GREATER BOSTON · KELLY CUI
Real Estate Guides
Buying, selling and property management in Greater Boston.
Practical guides to buying, selling, renting and owning a home.
Browse 69 guides to financing, buying, selling, home values, schools, renting, property management and Massachusetts housing rules. Choose a topic below.
Plan & finance
Prepare for your home search: budget for the full cost of ownership, gather financing documents, estimate cash needed at closing and plan your move.
Before you tour: budget and mortgage preapproval
What a pre-approval does and does not mean, the cash a purchase actually requires, and the documents a lender will ask for.
Mortgage options: loan types, gift funds and the disclosures to compare
Conventional, FHA, VA, state programs and non-QM loans; what changes for buyers who are not U.S. citizens; how gift money is documented; and what the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure tell you.
First-time buyer programs in Massachusetts and Boston
Who counts as a first-time buyer, why the homebuyer class comes first, what MassHousing and the City of Boston offer, and the conditions that come with the help.
Massachusetts closing costs explained
What appears on the settlement statement, who usually pays it, and how to read the Loan Estimate and Closing Disclosure.
Reading a listing: status, days on market and the details
What “on market” and “under agreement” mean, what days on market and price changes can tell you, and which fields of a listing deserve a second look before you book a showing.
Buying a two- or three-family to live in and rent out
How owner-occupant financing works for a small multi-family, how lenders treat the rent, how to estimate rents before an offer, and what happens to the tenants, deposits and lead paint duties when the building changes hands.
Relocating to Greater Boston: where to start
Start with your regular destinations, decide whether to rent first, and coordinate financing, school registration and your move.
Offer to closing
How a Massachusetts purchase moves from offer to deed, and what to examine along the way: the house, the condo association and the contract deadlines.
Open houses and private showings: what to look at and what to ask
How to read the turnout at an open house, how to look past staging, what around the house affects daily life and resale, and the questions to put to the listing agent.
Buying a home in Massachusetts: from offer to closing
The stages, documents and deadlines of a typical financed purchase, and who is responsible at each step.
Writing an offer: the terms that matter besides price
Deposits, deadlines, contingencies and escalation clauses in a Massachusetts offer, and how each one shifts risk between buyer and seller.
Home inspections in Massachusetts: what to expect
Who can inspect a home, what a standard inspection covers, how to read the report, and how to request repairs, a price reduction or a credit.
Comparing homes after the showing
One consistent method for location, layout, condition, ownership structure and monthly cost, so the fifth showing is judged the same way as the first.
Condominium documents: what to read before you commit
The master deed, bylaws, budget, reserves, insurance and the 6(d) certificate, and the question each one answers.
Due diligence for a single-family home
Beyond the general inspection: lead paint, septic systems, flood zones, oil tanks, radon, permits and the lot itself.
Researching a home through public records
Before an offer, a few free public-record search tools can show what the assessor records, what the Registry of Deeds holds, which permits were issued, how the lot is zoned and whether lead or contamination records exist.
Title insurance in Massachusetts: lender and owner policies
What the closing attorney checks in the public records, how the two title policies differ, what an owner’s policy does and does not cover, and the title problems that most often hold up a closing.
Ways to hold title to a home in Massachusetts
The deed wording decides who owns what, what happens when an owner dies, and how creditors and lenders treat the home. Decide before the attorney drafts the deed.
Buying new construction in Massachusetts
How a developer’s purchase agreement differs from a standard one, what to check about deposits and delivery dates, why the certificate of occupancy matters, and the warranty Massachusetts law gives buyers of new homes.
Selling
Preparing, pricing and comparing offers, with the certificates and disclosures a Massachusetts sale requires and the tax questions to raise early.
Preparing to sell: documents, condition and certificates
What to gather before listing, which repairs to consider, and the Massachusetts certificates and disclosures that must be ready before closing.
Pricing your home and comparing offers
Price from closed sales rather than asking prices, protect the first weeks on the market, and compare offers on net proceeds and certainty as well as price.
Tax questions to raise before you sell
The home-sale exclusion, federal and Massachusetts capital gains, depreciation on former rentals, and withholding when the seller is a foreign person for US tax purposes.
Buying and selling a home at the same time
Compare buying first, selling first and coordinating both closings. Learn how lenders assess two housing payments, how bridge loans and home equity lines work, and what to consider with a rent-back.
Home value
The different numbers attached to a home and where each comes from: a broker’s comparative market analysis, a lender’s appraisal, the town’s assessment and online estimates, plus how condition, improvements and rents feed into value.
Four numbers for one home: CMA, appraisal, assessed value and online estimates
Who produces each number, what it is for, why they rarely match, and which one to look at when you price, offer, borrow or pay tax.
How comparable sales are chosen and adjusted
The rules appraisers follow, how agents narrow the field, what active and pending listings can and cannot tell you, and why price per square foot misleads.
Home appraisals: the process, your rights and low values
Who orders the appraisal, your right to a copy, restrictions on influencing the appraiser, options when the value is below the purchase price, and when an appraisal may not be required.
Your assessed value and how to apply for an abatement
How assessed value differs from market value, how to check your property record, the abatement deadline, appeals to the Appellate Tax Board, and why you keep paying while you wait.
How improvements and permits affect home value
How appraisers treat permits, unpermitted work, system updates, deferred maintenance, finished basements, ADUs and energy features, and what to keep on file.
Valuing a condo or small multifamily home
For condos: fees, reserves, special assessments, parking rights, floor and exposure. For small multifamily: market rent, leases in place, how lenders count rent, and the gross rent multiplier.
Estimating the rent for your home
How to find real rental comparables, why the September 1 cycle matters, how furniture and included utilities change the comparison, and how to read the market once you list.
Schools & enrollment
How Massachusetts public schools assign students by address, how to verify an exact address with the district, what registration requires and how to time a move with the school year. School assignment is always confirmed by the district.
How public school assignment works in Massachusetts
The right to attend school where you actually live, how each district draws its own attendance zones and buffer zones, and why an assignment can change.
Checking the assigned school for a specific address
Use the district’s own lookup, ask the registration office the right questions in writing, and keep the answer before you sign a lease or a purchase and sale agreement.
Registering for school after a move: residency, age, health and records
What districts ask for, when you can register, the kindergarten age rule, immunization requirements, the language survey and how records follow a student.
Boston Public Schools: registration, the choice list and exam schools
How a home address shapes the BPS choice list, the registration rounds and documents, and how admission to the three exam schools works under the policy revised in November 2025.
How to read Massachusetts school reports
What DESE’s School and District Profiles and report cards contain, how the state accountability system describes a school, and how to turn the data into questions for the district.
Options beyond the assigned school
Inter-district school choice, METCO, charter schools, career technical education, private schools and home schooling: what each is, who decides and where to start.
Timing a move around the school year
Work backward from the district’s registration rules and first day of school, decide between buying and renting first, and know what happens when a move falls mid-year.
Owning & renting out
The recurring obligations of ownership: property tax and exemptions, renting out a home for the first time, and the rules that apply once it is a rental.
Massachusetts property tax: how the bill works
The fiscal-year calendar, how a bill is calculated, what Proposition 2½ limits, and the exemption and abatement deadlines owners miss most often.
The Massachusetts homestead declaration: what it protects and how to record it
Every owner-occupied home has an automatic $125,000 homestead; a recorded declaration raises it to $1,000,000. What it protects, what it does not, and the steps at the Registry of Deeds.
Homeowners insurance in Massachusetts: coverage and options
What your lender needs before closing, how a house policy, a condo unit policy and a landlord policy differ, why flood is separate, and where to turn if no insurer will write the home.
Renting out a home in Massachusetts: a compliance checklist
What can be collected at move-in, how security deposits must be handled, who pays the broker, and the habitability, lead paint and fair housing rules every owner should know.
Renting out your home for the first time
When to list, how to price, how to screen lawfully and consistently, how to time the lease, and what to expect once a tenant moves in.
The lease package: forms, condo paperwork and the deposit account
What goes into a Massachusetts lease package, what a condo association may require, how to open the deposit account, and which forms protect you at move-out.
Moving up and keeping your current home as a rental
How lenders count the old home’s rent, the occupancy promises you signed, insurance and condo rules, and how renting changes depreciation and the home-sale exclusion.
Managing a Massachusetts rental from abroad
How rent is taxed for an owner who is a nonresident alien for US tax, getting an ITIN, the Massachusetts return, withholding when you sell, and running the home from a distance.
Renovating a home: permits, zoning and contractors
When Boston needs a building permit, how short-form and long-form permits differ, what happens when zoning says no, what a home improvement contract must contain, and the lead-safe rules for older homes.
Property management
Managing a rental property: repairs, access, renewals, rent changes, tenant turnover, utilities, insurance and annual deadlines.
Tenant screening in Massachusetts
What an owner may weigh, what the law rules out, how criminal records and credit reports are handled, and what can be charged when someone applies.
Repairs and maintenance during a lease
The owner’s maintenance duties under the State Sanitary Code, urgent repairs, access to the unit and who pays when something breaks.
Lease renewals and rent increases
How a fixed-term lease and a tenancy at will differ when the rent changes, when to start the renewal conversation in a September market, and how to weigh an increase against the cost of finding a new tenant.
Between tenants: from move-out to the next move-in
The owner’s side of a turnover: the pre-move-out inspection, returning the deposit correctly, the repair and cleaning window, keys and alarms, and the paperwork for the next tenancy.
Utilities and insurance: who pays for what
The Sanitary Code rules on electricity, gas and oil, the narrow law that allows water billing, trash and snow duties a lease can assign, and how an owner’s policy and a tenant’s renters policy fit together.
A landlord’s annual maintenance and deadline checklist
A season-by-season calendar for an owner: heat season dates, snow and ice, the renewal window, Boston’s July 1 registration deadline, turnover around September 1, the annual interest statements and tax records.
Renting
Renting in Greater Boston: the September 1 cycle, what a landlord may charge, how applications are reviewed, and how to leave a lease and get a deposit back.
When to start looking for a Boston rental
A large share of Boston leases begin on September 1. How far ahead units come up, when to start for each kind of building, how long approval takes, and how to handle the end-of-August gap.
What renting costs in Massachusetts, and what a landlord cannot charge
The legal limits on upfront payments, how broker fees work since August 2025, how to read move-in specials, and the monthly costs that are easy to miss.
Renting an apartment, condo or house: key differences
The type of rental affects who reviews your application, signs the lease and handles repairs. Compare apartment buildings, condos and houses, and learn common layout terms.
Applying for a rental: documents, review and timing
What landlords and buildings usually ask for, how income is reviewed, why consistency across documents matters, and which fees a landlord cannot charge.
Renting without a US credit history
New to the US, a student from abroad or relocating for work: how to show you can pay, when a guarantor helps, and what to sort out before you sign.
Planning a September 1 move in Boston
Most Boston leases turn over at the start of September. How to reserve curb space for the truck, book the elevator, open utility accounts, get rid of old furniture legally and document the unit on day one.
Street parking and resident permits in Boston
Who qualifies for a Boston resident parking permit, why there is no visitor permit, how street cleaning and snow emergencies get cars towed, and how Cambridge and Brookline differ.
Short-term and furnished rentals
What a lease under twelve months usually looks like in Greater Boston, how a tenancy at will differs from a fixed term, why a tenant cannot run a nightly rental in Boston, and how deposits and utilities work in a furnished unit.
When something breaks in your rental
How to document a repair request, identify urgent problems, request an inspection and understand landlord and tenant responsibilities when repairs are delayed.
Leaving before your lease ends
What the law says, what your lease adds, and how a replacement tenant, a sublet or an assignment changes what you owe.
Moving out and getting your deposit back
Leave the unit the way you found it, document everything, and know the rules a landlord must follow before keeping any part of your deposit.
Policy & market updates
Dated changes in law, court decisions and lending rules that affect buyers, sellers, owners and renters in Massachusetts, newest first. Each update gives its date and its status as of the last review.
MBTA Communities zoning upheld again by the state’s highest court
Ruling dated September 18, 2026. The Supreme Judicial Court rejected Marshfield’s challenge to the law that requires MBTA communities to zone for multi-family housing near transit. What the law requires and what it means for buyers and owners.
The rent control question will not be on the November 2026 ballot
Court decision dated June 23, 2026. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the statewide rent control petition could not go to voters. What was proposed, what the court decided, and what stays the same for renters and landlords.
FinCEN’s residential real estate reporting rule is on hold
Court order dated March 19, 2026. A federal court vacated the rule that would have required reports on certain all-cash home transfers to entities and trusts. FinCEN has appealed; reports are not required while the order stands.
2026 conforming loan limits for Massachusetts counties
In effect for loans Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac acquire in 2026 (announced November 25, 2025). The one-unit limit is $962,550 in Suffolk, Middlesex, Norfolk, Essex and Plymouth counties and $832,750 in most of the rest of the state.
Rental broker fees: the party who hires the broker pays
Effective August 1, 2025. A broker fee on a Massachusetts residential rental may be paid only by the party who hired the broker. What changed, who it affects, and where it stands in October 2026.
Accessory dwelling units are allowed by right in single-family zones
Effective February 2, 2025. Under the Affordable Homes Act, one accessory dwelling unit is allowed by right in single-family zoning districts in Massachusetts towns that zone under the state Zoning Act. Boston follows its own code.
Written buyer agreements and agent pay after the 2024 NAR settlement
Effective August 17, 2024. Buyers working with an agent covered by NAR’s rules sign a written agreement before touring, and offers to pay buyer agents no longer appear in MLS listings. What changed and how it works in Massachusetts in October 2026.