Let me tell you about my experiences in the local real estate market in Central Massachusetts over the past month. I’ll have to look into this phenomenon to see if there’s anything to it, but they say if you want to increase your business, just book a vacation. There can’t possibly be anything that truly ties that together, but it’s how it worked out for me. I wasn’t specifically looking to have more plates to spin, I did recently spend a week away, and in this business, despite how much I delegate, there are just some things that are only solved by me.
There is no photo of me laying on Salty Brine Beach in Narragansett, Rhode Island while I’m on three different calls with Raul Batallas, my go-to Electrician. To me – – there are two ways to look at it. Some people would say it’s really unfortunate that you have to do your job while on vacation. But the way I look at it is that sometimes my job needs me without advance notice, and I’m fortunate enough to not have to be sitting at a desk in order to get the job done. My week away involved a lot of delegation ahead of time, which forced me to review and reconsider parts of the operational flow behind the scenes. This is great, and will allow for more in person interaction with me throughout the buying and selling process.
Why did I need to talk with my electrician three times while on the beach? Because I’m a problem solver, and he’s a problem solver! I had a client buying a gorgeous house that was discovered to have active knob and tube wiring during the home inspection. Anticipating, because that’s what I do, my buyer client not being able to get traditional homeowners insurance due to this, we needed to find the sweet spot on the calendar that was after the buyer getting his full financing, commitment, and before the closing – – which gave us about five days, but we also needed to obtain a permit, have municipal inspections of the work and get the appraiser back in for a reinspection for the buyers loan commitment. And don’t worry, there was also an interest rate expiration on the buyer side, and the sellers needed to coordinate their movers. I’m proud to say we got it done, and 15 years ago, when I was brand new in real estate, I would’ve had no idea how to maneuver through this issue and all of its nuances.
Are people still buying? Are people still selling?
Absolutely. Is it different? Yes! Remember during Covid, all those people who felt that the only way to get an accepted offer was to throw every penny they had at listings, and waive their home inspections? Thanks to the new home inspection law of 2025, buyers can’t waive them in their offer, making it a blind process to sellers when they are choosing which offer to work with. To be clear, they don’t have to have home inspections, but the seller can’t know either way when accepting an offer.
Sometimes things just work
The only other time I was away from home base this summer, was a three day surprise visit to Western Mass, a specific road trip Jay has always wanted to do–don’t miss that story called Our Visit to Santarella, Chesterwood and The Mount. While on that trip, I took a call from a lovely woman from Maine, who was currently living in North Carolina, but wanted to move to Westminster. She was interested in a home I had listed, built about 200 years ago. She was not able to see the home in person, so we had a good hour+ FaceTime tour. I absolutely prefer that a buyer sees a house in person, or at least has someone they already know and trust tour the house. This person would be the buyer’s brother-in-law. During a period of torrential rains, we agreed I would meet the brother-in-law, who was coming from about two hours away. He just had to do one thing before he met me, which was to set up his wife on a train to visit their new grandbaby out of state. Easy enough, they live right near the train station. This was going to be a 15 minute errand for him to run on his way to meet me.
Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans…as he was getting his wife set up on the train, the train started moving. He told the conductor he needed to get off, but apparently there are rules around that, and once the train was moving, that ship had sailed. So, in order to meet me, he needed to find someone to pick him up at the first stop this express train to New York made. Luckily, he found a nephew on his lunch break who could pick him up at a train station and drive him back to the train station where his vehicle was.
It was quite the commercial interruption in my showing! He saw the house in person, and gave it his blessing. The buyer and seller agreed on offer terms, and we were off to the home inspection. The buyer was still out of state, so we needed to do a FaceTime home inspection on the 200 year-old house. It was a very long home inspection, but we powered through it. The sellers addressed many of the buyers’ requests, all good. As timing would have it, the final walk-through needed to be scheduled for when I was away for a week. The buyers had their final walk-through, escorted by my colleague, Lisa. It was the first time they had ever seen their new home in person! And when I went to put the sold sign up it was going to be the first time I ever met the buyers in person. We’ve had lots of FaceTime, 1 million texts and phone calls, but sometimes situations require extreme creativity. *And they weren’t home when I went with the sold sign, so we still haven’t met! But I will be asking them for a review. 🙂
The $400,000 price point struggle
The struggle is real. There are too many buyers shopping for homes that start with a four. Some are first time buyers and many are downsizers. And they’re all competing for the same homes. When we’re working with sellers in this price point, the object is to make as many low cost high impact repair repairs and improvements as possible, so as to maximize their net and have a good selection of offers to choose from. When we’re working with buyers, there’s all kinds of strategic levers to move in order to get our offer accepted. If you’re considering buying, but don’t even know where to start, or maybe you’re just wiped out from not ever getting your offers accepted – – let’s meet and discuss ways that we can get your offer accepted!
Real life inspection details
I recently represented the sellers in a high-end property. The buyers they chose to work with were very reasonable, and as to be expected since the October 2025 new home inspection law, the buyers had a home inspection. There were a few cracks in the foundation, par for the course – – I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a foundation without at least one crack. In an abundance of caution, the buyer hired a structural engineer to review the entire foundation. Since the engineer wouldn’t say with 100% certainty that there wasn’t pyrrhotite in the foundation, we waited about a month for core samples of the foundation to be sent to Canada. Great news, the transaction could move forward, no pyrrhotite. Not stressful at all, said the sellers.
All of this is to say–crazy times in the real estate world in Central Massachusetts. I think we’re in a vortex of all the buyers having home inspections, they are also cautious to not over pay due to the rates being so high AND my transaction volume is such that some days it seems all I do is negotiate home inspection items. You want someone in your corner with the experience to get these things accomplished, and to best benefit you. Be in touch if I can help with anything at all!
As always, reach out for anything real estate related — or anything local you think I might be a resource for. I’m here, I’m busy, and I’m happy to help.
If you’d like to talk about getting your home ready to sell, considering multi-generational living, should you stay or should you sell, figuring out the right ownership structure, or finding a good home for that wedding dress — I am genuinely local, genuinely accessible, and I have a lengthy track record of extremely satisfied clients–both buyers and sellers. If you, or anyone you know, are moving to (or from) Central Massachusetts, I’m here to deliver an exceptional experience. My team combines strong communication, proven strategies and deep local expertise to guide throughout the home selling and buying process. If you’re considering the purchase or sale of residential real estate, you owe it to yourself to have a confidential conversation with me.
Jennifer Shenk, Real Estate Broker
Keller Williams Realty North Central
107 Main Street, Westminster
Call/Text: 978 870 9260
Email: jennifershenk@kw.com
