House Hunting

MLS Abbreviations and What They Mean

Real estate sites like Zillow use the data from local Multiple Listing Services (MLS), and then add additional properties for sale by people who are not using the MLS. If you are looking at Zillow, all the properties read, “(type of property) for sale.” That works. However, you then need to click on the property

By |2024-02-27T21:43:10-05:00February 28th, 2024|Categories: House Hunting|Tags: , , |

An Act Protecting Consumer Rights in Purchasing Safe and Habitable Homes

Anyone following real estate in the past three years or so has run into people who think that home inspection is (or should be) optional. Waiving home inspection has become a negotiation tool. This thinking plays into the interests of professional investors and hurts people who plan to owner-occupy their homes. It particularly harms first-time

By |2023-11-19T09:25:32-05:00November 22nd, 2023|Categories: House Hunting, Legal questions|Tags: , , , |

Recent real estate lawsuits are bad for buyers and sellers, too

I’ve gotten some messages from former clients who follow business news. There are some big-deal lawsuits flying around regarding the Multiple Listing Service and buyer agent compensation. The outcome of recent lawsuits is likely to increase seller awareness of the part of the commission that is paid to the buyer’s agent who brings an informed

By |2023-11-08T11:59:41-05:00November 8th, 2023|Categories: House Hunting, Legal questions|Tags: , , , , |

Moving when you already own a home

According to Andrew Yun, the economic advisor for the National Association of Realtors, there has been a shift in buying patterns in recent years. The largest number of property buyers are Baby Boomers (born 1946-1964). This is not typical. What is more “normal” would be that young adults are the largest group of buyers. This

By |2023-10-11T08:32:54-04:00October 11th, 2023|Categories: House Hunting|Tags: , , , , |

Summer Real Estate Market Review: Local Edition

The local real estate market looks a different from the national market snapshot, which I summarized two weeks ago. Eastern Massachusetts has an acute housing shortage, and that is allowing a seller’s market to remain despite the high interest rates that are reducing a buyer’s spending power. The bottom line is that prices are still

By |2023-08-17T11:02:41-04:00August 23rd, 2023|Categories: House Hunting, Market data and conditions|Tags: , , , , |

Two Households, One Two-Family House

House hunting idea: two households band together and buy a two-family house together. Massachusetts allows owners of two-family and three-family houses to convert them into two or more condos. This is not typical in other parts of the country. There are lots of advantages to buying a two-family house, especially in our high-price condo market.

By |2023-08-01T17:44:19-04:00August 2nd, 2023|Categories: House Hunting, Legal questions, Pearl|Tags: , |

The Discouraging Time of the Year for Buyers

We’re in the discouraging time of the real estate year, as buyer’s agents. April and May are the peak months for competition among buyers for properties for sale. In other words, bidding war season. There are bidding wars all year, but more so in the spring. As properties are coming onto the market (which began

House hunting while parenting

When should a pregnant buyer stop house hunting? That question came up at an office meeting a few weeks ago. It led to an overall discussion about housing hunting while parenting. First and foremost, our clients make all the decisions, we just give advice. Here it is. Pregnancy and house hunting: Pregnancy is not a

By |2023-03-26T09:59:22-04:00March 29th, 2023|Categories: House Hunting|Tags: , , , |