Before and after, staging.
When getting ready to list your property for sale it is important to consider your potential buyer. Many times I have older clients that have occupied a home for decades and decide to downsize. Naturally, there is a process of decluttering but in most circumstances they hire professional movers and transition to their new home in only one day, leaving the home empty. The wonderful sellers of this stunning property did just that, and when I went to view their vacant home I knew we needed to give it a little refresh in order to appeal to today’s buyers. 
Staging can be costly but if you work with a professional who has connections you can generally get your project completed within a reasonable budget and in your anticipated timeframe. We also painted many rooms in this home to make it feel brighter, which really was a game changer for this stunning victorian by the sea. 

Quick update, have been super busy – yay! Just got a new listing in my hometown of Scituate, MA and got some sweet drone shots. So this is what it feels like to be a bird?!!! Suddenly feeling sad that I can’t fly…

Anyway, great single family listing on the street next to the one I grew up on, this is my hood!! 02066 for life! 🙂

I spent my entire childhood on this beach <3

Was also lucky enough to book the super talented Brian Doherty to shoot the interior! He does some really amazing work, check out is website: http://www.briandohertypd.com

All interior photos by Brian Doherty:

Trying to catch up with the blog and update you all to some of my recent sales! I love representing buyers and sellers and have had a very busy year so far. Here’s a recap of some of my recent work. If you know of anyone in need of an agent, let me know! (Hillary3a@gmail.com)

I represented the buyer of this fixer upper in Weymouth on Great Republic Rd. It was a “Homepath” property which you can look up by state. It’s somewhat of a unique purchase process in that you have to have your agent submit everything to homepath online and there isn’t much of a negotiation, you either are ‘Accepted’ or not. Also, you sign the Purchase and Sale agreement before you do your home inspection which is different than a usual transaction where you do your inspections before the purchase and sale. The buyer of this property plans to remodel everything! Sold for $250,000.00

I represented the buyer of this property on Rice Rd. In Quincy also a major fixer upper, but in a fantastic neighborhood! Sold: $280,000.00

I represented the seller of this property on Darrow Rd. in Quincy (Hough’s Neck) very up and coming area filled with families. This house had a great kitchen and was two blocks from the ocean. Sold: $334.000.00

I represented the buyers of this awesome single family in North Quincy on Warwick St. Cute, cozy and had amazing coffered ceilings in the living room. Sold: $310,000.00

I love my clients, this family was awesome to work wtih!

I represented the buyers of this fantastic colonial in Weymouth too. This house is in a great location and perfect for their work commutes. We looked around for a while in a very difficult market and was so happy when we found a house they loved!

I represented the seller of this great condo in Weymouth also at 73 Broad Reach. Amazing water views and a resort like amenities.

And the buyer of this condo on Quincy Shore Drive in North Quincy! This was sold to a first time buyer client of mine who I worked with for over a year to find her the right place! We looked at 30 plus condos until we found the one. It was certainly worth the wait and work!

How cute is this couple? I sold their two family for them and then sold them this amazing ocean side home in Quincy on Albatross Rd. This house is architecturally so unique and they made the inside look so chic (I wish I had pictures to show you). We hunted and hunted until I found them this house that wasn’t on the market and was able to organize a private sale with the seller.

The people who owned the house above on Albatross needed a house STAT once I sold their house before it was on the market. So we looked high and low with a serious crunch for time and managed to find them an amazing house in Hingham on Longmeadow Rd. It’s an ideal home for them and their new baby.

Last but not least I worked with the buyers of this brand new construction home on Belcher St. in Holbrook. Our office sold their house and we needed to find them a house too. We work well under pressure!

Phew!! That’s a lot to catch up on! I’ve been busy, busy, busy!! Hopefully this gives you a little window into what I’ve been up to and some of my residential property sales. As much as I love specializing in multi-family sales for investors, I get a lot of satisfaction helping wonderful families and people find a home they will love for years to come!

I’ve been working on a lot of other projects as well that I can’t wait to tell you about!

Ever wonder what Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s house looked like?  Well thanks to google and my ability to search public record, and old MLS listings… I can show you.

He and his wife originally purchase the property in 1989 for $560,000.00. It’s currently assessed at $1,778,900.00. The house consists of 6 bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, and 9 (yes NINE) fireplaces. It’s just under 7,000 sqft. and sits on .76 Acres on Hinckley street in Milton, MA.

They were on the market for a year at $1,500,000.00 but didn’t sell. So if you want to buy it, give me a shout and I’ll track Deval down and get you in. Seriously, I will…

Check it out:

Is it me or is he kind of a BABE?

exterior

Exterior 2

Interior stair case

Library

Lounge area

A little holiday cheer in the Sun Room

Dining Room

I hate to be mean but the pastel pallet is killing me. Looks terrible. Change it up Deval!

Kitchen Island

Breakfast table

Nice back patio

Driveway

And there you have it! Needs some modernization but still is a beautiful home with classic lines and historic beauty.

I’ve been doing a lot of work on Multi- Families lately. It’s a type of property I have a lot of experience with because I started doing rentals when I first got into the Real estate industry. I’ve been in hundreds maybe over 1,000 multi-families in the last few years. One of the important things to consider when buying or selling a multi- family property is the rent roll (simply put, how much are your tenants paying you?).

A lot of experienced investors have “Cap Rates” that they have to meet in order to purchase a property. Cap Rate is short for Capitalization Rate which is a ratio between the net operating income (income after all expenses) and the purchase price of the property (or the market value of the property).

For example (And I’m terrible at math so don’t worry this is easy):

You buy a property for $1,000,000.00, after all the expenses to operate the property ( Heat, repairs, landscaping, etc.) you will make $100,000.00 per year (net income), so you take the net income and divide it by the purchase price and you get .10 or 10%.

Every investor has a different Cap Rate that they look for, some are high like 10 – 15% and won’t consider anything less while others are ok with 5% because they really like the property or the particular location and think the value of the investment will increase over time. It really depends on what your game plan is and if you want to hold the property as the value increases over a longer period of time, or if you want better immediate investment turn around like 10% which is better than keeping your money in a savings account etc. Also, you may be looking to buy a multi-family and move into one of the vacant units, which is a great way to have your other tenants decrease your cost of living. Just make sure you review current leases and verify that the other tenants are paying what you’ve been told they’re paying.

Being a landlord can be a total nightmare if you don’t know what you’re doing. You have to make sure you have the time it takes to manage your property or you can afford to hire someone to manage it for you. Also, make sure you either hire an agent to find you tenants, or pre-screen your tenants before you accept them as applicants. Also, when buying a are property consider the unit size and what type of tenants you might attract. You may prefer to have families that are more stable and long term tenants so you’re looking for 3+ bedrooms, while others may be next to a subway and perfect for professionals and all 1 bedrooms or studios. Consider your tenants and the location of the property before purchasing.

Selling multi families and larger buildings is my favorite type of property to sell, here are a few of my recent Multi Family Sales this summer:

I Listed and sold this AMAZING 2 family in Quincy for $490,000.00 - It's gorgeous inside!

I listed this series of 4 town homes for $1,275,000.00

I represented the buyer of this cute 2 family in Hull. Sold for $307,000.00

I've currently got this 2 family on the market for $425,000.00 - HUGE LOT, which is very rare.

I listed and sold this 4 family in Weymouth for $479,000.00

I listed this 4 family for $669,000.00 and sold it for $31,000.00 OVER asking at $700,000.00. ..So that was awesome.

Also represented the buyer of this amazing 4 family in Braintree. Sold for $534,000.00.

So it was a great summer for multi-family sales! If you have any questions regarding buying or selling a multi-unit building I’m certainly here to help (You can email me at Hillary3a@gmail.com).

Just remember…EVERY Property is different and has different items to address! 

I’m representing a first time buyer in the purchase of her first condo and wanted to share some of the pictures. This is a 1 bed/1 bath condo located in a converted school house. Boston has so many historic buildings and many developers have purchased older buildings and converted them to condos. When done properly this type of conversion gives owners a fabulous mix of historic modernity. Personally I LOVE old buildings when converted, if these walls could talk!

This long time elementary school was was built in 1906 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. In the 80’s city cut backs forced the school to close down and it was later sold to developers for the condo conversion.

The Quincy School 1919

Today

Living room

Living/Dining

Bedroom

Cute Galley kitchen, perfect for a first time buyer!

Kitchen that's easy to manage

One of the many benefits of buying an older building that was converted is that a lot of these older buildings in New England were built very strong. Granite blocks were a popular building material here in Quincy and you can see the longevity of these materials in comparison to field stone.

Brick, ahhhh.

I was just in Chattanooga, Tennessee for my beautiful cousins wedding. It was a wonderful weekend filled with amazing events and a lot of love. The South is certainly a different world then the North Land that I reside in, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, my southern People!

This wedding was full of spectacular events, the first of which was a “Welcome to Chattanooga” BBQ hosted by a family friend of the bride. I arrived via cab after flying in from Boston to find a GORGEOUS Brick Mansion, overflowing with smiling faces, gathered around a Keg…hello AMAZING, I’ve found heaven.

The house was TO DIE FOR, classic brick, large, well decorated with high ceilings and big open spaces. I didn’t get any interior photos because I was attempting to avoid being the trashy northern cousin who looked like she had never been in a nice house before (although, I REALLY REALLY wanted to snap pics because we know i’m obsessed with houses). But I did grab a couple of the outside:

Back side of the house. Love the roof line and the white trim with the brick.

Front entrance (sorry for the bad quality photo, I was a few beers deep at that point).

When I got home to Boston I was really channeling my inner Southern Woman. I started researching some of the brick houses Massachusetts had to offer. Since we have a lot of history and historic homes here in New England I wanted to get a feel on prices of the brick mansion of my dreams, you know, for future reference. (Dear Mom & Dad, where the F is my Trust Fund? It’s ok, I grew up to be normal, you can give it to me NOW). 🙂

Property located at 11 Dellbrook Rd. Weston, MA. Listed at : $10,500.00 Listed By: Carolyn King, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Weston

200 Pond Rd. Wellsley Georgian Colonial on 9 Acres. List Price: $6,950,000.00 List agent: Jill Boudreau Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Wellesley - Central St.

200 Pond Rd. Wellsley Georgian Colonial on 9 Acres. List Price: $6,950,000.00

147 Main Street, Hingham, MA List Price: $2,950,000 Listing Agent: Martha Gentry, Hammond Residential

200 Pond Rd. Wellsley Georgian Colonial on 9 Acres. List Price: $6,950,000.00 List agent: Jill Boudreau Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Wellesley - Central St.

200 Pond Rd. Wellsley Georgian Colonial on 9 Acres. List Price: $6,950,000.00

147 Main St. Hingham, MA

And then there is my end all and be ALL, bananas house crush. I grew up about 3 miles from this house and always would drive by it with my friends. In college during the summer I worked at the restaurant that the owners of this house also owned (located right across the water way). In the winter they have every tree on their property covered in white lights and it looks like a fairy tale. This place is so huge, their guest house is twice the size of my parent house. It’s legit:

49 Margin Street, Cohasset, MA

List price: 22,000,000.00

Listing Agent: Jonathan Radford, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. Newbury St. Boston

Brick covered in Ivy.

Aerial View

You get a private doc into Cohasett Harbor.

Back yard

The only interior shot that I actually like… Honestly, I’d have to gut this entire place. Shheesshhh totally unlivable in current condition! 😉

The spring/summer market here in Boston has been out of control, literally INSANITY. I’ve been working my A$$ off to keep up with all my clients needs because as many of you know, this industry is feast or famine and you have to stay engaged when it’s busy.

I’ve been working with a a fabu couple in the North End of Boston (“Little Italy” of Boston). They really want something different and not your typical square, white walls, box, condo. Granted the North End has plenty of AMAZING and unique property, but it’s usually really effing expensive, and/or it’s a dump in a basement that smells like dead people.

Last night we saw a beautiful Penthouse condo on Fulton Street. 1bed/2baths, listed at $679,000.00, condo fees are $465.00 per month and taxes are $6292.00 (welcome to Boston, you’re now poor off taxes). The unit was gorgeous, check out the pictures below that I graciously stole from Otis & Ahearn (listing agent Sean Dacey was great, also a Ginger so he gets bonus points):

Amazing spiral Stair Case

Great Dining & Reading area.

Living Room We're still shopping so I'll keep you posted on any other awesome units we check out!

And we’re back!

Sorry for the delay, we were having server difficulties and it took me a while to track down my international, jet setting, programmer to fix us! Thankfully he returned from the middle of nowhere and got HOB back up!

The Spring and Summer market has been CRAZY here in Boston and from what I can tell is certainly nation wide. A lot of clients keep asking me if I think this is a “Bubble” with prices sky rocketing back up into “WTF ZONE”. Honestly, it’s hard to tell and I have mixed feelings on our real estate market but have been trying to watch for signs. Personally, I feel despite everyone’s banter over the current political atmosphere, we’re doing alright. Real Estate is up as is Construction which is a sign that the economy as a whole is on the rebound. Hey, it’s not perfect, but it’s certainly a world away from where it was when I opened my own office 2 years ago.  This flux seems to be transcending industries which I think gives us as consumers a renewed sense of stability and people are investing again in real estate.

The lack of inventory really got the Spring market going as there were a lot of new buyers entering the market to take advantage of the ridiculously low interest rates. Simultaneously, there wasn’t a lot of property to choose from… enter… THE PERFECT STORM. Too bad we don’t have George Clooney to chime in about the Real Estate Bubble….

WHY ARE PRICES SO HIGH????!! Even in Gloucester ...GArrrrrr!!!

Dude, Move to Dorchester, you can't even pretend to be tough and from Savin Hill anymore.

This “Perfect Storm” gave sellers the ability to list higher than anticipated and end up with a bidding war on their property (and a lot of times getting an over asking price). Over the last 4 months the majority of offers I’ve put in when representing buyers have been multiple-offer situations and many times we have closed over asking price, or we lost out on the property.

Things seemed to have calmed down in this second half of July. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still bat shit crazy out there, but interest rates have increased a point, which is stabilizing list prices.

For example: A single family that Sells for $350,000.00 at a %3.25 interest rate (30 year fixed mortgage), with taxes of say $4,700.00 per year is a $1,920.00 per month payment (not including insurance).

But when that same house is financed at a %4.25 interest rate, the payments increase to $2,120.00.

$200.00 a month may not seem like a lot, but if you’re buying a more expensive house it increases accordingly. One point in interest rates can make the difference between a buyer being able to afford a $350,000.00 house and a buyer being able to only afford a $295,000.00 house. Because of this, sellers are forced to look at pricing their property so that it can get the maximum exposure to potential buyers.

Personally, I think with interest rates increasing, sellers will be forced to become more reasonable with their expectations of selling price and the prices will settle into a more affordable realm, which will remain higher than 12 months ago, but won’t be out of control like we saw in the spring market.

So I live in Squantum, MA, which is the most Northern Part of Quincy, MA. Right next to Dorchester, and 5 Miles from Downtown Boston. I effing LOVE this place and have no idea how I managed to live here because the houses fly off the shelves in days. When I go out for jogs I take pictures of random houses that could potentially be something good for a client etc.

Six months ago I was just moving into my new house and was out strolling the neighborhood. I saw this total dump that looked like it was about to be torn down, so naturally, the dump loving woman I am, I took a photo:

Parke Ave. Before

So naturally time progressed and I watched them build a cute house. You know, the classic box house, square, garage, nice front walk way. Cute, nothing extravagant but cute. Being the house stalker that I am I continued to walk by, watch it be built and wonder who my new neighbors would be. I thought it was going to be this couple who I always saw at the property, walking through it etc. But then the house went up on the market For Sale.

FIVE DAYS later, the house is under agreement. What price was it listed at…???

$799,000.00!!

Are you effing with me? REALLY?! 5 Days?! $800K?!! My trailer chic house suddenly looks way more fab.

Pictures from MLS on the new house they built:

Exterior at night

Day time

I LOVE coffered ceilings!

dining

Neutral greys are super popular right now

Cute, but you can get that light fixture at Home Depot for $98.00. I want a nicer one if I'm paying $800K!!

Loving this grey tone

nice

Double sink Master Bath