Real Estate Search Blog

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 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.

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.

When looking to move from one home to another, particularly if you are moving from one town to another, you run the risk of falling into a double mortgage trap. This happens when you commit to buy before your current property has been sold. This is where a good real estate agent can be a great help.

We live in an era in which time is always a pressure. If you are transferring from one area to another to take on a new job, or perhaps to gain a promotion, you will have a start date deadline. It’s not always going to be possible to sell your current home prior to the move. In fact, in can be difficult finding, negotiating and settling on a new property. Real estate agents deal with these problems every day.

Let’s assume you are looking at Boston real estate. You have a number of options.

• You can rent a property in Boston while you are waiting for your current property to sell,
• You can buy a property in Boston and rent out your current property,
• You can rent in Boston whilst renting out your current property,
• You can buy in Boston and sell your current property.

The last option is the most difficult if time is a problem. Renting out your current property until it is sold may bring in enough income to cover the mortgage, however, it could also be harder to sell if it is being rented. Renting a property in Boston will still see you paying twice, once for your mortgage and again for your rent.

This is where you need to sit down with your real estate agent and determine which is the best option. You may be able to sell your current home in a reasonably quick period of time so renting a Boston property may be feasible. Discuss the issues with your real estate agent and let their experience be a guide.

Once you’ve got the question out of the way as to whether you should or shouldn’t list, the next step is to figure out what your Fall River home will sell for. However, what you want to get for that home and what the house is actually worth are very often two different things. As you might expect, there are a few factors that you can consider when setting a price for your home.

Setting The List Price

One of the biggest mistakes that sellers make in today’s market is clinging to antiquated prices. Asking what the neighbors paid for their home several years ago is not relevant in today’s market. There are several things that you need to look at.

1. Find out what cycle the market is in. Whether you’re listing in a buyer’s or seller’s market makes all the difference in what you can ask for your home. The position of the market will determine whether prices are moving up or down
2. You’ll need to look at the supply of homes on the market as well. If there’s a surplus of Fall River homes like yours for sale, that will effect what you can ask.
3. Another factor that can influence home prices are neighborhood amenities. Is the home near a school or a park? Is there a lakefront view? How close are shopping and industrial centers? Be sure to consider these factors when setting a price for your home as well.