Southern New Hampshire and Greater Boston Real Estate Podcast with Link Moser
Link Moser
If you are looking to buy or sell a home, get all the information and the latest updates, tips, and tricks from New Hampshire Fine Homes- your professional New Hampshire and Greater Boston Real Estate Agents.
- Are You Ready to Move into a Smaller Boston Home?
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Is it time for you to downsize? Maybe you’ve been living in your current home for a long time. You raised your family there with incredible memories, but the kids have all moved out. Now, you’re curious if you need this big home at all.
There is an emotional side to letting go of the place where you raised your family. Realtors are often asked, “When is a good time to sell?” The answer always stays the same. The best time to sell is when you’re ready.
If you don’t need a large home anymore, you’re certainly not alone. It’s time for an easier life. You don’t have to keep cutting the grass and shoveling the snow. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a more urban environment where you can walk to restaurants and coffee shops? It’s time to consider what will make life more enjoyable for you as you move into a smaller home.
"What will make life more enjoyable for you?"
Keep in mind there a lot of millennials out there who are getting married, having kids, and looking for a bigger home. In other words, there will always be demand for your home. It’s not going to sit on the market as long as you might think it will!
If downsizing is right for you, please feel free to reach out to us. We would love to help you in any way we can. We look forward to hearing from you!
28 May 2016, 11:50 pm - The Importance of Staging Your Home
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Home staging is incredibly important when selling, but it has to be done right. When done incorrectly, it makes the home appear like a commodity and not a home. The purpose of staging is to elicit an emotional response from the buyer.
Sometimes a staging will leave you feeling a little flat. A lot of people say that you need to remove personal items from a home, but I disagree with that. Things should look and feel like a home, not a living space. We want the home to look nice, but also feel "lived in."
The outside of the home is just as important, and we pay attention to the exterior to make it feel personal and inviting. We want the buyer to relate to the home and have some sort of emotional response towards the property.
If you’re interested, we can come out to your property and have a look around to prepare you for a proper home staging. Please don’t hesitate to contact us about this!17 May 2016, 5:29 pm - Should You Choose the Best Terms or the Highest Offer When Selling?
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If you’re selling your home and you have multiple offers on your property - congratulations! However, don’t get too excited just yet. You still have some work to do in choosing the most beneficial offer for you and your family.
Simple logic might tell you to choose an offer with the highest dollar amount, but you cannot forget to look at the terms involved. Someone might be willing to pay you more for your home, but offer less in negotiations. Remember that cash buyers always expect to pay a little less because they don’t have to run through the gamut of financing.
Consider the contingencies on the offer. Remember that a contingency always creates an opportunity for the buyer to walk away, so be careful moving forward with a buyer who has too many contingencies. The fewer contingencies, the better off you are as a seller.
Generally speaking, your first offer is your best offer. It’s important to shop around, but don’t wait too long because those buyers will eventually just look elsewhere. Respect the fact that buyers have committed to your home and made an offer on it.
When combing through offers on your home, it might be a good idea to work with a real estate professional to determine which offer will benefit you the most. Just don’t forget that terms can sometimes outweigh a larger offer on your home. Money isn’t always the determining factor in a sale, sometimes it’s simply convenience.
If you have any questions about this, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We know it’s going to be a busy spring selling season, so contact us soon.29 April 2016, 8:24 pm - We’re Taking Our Team to the Next Level
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Today we have an exciting announcement from the Davidson and Giglio team at KW here in the Boston Metro. We are currently at Keller Williams Family Reunion in New Orleans, where we network and learn more about how to best serve all of our clients. We thought now would be a great time to make a big announcement.
We are proud to announce that we have joined forces with Fine Homes Group International in an effort to raise the bar on our business and our service to our clients.
We have a strong hub, filled with all of our support staff who take care of things behind the scenes. This allows us to be more readily available to all our clients. We made this decision in order to bring a higher level of service to our clients. Fine Home Groups International is known for their great marketing, internet savviness, and support staff.
We appreciate the loyalty you have shown us over the years, and we hope that it continues. We are working hard each day in order to provide you with the best service possible. If you have any questions for us, we are always available to answer them. We look forward to hearing from you soon!29 March 2016, 3:43 pm - David Hansen Joins the Fine Homes Group International
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I’m very excited to announce that I am now part of the Fine Homes Group. I sent you an email letting you know that I was switching, but today I wanted to clarify why I made that decision.
This new opportunity will allow me to serve you at a higher level. I will have a whole team of marketing specialists, buyer representatives, and transaction coordinators, among many other helpful moving parts. This is a great way for me to help you do what you need to sell your home for top dollar.
One piece of advice if you’re thinking of selling this spring: don’t wait until it’s too late. Everyone lists in April and May, but I suggest getting started in February or March. You want to be the first home out there for everyone to see. If you wait too long, your home will be adrift in a sea of other listings.
If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me!24 February 2016, 6:09 pm - What Can You Do to Avoid a Nightmare Selling Process in Boston?
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If you’re thinking about selling this spring, the first thing you need to do is take a step back and think about your home. Take a walkthrough of your home and try to identify little things like leaky faucets, flickering light bulbs, or any other minor thing that may trouble a buyer. Many of the things you’ve grown accustomed to may be very off-putting for buyers. The goal is to make it so that the inspector can’t find anything wrong with the home.
When putting a price on your home, you need to be aware of what’s happening in the market. There are two segments to look at: what has sold and what’s on the market. If your home is overpriced, you're going to help the competition sell their homes. You want to see what other homes have sold for, while keeping in mind how your competition has priced their homes.
It’s crucial to have the help of a professional when selling because another set of eyes will help you get an objective look at what is going on. More importantly, a professional will be able to give you tips on what you should do and the kind of things you shouldn’t spend money on. You need to focus on things like curb appeal and decluttering more so than fancy upgrades. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, so impressing buyers right away should be your highest priority.
Whether you’re in the early stages of getting your home ready to sell or you’ve already begun the process, we would love to give you a hand. Give us a call or shoot us an email at any time -- we would love to hear from you!23 February 2016, 6:37 pm - Avoid These Seller Mistakes in New Hampshire
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We often notice mistakes home sellers make in New Hampshire. All these mistakes relate to timing issues. Today, we'll identify some mistakes to help you avoid them in the future.
1. You underestimate how long it takes for a home to sell.
It's best to list as soon as possible, especially now in February. Even when there's snow out, people are looking for vacation homes. Remember, it takes anywhere from 60 to 90 days for a home to close, especially with the new regulations in today's lending market. If you're thinking of waiting for May to list your vacation home, it will close at the end of June at the earliest. With our short summer seasons, that's not really enough time for a buyer to enjoy their vacation home.
2. You underestimate how long it takes to prepare the property for the market.
In the middle of February, when there's two feet of snow on the ground, it can be difficult to inspect your property. It's hard to touch up paint and fix woodwork, so now is the time to do all that before the snow hits. Consider doing a pre-purchase inspection, where a home inspector takes a look at the property before snow and ice makes it too difficult to do so. Take exterior photos of the home now. Even though the leaves are off the trees, you can still get great photos before the snow hits.
3. You're not sure when to engage with a real estate agent.
Many people think, "Okay, it's May. I'm going to call a real estate agent." Call us sooner. Reach out and let us know that you're thinking of selling your home. We can help maximize your exposure and get you top dollar. Let's start that conversation now. We can list properties and not put them on the market right away; as we mentioned, sometimes it takes 30 to 60 days to get the home ready.
If you have any questions, give us a call or send us an email. We would be happy to serve you!3 February 2016, 9:01 pm - What's Happening with New Hampshire Real Estate in 2016?Want to sell your home? Get a FREE home value report Want to buy a home? Search all homes for sale
I'm happy to tell you that Bedford had a great year in real estate. We sold 70 more homes last year compared to the previous year. In 2015, we sold 376 homes; in 2014, we sold 306. That's a little over a 20% increase in sales. This is great news for homeowners in the area.
Nearly half of homes sold were in the $300,000 to $500,000 range. However, things have been going well in all price ranges.
The condominium market is also performing well, and we have less than half the amount of inventory that we had last year. We actually only have 5 condos available, and I think this is because so many people are wanting to downsize. The main reason behind this trend is there are a lot of baby boomers that are moving out of their homes. Expect low inventory for condos throughout the year.
Another thing we can expect is an early spring selling market because the weather has been so warm. Spring will be here in early February, and this is partially caused by rising interest rates. If you've been looking to buy a home, then 2016 may be a great time to do so.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
18 January 2016, 5:13 pm - Fine Homes Group International Expands to Boston
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We’ve grown a big real estate team here in New Hampshire. Now, we’re expanding into the Boston market! You can now work with a team that covers New Hampshire and Massachusetts. This allows you to access exceptional customer service from our experienced agents in both states. We can help sell your primary home in addition to purchasing a secondary home. In 2016, we want to create a jaw-dropping client experience. We want to set high expectations and exceed them in every transaction. Regardless of the market climate, our goal is to make your experience amazing.
If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home in either New Hampshire or Massachusetts, we’d love to connect with you. We’d love to learn more about you and your goals. Give us a call or email today!6 January 2016, 6:27 pm - Automate Your Home, and Simplify Your Life
Link Moser: In this interview you're going to hear from the owner of a home automation company. Nick Mark is the president of DC Home Systems, and he has offices in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. To start off, why don't you start off by telling me how you got started in your business.
Nick Mark: President of DC Home Solutions
Nick Mark: Thanks for having me, Link. My business has been around for 35 years and we started as a repair company, but we've evolved into a technology company. We specialize in home integration, home networking, and cloud-based controls. The industry calls us 'systems integrators', and that is because we tie together all of the systems in your home. We make an easy user interface so that you can control all the systems in your home with just one app. Many manufacturers provide apps for your systems, such as a thermostat app or a security system app. We take all of those apps and combine them into one single app. This has made us experts in multiple different systems, and it's allowed us to come out with an amazing product.
Link: So this is like the new version of reducing the remote control clutter?
Nick: Precisely.
Link: I imagine how much technology has changed your industry. I remember going to Radioshack to buy a thing you plugged in the wall to control your lights, but now with cloud technology I'm sure it's still revolutionizing the home automation industry.
Nick: Yeah it is. You see all of these unique products like the Nest, but they all require their own systems and their own app. They often don't play well together in the network. And that's where we come in. We'll hook up all of your systems into on spot.
Link: Yeah, so you fully integrate all of this automation into one app?
Nick: Yes, but we also make all of the system work together in a more fluid manner. We make your security system talk to your thermostat, and this makes them operate on a higher level. We architect the same system for you. For example, when you arm your security system to leave, it will send a signal for your thermostats to turn down, and your lights will shut off. It knows what you're trying to do in the home. Our system can sense when you're approaching the home and it will turn on your favorite music and it can even light the fireplace.
Link: That's awesome to hear what can be done with that kind of technology. It's interesting to hear this, especially as a real estate agent, because we always talk about how smart homes are getting. We joke that your home will one day know that it's time to sell before you know you want to sell. So, what's coming around the curve? What can we expect in the future?
Nick: There's an explosion going on in the tech field. There's been a lot of interest in the Internet of Things (I.O.T.), which is where devices communicate with each other without human intervention. As more of these devices come out onto the market it will become increasingly difficult for a user to make a seamless system out of these different products. We have a lab and we look at all of these new technologies to figure out what is practical and what is gimmicky. There's a difference between being on the leading edge and the bleeding edge.
Link: Can you tell me a little more about who your typical customers are and why they use your product?
Nick: Our typical customer sees the value in technology but doesn't have the time to sit down and make it all work together. They're busy people running businesses or households, or what have you. When they come home they don't want to think about technology, they just want it all to work properly. Our clients also value craftsmanship and are okay with paying extra for a superior service.
Link: Interesting. So where do you see your business heading in the next few years with technological advances in your industry?
Nick: Well we are expanding our operations throughout New England and we're looking at opportunities in other parts of the country. Ultimately, we're looking for a lifelong relationship with clients and we can follow them wherever they go. We want them to turn to us to figure out this 'technology soup'.
Link: I imagine that makes for a really customized, tailored experience for your clients.
Nick: Yes, we really like to partner up with our customers and learn how we can take care of them in the best way possible.
Link: Awesome, so where can people go to learn more about your business?
Visit our Website
Nick: They can certainly go to our website, www.DCHomeSystems.com. We just launched a new site, but it's got a lot of pictures and descriptions of our products. You could also call my cell phone directly at (603) 321 4627. One thing that we've done a lot of is we have an 'experience center' in Manhattan, and they can see how all of these systems would play out in their home.
Link: That sounds awesome! It was great talking to you today because I'm fascinated with this. Technology is certainly evolving rapidly, and it seems like one day your home may be able to cook dinner for you! Wouldn't that be great? But anyway, thanks a lot for coming on, Nick. We appreciate your time.30 November 2015, 6:12 pm - Tips to Get the Best Price on a Home This Holiday Season
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The holidays can be chaotic with other commitments. We notice a lot of properties are removed from the market during this time of year. Sometimes, sellers don’t add their home to the market until after the new year begins, even as late as May.
There’s a lot of shadow inventory, or rather, homes still for sale that aren’t active in the MLS. If you’re a buyer, how do you get that information? You need to work with a Realtor, because you can’t see those homes on your own.
The winter is a great time for both buyers and sellers. When inventory is low, there’s less competition. There are fewer homes on the market now compared to the springtime.
If you’re serious about selling, we recommend listing right away. There are buyers out there. They will always be out there! They might be looking for a home just like yours. Even if you’re thinking about selling next year, it’s crucial to start talking to a real estate agent now. This is a great time to get exterior photos, repair, and prepare your home overall.
If you’re thinking about buying or selling a home, give us a call or email today! Have a happy holiday season.23 November 2015, 10:11 pm - More Episodes? Get the App
