Why There is Hope

This is a great, encouraging perspective from J. Lennox Scott for anyone thinking of buying, selling real estate in the next few months…
RISMEDIA, Nov. 12, 2008-With the volatility of the stock market of late, there’s understandably some uncertainty about how all of this will impact the real estate market. I’ve had the opportunity to listen [...]

Bailout Success Rides on Housing Price Stabilization

The latest AP article by Stevenson Jacobs mentions that this bailout plan can only begin to succeed if home prices stabilize. Jacobs states that experts indicate “home prices must stop falling…sending a signal to banks that the worst has passed and it is safe to start doling out money again.
Franklin, Massachusetts has definitely [...]

Current Franklin Stats

*156 single family homes for sale
*128 days on the market is the average time it takes to sell
*$494,450 is the median sales price
*$503,686 is the average sales price
*homes are selling [...]

Summer Home Sales Expected to Rise

Lately the real estate world has had some much needed encouraging news. The other day the Wall Street Journal reported that the “housing crisis is over.” Managing partner of the hedge fund firm, Traxis Partners LP, Mouelle Berteaux, reported that it now “takes 19% of monthly income for the average home buyer and 31% [...]

Make Me Move?

Okay so as a Realtor I have not put alot of faith in the home values on Zillow.com but I realize that many people do believe the values to be fact. I was checking around on Zillow and noticed their newest (new to me) feature called “Make me Move” which frankly boggles my mind. [...]

5 Credit Mistakes Buyers Can Avoid

Giving top-notch service to buyers starts with making sure you are on solid footing to obtain a home loan. The following tips will help to bypass these common credit mistakes.
1. Not leaving enough time to fix errors. Consumers should review their credit report at least once a year. [...]

Stocks or Real Estate?

Blanche Evans reminds us why real estate continues to be a good investment over stocks.
It’s high time we told buyers (and sellers, for that matter) the truth about whether a home is a good investment.
Despite what Wall Street wants you to believe, owning a home isn’t the same kind of investment as stocks or bonds. [...]

Faster Sale with Higher Price

Sure the real estate rule is to drop the price when the showings are not happening. Certainly this is very appropriate and will likely result in a quicker sale which translates into fewer mortgage payments for the seller. Another option is to make the house more salable through staging it as a very [...]

Real Estate is Very Local

Just heard about David Lereah’s, the National Association of Realtors Chief Economist, new book “All Real Estate is Local” which just came out in bookstores in March. I couldn’t agree more with his premise as so many consumers watch CNN and believe falsely that every part of the country must be experiencing the same economic [...]

What in the world is staging?

I was having a conversation with my husband about the benefits of staging a home when preparing for sale and he reminded me that most people would not know what “staging” means. As in any field we probably become accustomed to certain buzz-words and this may be one that non-Realtors would not understand. [...]