Real Estate Search Blog | Property Listings MA

Aside from providing the latest details on Taylor Swift’s new album, Twitter and other forms of social media can be extremely useful when it comes to keeping tabs on the latest real estate news. Whether you’re hungry for foreclosures and short sales, information on recent tax credits, or tips on how to stage your home for a sale, these are the 10 best social media sources for real estate search.

Growth spurt... or Goliath?

1. Economix.Blogs.NYTimes.com

With contributors that include esteemed economics professors from MIT, Harvard University, and Princeton, the New York Times Economix blog helps readers understand the real impact of laws and market fluctuations that are relevant to the housing market. Recent blog posts discuss the impact (or lack thereof) of last year’s home buyer tax credit and the lasting effects of kindergarten education on a student’s life.

2. Twitter.com/Agentopolis

The best source for real estate lifestyle articles that aren’t focused on a specific region. Agentopolis combs through a variety of sources, posting about articles such as 10 Best Cities for Working Women with Kids and Hidden Costs of a First Home.

Porter Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts

3. The Cambridge Real Estate Blog

Harvard graduate and Cambridge real estate agent Charles Cherney tells readers what they can expect from the home buying process, how to find their dream home on Day 1, and when they can expect their home to sell in the Cambridge real estate market. Charles also regularly posts in-depth spotlights on Cambridge neighborhoods and properties.

4. Trulia.com/Voices

These message boards are great to browse through for real estate discussions. Post your own question, general or specific, for free advice from experienced real estate agents located in almost every region in the country.

5. YouTube.com

Another great source for real estate video tours. Check out this Cambridge real estate channel for video tours through the latest Cambridge MA listings.

A screenshot of WellcomeMat.com

6. WellcomeMat.com

A real estate video tour website featuring properties listed by 18,000 real estate agents across the US. Particularly useful for luxury properties in metropolitan areas. A good way to establish a connection with an experienced real estate agent.

7. Zillow.com/Advice

Similar concept to the Trulia message boards; another great source for free expert real estate advice.

8. LinkedIn.com

Any real estate agent that’s not on LinkedIn isn’t worth doing business with. Connect with a real estate agent you are interested in working with, read recommendations from clients or colleagues, find out if your agent has any certifications or designations that are important to you.

9. ConsumerBoomer.com

Even though it’s a blog that’s written for Baby Boomers, there’s a wealth of helpful financial information here that’s helpful for any generation. And though it’s not completely dedicated to real estate, articles include Affordable Vacation Homes and How to Get the Best Deal on Mortgages.

10. Twitter.com/EnergizedSeller

For home selling and staging tips, ask Dan Eason. Visit his website for more tips and tricks at EnergizedSeller.com

Did we miss something? Tell us your favorite social media source for real estate!

On his Cambridge real estate blog, real estate agent Charles Cherney noted the importance of the outer and inner appearance of a home that’s on the market.

“I was struck on my visits today by by how much appearance matters. One condo I looked at is very nice – but you almost wouldn’t know it. The place needs a good cleaning and would really benefit from having someone give some thought to its presentation…”

An example of a staged bathroom

An experienced Realtor or a professional home stager can bring  a valuable, new perspective to the home selling process. A furniture arrangement that has suited a family’s needs for years may not fully compliment a space in the way that it should; for instance, cluttered furniture may make a space feel smaller than it actually is. In addition to finding an experienced Realtor with a talent for staging, here are some tips that any homeowner can follow to create a blank canvas from his or her property.

• Clear off countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms; remove smaller kitchen appliances such as toaster ovens and blenders from the countertops
• Clear the fridge door
• Re-organize closets. The Container Store and Ikea sell inexpensive storage boxes and hanging bags
• Hang curtains 4-6 inches higher and wider than the window to make the room look bigger
• Rent a storage unit for extra clutter that can’t be stored in your home
• Hire a professional to clean your home. It costs under $100 to have a four-bedroom, 2500 square foot home cleaned.
• Before each showing, boil cinnamon sticks or bake cookies
• Have a professional pressure-clean the exterior of your home — it’s amazing how sparkling the outside of a home can look when it’s freed from years of crud! You can also rent the equipment from a hardware store for $50-$75 for the day.
• Mow the lawn, lay down mulch if necessary
• Replace the mailbox and house numbers if they’ve taken a beating over the years

Real estate agent Charles Cherney’s passion for Cambridge MA real estate, for architecture, and most importantly, for other people, make him an ideal residential real estate agent for Cambridge, MA properties. Visit his Cambridge real estate website and Cambridge Real Estate Blog for helpful real estate tips, detailed blogs about neighborhoods and listings in Cambridge, video tours of Cambridge real estate listings, and more.

Looking for an easy way to find real estate tips, tools, and resources all in one place? You can find a collection of blog posts on various real estate topics for ANY real estate market on The Cambridge Real Estate Blog, which is written by Cambridge real estate agent Charles Cherney.

Topics include:

• Five Keys to a Residential Real Estate Search
• A Fresh and Clean Appearance Makes a World of Difference
• 4 Home Inspection Myths
• The Mortgage Appraisal

and more. You can read these blog posts on The Cambridge Real Estate Blog.

For insight into the entire real estate process and for detailed information about the Cambridge area, visit CharlesCherney.com. Charles Cherney is a top Cambridge real estate agent who has years of experience assisting buyers and sellers of homes in Cambridge. If you are a student or working professional who is thinking of relocating to Cambridge, take the first step by visiting CharlesCherney.com.

So you’re thinking about buying a home in Fall River real estate. You surf the net for information on public schools and other city data, plan a Saturday to do some drive-through home shopping, and wonder what else you can do before choosing a Fall River real estate agent. And if you already have one, you’re twiddling your thumbs and wondering what else you can do to accelerate the home-buying process. Here are a few ways you can get to know Fall River or any other city or town.

1. Get the scoop! Topix.com and WickedLocal.com are two websites which collect headlines about specific towns and cities from multiple publications. Local news websites are also great for community information such as local sports, coverage of special town events, and town politics. For Fall River local news, try SouthCoastToday.com and HeraldNews.com.

2. Follow your town on Twitter. Most towns lack the time and resources to maintain a Twitter account (with the exception being the town of Madison, Connecticut at Twitter.com/InsideMadison). However, Twitter is a wealth of insider information that is just too valuable to ignore. So how can you “Follow” a town if it doesn’t have a Twitter account? TweetMeme.com is a great way to follow users who mention a town like Fall River in their Tweets. Simply search the name of the town you’re interested in, and read the latest headlines, thoughts, and musings about that town.

A photo of Fall River from Flickr.com

3. Beauty through the eyes of the beholder. Flickr.com is a great way to get to know the landmarks and secret places of towns and cities. By searching for your town, you can browse thousands of photographs taken by Flickr users. Maybe you’ll stumble across a park you never knew about or a cool piece of public art!

4. Watch a movie. Forget YouTube — Vimeo.com is the best new place on the web for high-quality videos. A search for “Newton MA” will show you videos that zero in on scenes at local Newton parks, Newton politics, and even clips of the Boston Marathon!

Want more insider information on buying a home? Visit the Fall River real estate website for tips on buying and selling real estate, and browse hundreds of homes for sale in Fall River, MA. It’s never too early to start looking.

We recently featured InsideMadison.com as an awesome way for potential home buyers to explore Madison CT real estate and the Madison CT area without leaving the comfort of your home. On the site you can find dynamic information about real estate in Madison CT , schools, businesses, recreation and entertainment, and more. For home buyers who are set on shopping within Madison CT real estate, the website is a great way to keep in touch with the Madison CT community while stationed elsewhere.

But wait — there’s more! The Inside Madison Youtube channel features videos of Madison CT beaches, marinas, historical homes and landmarks. It’s like taking a virtual tour of Madison CT!

Want to browse hundreds of real estate listings in Madison CT real estate? Visit JerrySherman.net, the website of Madison CT real estate agents Jerry and Maureen Sherman. You can search within Madison CT real estate as well as its surrounding towns of Guilford CT, Killingworth CT, Clinton CT, Westbrook CT, Essex CT, Old Saybrook CT, North Branford CT and Branford CT. There are also helpful real estate buying and selling tips on the CT Shoreline Real Estate website.

Fall River real estate may be exactly what you’re looking for. SouthCoastToday.com, the website of The Standard-Times newspaper, recently highlighted the town of Fall River as a great place for “affordable and diverse real estate.”

The publication highlighted Fall River’s Lower Highlands Historical District, home to several grand Victorian homes that are in the $500,000 range. Home buyers looking at other areas in Fall River real estate will be looking within a price range of less than $175,000 to $499,000.

Businesses, private and public higher education institutions, and the arts are continuously thriving within the Fall River community. This is a plus for business owners, those seeking rewarding careers, and of course, Fall River residents. Fall River is also abundant with recreational areas like three large parks designed by architect Frederick Olmstead which are often the site of Farmers Markets and family-oriented festivals.

For a comprehensive search through homes for sale in Fall River real estate, head over to the Arrow Realty Group website. There, you can find information about Fall River and its surrounding towns, tips for buying and selling real estate, and direct access to the most experienced Fall River real estate agents.

According to a January 2010 Market Watch survey, home buyers look for these 10 features when shopping for their dream home.

• Large kitchens with an island.
• Energy-efficient features. Energy-efficient appliances, high-efficiency insulation, and energy-saving windows.
• Home office or study. The trend is away from dining rooms and toward spare concept rooms.
• Main-floor master suite.
• Outdoor spaces. Visit HGTV.com for ideas on how to transform your back yard to an “outdoor living room.”
• Ceiling fans
• Master suite soaker tubs and oversized showers.
• Stone and brick exteriors.
• Community parks with walkways and playgrounds. Use Google Maps to note the public recreation areas in your neighborhood, then use this to your advantage when selling your home with an experienced real estate agent.
• Two-car garages.

***

If you are in need of an experienced real estate agent, RealEstateSearchBlog.net would like to personally recommend the following real estate agents in Massachusetts:

Charles Cherney of Hammond Real Estate:  Cambridge Real Estate

Michael D. Lyons of Prudential Lyons Group Real Estate: Boston Real Estate

Marguerite Cashman of Arrow Realty Group: Fall River Real Estate

Christine Norcross & Partners of William Raveis Real Estate: Newton Real Estate

Rosemary Quarato of RE/MAX: Cape Ann Real Estate

And for the home hunters seeking real estate in Connecticut:

Jerry and Maureen Sherman of William Raveis Real Estate: CT Shoreline Real Estate / CT Waterfront Real Estate

If you’re preparing to or already in the process of selling a home, here’s a way to squeeze more cash out of your property. Massachusetts has alloted over $6 million dollars to help you get money back for your old appliances. The Massachusetts Appliance Rebates program is scheduled to begin in March 2010.

Eligible products include

• Refrigerators
• Freezers
• Clothes washers
• Dishwashers

For more information, contact the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources.

Prudential Prime Properties is a Boston real estate firm that has years of real estate market experience to fine-tune its home-selling strategies. If you are hoping to sell real estate in Boston, list your property with Prudential Prime Properties.

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.

Thinking of selling your home in the near or distant future? There are several things you can do to make your home more appealing to potential buyers that don’t require a lot of effort or expense. These tips were pulled from a video on HGTV’s Frontdoor.com.

Tip 1: Hire it out

Hire a designer or realtor for about an hour to check out your home. Though you’ve always liked that art deco backsplash in the kitchen, a potential homebuyer might not. See what works and what doesn’t when it comes to the taste of the general public. If you’re not comfortable doing the work yourself, see these helpful tips for hiring a contractor or remodeler.

Tip 2: Get an Inspection

I’ve spoken with several real estate agents in Massachusetts, and most of them recommend having your home inspected before you do anything else. The inspector can point out major and minor problems that you can fix, before potential homebuyers see them.

Tip 3: Get a Fresh Look

Paint each room in a different earth tone. Doing so will give each room its own distinct feel — a house full of white rooms isn’t very appealing and doesn’t inspire buyers to imagine how they will decorate each room. Make sure to draw attention to accents like crown moldings. Below is a picture of the hallway of one of the homes for sale in Newton MA. The earthy, sandy color that the owners chose for the walls draws sharp contrast to the banister, the moldings, the small window, and the gleaming hardwood floors. Sometimes plain white paint just doesn’t do a home justice.

Tip 4: Decorate

Pick up a few home design magazines and see what you can do to improve the aesthetics of your home. Don’t go overboard with trends and embellishing — after all, when you move out the decor goes with you. Stick with basic decorating details. If your larger furniture has a busy or bright pattern, throw a few neutral slipcovers over them and add a couple of brightly colored pillows. Upgrade bland window blinds to neutral-colored drapes. If you can’t afford to overhaul your bathroom, paint it a neutral color and choose one bright accent color for the hand towels, shower curtain, and rug.

Tip 5: Get an Energy Audit

Visit your energy provider’s website to evaluate your home’s energy efficiency. You can find tips to quickly and inexpensively decrease your home’s electricity costs, like replacing regular lightbulbs with energy-saving ones. If you’re not planning to sell your home for some time, consider replacing windows with better-insulated ones. Take advantage of this federal tax credit which allows for 30% off your home energy-improving expenses (in effect until December 31, 2010.)

These basic tips should put you on the right path to selling a home.