April is Fair Housing Month. Jared Wilk, 2024 President of GBAR (Greater Boston Association of Realtors), sent out his monthly message. Here is his outline, with my responses after the series of dashes (—–). Take the fair housing course. — well, of course! Learn about implicit bias. — The summary page for Realtors explained what implicit bias is, but it contained a dead link, instead of the link for Project Implicit. Go to an affordable housing finance class to learn about down payment assistance and affordable mortgage programs for moderate income buyers. — There is so much that bothers ..read more

Agents who know 4 Buyers Real Estate know that our clients are well informed and are unlikely to withdraw from the transaction without cause. Since withdrawal rates are up, this matters. Agents who know us, know that if our lender says there will be no problems, there will be no problems. We have had lower-down payment buyers get accepted offers accepted. Our credibility and the credibility of our lenders helps that. Transactions falling apart (not our clients!) Buyers being pushed into fast offers are causing offers to fall apart a week later. We work to hear about this, so that you ..read more

Every year, the Somerville Fair Housing Commission creates educational programs to help people in Somerville understand their rights in regard to Massachusetts Fair Housing Law. Fair Housing Event 1 This year, the Commission is taking on the controversial issue of tenant screening. What can a landlord ask? What kinds of questions can lead to legal troubles. In a city with many small landlords, this information is critical to maintain cordial tenant-landlord relations. On Tuesday, April 16, there will be an information session on tenant and landlord rights in regard to tenant screening.  7 ..read more

This seems to be the number-one question. It is a terrible question based on terrible assumptions: How much over asking price should I offer, on average? Don’t assume that asking prices are based on Fair Market Value. In reality, asking prices are a made-up number intended to get the highest number of offers, so that the seller has the best chance of getting their highest price and best terms. Seller’s agents are doing their job! Sometimes they underprice the property by $50,000 or more (based on their comparative market analysis). This gets a large number of people seeing the property and of ..read more

It happens almost every year. Sometime in winter, buyers come to us thinking they might get a leftover/mismarketed property for a good price. Or they come in, excited, to get a jump on the spring market. Sometimes this leads to great results. There will be some properties that didn’t sell in the fall where the sellers are ready to get reasonable. There will be some new listings popping onto MLS and Zillow. But buyers will also see those fall leftovers disappear – or worse, come back this spring at a higher price. Buyers may also see bidding wars. We encourage you to not lose heart. A tale to w ..read more

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 to find out if there were changes to the marketing along the way. Those changes may affect your buying strategy. If you are getting property information directly through the Multiple Listing Service from an agent, you will learn more from the data if you know what the abbreviations cou ..read more

Mortgage pre-approval is needed in order to make an Offer in our area. Anyone without a pre-approval appears disorganized, at best, and is likely to be written off by a seller as not worthy of consideration, at worst. The first question from a seller or seller’s agent about an offer is “How much?” The second is either “Are they pre-approved?” or “Can they close on our date?” I got a unique question this year from one of my house hunters: Will whatever data we report in this pre-approval “follow” us to some degree, in the event that it changes? For example, if my income or M—’s credit rating ..read more

There is a logic to the way the lenders choose who can borrow for a mortgage. Since 2014, mortgage loans have had standard guidelines that require that any mortgage borrower be able to prove that they can repay their loan. Lenders document income, but also debt. How you have been handling debt will affect your mortgage application. What you need to know about your credit score when applying for a mortgage: Long before you apply for a mortgage, it is a good idea to check your credit score. Credit scores determine if you qualify for a loan and the rate you pay for your loan. If your credit score ..read more

It is not typical for our agents to be out showing properties all day during January. But this year, most of them are! In the normal seasonal flow of New England real estate, the period between Thanksgiving and the middle of February is the slowest time of year. The “January thaw” this year bodes well for the spring ahead! What to expect in Cambridge area real estate this spring? The mid-winter burst of activity is consistent with what we are hearing, both locally and nationally. National: By the middle of 2020, people who were discontent with their housing became all-the-more discontented. Th ..read more

Yesterday, I walked to the dentist (about a half mile) and experienced twenty or more different kinds of wet conditions on the ground. At that time of day, it was raining on top of an inch or two of snow. Some was slushy, some was puddles on top of snow, some was untrodden snow (my favorite). The street was slushy or iced. Some walks were already shoveled. A few were already sanded. You get the picture… As a real estate agent, I get asked about who is responsible to shovel: the landlord or the tenant? Since that’s a legal question, I depend on Attorney Richard Vetstein for accurate legal answe ..read more