This Week's Featured Home in Canton MA: 18 Wentworth Road Every Sunday I write a column for my local Patch sites featuring a home for sale in either Canton MA, Milton MA or Braintree MA. This weeks featured home is in Canton and is located at 18 Wentworth Road. It appears to be a well-maintained home with many updates, including a kitchen with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.  It offers the convenience of one-floor living with the added bonus of a beautiful yard and landscaping.  To find out more about this home for sale in Canton MA, read my full article on Canton Patch: Welcome Home - July 17 Edition or you may contact me directly at 781-799-8313. To find out more about real estate in Milton MA, Braintree MA, Canton MA or a surrounding Norfolk County community, con... 07/17/2011

Lender Issues, Home Inspection Blues....A Day in the Life of a Buyer Agent I have not been able to blog much this week but it is for good reason.  It's been hectic.  To start out the week, it was busy with Kids Camp, which involved a volunteer day for me & driving my kids (a head counselor, a junior counselor and a camper) to and from - and all three of them had to be there & came home at different times.  Thank goodness for carpools.   There were also evening activities for kids camp as well as a couple of swim meets to attend in the evenings.  But, that's just personal stuff! Most of the week was tied up dealing with a lender that I referenced in an earlier blog post Communication, Communication Communication.   Things were all set by Thursday - after much time spent on the phone by y... 07/16/2011

Communication, Communication, Communication Can I say it any clearer?  It is so important to keeping a real estate transaction together and moving forward.  I find that most people just want to be kept informed.  Sure, we all want good news but even if there is no news, people want to know that they are not forgotten, that someone is on their side, taking care of things. I have a transaction scheduled to close on Friday.  There has been a bit of a hiccup with the loan approval.  For a day or so, there was little communication - not for lack of my trying.  However, today the loan processor came through first with an update in the morning, a check in during mid-day (even with no news to report) and finally a thumbs up at the end of the day.  It really helped to dial down the buyer's stres... 07/13/2011

Good Morning Kids Camp!! That's how we are starting the day today in Canton MA! 712 campers, approimately 240 counselors, 90 junior counselors - plus committe members, coordinators,  nurses and parent volunteers - it is time for Kids Camp here in Canton MA. Kids Camp is a week long camp, running M-F, from 10 am - 2 pm, with night activities M-W-F, completely organized and run by volunteers from the Youth Ministry of St. Gerard Majella Church in Canton MA.  It is a church-run program, but it is far from vacation bible camp.  While Kids Camp itself is a religion of sorts for some, it is very much non-denominational and open to and attended by Canton children from all denominations and walks of life.  Its focus is on fostering relationships & accepting each individual camper & counselor fo... 07/11/2011

Protecting the Buyers Deposit A buyer's agent provides many services to buyers - well beyond just opening doors.  I am not going to go in to the entire list.  For that, I direct you to an earlier post of What to Expect from Your Buyer Agent.  Once the perfect house is found, the offer is negotiated, the inspection completed and purchase and sales agreement signed, one of the most important tasks on my list is to protect the buyers deposit.  As an exclusive buyer agent in Canton MA, the mortgage contingency date of each of my clients is front and center on my calendar.  I will work closely with the lender to make sure that the deadlines are going to be met.  If there is a hiccup and the date cannot be met, either an extension is requested and/or proper notice is given to the Seller's rep... 07/09/2011

Oldies But Goodies in Canton MA Canton will play host to the Oldies But Goodies Music Festival this Saturday, July 9th, from 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm at historic Prowse Farm located at 5 Blue Hill River Road.  Rain date is July 10th. Performers will include Tony Funches, former lead singer of The Platters, Little Joe Cook, The Jukebox 5, featuring The Shingalings, Billy D and The Rock-Its Motown/Doo-Wop Review, Dana Z's Tribute to Elvis, Salute to James Brown by J.B., Jr. and more. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Prowse Farm Educational Center and the Friends of Prowse Farm.  The Friends of Prowse Farm is a nonprofit, volunteer organization that helps maintain the property and organize events, including the oldies show. Reserved seat tickets cost $45.00.  Lawn seats (bring your own ch... 07/06/2011

Mid-Year Market Report for Canton MA We are half-way through 2011 - how did that happen?  It's a good time to step back and take a look at the real estate market year to date compared with the same period last year.  Overall, it looks like the prices are up for 2011 but the total number of sales are slightly down.  Will we catch up in total sales for the second half of 2011?  Stay tuned. For the period of January 1, 2011 through June 30, 2011 there were 60 homes sold in Canton MA.  There was an average of 127 days on the market, with the median price being $422,500.00. For the same period in 2010, 79 homes were sold in Canton MA.  They spent an average of 107 days on the market, but the median price was $415,000.00. Both 2010 and 2011 showed an increase over 2009, where there were only ... 07/05/2011

In June of 2011 there were 16 homes that closed within the month for Canton, MA. this was a decrease of 4 units as there were 20 homes that closed in June of 2010. The Average list price for the homes that closed in Canton for June 2011 was $443,388 The Average list price for the homes that closed in Canton for June of 2010 was $613,650 The Average sale price for the homes that closed in Canton for June of 2011 was $425,863 The Average sale price for the homes that closed in Canton for June of 2010 was $582,985 The Average Market time for the homes that closed in Canton in June of 2011 was 109 days. The Average Market time for the homes that closed in Canton in June of 2010 was 104 days.   15 homes went under agreement in Canton, Massachusetts for the month of June, 2011. The average li... 07/04/2011

Don't Forget the Canton Food Pantry in Your Summer Plans Summer is here.  School is out, schedules are changed and people are heading on vacation.  If you live in the Canton MA area, please don't forget about the Canton Food Pantry this summer.  Summer is the slowest time of year for the Canton Food Pantry.  During the rest of the year, there are school groups, boy and girl scouts and other organizations that regularly do collections for the food pantry on a regular basis or at their events.  Duringthe holiday season, people are in a giving mood and usually remember the food pantry. In the summer, things slow down and people tend to forget. However, in the summer months there is still a need for the food pantry and in some cases, the need is even greater in the summer.  School aged chil... 07/01/2011

A Home's Value is Not Dependent on Your Personal Situation I've had some interesting conversations with buyers and listing agents (on behalf of their Sellers) recently. SELLERS: The value of a home is not determined by how much you paid for it, how much you owe on it, how much money you put into it or how much your neighbor sold her house for 5 years ago.   BUYERS: The value of a home is not determined by how much you can afford to pay for it. It works the same way for both sides.  Value is determined by what similarly sized and styled homes in similar condition and similar location have recently sold for and/or are currently selling for.  Those extermal issues that you each have may determine whether or not you are actually able to sell or buy that house, but they really do not impact ... 06/30/2011

Canton MA Celebrates the 4th of July with Fireworks Canton's Fireworks are back!  For years, the Canton MA Recreation Department ran both the annual 4th of July Fireworks celebration and the Annual Homecoming Parade and Block Party.  As budgets became tighter, it was no longer feasible to run both events.  The recreation department took a poll and most citizens favored the block party.  Many people do head out of town to nearby Cape Cod and other beach areas on the fourth.  However, after years of just doing the block party, many felt it was time to bring back the Fireworks.  The Recreation Department did some more polling and came to what I consider to be a great decision.  They have decided to alternate between the two events every other year.  That way, fans of each event get to enjo... 06/29/2011

A Short Sale Can Be Like a Long Engagment How is that, you ask?  The long time period gives the Buyer the chance to fall out of love with the house, just like a bride or groom may fall out of love during a long engagement. Suddenly, after months of waiting, they start to forget why they wanted this house in the first place.  The now think that the location is no longer appealing or perhaps the layout of the house.  It seemed like a good deal but now there are others that are better looking and priced competitively.  Sometimes the long wait makes it seem like it is not going to happen and so better to move on before wasting other opportunities. Keeping buyers engaged in the property can be difficult as weeks turn into months.  No matter how much educating and instructing is done at the b... 06/27/2011

This Week's Featured Home in Canton MA: 1469 Washington Street Every Sunday I write a column for my local Patch sites featuring a home for sale in either Canton MA, Milton MA or Braintree MA. This weeks featured home is in Canton. The week's home is a colonial style home located right on Washington Street in Canton.  The home features 3 separate bedroom suites so depending on how a buyer wanted to use them, there could be anywhere from 4-6 bedrooms.  With over 3000 sqare feet of living area, there is plenty of space to spread out, including a home office on the first floor, complete with built-ins.  A large backyard, with landscaping and an in-ground pool round out the offerings. To find out more about this home for sale in Canton MA, read my full article on Canton Patch: Welcome Home -... 06/26/2011

Active Rain Buyer Agent Blogger Makes it to Boston.com I recently joined the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Association of Buyers Agents, a non-profit organization formed by buyer agents who are dedicated to buyer representation.   It is the local version of the national group, the National Association of Exclusive Buyer Agents, of which I am a member as well. At our last board meeting, one of the former directors joined us.  She writes a real estate blog on Boston.com (the online version of The Boston Globe). She indicated that she would like assistance with the blog and asked if any of us would be willing to contribute on occastion.  Well, thanks to Active Rain and all the blogging experience here, I quickly volunteered. I decided that one of my recent posts, Consider Canton ... 06/25/2011

Buyers:  Pay Attention to those Mortgage Commitment Conditions I received a call the other day from an agent in my area with a legal question.  So, I put my attorney hat on.  It seems her buyers had been under agreement and they received their mortgage commitment letter by the required contingency date.  So far so good.  The problem was that the lender ended up denying their loan.  She wanted to know what recourse they had since the Seller was keeping the deposit.  Unfortunately, probably not much (depending on the terms of the contract.)  I wondered why they didn't already have an attorney prior to signing the Purchase & Sale agreement - but that's another blog topic! The reason that this could happen is that a mortgage commitment letter is issued subject to a number of conditions - so... 06/24/2011

Annual Pow Wow in Canton MA If you are looking for something to do in and around Canton MA  this coming weekend, consider attending the Annual Pow Wow at Prowse Farm right here in Canton MA. Historic Prowse Farm is located at the base of the Blue Hills Reservation in Canton MA.  It was originally home to Doty Tavern, the location of the initial drafting of the Suffolk Resolves, the precursor to the Declaration of Independence and start of the Revolutionary War.  Set on 44 acres of land, it previously had been a horse farm, but is now maintained by a non-profit group, The Friends of Prowse Farm.  It is the setting for many events, one of which is the annual Pow Wow. The Annual Pow Wowis sponsored by The Order of Preservation of Indian Culture and is open to the public.    The Pow Wow is ... 06/23/2011

Canton MA's Green Projects As a buyer agent in Canton MA, I am proud to tell prospective home buyers in Canton MA about a couple of "green" projects going on in Canton MA. The Town of Canton recently entered in a contract with Southern Sky Renewable Energy to install 24,000 solar panels at the old landfill.  The landfill has been capped and closed since 1989.  It is a prime piece of real estate, however, being a capped landfill, there are limits to its uses.  With municpal budgets everywhere looking for additional revenue, leasing the 15-acre site to Southern Sky seemed to make good fiscal sense, not to mention it being a good environmental decision.  The Town of Canton will receive annual increasing lease payments from Southern Sky and will receive discounted pricing on its electricity... 06/22/2011

Does Your Agent Dance? I know it's not a requirement.....but this Buyer Agent in Canton MA enjoys dancing - as do my kids.  I spent this past Saturday attending some great dance recitals.  The performances were great.  And I had the opportunity to perform with one of my girls! So many people have suggested that we all need to do more videos to introduce ourselves to our clients.  So far, I only have one video where you can meet your Canton MA Buyer Agent.  I know I need to do more. In the meantime, there is one other video - and that is from the dance recital!  (Technically, it is from the dress rehearsal.)  My youngest daughter & I are in the front row, second from the left.  It was a lot of fun!  It may not be real estate related but I hope you enjoy it anyway.  Like the song says, wh... 06/21/2011

Consider Canton MA When Looking for a New Home Canton MA is a suburban town located just southwest of Boston.   With a little over 20,000 residents, it is made up of a variety of longtime Canton families who have lived here for generations and newcomers.  Incorporated as its own town in 1797, Canton MA  has a rich history, dating back to the before the Revolutionary War.  The original Suffolk Resolves - the Declaration of War against England - were drafted at Doty's Tavern in Canton - and they were later finalized in nearby Milton MA.  One of Canton's most famous residents was Paul Revere, who built the first copper rolling mill in Canton in the early 1800's.  The Viaduct, was built in 1835 by Irish immigrants, and is one of the oldest arch stone railroad bridges still in use in the cou... 06/20/2011

Canton, Mass. Real Estate - Week ending June 17, 2011 Here is a brief snapshot of the real estate market for single family homes in Canton, Mass. (Source MLSPIN) Number of Homes on The Market 104 Average List Price $604,378 Average Market Time 134 Days 06/20/2011