Tom Matthews

I am a real estate agent in MA and we are an attorney state. In our state you would need to hire an attorney to help change the deed and typically there is consideration that needs to be included in this transfer. If you have a mortgage on the property you will need to do a refinance on the property to get him off the deed. To see the property you need his cooperation or need to hire an attorney and go to court to a judge to help with a partition for sale. Tough situation so good luck.

Hello David, Thank you for your service to our country. My advice is to link up with a Veteran Loan specialist and typically in 6-12 months with their guidance they can help you rebuild your credit to a point where you can qualify for a VA loan. I wish you the best.

Typically, home property taxes are influenced by finished heated space and yard size. I would say that finishing this space will likely change the value of your home, but if the increased space helps your living situation, then the additional fees would be worth incurring.

Brian, It is human nature that we want to keep our costs down, but insurance companies have become skilled at finding ways to not pay out claims. I feel that the marginal increase in premiums is not worth the risk to the remainder of my asset to not notifying them about an increase in living area in your home.

Jenny, Sorry to hear of your frustration! There are big changes coming to the real estate industry on August 17th and now you could potentially be responsible for the real estate fee. I would ask this question, would you pay for the services you are getting if you found your dream home? If the answer is no then you should interview new agents. To give you perspective since 2020 I helped 77 buyers find homes so you should really think about interviewing other agents!

Morgan, I would not recommend using your max pre-approval amount. Owning is such a wonderful experience, but there are times when it makes sense to rent. We have been in a lopsided market, but almost every market corrects and at some point we should see a correction cycle in the real estate market. I have a video on pro/cons of owning: https://youtu.be/GAoR3puVwBg?feature=shared I would be very cautious about maxing out financially. Tom

Rhonda, I am sorry to hear that you find yourself in this position. This is my advice and I have been selling real estate in Concord, MA for the past 22 years. I am not in your particular market but do have some thoughts. 1. I would pull up all the houses that are for sale within .25 miles of your home and review their Zillow listings, I would drive by, and potentially go to open houses. How does your home stack up? 2. Ask your Realtor to run an absorption rate analysis which will tell you home many months it takes to sell a home in your market. I remember markets where perfectly priced homes would take 6 months to sell. 3. Are you properly marketed with enough photos? 4. Do you have any condition objections? Did you know you can not get FHA or VA financing if the home has flaking paint? 5. Sometimes it does make sense to higher a new agent and make a change. Hope this helps, Concord, MA real estate

Drew, This is a great question! Since you purchased so recently my first piece of advice is to go to the lender you used to purchase your home and see if they will offer a no cost refi? Then what I would do is refi when you have the opportunity to save $200 to $400 dollars per month. Listen, I have owned my home for 10 years and have refinanced in 3 times. It is my forever home and getting into the right program was more important than getting hung up on the cost. If this home is a long term home then strike when it is right and heck if you have to do it again then do it! I know people who have refinanced 5 times, but it ended up putting them in a great position! Concord, MA real estate

Sydney, This is a great question and as you have seen before the general answer is that it depends. What you want to know is what is the current absorption rate in your marketplace and once you have that information you can curate a pricing strategy. Concord, MA real estate

Danny, great question. I sell in Concord, MA and in our state the lease is considered real property and transfers with the title of the property so you could not be kicked out. I would go to your local city hall or chamber of commerce as they generally have resources to help people with getting legal advocacy. Good luck. Concord, MA real estate

Francis, This is my 5th Presidential election cycle and my advice is to either list right after Labor day or wait until spring 2025. If you get to 30 days within the election then you might see people put a large financial decision like buying a home. The nice thing about most MLS is that you can come to the market and then come offer for a said period of time and restart with 0 days on market. Good luck Concord, Ma real estate

Eric, this is a great question and a tricky one for sure. Values are up and housing has become less affordable but buying with a partner can be amazing and disastrous. The only way to get someone off a deed in most states in through a refinance so if you do not see your income changing drastically if things did not work out you would be forced to sell. I would be very cautious about this arrangement. Concord, ma real estate

Sally, the most important thing you to can do is bring in a professional real estate agent and have them give you an absorption rate analysis. Understand your marketplace and then you can strategically price your property and put a plan in place to garner strong interest in a short time frame. This is where the magic can happen if you have the right team in place. Concord, MA real estate

Ashley, I would assume this agent is helping you with the acquisition and these scenarios happen all the time. Be grateful you have the home sale contingency so you are not stuck with two homes. I would follow the guidance recommended to speak with the supervising broker, but again this scenario does happen. I wish you all the best. Concord, MA real estate

Don, I sell in Massachusetts and in our state the release is for the escrow monies. You need to consult your broker or attorney, but if the days by which you must perform have passed then the seller can typically relist the property and then you go to court to fight over the escrow monies. That is how it would happen in MA. A 22 year old furnace is fully depreciated, and sellers may not negotiate over that without an expert opinion. Home inspectors are generalists and I would recommend having in a HVAC specialist to confirm the findings and give a more specific recommendation. Too often the buyers lean on the inspection report and there is information that a specialist may agree or disagree on! Good luck, Concord, MA real estate

Terrance, This is an unfortunate situation that we are all finding ourselves in. My first recommendation is to vote with your wallet and make hold these politicians responsible. There is no reason that insurance should be unregulated and allowed to increase 30% year over year! But in regards to you personally, if your home is paid for then you have more flexibility and here is the reality. The equity position in a home is generally a top 5 assets for many American home owners and you need to weigh the risk of not having insurance. If you had a water damage, wind, or fire and the repair was $50k to $75k could you pay out of pocket? Insurance is too expensive until you need it! I feel for you! Concord, MA real estate

Kara, I am assuming you have an accepted offer with your current agent? If that is correct, you are "stuck" with them, and like the other agent said you best recourse is to speak with the agent or their managing broker. But remember you are the client and they are there to serve you so if they have last minute requests I would not drop everything. I would do what I need to do and get to their requests in due time and if they feel that there needs to be more urgency then they should improve their communications. Years ago, we implemented a system of checking in with clients every Tuesday to allow the lines of communications to remain open and to also alleviate this fire drill mentally. I wish you all the best. Concord, MA real estate

Not unilaterally and you must speak with your agent. I have been in real estate for over 22 years and if I were in this situation I would ask you, the client, to reimburse me for the marketing and then I would agree to cancel the contract. Other than the last 3-5 years, it historically would take 90 to 180 days to secure an offer on a home so a few weeks feels like a long time, but really is not that big of a deal. This is a discussion and one that should be very easily worked out. Concord, MA real estate