While the area surrounding the shopping district of Newbury Drive may be a nice place to visit, you may find it may it is even nicer to live there. With many Boston realtors ready to serve you, Boston relocation may be possible. Whether you are looking to buy a south end condo or are looking at downtown Boston apartments the in the Newbury Street district are a great selling point. After all, when you’ve spent an afternoon browsing at Martin Lawrence Galleries, shopping at Alex & Ani, and getting pampered at Emerge Spa and Salon wouldn’t it be great to head home to your luxury Boston condo or apartment?

360 Newbury Street, is one place that will keep you in the middle of all the shopping on Newbury Street, during the holidays and beyond. Here you can choose from gorgeous Boston loft style rentals or condos depending on your needs. There are also several other luxury Boston condos in nearby places such as battery wharf or even Cambridge apartments right across the bay.

Whether you are a student in one of Boston’s prestigious universities looking to make your time in the city memorable, or are laying down long term roots living somewhere luxurious like Brookline apartments will definitely have a marked effect on your stay, and allow you plenty of opportunity for shopping on Newbury street.

With the wide variety of Boston luxury apartments available in downtown Boston, South end, Cambridge, and more contacting a Boston realtor at Warren Residential Group can help work with your budget to find a Boston Condominium or apartment that is affordable but still gives you the Newbury Street style pampering you deserve.

Whether you are traveling in Boston, already live in the area, or just know you’re going to want to spend a lot of time doing exciting and relaxing things like holiday shopping on Newbury street, checking out the real estate in the area is definitely worth your time. With great floor plans, top notch amenities, and access to breathtaking views of the harbor and Boston Skyline you’ll see that living a little above Newbury Street can make a real impact on your lifestyle.

If you do decide to take that leap and live in style in a luxurious Back Bay loft or other premiere residence you’ll be comforted to know that being able to furnish and decorate your new surroundings with all the great purchases you can make on Newbury Street is practically right around the corner. You can pamper your living space while you pamper your life and make an impression your friends and business associates will remember just like you remember holiday shopping on Newbury Street.

What are you waiting for? Make the call to start seeing Back Bay luxury apartments and condos, and take the first step to living the high end life you’ve always wanted.

The spaces in 42 Chauncey are filled with, well, space!  With ceilings from 10-20 feet, these lofts offer massive cubic square footage.  The lofts’ location, Boston’s Midtown District, means that residents have easy access to the Boston Common, the Financial District, amazing restaurants, and Boston’s best night life.  If that isn’t enough, the Green, Orange, or Red T Lines can take you just about anywhere else you will ever need to go in Boston.

The Edison Electric Building Lofts at 42 Chauncey also feature hardwood floors and in-unit laundry.  Each kitchen is fully loaded with stainless steel appliances as well as marble or granite counter-tops.   Residents also enjoy large windows, custom build-outs, walk-in closets, and wine closets.  42 Chauncey certainly earns its luxury loft building status.

If you are interested in Boston luxury condo information or living at The Edison Electric Building Lofts, contact Warren Residential Group today!

Access to Boston

If it’s an easy commute to the city you’re looking for, there’s convenient access to Boston via the Green “T” line as well as by Route 9. Within twenty minutes (without traffic) you could be enjoying the social and professional benefits of being in downtown Boston. On the flip side, Brookline offers its residents an oasis from the hustle and bustle of the city. You can have the small town feel while still being able to access the fun of the big city. Brookline is the perfect mix of urban and suburban living.

Historic Feel

Brookline has a long record of being home to various notable people – for instance, John F. Kennedy, Conan O’Brien, Larry Bird, James Taylor, Barbara Walters, and others. Brookline also boasts several historical buildings which are registered in the National Register of Historic Places. These sites include the Dutch House, St. Aidan’s Church, and the  Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. There is a lot of rich history to be explored in the town of Brookline.

Great Schools

The Brookline school system sets the bar for excellence throughout the state of Massachusetts. It is ranked the number one school system in the state by Boston Magazine. So if you’re looking for a town where your kids will get the educational attention they deserve, Brookline may be the perfect fit.

Vibrant Area

One of the most attractive aspects about Brookline is that there are so many exciting things to do in the area. If you’re a Red Sox fan it’s just a short walk to Fenway Park. Also, the streets are lined with award winning shops and restaurants – great for an afternoon of exploring the area or a night out on the town. This may be why Brookline was named among Money Magazine’s “Top 25 Best Places for the Rich and Single.”

What are you waiting for? Contact a Warren Residential Group real estate agent to find the perfect Brookline apartment or Brookline condo for you!

If you are looking to sell your property, regardless of whether it is a luxury Cambridge condo or a Brookline home, there is one thing that you should start doing on your own as soon as you can – staging!  Staging is a great way to highlight the strengths of your property in order to appeal to the greatest pool of potential buyers.  Here are a few tips to get you started.

De-Clutter and Edit: This is the most important step in staging.  Clutter will distract any buyer from seeing the actual room and space.  Remember that not all clutter comes in the form of knickknacks, big items like furniture needs to be trimmed down too.  When a professional stager works on a home, they often take away as much as half of all the furnishings to make the house look larger.  When staging, think in terms of bare essentials.  Remove the big heavy pieces that make rooms look smaller.  Put them in storage, sell them, or even put them in the garage.

Curb Appeal is Key: If you are selling a house or townhouse, make sure that the outside is as appealing as the inside.  Remove any clutter from your yard and put a little effort into landscaping.  Some homeowners will go as far as to paint the house just to grab a buyer’s attention immediately.  This is costly, so take into account the cost and the gain and make sure it is worth the investment.  Repairing walkway cracks and throwing some fertilizer onto dead grass patches is an inexpensive way to up the curb appeal.  If you are selling a condo, the management company and the building association are responsible for maintenance outside of your front door, so just focus on the inside.

Designate Functions: Make sure that the formal dining room is staged as a formal dining room – not a catch all for clutter or an office.  If you have a room that has always been just a “junk room”, repurpose it into something that will add value.  Adding a chaise lounge with ambient lighting and a small bookcase to a nook will add a cozy reading area to your home’s amenities.  A large point of staging is to help the prospective buyer see the potential of the space and to guide their imagination.  Another tip is to float furniture away from walls.  Reposition your seating into distinct groups in such a way that the traffic flow is clear to the prospective buyer.  Chairs and sofas that are pushed up against walls make rooms feel stiff, under styled, and bulky.

Create Ambiance: This part of staging is the most subtle, but infinitely important.  You want a prospective buyer to feel at home, and to spark their imagination.  The property should smell fresh and clean, be light and airy, and also be a comfortable temperature.  You can always fall back on the old “baking cookies before a showing” trick to make the kitchen smell homey.  Otherwise, pick candles and air fresheners that are not overpowering (skip the mango madness and pick something like clean linen or cotton.)  If you are a smoker or you have pets, this step is especially important.  Repainting walls and cleaning carpets and furniture (don’t forget blankets and curtains) are ways to avoid that stale smoke or kitty pee smell.  As far as lighting is concerned, replace all old and burnt out light bulbs and remove any heavy drapes or curtains.  The more light the better! Be sure to leave the heater on a comfortable temperature in the winter months and the A/C on in the summer.

Listing your home or investment property takes innovation and the knowledge of professionals.  If you are currently looking to list, click here to learn about what Warren Residential can do for you.

Going once, going twice, sold….to 11 lucky buyers of beautiful luxury condos at the Bryant Back Bay!

Price points at this auction were much higher than most of us expected.  They averaged close to $100/sq. ft. more than the previous Bryant auction a year ago.  This says a lot about the strength of the Boston luxury market and helps reinforce a recent article in the Boston Globe where they talk about how prices of downtown condos are closing at the highest prices in a decade yet sales volume is down close to 25% compared to the same period last year.

Here is a PDF with the breakdown of the units sold:

The Bryant Auction Results #2

In case you missed the auction, there are a couple of homes on the higher floors which were not put on the auction block.  Here are some of the details:

Unit 1005 – $1,850,000 1877 sq. ft. 2 bedroom/2 bathroom with balcony

Unit 1002 – $1,650,000 1585 sq. ft. 2 bedroom/ 2 bathroom with balcony

Unit 901 – $1,485,000 1686 sq. ft. 2 bedroom / 2 bathroom

If you’d like to preview these luxury condos at the Bryant, please contact Nick Warren directly at nwarren@warrenre.com or 617-848-9616 ext. 706.

This is just one example of our fantastic West Roxbury Real Estate. For more information on this condo’s current availability, view the listing or contact a Warren Residential Group agent.

This Brookline condo is a one bedroom, one full bathroom and is approximately 444 square feet in size. The kitchen and bathroom are both in excellent condition. Browse additional images, chat live, and read up on more details about this Brookline MA property.

You can also find out more about living in Brookline, MA and browse our additional Brookline condos listings.

Contact a Warren RE agent today to get started on your condo search!

For the majority of cities and towns in Massachusetts, home sales have hit a 20 year low, with July home sales falling 26% over the past year.  Here is a list of the 10 Massachusetts towns that have stomped on these statistics and weathered the economic storm.

(Percentages represent increase in sales compared with July 2009)

Cohasset- 130%

Norwood- 117%

Chatham- 100%

Bedford- 78%

Dennis- 41%

Easton- 27%

Brookline- 20%

Melrose- 20%

Hingham- 18%

Marblehead- 18%

Not only did Brookline real estate experience a 20% increase in sales, but this small city also saw an increase in median home prices by 14.5%.  Experts attribute Brookline’s success to its many shops and accessible public transportation. Boston’s young professionals and recent college grads also help make this area recession-proof.

Check out Warren Residential’s online listings of Brookline apartments and condos. You can also view the full article here.

This exclusive small city is a perfect blend of urban and suburban living with plenty to do.  Proving its versatility, there is an active farm with a farm stand, upscale shopping centers, and numerous playgrounds and recreational parks that boast great views of Boston.  It’s also home to the oldest country club in the nation, appropriately titled The Country Club. The location doesn’t hurt either. It’s an easy commute into Boston, and residents can walk a short distance to Fenway to catch a Red Sox game.

Don’t have a family?  Don’t rule Brookline out just yet.  It also made Money Magazine’s list of the ‘Top 25 Best Places for the Rich and Single’.  The article describes these locations as where the highly educated and affluent young professionals reside, and further describes them as “suave” and “sophisticated”.  Looks like Brookline has something for everyone!

Brookline also happens to be filled with some of Boston’s prime luxury real estate. A Warren Residential agent can provide additional information regarding buying or renting a Brookline apartment or Brookline condo. Contact us to help you make the most of your search for Brookline real estate.

You can view the article and the rest of the locations that made the top 100 here.

Instead, it could be as little as two years. In a bulletin to lenders April 14, mortgage giant Fannie Mae said it is relaxing its previous rules that prevented loan applicants who have participated in short sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure from obtaining a new mortgage for extended periods of time. The new rules are scheduled to take effect July 1.

Homeowners who’ve done short sales – such as under the Obama administration’s new Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives program – will also be able to qualify for a mortgage in as little as two years. Though Fannie Mae officials declined to discuss the reasoning behind the changes, the bulletin to lenders said the company hopes to encourage troubled borrowers to work out solutions that avoid the heavy costs of foreclosure.

If  borrowers can demonstrate that their mortgage problems were directly attributable to “extenuating circumstances” – such as loss of employment, medical expenses or divorce – they may be able to qualify for new loans with minimum 10 percent down payments in just two years. Housing and consumer counseling advocates welcomed Fannie’s relaxation of rules that had penalized borrowers who lost their houses following layoffs, illness and other unforeseen catastrophic financial events.

“This is a positive move,” said Marietta Rodriguez, director of homeownership and lending for NeighborWorks America, a national nonprofit network created by Congress to assist with homeowner financial counseling and community development.

“We all know that there are many people who through no fault of their own have to sell” – but were blocked from repurchasing a house for four years or longer, even though they’d rebuilt their credit, had qualifying incomes, and were fully capable of handling a mortgage responsibly.

(Source:  HARNEY, KENNETH R.: The Nation’s Housing. April 25, 2010)