter — that doesn’t mean you have to wait to sell  your home… When most people think about listing their home, they imagine green grass and flowers framing the sign on their lawn. The “Spring Market” is the holy grail of real estate and most of us – I include agents here – are conditioned to believe this is the best time to sell or buy a home. However, there’s a lot to be said for listing your home in Jan

Well, we’ve finally reached the end of the series, and so here we go… the last step in getting your home ready to sell is… Staging principle #5 — Clean! This is the one part of staging I think everyone understands. And when I say clean, I mean, sweep, vacuum & scrub the floors, dust surfaces, baseboards, etc., wash windows inside and out, and make sure the kitchen and bath sparkle. Check out the crystal clear windows and shiny floors on this empty condo I listed a few years a

I often hear from agents visiting my listings something along the lines of, “Your listings are always so beautiful.” Obviously nice to hear but to set the record straight, it’s not that I am just cherry-picking the best properties to list — the fact that my listings show well has more to do with my clients’ understanding of the value of preparing their homes for the market, and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and do the work needed to really make their homes shine.

A couple weeks ago I started this series with tips for staging your home to sell, and real life examples from listings I’ve had. My first post was about clearly defining rooms and spaces, and the second was about scaling down and scaling back. On to the next… Staging principle #3 – Lighten & brighten Try to imagine the living room below with dark brown walls — that was its “before” stage. Luckily, the owners of this charming Somerville condo understood that when selling, brig

Last week I posted the first of this five-part “mini-series” of home staging, focusing on clearly defining the rooms and spaces. This week, I want to talk about the next universal principle… Staging principle #2 – Scale down and scale back When my clients A & J lived here, this cute eat-in kitchen in a small Somerville condo had felt very cramped and difficult to navigate, with a long, six-seat dining table and high-backed dark wood chairs. Since we listed their home after th

Very few of us live in a way that we would just be able to throw up a for sale sign and welcome people in — most of our homes require a bit of preparation before we come to market. And no matter the size or style or price point of a given property, the principles of home staging are always the same: Clearly define the rooms and spaces Scale down and scale back to increase the feel of spaciousness and improve flow Lighten & brighten Declutter and depersonalize Clean! I am goin

This is my final post of a three-part series for Cambridge / Somerville homeowners who want to sell their homes and buy new ones, but aren’t sure how to best manage the process. I’ve already posted on: Strategy #1: Sell, but stay in your current home while you search for a new one Strategy #2: Buy first, then sell Today, I am going to tell you about an option that many people consider, and can make a lot of sense… While no one’s really crazy about the idea of having to move t

This is the second of a three-part series on strategies for homeowners who want to sell their homes and buy new ones. Yesterday I wrote about selling your home and then leasing it back from the buyer while you’re looking for the new place. Today, I am introducing another possible strategy, with more insight from my lovely clients… Strategy #2: Buy first, then sell I cannot emphasize enough that the first thing you should do when you’re thinking about making a move is to look

In a market like ours, where inventory is super low and trying to buy a home can sometimes feel like a competitive death match, one of the most common scenarios I encounter is homeowners who would LOVE to sell their home and buy a bigger/better/different one, but feel trapped by the market. They know they’ll be able to sell their current home, but are paralyzed by the fear of not finding a new one. While this fear is not unfounded, the reality isn’t quite so dire. It is, in f

In Cambridge and Somerville, the vast majority of our homes are condos, and so it follows that the vast majority of my real estate deals are also condos. And the thing about condos is that they are a lot more complicated to buy and sell than single family homes — and I mean more complicated for the buyer, the seller, the agents and attorneys involved on both sides and certainly the lender. There are a lot more factors involved in the sale/purchase of a condo, and a lot more p

While many agents swear by the convenience of having a lockbox on their listings, I personally don’t use them, and this is why: Reason #1 – First impressions count! I want my listings to make the best possible impression when buyers walk through the door. That means getting there early to open curtains/shades, turn on lights, put down toilet seats, make sure there are no dishes in the sink, etc. Lockboxes don’t yet have the technology to do these things for me. Reason #2 – I