Seller Case Studies

Problem: Assisting an Elderly Homeowner in Making a Delicate Transition while Preserving Autonomy Our seller client is an elderly woman who lived in her home alongside her late husband for 40 years. With no children to inherit the property, she faced the challenging decision of selling her beloved home. However, the emotional attachment to her […]

Timing it Right: Selling Your Home; Buying a New One Problem: A young couple with two children had the age-old dilemma: they wanted to upgrade to a larger home but needed to sell their Newton condo first. They had three options after accepting an offer: ask for a delayed closing to give them time to […]

Knowing When It’s Time to Pursue Plan B Problem: I suggested that my clients, who were going through a divorce, put their lovely large colonial in Newton on the market for $1,520,000 and I marketed it aggressively, including a 3D online tour. After two weeks, we got an offer that was slightly lower than asking […]

Newton Victorian Inspires a Bidding War Problem: The 1,800-square-feet, 150-year-old Newton Mansard Victorian was loaded with charm, generally well-maintained, but it had some issues that needed to be addressed. The wide plank pine floors, which were original to the home, were splitting. A parquet floor in the entryway looked dated and shag carpeting masked the […]

Ambivalence Turns into Elation  Problem: The two-bedroom Waltham colonial had been in our client’s family for three generations and he had a strong emotional attachment to it. Although he was ready for the next chapter — moving south with several other family members — he was ambivalent about selling. Would he be amenable to our […]

Problem: Unexpectedly, the owner of a large colonial in Newton had to move into a nursing home and her siblings were tasked with selling her home. She had lived in the house for many decades and it was packed to the gills with possessions.  The whole place needed brightening up, including the furnishings — which […]

Helping a contractor make design adjustments to boost home’s appeal Problem: A contractor building a new home in Natick was not getting any bites for the property. Typically, contractors try to pre-sell a home before it is completed to avoid the cost of owning it post-construction. This one asked several agents, including me, to view the […]

Winter is thawing but left our client with a to-do list of weather-related repairs. If she does the repairs, will the spring market be over by the time her home is in shape? Should she just forgo the fixes and sell now at a lower price?  Problem: When my client made the decision to sell, […]

With a few inexpensive alterations, a Watertown condominium fetches a much higher price than our client ever thought possible. Problem: Anticipating that she would be putting her condominium on the market, our client had rehabbed her kitchen with new stainless steel appliances, recessed lighting, new curtains and fresh coat of paint. But she had not touched […]

Three siblings are at odds about the sale of a home they inherited from their grandmother, whose lack of advance planning has made the situation even stickier Problem: A home in northern Massachusetts was co-owned and co-inhabited by an elderly woman and her granddaughter. When the grandmother died rather unexpectedly, the granddaughter’s older brother and […]