Boston Condo, Loft and Luxury Boston Real Estate Blog

Pulled a quick search this a.m. for all Back Bay Open Houses this weekend.  This weekend there are 31 open houses listed on the Boston MLS in the Back Bay ranging from $276,000 to $2,195,000. Out of these open houses below are units that are brand new to the market over the past week.

277 Marlborough Street - $1.49M

248 Commonwealth Ave - $1.2M

19 Arlington Street - $979k

186 Commonwealth Avenue - $560k

65 Commonwealth Ave - $395k

* Photo Courtesy of Rebecca Davis of Hammond Residential featuring 277 Commonwealth Ave listed above.

It’s that very exciting time of year again…Boston Restaurant Week! The Summer 2008 edition of Boston’s Restaurant Week kicks off August 10th and ends August 22nd, with only one day off on August 16th. With over than 200 restaurants participating in the area, make your reservations soon, because they fill up fast! (Believe me, I know) 

Get ready for 3-course lunches for $20.08 and dinners for only $33.08! This is a wonderful opportunity for trying out those new restaurants you’ve been curious about and revisit your old favorites– for only a fraction of the price. 

And while you’re at it, doesn’t a day filled with a delectable meal paired with a tour of a new property sound like a tremendous idea?

If you need to find something to do over the next few weeks, here’s a few ideas….

Grab some lunch at Grotto this Friday, before you check out this Beacon Hill Open House…don’t forget to contact us!

Check out this South End Open House this Friday and make reservations at Tremont 647 , just around the corner.

Don’t worry…if you can’t make it to an open house soon, restaurant week is going on for two weeks and our expert brokers are around anytime for you! Just contact us to set up a viewing.

And might I offer a few other suggestions…

For those of you who like the North End, you might want to make reservations at Vinoteca di Monica after you view this hot property

Back Bay fans should venture to view this listing and then check out the menu at Sasso

Or you could visit the Achilles Project in our ‘hood

Click here for more information on Boston Restaurant Week.

Restaurant Week!! Whoohoo! Let’s Eat!

As you know we re-tooled our “Search” page last week and we have luckily gotten a great response from our end-users.  One of our newest features is our “Open House Only” button.  This allows you to search ONLY open houses for any search queary you would like.

Looking for Open Houses this weekend only in Back Bay?   Click Here (36)

Beacon Hill?  Click Here (102)

2 Bedroom in the North End?  Click Here (28)

I did a search for all of Boston proper and this weekend pulled 555 results.

Anyway give it a whirl and let us know how easy it is now to pull all the Open Houses in Boston!

FP3 Lofts Open House Back On for this Saturday and Sunday (since it was rescheduled last weekend).

The Open House will be this Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 pm.  I highly encournage  you go check this building out…it is one of a kind!

DO NOT GO ALONE and make a $10,000+ mistake!!!

Make sure to either bring one of us…or to at least bring our business card and let Marianna know that you are working with CondoDomain.com as your buyers broker.  Remember, buying with CondoDomain.com not only will help you get a lower price for the unit but also will entitle you to a huge chuck of our commission!  Read How It Works

FP3 Lofts  (FP3 Listings on MLS)

Other blogs on FP3

*** FP3 Open House Rescheduled  ***FP3 Lofts Open House Rescheduled and will not be held this coming Saturday and Sunday.  Please stand by for new date & time.

Buyer Beware:  Many of you know and are accustom to our very casual style in and around town.  Well, we have kicked it up a notch.  When meeting one of our local real estate team members here in Boston, you may encounter them in Flip Flops.  The office made a vote today that all days over 80% we should be wearing flip flops out on appointments.  Although its not mandatory…I have a feeling that most of us will be following the rule.

Other places you will find us in our flip flops this hot hot week!

Starbucks in Seaport District (Every a.m.)

FP3 Boston (Open House This Saturday & Sunday 1-4)

201 Newbury Street (Today @ 5 )

Looking for an ultra luxury on Nantucket - read this post.

2 properties one for $15,495,000 finished and one for $18,500,000 as a shell.

Ok, so some of you know that I am on Nantucket taking a little R&R for the next few weeks (if your visiting, make sure to shoot me a note…). Anyway, this a.m. I got a call from industry peer Brian-Logan Reid (call him BL or he will yell at you), and BL told me that there was a magnificent property having a broker open house today and asked if I wanted to join him. Duh, of course!

Let me start off by saying this is one of the most gorgeous properties I have ever seen in person. It started off up the exclusive Heather Lane dirt path heading all the way to the end. A small turn into a narrow bush covered path and voila…an astounding presence of this newly renovated home with plush landscaping and strong stature.

Now the fun part…

With a nice cool ocean breeze (we needed it, it was 80 degrees today) we walked around the brand new lush green lawn to the back porch where Nantucket Real Estate brokers chatted and grabbed a quick snack on the massive covered deck.

I thought to myself…loving these Nantucket open houses….50% of brokers in shorts and a golf shirt, 50% in linen pants and casual button down and 100% in sunglasses & flip flops! What a life…you can see I am pretty into this.

(Chit-chatting Nantucket Real Estate w/ BL)

Anyway down to the nitty gritty.

Price: $15,495,000

Description: “Heather Hill” - just completed and ready to move into! As one of Nantucket’s Grand Waterfront Estate Properties, this home has access to Nantucket Sound by a private staircase exclusive to “Heather Hill”. Botticelli & Pohl provided the architecture, and the home was custom built by Josh Brown. All finishes and products used are the best available. This is truly the best renovation done on any island home - both in this century and the last.

Address: 5 Heather Lane, Nantucket , MA

Lot Size: .67 Acres (another 1/8 acre easement to beach)

Rooms: 16+

Sq/Ft: Approx 9,000 (Nantucket Real Estate Brokers don’t really use Sq/Ft)

Bedrooms: 7

Bathrooms: 8

1/2 Bathrooms: 3

Views: Waterfront - Nantucket Sound

Lower level: 2 car garage, laundry room, 2 bedroom ensuite bath(s), double sinks, gym, full bath, media room, great room, wine cellar & full bar.

First Floor: Covered front porch, entry foyer with power room, great room with fireplace, sitting room/den with fireplace, formal dining room with fireplace, large open kitchen with island, butler’s pantry, large back deck and adjacent family room, laundry room with sink, half bath. Guest bedroom, full bath wide double sinks.

Second Floor: 3 bedrooms with private decks and ensuite bathrooms. Master suite with gas fireplace, 2 decks, walk-in closet, master bath with soaking tub and separate shower and double sinks.

Third Floor: Living room, bedroom and full bath.

Disclosure: This property is listed by Island Properties here in Nantucket. Although they offer co-broker commission, CondoDomain.com LLC will not be offering our traditional flat fee buyers brokerage business model here on this property.

If you are interested in this or any other Nantucket property (for sale or for rent) please contact my peer Brian-Logan Reid.

508-360-9663 cell

blr@coffinrealestate.com email

More Photos below (just click on thumbnails to expand)

So I previewed a few open houses today for my clients and of course (as social as I am) I made new friends & hopefully new clients while chatting with other perspective buyers. One question I did ask anyone (just curious, not trying to sell anything) was that if they were using a buyers agent to help them find their new home.

The answer: none of them were at that point in time which totally caught me by surprise.

So why no buyers agents involved? Well, most of them said they wanted to do most of the work on their own. Hmm, I can understand that totally, I would do the same. Some of them also said they would most likely just try to do it themselves or call ZipRealty or Redfin when they were ready to buy. Ahhhh…..now your talking.

The point to this post is that we all need to do a better job educating the ‘buying’ public. It does not cost you a thing to work with a buyers agent so their is NO reason not to have an agent on your side, sending you properties and researching information for you and when you are ready to submit an offer, your agent will be able to plow through the paperwork, make sure your proper contigencies are there to protect you and help negotiate the best possible price for you!

But…

Another great reason to use a buyers agent is to SAVE $$$. (and I am not just talking about getting you a better deal on your offer price).

You now have options…as two companies I listed above offer buyers rebates or refunds back to you at closing as we do too (we have the biggest refund on the market today!)

Ok, how does this work, right?

When a seller lists a property 9 out of 10 times he lists with a full service real estate agent which charges a 6% fee to sell the property. So if the seller sells the property direct, the listing agent gets a big whopping 6% commission check (thats 30k on a 500k purchase), not bad right….well that hardly happens.

Most sales include both the listing agent and a buyers agent. Now here is where WE come in as your buyers agent. As your buyers agent, when we submit an offer for you, we are entitled to 50% of the listing agents commission (so we would recieve 3% of the 6% or $15,000 in this example).

The Good Stuff…

Now…not only are we going to work exclusively for you, do all the grunt paperwork and negotiations, BUT, we are also going to GIVE YOU most of our commission. See here in Boston, no matter what the sale price is or how much the commission is, we only KEEP $5,000 and we REFUND you the remainder.

Sound crazy? Well, it kind of is…but it who we are and what we do!

Want to know how we do it? Check out this link…

CondoDomain Buyers Agent vs. Traditional Buyers Agent

Want to learn more…watch this movie.

Minimum Bids pricing JUST RELEASED for the Broadluxe Auction. To access this information you have to login to the BroadluxeAuction.com website and click on the “Unit Tab” for details and floor plans.

Also what Broadluxe DID NOT have when they first came to market was parking. Broadluxe is now offering deeded parking (valet parking too!). The parking spots are located in the Folio underground garage which is located right across the street - very convenient.

If you are interested in the Broadluxe Auction located in downtown Boston please do check out the website and register. The site is packed with every piece of information you need. Also, pretty much the entire minimum pricing list and floor plans are available.

DON’T FORGET! We have previews scheduled Thursday 3PM-7PM, Saturday 10AM-12Noon, and Tuesday from 10AM-2PM

If you are interested in bidding on a unit(s) at the Broadluxe Auction, MAKE SURE to contact us so we can REGISTER you. Letting us register you allows us to represent you as a buyers broker at the auction. This also allows you to take part in our innovative business model which refunds you back cash at closing for the majority of our commission. (Our average client gets back more than $13,000 at the closing!)

The Auction is set to be held on June 21st @ 10:00 a.m.

Auction Location

Langham Hotel
250 Franklin Street
Boston, MA 02110

Check out some of the newest Boston condos to hit the market this week. Also some of these are already posted for open houses this weekend…so make sure to mark it down on our calendars. As always, don’t forget to take our business card with you and lets the listing agent know you are working with CondoDomain.com - Boston’s Condominium Buyers Broker!

37 Mead Street - Charlestown - Price: $419,900 (OPEN HOUSE)

59 W Cedar Street - Beacon Hill - Price: $459,000

560 Columbus Ave - South End - Price: $339,000

40 Greenwich Park - South End - Price: $559,000 (OPEN HOUSE)

308 Shawmut - South End - Price: $499,000

41 Farragut Rd - South Boston - Price; $649,000

70 Lincoln Street - Leather District - Price: $724,900

80 Broad Street - Midtown - Price: $899,000

225 Shawmut Ave - South End - Price: $975,000

500 Atlantic Avenue - Waterfront - Price: $1,295,000

9 Upton Street - South End - $1,695,000