Real Estate Search Blog

Cambridge MA is a city that invests heavily in its cultural activities. Come holiday season, there are so many fun things to do in the city of Cambridge.

• Harvard Square’s annual Holiday Fair is a gathering of dozens of independent artists from the area, proudly displaying and selling their creative wares at the First Parish Unitarian Church in Harvard Square. It’s a great opportunity to do some holiday gift-shopping.
• For an uplifting, soulful performance of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, visit the American Repertory Theatre’s production of Best of Both Worlds at the Loeb Drama Center. The show includes a rotating cast of gospel choirs from the city’s finest university, church, and community choirs.
• If you’d rather head to a folk music show than listen to gospel music, Club Passim on 47 Palmer Street in Cambridge has several holiday shows featuring folk artists and bands.
• Everyone LOVES a laugh! Take your family to ImprovBoston’s interactive Family Show on December 19th at 40 Prospect Street in Cambridge.

The city of Cambridge offers so many fun things to do for the whole family. Searching for real estate in Cambridge MA shouldn’t be a headache. Charles Cherney is one of the most esteemed real estate agents in Cambridge MA. If you and your family are searching for homes in Cambridge MA, there are plenty of gorgeous properties to look at. Some of the homes are even nestled conveniently in Harvard Square. Take a look at Cambridge MA real estate today.

If you are searching for real estate in Cambridge MA, one of the many advantages of buying a home in this wonderful city is the support that the city provides for homeowners who would like to decrease their energy bills.

Financing a home may be the biggest investment that an individual will make over the course of his lifetime. It is a valuable perk if a town or city extends financial incentives to homeowners. Selecting a home from Cambridge MA real estate will offer instant and long-term financial savings, through Cambridge’s intiative toward energy-efficiency.

The Cambridge Energy Alliance is a city-sponsored organization that helps homeowners save money while at the same time reducing Cambridge’s carbon footprint. A free energy audit is available to all Cambridge homeowners who are NSTAR customers. After signing up on CEA’s website, an energy specialist will visit the homeowner’s property, audit it, and make specific recommendations for improvements. The assessment focuses on weatherization (insulation & air leakage), mechanical systems (air conditioning, heating & hot water), and major appliances and lighting.

Homeowners in Cambridge are even offered utility incentives and rebates to be applied towards the energy specialist’s recommendations. Typically, by applying these incentives and acting on the energy specialist’s recommendations, the average homeowner decreases his utility bill home by 20-30%.

The City’s energy-efficiency assistance is just one of the many reasons to continue looking at homes in Cambridge MA.

The GRI designation is considered the nation’s number one real estate designation. Only 19% of realtors in the United States have obtained this designation. The GRI (Graduate Realtor Institute designation) is administered and given by the National Association of Realtors. The designation is comparable to the accounting industry’s CPA (Certified Public Accountant) designation and the financial industry’s CFP(Certified Financial Planner) designation.

Charles Cherney of Hammond Residential is one real estate agent serving the Cambridge, MA area who has obtained the GRI designation. He has completed about 90 hours of classroom instruction on various topics including recognizing and addressing potential legal issues, tax policies, types of mortgage programs, fair housing laws, basics of building construction, and the home inspection process. GRI programs differ by state in order to educate participants on their own local and state real estate practices.

What does this mean for the home buyer or seller? Choosing a real estate agent with the GRI designation means you are working with one of the best and most knowledgeable real estate agents in your state and in the country. Your real estate agent will provide you with a high level of professionalism and in-depth knowledge of every step in your home-buying or home-selling journey. A real estate agent with the GRI designation is theoretically involved in all parts of the home buying or home selling process. While other agents must put blind faith into a home inspector’s findings, an agent with the GRI designation fully understands each detail and will be able to explain the results and further courses of action to the home owner.

Buying a home will most likely be the largest single investment you will make in your lifetime. Only a real estate agent with the GRI designation will understand every detail in the home-buying process, and will be able to provide you with the high quality of service needed to steer you through the process.

Even if you buy what you consider to be at the time a perfect piece of Cambridge real estate, there will more than likely come a time down the road when you want to make some changes or renovations. Some of the jobs that you’ll want to do will require a little bit more work than you’re capable of handling on your own. For that you need to hire out and the following is a handy checklist of the things that can affect the time it takes to get a renovation job done.

1. Remember to add a certain safety margin to any estimates the contractor gives you. It’s important to remember that any contractor needs to deal with his own scheduling issues and the materials that he needs for your project could very well be delivered late. Almost always for one of these reasons, the work that you’re having done will take a little longer than first estimated. Some of the experts even state that it’s a good idea to double the contractor’s original estimate.
2. Remember, the weather can play a critical role in the time it takes to get a renovation project done. It’s important to remember that there are quite a few different kinds of repairs that are sensitive to weather conditions and are therefore best done in warmer times.

There is no doubt that finding that Cambridge MA real estate that you will love is a worthy endeavor, and factoring in the time frame for a few renovations only increases the property’s value.

One of the things that you’re going to want to think about if you’re looking at selling a Cambridge home is what you can do to make the process go as smoothly as possible. One of the first things that you’re going to want to do when you put your Cambridge home on the market is to make sure that you’re getting the support that you need.

The next thing that you are going to want to take into consideration when you’re looking at selling your home are the steps that you can take to make sure that your home is looking its best. You’re going to want to be sure that:

• You’re keeping the path to your doorway clear and that even from the street – whether your home is near Alewife, MIT or Harvard Square – your home looks its best.
• You’re going to want to be sure that you’re looking at what you can do to get rid of all of the personal touches that make the home yours. While photos are great for reminding you of those who you love, they keep prospective buyers from seeing the spot as their home.

It’s amazing what this combination – the right real estate agent, the right exterior and the right interior – can do when your Cambridge home is on the market.