We sold 6 Mountain Ash Lane for $567,000. That’s the highest price paid for an attached townhouse at Chestnut Ridge II – amazing!

Testimonial from seller

Here’s what the seller says about us:

Such faith and loyalty from a family we have served for decades makes the brokerage profession very rewarding and fulfilling!

Sought-after condo community

6 Mountain Ash Lane is an end-unit townhouse with a first-floor master suite for sale at Chestnut Ridge, one of the most preferred condo communities in Franklin, MA!  Chestnut Ridge is available to all ages; there is no age 55+ limitation. 

First-floor master suite

Everyone who seeks the freedom of one-level living will find 6 Mountain Ash instantly appealing.  The inviting first-floor master suite includes a 17 ft X 14 ft bedroom, an 8 ft X 6 ft walk-in closet and an updated en suite bath highlighted by a beautiful tile shower.

White, bright kitchen

The 19 ft x 18 ft vaulted kitchen is white and bright with abundant recessed lighting and extensive morning sun exposure.  The center isle has a breakfast bar and there’s also an adjoining eat-in area.  The seller enhanced the cabinets by installing solid-surface countertops and adding convenient sliding shelves.  You’ll love having the laundry center right in the kitchen!

3-D tour

Follow the hotlink in the image above or at right to access the 3-D tour of 6 Mountain Ash.

Fireplaced family room opens to three-season porch

The 17 ft x 17 ft family room has a gas fireplace with remote control. 

There’s a slider from the family room to the inviting three-season porch.  Spring, summer and fall, this is an oasis of privacy and relaxation!

Two bedrooms and custom bonus room on second floor

Upstairs, there are two guest bedrooms and a full bath with double sink vanity. 

What’s distinctive about the upper level of the townhouse is the fact that what had been the loft when the home seller purchased the unit . . .

. . . has been converted by the seller into a nifty bonus area.

What a great idea: convert what was essentially wasted, useless space into valuable additional square footage!  This area could be used as a home office, exercise area, craft room or even a short-term sleeping area for an extra guest.

Valuable storage

What most condos sorely lack is storage. Not at 6 Mountain Ash! There’s a handy 18 ft X 10 ft storage room on the second floor. 

And there’s plenty more storage in the full basement.

The basement helps this condo function like a single-family home and has great future finishing potential!

Recent updates

The entire unit has vinyl replacement windows with custom blinds. 

A new furnace and AC compressor were installed in 2018.

For a showing or more information

Use the contact form below to ask questions or to request your appointment to get inside this fine home!

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We set a record when we sold 1 Applewood Lane for $540,000. To date, that’s the highest price ever paid for a townhouse at Chestnut Ridge I in Franklin, Massachusetts! Here’s how the seller viewed our services in this stunning sale success . . .

A home with lots of “Wow-Factor”

1 Applewood is like-new townhouse at Chestnut Ridge, a premier condo community in the town of Franklin, MA.  This exceptional home has undergone a recent and exacting renovation that puts it in a class of its own! 

The luxurious new interior rivals new construction . . . without the wait!   What’s notable is that townhomes at Chestnut Ridge are available to all ages; there is no age 55+ limitation.  Contact us for a showing at this rare opportunity today!

Exquisite kitchen

The 18 ft X 14 ft kitchen features a four-seat center island and custom cabinetry by Metropolitan Cabinets, Boston Magazine’s 2022 Winner for Best Cabinetry!

The cabinets are extraordinary!  They make this kitchen something very special. They have undermount lighting, tile backsplash, built-in pantry, utility cabinet with power supply, soft-close drawers with dovetail joinery, and glass-front showcase cabinets. 

Just look at some of the high-end features of these cabinets!

A Silgranit double-sink is icing on the cake!

3-D tour

Access the Matterport 3-D virtual tour to see all three floors of this very special townhouse:

You’ll be “wowed” by the new bath on 1st floor

The “Wow Factor” continues in the gorgeous new full bath on the first floor, highlighted by the spectacular walk-in tile shower.

The sellers combined what had been the original half-bath and a small butler’s pantry to produce this inspiring first-floor full bath. This new bath also creates the potential for sought-after one-level living. The 21 ft X 12 ft home office/family room on the 1st floor can easily be converted into a spacious bedroom. This room, coupled with the new full bath, could provide the “in style” solution to your accessibility needs!

The unit’s 1st floor also offers a 14 ft X 12 ft formal dining room and a 25 ft X 14 ft sunken living room. The latter features a floor-to-ceiling brick fireplace and a double slider to a private deck.

More “Wows” on the 2nd floor

The “wows” keep on coming as you head up to the 2nd floor.

On the 2nd floor landing, you walk by one of the best linen closets you’ll see in a townhouse.

The master bedroom measures a massive 20 ft X 15 ft.

It has a vaulted ceiling that adds to the wonderful sense of spaciousness. The bedroom has not just one, but two walk-in closets!

New master bath

The master bath is outstanding! There’s a double-sink vanity and a beautifully tiled combination tub/shower.

What makes this bath an extra cut above is the built-in dressing area.

It’s a great convenience and adds additional lighting. But most importantly, it provides wonderful storage for linens, towels and toiletries, and makes starting your day a whole lot easier!

Guest bedroom is special, too

It’s rare to have superlatives to say about a guest bedroom. But the guest bedroom at 1 Applewood Lane in Franklin, MA deserves lots of attention and praise!

This bedroom is spacious, with two sets of double windows overlooking the wooded common area. It has a rare feature not found in many condo guest bedrooms: its own walk-in closet!

Guest bath is a standout

But what really sets the guest bedroom at 1 Applewood Ln apart is its full bath with walk-in tile shower – yet another “Wow”!

End unit with full basement, attached garage

1 Applewood Lane is an end-unit at Chestnut Ridge. It has a full basement (currently unheated) that is rough-finished. So turning this into extra living space would be a breeze. The basement has a handy storage area with built-ins and a separate workshop – nice!

For more information

Use the contact form below to request your appointment to get inside this rare opportunity!

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You can always offer the home “as-is” and do no pre-sale preparation, but that’s going to limit the number of buyers interested in the property and will yield lower offers.

if you’re looking to gather top dollar for your residence, you’ve got to make sure that you have your home prepared to attract the greatest number of buyers and generate the highest offers.

What do you need to do to prepare your home?  There are no absolutes, no hard and fast rules that apply to all homes in all regions of the country.  Every home, and home seller, is unique.  You’ll be best served by consulting with a good real estate agent who knows your local market before doing any pre-sale work to the property. 

Minor repairs

If your home is in mostly good condition, look for any stray defects that could signal neglect to a buyer. If a buyer comes into your home and sees deferred maintenance items like a leaky faucet, a torn window screen, a broken doorbell, or a crack in a wall, these minor defects will make them think that you didn’t take care of your house.  They’ll think more serious problems lurk within.

Make sure that you go through your home with your real estate professional before the home is on the market.  Identify all minor repairs needed and do what you need to do to make your home really shine.

Major repairs and upgrades

If your home has more serious detriments such as an old roof, outmoded windows, or a dated kitchen and baths, be careful.  You generally will not get your money back on major upgrades and extensive repairs done solely to get the home sold.

If your roof has active leaks, by all means do a repair.  But don’t install a new roof or new windows thinking you’ll get more at closing than you spent on such upgrades.  Only do a complete kitchen or bathroom remodel if you will live in the home for at least another two years and that improvement is something that you want to do for your own enjoyment of the property.

To refresh an old kitchen or bath without spending a lot of money, look into painting the cabinets or vanity, perhaps install new countertops, maybe change the fixtures, put new pulls on the fronts. And clean everything thoroughly.

Don’t spend  a lot of money to install new tile or hardwood flooring.  The buyer may not like what you put in.  If you have hardwood hiding under old wall-to-wall carpeting, rip out that old carpeting and expose the wood.

A good real estate agent will advise you on what repairs will pay back well and should be done and which work should be left to the new owner.

Stage or showcase?

Many agents use the word “staging” to cover a wide range of pre-sale preparation.  To avoid confusion, we find it helpful to use two concepts: staging and showcasing your home.  

When we refer to staging, we mean engaging the services of a professional stager. This can cost a lot of money, and can be unnecessary for many homes. A professional stager is truly needed only at select properties.  You can save money by paying for just a consultation with a stager.  But a lot of what they’ll cover in the consultation will be common sense showcasing techniques.  

What’s showcasing?  Showcasing is the low cost/no cost home preparation basics that will give you a solid return on your effort and any money you do spend.  Showcasing includes elbow-grease work like decluttering, cleaning, culling out excess furniture, and getting rid of all the “stuff” that collects over time at most homes. The goal is to make the interior show to buyers as neat, clean and spacious. 

Depersonalizing your interior of family photos and mementos is a smart move. You don’t want buyers to see how YOU live in the home, rather let the home show buyers how THEY can live in the property. Put away family photos, children’s artwork and refrigerator magnets. 

Fresh paint pays back very well, especially if you avoid wild, trendy colors.  Very neutral paint color is the way to go.  And a deep cleaning to make the interior sparkle will help your home sell much more quickly.  Hire professional cleaners if you lack the time to do this yourself.

Try to brighten up your home as much as possible. Increase the wattage of light bulbs, buy some new lamps, remove or replace heavy curtains.  If your home has dark wall-to-wall carpeting, you might want to place a light-colored rug on top.

Focus on your home’s exterior curb appeal.  No need to do anything really over the top.  Work on your landscaping. Add some mulch, trim back overgrown bushes, make sure your grass is cut.  Get a new welcome mat at the front door. And give the door a fresh coat of paint.  If your driveway is looking worn, get it sealcoated.  Do whatever you can to make that initial impression of your home as pleasant as possible

Rely on your real estate agent to help identify what needs to be done to showcase the inside and outside of your home.

Next we’ll address some nitty-gritty topics applicable to home selling in Massachusetts (procedures and customs in your state may differ).

Permits

If significant work has been done to the home during your ownership that required permits, it’s a good idea to check on the status of the permits before your home is for sale.  Look to see if municipal records show that proper permits were pulled and were closed.   

This is a surprisingly contentious issue.  There will be real estate professionals who vehemently disagree with our suggestion to check permits.  They’ll say there is no duty to check on the status of permits, so why make the inquiry?

Here’s our reasoning:

In Massachusetts, municipal record-keeping on permits varies widely community by community.  An Increasing number of city and town building departments have put permit records online, so they can be easy to check. 

That’s the key point for prospective home sellers.  If your permit records are online and are easy to check, you can be pretty sure the buyer’s agent or the closing attorney’s staff will check on the status of your permits at some point before closing. 

You would be wise to know ahead of time if any permits are missing or open, while you have ample time to rectify any issues and close open permits.  

Your nightmare scenario would be, about a week prior to your closing, someone checks online and finds an open permit.  You are told of the issue on a Friday and your closing is the following Tuesday.  Town hall is closed over the weekend, leaving you only Monday to get permit issue rectified so you can close on time.  Not a good situation and it can happen!

Title V

If your home is not on municipal sewer, by Massachusetts law you will need your sewage disposal system (most often a septic system) inspected prior to closing.  This is widely known as a “Title V inspection”. (If you live in a condo association with a shared sewage system, don’t worry.  These shared systems are, by law, periodically inspected, so you will not have to pay for you own inspection.)  

Otherwise, you’ll need to have your home’s sewage system pass a Title V inspection in order to be able to close.  Don’t wait. Get it done before you list the home.  By doing the inspection early, you’ll have time to address any issues found.

In Massachusetts, you can do what is called a “voluntary assessment” instead of a binding Title V inspection. The advantage of the voluntary assessment is that if problems with the system are found, you have the option to stop the assessment and prevent any negative results being reported to the local board of health.  If no problems are uncovered, you can convert to a binding inspection and be able to close.  Point of the voluntary assessment is that if you cannot afford to repair or replace your sewage disposal system, you can stop the assessment if problems are found and avoid triggering a mandatory system upgrade.

Your real estate agent can refer you to a Title 5 inspector and help you make sure the inspector knows you want to start the inspection as a voluntary assessment.

Check your attic

Last but not least, before you list your home, go into your attic and look around.  A great many real estate professionals do not venture into the attics of the homes they are marketing.  And they have to deal with the consequences of that oversight after the home inspection.  You can save yourself a lot of grief if you look in your attic before you market your home.

Look for signs of poor ventilation such as condensation, drip marks, water marks on the sheathing and rust on nail points.  Look for organic material growing on sheathing and rafters.  If you do have signs of mold in your attic, mitigation is relatively easy and not that expensive.  Have a professional mitigation company do the work.  The mitigation work typically comes with a transferable warranty. 

It is well worth checking your attic and resolving any ventilation and mold issues.  Your buyer’s home inspector will find the problems in your attic, so discover and rectify these problems before you hit the market.  Don’t lose a sale over an easily corrected mold issue in your attic.

Contact us

Have questions about what your home is worth or would you like our input into what you should do to your home to get it ready to sell? Just use the form below to contact us. We’re here to help you!

You must make sure that the agent you hire is competent, capable and dependable.  Because ultimately, you will be trusting them to take care of you and protect your best interests while they market and sell what may be your most substantial financial asset – your home.

Questions you might not think to ask

In this post, we’re going to review the key questions to ask a real estate agent before you hire them to list and sell your home.  These are questions that you might otherwise not think to ask. That’s because most homeowners operate under the false assumption that all agents are essentially alike and all do the same things to get a home sold.

Most homeowners believe that all agents adhere to the “3-Ps” of traditional home marketing. Home owners think that what real estate agents do is to post the home in the MLS – that’s first P – put a sign in the front yard – that’s the 2nd P –  and the third P is the agents then sit back and pray that the house sells.

But that couldn’t be further from the truth for the better real estate agents nowadays.  The 3-Ps may have been the norm 30 or maybe even 20 years ago – but now there’s a whole lot more that agents today should do to create effective home marketing!

Ask these questions before you sign a listing contract

In the above video and in the post below are the top-level questions that you should ask the real estate agent you’re considering hiring:

Question One

That’s a very pertinent question.  We’re always looking for different ways to create the greatest amount of exposure for your home as possible. Why is that?  

Well, what happens is that, as we get your listing out to the masses, we get more people looking at the home online, which actually translates to more people looking at the house offline (i. e. coming into your home in real life).

Ultimately, the objective is to get as many people into your home as possible – but that all starts online.  The New York Times recently came out with a study that showed that of people on Facebook and Instagram, the vast majority are spending over 50 minutes every single day browsing social media. Since we know that’s where home buyers are, we need to be advertising and marketing on Facebook and Instagram – where the buyers are!

The agent you hire must be advertising and marketing where the home buyers are – online! So seek an agent who has a broad and deep online marketing plan.  The best agents are always looking for  unique opportunities and unique places where they’re going to market their listings.

Question two

If the agent you’re interviewing doesn’t know which demographic groups they’ll target in their marketing of your home, you’re in for some trouble if you hire them!

Part of what we do when we draft a home’s marketing campaign is to determine whether the target market is going to be a certain demographic, or certain individuals, or even will be located in certain places, especially if they’re coming from out of the country.

For example, Massachusetts real estate enjoys sizable interest from overseas buyers. Many of these buyers come from India or China.  We have strong connections overseas to reach those buyers where they live. 

On the other hand, if the right buyers for your home are likely to come from Greater Boston, we direct ads geographically to the inner core suburbs of the metro area. 

If your home will appeal to first-time buyers or older buyers seeking one-level living, we’ll market directly to those demographic cohorts.

So look for an agent who can demonstrate to you that they know who your home’s target buyers should be and that they have devised a coherent, well-strategized digital marketing plan to effectively reach those buyer groups.

Question three

When we personally started selling real estate back in the 1990s, the field was still relatively simple. Print ads still dominated and real estate on the Internet was in its infancy. Buyers actually had to call us to gain information about the house. 

Times have changed drastically – in today’s digital age of marketing and selling real estate, everything is much more complex, with a lot more moving parts. The most productive agents these days have individuals working in support roles behind the scenes helping them market listings and get them to and through closing.

Make sure that the real estate professional you hire has a full team of marketing and support professionals dedicated to making your home sale a complete success.

Question four

This series of questions delves into the agent’s level of expertise and experience with home marketing. The questions seek to reveal whether they have the skills to get your home marketed and sold competently.

Ask the agent if they have a professional dossier.  Ask if the agent can provide a portfolio of past listings that shows how they market homes.  Ask if the agent has a lot of testimonials from past clients proving a high level of care and professionalism.  What you’ll see will speak volumes about the agent’s experience and expertise in marketing and selling homes while they keep their seller clients secure and content. 

Most important question to answer

Last, but not least, you have to ascertain who is the right real estate professional for you. That gets to the connection you have with the agent.  Do you get along with them?  Do you see yourself going through the entire home sale process from start to finish trusting and working with this professional all the way through?

The key here is TRUST.  Will this agent really take the time and make the effort to take care of you and your best interests.  Trust is the name of the game. Ultimately can you trust that professional to take care of what is probably your largest financial transaction that you will ever make?

How we can help you

Interested in learning more about Warren Reynolds and Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Franklin, Massachusetts?  To explore why you should trust us to take care of your home, all you need to do is send us a message using the form below. Or give us a call at 508-561-6259.  Reach out to us and we’re happy to have a conversation!

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By 1930, over fifty years of revolutionary changes in photographic and film processing capabilities had extended photography to the masses. By 1930, just about anyone could be a good photographer!

In the 2020s, anyone can be a digital marketing master

We in the 2020s have been witness to over fifty years of massive advances in computer and communication technologies. The internet, social media and graphics software have brought digital communication to the masses. Today, almost anyone can be a digital marketing master!

The sorry state of most real estate marketing in the 2020s

But when it comes to real estate marketing, most listing agents have been slow to take advantage of the tools that are now at their disposal. Even in the 2020s, a lot of the home marketing you see is rudimentary and lacking.

It’s a real disservice to you, the home seller.  The uninspired, low-effort home marketing so prevalent today costs home sellers lost time and profit.

Digital marketing is key because home buyers shop online

In 2001, only 8% of home buyers started their home search online. Today, 98% of home buyers start online and over half of those find the home they end up buying from their online searches.

Today, digital marketing is the most important factor in home selling success. Digital marketing gets you the most money and the best terms for your home because it goes to where the buyers are: online!

The video above reviews what masterful digital home marketing in the 2020s requires. Because this video is approximately eight minutes long, we break it down below into smaller video segments for you. We highlight below exactly what digital home marketing in the 2020s should include.

Professional photography

Nowadays, professional photos are the minimum home sellers should expect from their listing agent.  Yet amazingly, nearly half of the listings on one of the largest MLS networks in Massachusetts (MLS-PIN) still lack professional photography. 

Ask the agent you are considering hiring how he plans to handle photos of your home. If the agent says he’ll be taking his own photographs, that’s a warning sign!

Social Selling

Masterful digital home marketing in the 2020s is all about social media platforms and online marketing campaigns.  Paid advertising campaigns on Instagram, Google, Facebook and YouTube promote listings and drive attendance at open houses.

Paid social selling will increase your home’s exposure to the market by putting your home in front of the greatest number of potential buyers. The larger the pool of buyers, the higher the likelihood you’ll receive more offers.  And anytime you receive multiple offers, you’re fostering an atmosphere where prospective purchasers will offer their highest and best price in order to compete with other offers.

Ask the agents you interview if they’ll be using targeted Facebook and Instagram ads, YouTube videos, and Google paid advertising. Ask to see examples of their social ads. Top-quality social media advertising is a good indication of a top-quality home marketer!

Matterport 3-D virtual tours

Many agents will include a virtual tour in their marketing plan for your property. But it’s important for you to know that not all virtual tours are the same. Many agents will say “virtual tour” but by that they mean a slideshow of still photos of your property.  These slideshow tours were cutting edge in the 1990s, but are really ho-hum now. And a lot of agents still use them!

The best virtual tours are 3D and self-guided. And the best of these tours use a software platform called Matterport.   It works on all devices, including smartphones. 

Matterport creates an interactive experience for home buyers. It turns your home into a user- directed tour. Buyers can go room by room at their own pace and use the route that they want to take. The dollhouse view is an especially effective involvement tool.

As we progress with the 2020s, we believe Matterport increasingly will become an integral way people view and buy homes. This is the future! When interviewing agents, ask what kind of home tour they include with their listings. Remember, not all virtual tours are the same. The best of the best is Matterport!

Digital floor plans

Digital floor plans were rare back in 2005. They’re much more common today. On the MLS-PIN system in Massachusetts, roughly 35% – 40% of listings currently have digital floor plans attached to them. Buyers can quickly access the floor plans to get a good overview of the property and see if they have an interest in pursuing it.

The best plans have embedded photos. You can see what each room looks like as you go through the floor plan. Buyers can use floor plans to much more easily tell if the house they are looking at is suitable for them. They can quickly see not just room sizes, but also room locations.

Review the marketing plan before you list

Before you sign a listing contract, ask to see the agent’s marketing plan. It should utilize all the digital marketing tools and strategies we’ve highlighted above.

If an agent doesn’t have a written marketing plan, or if the plan scrimps on state-of-the-art digital marketing, you might want to find a better agent!

We have a written, detailed marketing plan we will be happy to share with you.  Just use the form below to ask for a copy and we’ll send it right over to you!

Learn more about us here.

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22 Catherine Ave was a one-owner home when we had the opportunity to list and sell it. Here’s what the homeowners of over 30 years said about our work for them as their listing agent:

22 Catherine Ave is set on a level, private lot in a prime neighborhood in Franklin, MA. Called Mine Brook Estates, this neighborhood consists of substantial residences with pricing into the $800Ks. Mine Brook Estates offers town sewer, sidewalks and street lights.

A new subdivision of approximately six new-construction homes asking $900K+ is being constructed at “The Cove”, just around the corner from 22 Catherine Ave.

The map above illustrates the wonderful location enjoyed by 22 Catherine Ave. Follow the hotlinks in the icons in the map to learn about the recreational, educational, cultural, and shopping resources close to the home. For example, 22 Catherine Ave is just 0.8 miles to Franklin, MA’s top-performing Kennedy Elementary School, 2.1 miles to I-495, and 3.3 miles to Franklin’s Forge Park commuter rail station.

3D tour of the home

Follow the hotlink in the image above or at right to access the 3-D tour for 22 Catherine Ave in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Floor plan with photos, room dimensions

Click on the hotlink in the image above or at right to access an innovative floor plan for 22 Catherine Ave. You’ll see a lot more than just room dimensions and photos. The plan has a furniture placement function. You can size and insert furniture pieces into the rooms’ icons. You’ll be able to see how well your current furniture works in the house – amazing!

Video walk-through of the home

The video below highlights the special features of the property.

Photo gallery

Use the form below to ask questions about 22 Catherine Ave in Franklin, MA.

17 Church Ave is set on a level lot with a fenced yard in the heart of downtown Franklin, MA.

The home is just 0.3 mi from Franklin’s downtown commuter rail station, many eateries and shops. Follow the hotlinks in the icons in the map to learn about the recreational, educational, cultural, and shopping resources close to the 17 Church Ave.

Home seller testimonial

The home seller was very pleased with our services as their listing agent:

3D tour of the home

Follow the hotlink in the image above or at right to access the 3-D tour for 17 Church Ave in Franklin, Massachusetts.

Floor plan with photos, room dimensions

Click on the hotlink in the image above or at right to access an innovative floor plan for 17 Church Ave. You’ll see a lot more than just room dimensions and photos. The plan has a furniture placement function. You can size and insert furniture pieces into the rooms’ icons. You’ll be able to see how well your current furniture works in the house – amazing!

Video of the home

The video below highlights the special features of the property and is well worth watching!

Photo gallery

Use the form below to ask questions about 17 Church Ave in Franklin, MA.

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21 Mount Street in Franklin, Massachusetts is a beautifully renovated home. The extensive improvements made by the home seller makes the property a rare find. Here’s what the home seller said about us as their marketing representative:

Location and grounds

21 Mount St is a very private location in Franklin. Yet this property is only 1.9 miles to the King Street interchange with I-495.

In addition to privacy and easy access to I-495, 21 Mount St offers a wide and deep parking area with a turnout.

This is a hard-to-find feature! The parking area is ideal for trucks, trailers, RVs, boats or anything requiring maneuvering room or unloading space.

Beautiful interior

Below is a video showing the highlights of the renovated interior of this home.

Follow the link in the image below or at right to access a 3D tour of 21 Mount St.

New kitchen

The outstanding new kitchen features white cabinets, gleaming tile backsplash and stainless-steel appliances.  There’s a handy breakfast bar with views of nature.

Kitchen opens to living room

The kitchen opens to a hardwood living room. The combined open space enables you to kick back and relax while dinner is cooking.

Follow the link in the image below or at right to access a floor plan of 21 Mount Street in Franklin, MA.

Fantastic bathrooms

There are two full baths at 21 Mount St. Each is new and something special!

Family room and home office

The walk-out lower level features a family room, home office and separate laundry room.

Questions about how we sold 21 Mount St

Use the form below to contact us to ask questions about 21 Mount St in Franklin, MA.

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The critical first impression your home makes with buyers will greatly influence how much they’ll be willing to offer for the property . . . and even if they’ll be interested in making an appointment to get inside the home at all!

In order to get you the most money possible for your home, I’ll put considerable time and care into its preparation before I put it on the market. Quality preparation that will leave buyers with the best impression of your house involves three elements:

Repairs

Completing repairs on your home before you put it on the market will create many benefits for you.  The home will show better to buyers.  The home inspector won’t raise a lot of complaints about property condition.  And ultimately, your home will sell more quickly and for more money.  Buyers prefer homes in good repair and will pay more for a home when they don’t’ have to fix it up, and they will pay more quickly, too.

Most of the repairs you’ll face are likely to be merely cosmetic and fairly inexpensive fixes. So, if you have a “honey-do” list of home repairs you’ve been putting off, now’s the time to do them.  Tackle those defects that have been bothering you.  Those dripping faucets, torn window screens, worn carpeting and cracked tiles that have annoyed you while you have lived in the home will surely bother the prospective buyers, too

Moreover, the money you invest in repairs before you list — when you have time to price-shop handymen and maybe use a little bit of elbow grease yourself — will be far less than the concessions buyers will seek if you market the home as-is, with defects and deferred maintenance unaddressed.

Cleanliness

You wouldn’t want your in-laws to come over when you have a sink full of dirty dishes and you haven’t vacuumed in a week, would you? And they’re not the ones you’re trying to get to buy your home for hundreds of thousands of dollars! 

Buyers are on-guard when they tour properties.  They will tend to focus on the negatives instead of the positives of each home they get into. Each dish left in the sink or dust bunny in the corner is going to detract from the perceived value of your home, which means a lower offer amount and more time on the market for you.

Staging

According to a recent study by the National Association of REALTORSⒸ, 96% of buyer agents reported that staging had some effect on their clients’ view of homes. They said that staging made it easier for their clients to visualize the properties as a future home and that they were more likely to overlook property faults.

And these effects turned into cash for sellers just like you. The survey revealed that 52% of buyer clients were willing to offer more on a staged home than a similar home that wasn’t staged — as much as 20% more than asking price! But a picture is worth a thousand statistics.

Take a look at the images below. They show the “before-and-after” photos of a home that was initially put on the market by the homeowner without proper staging. The home failed to sell in its “before” state, but sold quickly once it was properly staged. In this instance, the staging featured the re-painting of several areas of the first floor of the home to eliminate the strong wallpaper and paint colors preferred by the homeowner that were not to buyers’ tastes.

Preparation pays!

You may have heard that there’s not much housing inventory in Massachusetts right now, which means that prices for homes have gone up significantly across the state. This is great news for you as a prospective home seller! The timing is perfect for you to get the most return on your investment in your home.

But even in today’s market, there are still homes that sit, waiting for an offer, for weeks and even months. This time spent on the MLS means that you’re still making your mortgage payments and you’re still not getting equity out from your home.

Perhaps even worse is what buyers and buyer agents think about homes that have been on the market too long. Remember how important first impressions are? The first impression a buyer gets about a home that has been listed for a long time in this hot market is this:

“Something must be wrong with it.”

That thought will scare away many buyers, and it’ll prompt the ones who remain interested to try to low-ball you. 

But why are those homes still on the market in the first place? It’s because they often aren’t properly prepared for marketing.

So do yourself a favor: hire a skilled agent who’ll help you prepare your home for marketing before you put it on the MLS.  You’ll reap great rewards if you do!

Ask Warren

If you have any questions about what you should do to properly prepare your home for market, use the form below to ask Warren Reynolds. He’ll help you determine what you should do to get your home ready to sell quickly and for the most money!

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This puts him in the top 3 percent of agents at BHHS Commonwealth, the largest Berkshire Hathaway brokerage in Massachusetts. Commonwealth has 36 affiliated offices in throughout Greater Boston, Eastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and Rhode Island with over $1.5B in annual home sales volume.

How Warren achieves excellence year after year

The video below reviews Warren’s achievement for the first quarter of 2021 and explains how he is able to consistently produce lots of home sales and satisfied clients.

Warren is an attorney-at-law in addition to being a real estate broker.  He has sold hundreds of homes and condos in Massachusetts over the past twenty-plus years. Warren provides an extraordinary level of service and support to buyers and sellers alike. He’ll take exemplary care of you!  

 Warren has the plans and systems in place to guarantee consistent high performance, sale after sale, client after client.  He’s been adding value to homes for over 20 years – and he’ll add value to yours!

Use the form below to ask Warren your home buying and selling questions, or call him at 508-561-6259.

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