The Buying Process —

• Search.

  • Initial intake meeting with new buyers, where we discuss your needs, our process, and the market.

  • We set up all new buyers on ZenList, a third-party app & website that feeds all listings from the MLS. It is a portal that allows us to look at the same properties in the same place, save and request tours, add notes (comments), delete bad fits, and adjust parameters over time.

  • As part of the initial search process, most of our buyers who are seeking financing find it helpful to get a pre-approval with a local lender.

• Analyze.

  • We prefer to see every house our clients see, when they see it. This means we keep a close eye on new listings (as well as combing through unsold, lingering inventory). We set up tours, generally on the weekends (when many new-to-market properties start to show), and these will be a mix of Open Houses and private showings.

    • Mid-week, our admins will send a ‘weekend availability’ email, which is not to schedule any specific slot, but to get a general sense of your availability in the coming days. So, let us know about any vacations, religious observances, birthday parties, etc., so we can put you in a slot that works best for you. Generally, we will have morning, mid-day, and afternoon slots on each of Saturday and Sunday.

  • When we see properties, we pay close attention to its situation vis a vis neighboring properties & the general streetscape, We look at the home with a critical eye toward both its natural limitations (ceiling heights, zoning considerations, street adjacency), systems and general condition, and opportunities for adding value (layout and cosmetic changes),

  • For properties you are considering offering on, we will perform a Comparative Market Analysis (CMA), wherein we compare against recent, nearby sales of similar properties, and make adjustments for qualitative and quantitative aspects. This gives an average of adjusted values (i.e., the ‘value’), with a range, +/- 2.5%, and on the outside margins, +/-5.0%, which is an indication of where a property “should” sell, and is an anchor for not exceeding what a bank will reasonably appraise the value at.

• Offer.

  • We use the Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR) standard offer form for all our offers, along with several Additional Terms that we always include for our buyers, with terms like Subject to a mutually-agreeable Purchase & Sale Agreement and Property to be delivered vacant & broom clean, and custom terms as applicable.

  • A typical timeline would be:

    • Offer Expiration sometime within 24 hours

    • Home Inspection to be completed by a certain date prior to Purchase & Sale; with the contingency (ability to back out) by 5:00 PM on the day after that last day to inspect.

      • As of October 15, 2025, sellers may no longer condition the acceptance of an offer upon a waived inspection contingency. Buyers will always have some period of inspection contingency prior to P&S. They may choose one of two options for their contingency, allowing them to back out either in their sole discretion or if the estimated aggregate cost of repairs exceeds a certain $ amount.

      • Since the implementation of this rule, we are seeing many buyers complete pre-offer inspections, and then write short inspection contingencies with very high aggregate thresholds. The higher your aggregate threshold, the more of the inspection you’re effectively ‘waiving’ thus making your offer more attractive to a seller (i.e., less likely to back out).

    • Purchase & Sale Agreement within 3-10 days of an executed offer, with faster P&S in competitive scenarios.

    • Mortgage Contingency, if you are obtaining a mortgage and choosing not to waive the contingency

      • Typically a couple of weeks after P&S, and a couple of weeks prior to closing.

      • In order to preserve your mortgage contingency, you must apply for your loan within 1 business day after P&S. This usually means formally completing the Fannie Mae 1003, and locking your interest rate.

      • You will need to obtain a commitment letter from your bank by the mortgage contingency date in order to safely waive your mortgage contingency; this means that a bank is agreeing to lend to you, on the subject property, pending a few final conditions. (Commitment, with remaining conditions and issued a couple of weeks before closing, will be followed by, with very few remaining conditions, a Clear to Close, right before closing day).

    • Closing Date

      • For a cash transaction, closing can be as quick as 2 weeks from P&S (the minimum window of time for a title search to be completed by your attorney), and for a transaction with a mortgage loan, typically 30 days from P&S.

  • Once you have an accepted offer, you’ll need to make a binder deposit to ‘bind’ your offer, into (typically) the seller’s real estate broker’s escrow account. This money will be held and applied to your closing. It is not ‘pay-to-play’ and it will be refunded if you back out based on one of your contingencies.

    • This deposit is typically between $1,000 and $10,000; the lower end if we are maintaining a full inspection contingency with no aggregate threshold, and the higher end if we are presenting as more of a ‘sure thing.’

    • Since Covid, most brokerages have moved to DepositLink, or a corollary system, which is a secure, direct online escrow payment platform. The days of paper checks are mostly behind us, but in a case where paper checks will be used, you will send us a photo of a check made out to the escrow holder, with the account numbers physically covered up for the photo, and we would collect and deliver that check if your offer is accepted.

  • With an accepted offer, now will be the time to hire a Buyer’s Attorney to represent you in the transaction. If you are purchasing with a mortgage loan, this attorney will typically act as the Closing (Bank’s) Attorney as well.

    • If you are purchasing in a condominium association, or into a scenario that has unusual financial or deed arrangements, we will include a contingency that your lawyer will review and approve docs & financials prior to P&S.

    • Your lawyer will review the listing, any and all deeds and public record documents, and negotiate the Purchase & Sale Agreement with the Seller’s Attorney.

  • We will schedule a home inspection. In Massachusetts, home inspections are visual. They will encompass everything from roof to foundation, systems, windows, basic safety and code like doorstops and trip hazards. Inspectors can’t tell you how to fix something, or how much it will cost to fix something; they can only identify what’s wrong. If there is any living area, or area that will be regularly used, that’s below grade, we always recommend our clients get a radon test. Radon is a colorless, odorless radioactive gas that emanates from granite and other geology, that’s been linked to lung cancer. It is fairly simple to remediate (a fan system that runs constantly and sucks air from underneath a basement floor), but if you plan to spend any signficant time in a basement, you should remediate if radon exceeds 4.0 PCi/L, per the EPA.

• Purchase & Sale Agreement (P&S).

  • Prior to reaching Purchase & Sale, we will complete and satisfy your inspection contingency and if applicable, your condo doc contingency. If you have a radon test, that will sometimes survive as a contingency in the P&S.

  • At Purchase & Sale, you will make the balance of a 5% deposit into escrow (5% of the purchase price, minus whatever you deposited as a ‘binder’ at the time of accepted offer).

  • Like the Offer, the P&S will typically be signed via DocuSign. Traditionally, buyers sign P&S and deliver deposit, then sellers countersign, at which point you’ll have a fully-executed Purchase & Sale Agreement.

  • In order to preserve your mortgage contingency, if applicable, you must apply for your loan within 1 business day after P&S. This usually means formally completing the Fannie Mae 1003, and locking your interest rate.

• Transact.

  • If you are obtaining a loan, your main task after P&S will be mortgage-related.

  • Ahead of closing, you’ll need to start utilities to be in your name effective the day of closing, including electric, gas (if applicable), oil delivery contract (if applicable), internet, and municipal water/sewer (if applicable).

  • Most P&S Agreements will allow for several visits prior to closing for contractors and measurements. This is normally ~3 visit allowance.

• Close.

  • We will schedule a “final walk-through” of the property on the morning of, or afternoon before, closing.