Holliston Football Player Needs your Vote
December 15th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, School Info
Holliston High School had a great season in 2009, with their only loss coming in the Superbowl against Austin Prep. Fox News is holding a vote on their website for determining the top HS football “Team Player of the Year”, and our own Sean Mayo is one of the nominees.
One of the terrific parts of the Holliston High Football team’s success is seeing the town’s excitement over their hometown. The crowds were awesome all season long, and there is great pride from our school children.
This vote takes about 15 seconds, so click here and lets show how spirited the citizens of Holliston are!
http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/sports/hs_friday/high-school-friday-team-player-of-the-year
Holliston did one of these votes a few years back with a local electric company. The company was going to give lights for a playing field for the most votes. Holliston won that contest and we now have Granite City Electric lights over our baseball field. Let’s show that spirit again!
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston Homes on Trulia
November 14th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
As a local Realtor, my best resource for marketing a home is on the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). In addition to that, I go onto the major sites that offer home searches and tools for home shoppers.
Today I was posting my listings on Trulia.com and came across the widget below. The full feature version on the Trulia home search is very cool!
This is a widget of Holliston Real Estate sorted by the newest listings. Searching for real estate using this tool is different and interactive. Home searches are coming a long way since I started selling real estate 11 years ago! Very cool.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Affordable Condo Options Newly Available
September 28th, 2009 Categories: Featured Listings, Holliston, Natick, Real Estate
Over the past few weeks there have been 2 condo options that have come available in our area that could become really good deals. I mention “could” because one is an auction property and one is an income restricted option.
Natick has luxury condominiums Read the rest of this entry »
| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston: Real Estate is Local!
September 9th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
So, if you are living a busy life like me, you catch sound bites about how the world is doing. Lately it has been health care, stock markets, and of course, real estate values.
If you own a home in Holliston, you are not concerned with national real estate numbers… you are concerned with Holliston values!
Real estate is local. So let me provide you with some bullet points of how our town is doing in the real estate department:
Median prices up 2%
Thru August, the median home selling price was $357,000 for the year. It was $350,000 at this time in 2008.
Taking longer to Sell
It takes 136 days on average to market a home in Holliston to sell. In 2008 it took 117 days on average thru August.
More homes Sold in 2009 vs. 2008
We have 83 sales in town for 2009 compared to 74 over the same period in 2008.
Holliston did not go through this economic downturn unscathed. Going back in time just one more year and we find that the town’s median price is still down 10% since 2007 ($397,900 median sold values Jan-Aug 2007).
Perhaps this data will help to put into perspective how well most family’s largest investment is holding up.
“We Live Where You Live”
Ed Daniels of Re/Max Executive Realty can be reached at 508-341-7880 for any questions about the real estate market. Any member of The MAhome Team can service the entire Metrowest Boston area, but Ed grew up in Holliston and is completely biased towards the community
| Discussion: No Comments »
January Your Only Month to Deal with Property Taxes
January 12th, 2009 Categories: Holliston, Real Estate
Once you recover from the Holiday season and the calendar changes, you now have only the month of January to do any official complaining about your property tax bill. Filing an Abatement with your town Assessor’s Office is the process you will need to go thru in order to dispute your home valuation.
Most town deadlines is the month of January. Therefore, the time to educate yourself on the process and collect all the necessary information is limited.
From my perspective, I have seen too many people (including myself) attempt to go thru the process of abatement, and it usually is unsuccessful. Before you attempt it, learn all you can about the way the individual towns evaluate property values and then attempt to collect factual data to support your case. Unless you have solid data, you don’t have a chance.
For an example of the frustrations of this process, a recent Boston Globe update on Holliston tax rates and assessments said the town is evaluated at 95% of market values but the Town Website FAQ’s describe the town as being evaluated at 100% of market values. Which is it??
Even with 10 years as a Realtor, and experience with going thru the process, there is no textbook on how to be successful. Frankly, they denied my applications without any reason, just a denial letter. I personally feel the town needs to clearly give a reason for the denials and why the data does not qualify to reduce a taxpayers tax bill.
Almost all towns in our Metrowest area evaluates property values based upon 95-100% market values.
Even though residential property values have declined in Holliston, the town had to raise the tax rate in order to pay the town’s bills. In years of increasing property values (ie. 1998-2004), the property tax rate should have dropped to stay at steady spending levels. Unfortunately new ways to spend tax rolls seems to find its way into the budgets.
The moral of the story, you can fight the tax man, but they usually win without explanation. If you have the stamina, get a Realtor to do an analysis of market values for the previous tax year, and get those forms into the Assessors Office prior to February.
Ed Daniels of Re/Max Executive Realty and The MAhome Team would be happy to provide interested readers with recent sold home statistics to help in the process of abatements. He can be reached at 508-341-7880 or Ed@MAhome.com.| Discussion: No Comments »
If you wait for the Robins, Spring will be Over.
October 28th, 2008 Categories: Ashland, Framingham, Holliston, Hopkinton, Market Conditions, Real Estate
I couldn’t keep from creating this blog title after reading it in a Warren Buffett Op Ed piece. It was in the New York Times Oct 17th. Now, I understand that everyone will critize the Realtor speaking positive about the real estate marketplace, but I am excited about this Low!
When is the “Low”?
You won’t know it until you see it in the rear view mirror.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am a real estate agent in a very down market. I am working harder and dealing with more emotions then I have in my 10 years. If I can manage scraping up a little cash, I will be putting it into equities and real estate NOW.
I worked an open house a few weeks ago, and at least 3/4 of the visitors were interested, but waiting for a bit longer for the market to fall further. This was a very real display of pent-up demand.
Another contridictory real world example is a client looking for a $800K home in Holliston but not having more than a handful of options in the past 3 months. Do I really need to direct mail a neighborhood to let them know I have a Buyer for them? That is not the real estate market that the Boston Globe is reporting about!
In scanning over the region’s 3rd Quarter real estate stats, the median prices are reporting grim news to homeowners:
Holliston down 13.6%
Hopkinton down 8.7%
Framingham down 7.2%
Ashland down 7%
Natick down 5.4%
In regards to the number of sales, the region has 12.8% fewer sales!
OK, where you are ready to jump out a window, I am now salivating! Yes, I do own a home, but I am not ready to move yet. Therefore, no sweat.
Take a deep breath Massachusetts, the sky has not fallen and it is time to start figuring out how to take advantage of this market, not how to escape it!
| Discussion: 2 Comments »
Unique Tool to Sell a Home
October 17th, 2008 Categories: Featured Listings, Holliston, Real Estate
This past month I have decided to add a feature to a few of my listings – Floor Plans.
The floor plans give an internet consumer a better perspective. Combined with the virtual tour, the site allows the user to click on a particular location on the floor plan to stand in the room.
Click here for 80 Dalton Rd, Holliston tour
Click here for 82 Fisher St Medway tour
I feel that I have to be selective when using the tool, since the rooms have to be large enough to be highlighted. Doing a floorplan to show a small layout home means less visitors, not more!
This tool falls within the Presentation category. Success selling in this market requires the 3 P’s:
Pricing
Presentation
Patience
There is a report done every year to evaluate Buyers of real estate and determine how they are looking for homes. The statistics from this report tells me that internet presentation is the most efficient use of real estate exposure. Since over 90% of home buyers look to the internet to start the process, this is where your home needs to be.
For this and additional tools that I use in my marketing plan, please call and we can share them with you. A challenging real estate market requires experience and proven marketing ideas to get a home sold.
Ed Daniels is a Realtor with The MAhome Team of Re/Max Executive Realty. He can be reached at 508-341-7880.
| Discussion: No Comments »
Top 5 Celebrate Holliston Day Events…
October 15th, 2008 Categories: Events in Community, Holliston
Do I need an example of why Holliston is the town I choose to raise my family? I look no further than Celebrate Holliston Day at the end of Sept. These are the top 5 best things from the day:
- The Parade – Doriane, my wife, and daughter Lara participated in the Newcomers Club pirate ship float down Central Street. How did Lara get convinced to throw candy instead of eating it, I don’t know!
- Meeting a Fireman – Walking in full gear, Lara was a bit scared but amazed at a fireman up-close. Plus she boarded the firetruck for a tour.
- Face Painting – Not me, but again Lara was happy, so Dad is happy.
- Meeting Local Business People – What a great bunch of business owners out there! There is a renewed drive for our family to spread the word about these good people doing great service.
- Community Service Groups – The Masons table had videotaping of the kids, along with teeth impressions and fingerprints as a great service we never want to use. Putting off this important step of safety is easy, but they made it a fun activity! Thank you Masons!
Don’t miss it next year. We will see you there and make sure you say hello!
Ed and Doriane Daniels are residents of Holliston and part of The MAhome Team, real estate agents with Re/Max Executive Realty. Call them at 508-341-7880 for any community insights or real estate help.| Discussion: No Comments »
Holliston Community Plays Together
September 11th, 2008 Categories: Events in Community, Holliston
The Town of Holliston has a very busy schedule for the month of September. If you are looking for fun on the weekends, there is no lack of events when you live in this town.
Sept 13th The Holliston Senior Center has a Fair and Yard Sale from 9-2pm
Sept 14th Holliston Farm Day takes place from 10-4pm at area farms. Go farm hopping and check out the local flavors.
Sept 21st This is a busy day… the following are all taking place:
“Celebrate Holliston” Family Day at Stoddard Park
5K “Mission Possible” Road Race and Fun Run starting from the Holliston High School
The 28th Annual Harvest Fair takes place at the Holliston Historical Society from 10-4pm.
Sept 22nd Newcomers Club Activities Fair at 7pm at the Holliston Historical Society
Sept 27th Celebrate Holliston Day: Parade 9am and Goodwill Park starts at 10am
Ed and Doriane Daniels are local residents and Realtors in Holliston.
If you need any further information on the events or on real estate,
please don't hesitate to call us at 508-341-7880.
| Discussion: 1 Comment »
How to Judge a School System?
August 26th, 2008 Categories: Framingham, Holliston, School Info
I received my Community Newsletter from the Holliston Public Schools last week. It is the type of information that I hope every town resident receives. I do not have kids in school, but it is an interesting read.
A client looking for a home in the area turned me on to another school website that you may find interesting.
Prior to using this site, my wife turned to www.SchoolMatters.com. She passed it along to our real estate clients as a good resource. It was attractive for the clear and concise information laid out to the reader.
The data from the state website is more thorough and up to date, but it is a jumble of data.
Massachusetts Department of Education
and the Individual school district’s No Child Left Behind Report Card data:
As a Realtor, I am always asked about whether a town has a “good” school system. The answer is
| Discussion: No Comments »
