Real Estate Search Blog

Looking to relocate to Boston? If you can imagine yourself spending your Saturdays wandering its quaint cobblestone streets, sipping a glass of merlot over dinner at a dimly lit trattoria, and topping off the night with a cool dish of mint gelato, then the North End might be the right neighborhood for you. Your search for real estate in Boston might just end at one of Boston’s most cultured neighborhoods.

The North End is Boston’s own Italian district, filled with over 100 family-run Italian restaurants, cafes, bakeries, gelato shops, gourmet grocery stores, and clothing boutiques. If you are looking for homes in Boston or condos in Boston, Boston’s North End may offer you an exciting lifestyle with culture right beyond your doorstep.

Prudential Prime Properties is currently featuring two luxury condominiums at 44 Prince Street in Boston’s North End. The properties feature modern finishes with Old World details such as a clock tower, a courtyard with a fountain, a garden, and a fireplace in every unit. Most units also have a patio, balcony, or deck. Pictured below is 44 Prince Street in Boston.

Below are the floorplans for Prudential Prime Property’s two condos in Boston.

The North End is also just steps away from Faneuil Hall, the TD Bank North Garden, Government Center, the Financial District, and the Mass Bay Transit System (MBTA). There’s no better time to check out all that Boston real estate has to offer.

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.

In Boston, a renter’s average payment is about $1700 per month. Year after year, rents have gone up while housing values fall. Sometimes, making the transition from renter to homeowner makes the best financial sense – especially now that the real estate market is a buyer’s market. Cambridge MA real estate can offer a simple way to go from renter to homeowner.

In this buyer’s market, now is the perfect time to make that transition. The city of Cambridge is an excellent place for a young professional in Boston to transition from renter to buyer without sacrificing any facet of his or her city lifestyle. Cambridge is home to some of Boston’s most cherished restaurants serving an array of world cuisines, from Indian to East African. The city’s intellectual pulse is reflected in the rotating independent films shown at its famous theaters. Some of the best shopping in Boston can be found in the small, eclectic shops around Harvard Square, and of course there’s always the CambridgeSide Galleria. The close-knit community of Cambridge celebrates is diverse cultural roots through annual performances and parades such as its African street carnival and its own world’s fair.

Take advantage of the buyer’s market and browse some of the condo and home listings in Cambridge real estate.

There’s no mistaking the fact that buying a home is the biggest investment you will ever make. All the experts suggest that even before you start looking at Boston real estate you ask yourself a few simple questions that will help you decide if it’s the right time for you to take the ownership plunge.

1. What kind of mortgage do you need?It’s a good idea to get pre-approved before you start looking through the Boston MLS. Beyond the amount that the lending institution will approve you for there are several other options you need to work through, like a payment schedule – or whether you would prefer – and a closed or open mortgage with a fixed, variable or adjustable interest rate. It’s critical that you get pre-approved so that you know how much money you’ll be able to spend.

2. You’ll need to factor in the extra costs as well. Beyond the home inspection, legal fees and moving expenses, you need to be sure that you have saved up a good down payment to keep your mortgage manageable in the first five years, which are traditionally more difficult. As well, any smart homeowner puts aside a little money in an emergency savings fund to meet any repair and emergency expenses.

It’s essential to do a little preplanning before you start looking for the home of your dreams and making serious plans about relocating to the Boston area.

When you are thinking about relocation to Boston – or to the greater Boston area at the very least – there are a number of things that you are going to want to be focusing on:

1. You’re going to want to be sure that you find the right home when you are looking at relocation to Boston (and that means knowing where to search for Boston real estate).
2. You’re going to want to know that you are getting the support that you need throughout the relocation process – you’re going to want to think about finding the right real estate agent, someone who will help you to get answers you need about the move and who will be able to keep an eye out for the homes that will interest you the most.
3. Those who are selling a home before relocating are going to also be focused on making sure that their home sells; everyone who is in the process of relocation is going to need to think about packing everything up and making the trip.

As long as you are able to take a closer look and determine where to look for the real estate in Boston that you’ll call home after the move, and as long as you’re working with the right real estate professional, you’ll find that there doesn’t need to be a great deal of stress involved. Instead, you’ll be able to know that you can focus on taking one step at a time and getting into a great home.