The South Coast Real Estate Round-Up


Don't forget to factor in closing costs when considering a home sale or purchase. EZ Home Search is experienced at assisting both buyers and sellers when it comes to closings. E-mail or call me today at (508) 646-4777 if your needs include a professional REALTOR® ready for the business side of buying and selling.


Expected closing costs

There are certain basic expenses accompanying closing the sale of a house. These expenses are usually split between the buyer and seller, as directed in the sales contract. Many are conventional, but there are nuances to each, so you'll want a real estate expert in Massachusetts to help guide you through the transaction.


Costs pertaining to your loan to be paid at closing    (Click here for more information)

  • Points (optional)
  • Appraisal Fee
  • Credit Report
  • Interest Payment
  • Escrow Account

At closing, the following taxes are usually paid    (Click here for more information)

  • Property Taxes
  • Transfer Taxes and Recording Fees

Insurance fees due at closing    (Click here for more information)

  • Homeowners Insurance
  • Flood or Quake Insurance (optional)
  • Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) (optional)
  • Title Insurance


Sellers: As we get through the details of your deal, I'll not only work to get the optimal sales price, but I'll also advocate for reduced closing costs. And once we've reached an agreement, I'll walk you through the closing costs so you know exactly what you're paying for.


Buyers: If you're buying a house in Bristol County, you will be given a "Good Faith Estimate" (GFE) of closing costs within three days of submitting your loan application. The estimate is based on the loan officer's prior experience and is required to be within a suitable range so you're not startled when you come to the closing table. I'll be willing to look at the GFE with you, answering your questions and highlighting any estimates that are uncertain.

Posted by Christopher Terry on July 17th, 2021 12:38 PM

May Sellers: Don’t Wait—You Can Still Tackle A Home Sale During a Pandemic

The coronavirus may have transformed life as we know it, but the business of buying and selling homes? That’s still going strong.

It’s true that selling a home looks very different during COVID-19 than it does in normal times. However, that doesn’t mean that sellers need to wait until the pandemic has passed in order to sell their home and move on to their next one. 

In fact, according to a HomeLight survey of top real estate agents shortly after the pandemic struck in March 2020, more than 60 percent of agents still characterized their local housing markets as sellers’ markets.

So how do you tackle a home sale during a pandemic? Here are some selling tips to help you during the coronavirus.

Get creative with virtual showings and tours. 

While in-person showings are greatly reduced due to concerns about spreading the virus, video tours and virtual walk-throughs can give potential buyers the information they need to either move forward or look elsewhere. 

Invest in a video tour by hiring a real estate video company. Ensure that the company you work with takes safety precautions, like having any videographers wear a mask, gloves, and booties while they’re in your home. 

If you’d rather not have someone else in your home, work with your agent to record your own video on your phone—it’s not ideal, but it’s certainly permissible in this environment! Buyers want to be able to tour homes during coronavirus from the safety of their devices, so anything you can do to make that easier will help you immensely. 

Ask your agent to carefully screen buyers. 

Sight-unseen home purchases are occurring, but they’re still very few and far between. Most buyers will still want to see your home in person before making an offer. 

The difference now is that most agents are screening buyers very carefully before granting any in-person showing requests. This could mean requiring that buyers be pre-qualified for the amount of the mortgage they’d need, and have a pre-approval letter or proof of funds they can show you, as well as having buyers do a “preliminary showing” by driving or walking by the home and exploring the surrounding neighborhood or environs.

Take safety precautions at all times. 

Exercise social distancing from your agent and anyone else you need to engage with during the process at all times. This may mean doing things a bit differently, like driving in a separate car from your agent while looking for your own new home.

If you’re allowing people into your home for a showing, do whatever you can to reduce the need for them to touch anything: turn on all lights, open all doors, and ask that buyers wear gloves, masks, and booties. You or your agent should disinfect everything before and after the showing, and wear your own protective gear if you’ll be on the property while anyone else is.

Selling your home during coronavirus will be different, but it can absolutely be done. By working with a great real estate agent and taking the right precautions, you’ll be placing a “Sold” sign in your yard in no time. 



Posted by Christopher Terry on May 18th, 2020 5:21 PM

The Great Recession is finally over and the Real Estate market is picking up again all across the country!


Many people though, are still unsure about whether or not it is a good time to list. Are you still undecided? If so, here are five signs that now is probably a good time to put your house on the market, as told by RISMedia’s Housecall.


  1. Have you outgrown your space? Do you have a growing family and only 2 bedrooms and one bathroom? Are you sick of using the dining room table as your home office? Well if that is the case, then it might be time to think about listing your current house so that you can buy that (bigger)  dream home.

  2. Is your neighborhood booming? Have you noticed a lot of “SOLD” signs around your neighborhood? If so, that probably means that you own a house in a hot market. If homes around you are selling for more than listing price, then it might be time to put yours on the market too.

  3. Are you getting tired of the maintenance? Are you letting things slip that you never did before? Well maybe it’s just time for you to move into a home with less maintenance.  Instead of putting money into half-heartedly fixing things, you could always put that money towards a newer home that requires less work.

  4. Has your equity returned? During the recession, many of us lost the equity on our homes, so selling was not an option. The number of homeowners with positive equity is on the rise, and will continue to rise as the market continues to improve. Before you list your home, it might be a good idea to get your house re-appraised so you know for sure if your house is back into the position to sell.

  5. Has your life changed recently? Life changes. Every single day people wake up and get married and divorced. They gain and lose loved ones. They get a new job, they lose their job. Any significant life change calls for a close look at the current stage you are in, and if you find that your house is not in sync with your life, it might be time to sell.


Selling your home is a big step, but we are here to help. If you have any questions about listing and selling your home, give us a call at EZ Home Search Real Estate and we will personally assess your options.


Author Profile:

Mariah Terry is passionate writer and blogger studying Journalism at Emerson College with a minor in Marketing. See her work at mariahterry.jimdo.com.


Posted by Christopher Terry on August 12th, 2015 1:23 PM

The real estate market is picking up and more and more people are putting their homes on the market. Some homes are selling within weeks of being listed, while a similar home might suffer price cut after price cut and months on the market before finally being sold.


So why is one home selling faster than the other? The answer: it had the right price. Research has shown that homes that were originally listed too high experience a listing price reduction and sit on the market longer, ultimately selling for less than similar homes.


John Knight, recipient of the University Distinguished Faculty Award from the  Eberhardt School of Business at the University of the Pacific, did research on the cost (in both time and money) to a seller who priced high at the beginning and then lowered the their price.


He discovered that, “Homes that underwent a price revision sold for less, and the greater the revision, the lower the selling price. Also, the longer the home remains on the market, the lower its ultimate selling price.”


The “I’ll lower the price later” approach can paint a negative image in buyers’ minds. A buyer who see that a home has been on the market for a year and has lowered its price a couple of times immediately wonders why and attributes it to the house having problems. Then when a buyer does make an offer, they low-ball the price because they see the seller as “highly motivated.”


But, if you price your home correctly, you could be the one with the leg up during negotiations. How? Well, the better the price, the more offers and competition. Allowing you to pick the best offer, which is sometimes even OVER asking price.


And because correctly priced homes sell fast you will have to spend less of your life working around open-houses and showings of your home. Ultimately, it’s a no brainer. You get a handpicked buyer, full asking price, and house that sells in a reasonable amount of time.


For more information about the importance of setting the right price visit http://www.ezhomesearch.net/pricingguidelines and to find out the right price for your home, give EZ Home Search Real Estate a call, and we’ll take the time to simply and effectively explain what is happening in the housing market and how it applies to your home.


Author Profile:

Mariah Terry is passionate writer and blogger studying Journalism at Emerson College with a minor in Marketing. See her work at mariahterry.jimdo.com.


Posted by Christopher Terry on August 3rd, 2015 5:52 PM

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