Selling Your Home
A sale run by someone who lives here, priced off what is actually selling, and paced to your life rather than to a listing calendar.
It is a transaction on paper and it is not one to you
Both of those things are true at the same time, and holding them together is most of the job.
The house has to be prepared, priced and marketed properly, which is technical work with right and wrong answers. And you have to be able to live through several months of it without feeling like a guest in your own home, which is not technical at all. An agent who is good at only the first half of that will get you through it. They will not make it bearable.
I spent thirty-three years in corporate strategy at State Street and Citizens before I did this full time, so the project management side of a sale is genuinely the part I find restful. What I bring beyond it is the patience to sit with somebody who is not certain, and to not push.
Find out what your home is worth
Pricing: your town, not the region
The single most consequential decision in a sale is made before anything is photographed.
The South Coast and Cape Cod are not one market and they do not move together. Towns five miles apart can be running in opposite directions in the same quarter, one with barely any inventory and offers over asking, the next with months of supply and sellers taking less than list. Pricing off a regional average is how a house in a tight market leaves money on the table, and how a house in a slow one sits.
The analysis is therefore built on your town and your segment of it: what closed, what is competing with you now, and what failed to sell and at what number. I hold the Pricing Strategy Advisor designation, and on a coast this uneven that training earns its keep.
Market conditions change, so I do not publish figures here that would be stale by the time you read them. Ask me for the current month and I will show you where your town actually is.
Preparation, and what is not worth doing
The advice most sellers get is to fix everything. That advice is wrong and it is expensive.
What reliably returns more than it costs is a short list: decluttering, deep cleaning, paint in the right places, and repairing anything that would turn up on an inspection and hand a buyer a reason to renegotiate. Landscaping and the front of the house, because the photograph that gets clicked determines how many people ever see the rest.
What usually does not return its cost is a full kitchen or bathroom renovation done specifically to sell. You pay retail for it and the market pays you a fraction back, and the buyer who wanted a different countertop is unmoved.
I walk the house with you and go room by room on this. Sometimes the honest answer is that it is ready now and we should not spend a dollar.
Marketing built for the buyer this house will actually attract
Different houses sell to different people, and a marketing plan that ignores that is decoration.
A waterfront property on Buzzards Bay and an antique in a village center and a house on five acres in Rochester reach three different audiences through three different routes. The waterfront buyer is often from out of the area and shopping from a screen, so the video and the aerial work are the listing. The village antique sells on character and walkability, which photographs a particular way. The acreage sells on the land, which means the plot, the outbuildings and the frontage matter as much as the kitchen.
Every listing gets professional photography and video. That is not a differentiator any more and it should not be presented as one. The differentiator is deciding what the house is actually selling and then building everything around that answer.
The quiet option, which is real here
In these towns relationships are the inventory.
Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester are small enough that the right buyer for a particular house is frequently already known to somebody. I have sold a house privately to a neighbor's daughter. On this coast an off-market or pre-market approach is not a fallback for a house that failed, it is sometimes the best available route, and it is worth deciding on deliberately before anything goes public rather than after.
It does not suit every house or every seller, and going quietly has real trade-offs in reach that I will lay out plainly. But it should be a decision, not something nobody raised.
How the process runs, and how often you hear from me
The specific mechanics of a Massachusetts sale, including how offers, the purchase and sale agreement, inspections and closing are handled here, I will walk you through in person for your own transaction, because the details vary by situation and I would rather explain them to you than have you read a general version of them on a website.
What I will commit to here is the communication, because it is the thing sellers complain about most and it is entirely within my control. You hear from me before you have to wonder. Every showing gets feedback passed on to you, including the feedback you would rather not hear. If something is not working, I tell you early, with a recommendation rather than a shrug.
I do my own transaction management rather than handing you to a coordinator, so the person who knows your file is the person who answers the phone.
This describes my general process and is not legal, tax, or lending advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to sell a home on the South Coast?
It varies a great deal by town and by price segment, and the towns here do not move together. Rather than quote you a figure that would be stale by the time you read it, ask me and I will pull the current numbers for your specific town and the kind of house you have.
What should I fix before listing?
Less than you think. Decluttering, deep cleaning, paint, landscaping, and anything that would fail an inspection are the items that reliably return more than they cost. Full kitchen and bathroom renovations done specifically to sell usually do not. I will walk the house with you and go room by room.
Do you charge for professional photography and video?
Professional photography and video come with every listing I take. There is no separate charge and no tiered package where the good marketing costs extra.
Can I sell my home without putting it on the MLS?
Yes, and on the South Coast it is a more serious option than it is in most places, because these towns are small enough that the right buyer is often already known to someone. It has real trade-offs in reach, which I will lay out plainly, but it should be a deliberate decision rather than something nobody raised.
How often will I hear from you while my home is listed?
Before you have to wonder. Every showing gets feedback passed on to you, including the unflattering kind, and if something is not working you hear it from me early with a recommendation attached. I handle my own transaction management, so the person who knows your file is the person who picks up.
What are the real costs of selling a home?
The commission, attorney fees, any agreed repairs or credits, moving costs, and in Massachusetts the state deed excise tax paid by the seller. The exact figures depend on your sale, and I will give you a written estimate of your net proceeds before you list so there are no surprises at the closing table. Commission is not set by law or by any standard; it is agreed between us and it is negotiable.
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