Questions to ask a realtor in Massachusetts

Is this your full-time job, and how many Greater Boston transactions have you closed in the last twelve months?

Two questions in one, deliberately. Part-time agents exist and some are good, but availability is the constraint that bites in a market where a well-priced listing can go under agreement in a weekend. Recent local volume matters more than career totals: an agent who closed thirty deals a decade ago and three last year is not currently in the market you are about to enter.

Ask for the number, not the adjective. "Very active" is not an answer.

Is your Massachusetts licence current, and what is your licence number?

Every Massachusetts salesperson and broker holds a licence issued by the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, and the status of that licence is public. An agent should give you the number without hesitating, and you can check it yourself against the state's licensee lookup in about a minute.

It is a low bar. That is the point of asking — the answer only tells you something when it is evasive.

Which towns do you actually work in?

Almost every agent's website lists a wide service area. The useful follow-up is where their last five transactions were. Massachusetts towns differ enough in tax policy, housing stock and paperwork that genuine familiarity does not stretch very far geographically, and an honest answer to this question is a better signal than a long list.

If you are weighing two or three towns against each other, say so and see whether the comparison you get back is specific. A town-by-town comparison should mention exemptions and transit, not just character.

Who will I actually be dealing with day to day?

Teams are common and often work well, but you should know at the outset whether the person you are interviewing will be the person who shows you homes, writes your offer and answers the phone at nine on a Sunday when something goes wrong. Being handed to an assistant after signing is a reasonable arrangement; discovering it afterwards is not.

What does the buyer representation agreement commit me to, and how long does it run?

You now sign this before touring, so read it rather than skim it. The terms worth checking are the length, the geographic scope, whether it is exclusive, what happens if you buy a home you found yourself, and how you exit if the relationship is not working.

Short initial agreements exist. If an agent will only offer a long exclusive term at a first meeting, that is a negotiating position rather than a legal requirement, and you are allowed to say so. The agreement is explained in full here.

How will you be paid, and what happens if the seller offers nothing?

Buyer-agent compensation is negotiated directly between you and your agent and is no longer published on MLS listings. A seller may still offer to contribute, and many do, but you cannot assume it — so you need to know in advance what you owe if a particular seller offers less than your agreement specifies, or nothing at all.

Ask for the answer as a scenario rather than a principle: on a home at your target price where the seller contributes nothing, what do you write the cheque for? Who pays the buyer's agent covers the mechanics.

Will you ever represent both sides of my transaction?

Massachusetts permits dual agency only with the informed written consent of both parties, and it materially changes what your agent can do for you — an agent representing both sides cannot advocate on price for either. Designated agency, where two agents from the same brokerage represent the two sides, is a different and generally less constrained arrangement.

Ask what the brokerage's default practice is and what happens if you want to see one of their own listings. Dual agency in Massachusetts sets out the distinction.

Which attorney will handle the closing, and what will that cost?

Massachusetts closes through attorneys rather than escrow or title companies, so an attorney is not optional here the way it is in much of the country. A straightforward purchase commonly runs $750 to $1,250 as a flat fee, though that is a typical range rather than a quote.

Agents usually have attorneys they recommend, which is fine and often helpful. What matters is that you understand you are choosing your own, that the recommendation is a referral rather than a requirement, and that the fee is quoted before you engage rather than after.

How does the residential exemption change what I can afford?

This is the question that separates agents who know Greater Boston from agents who know real estate. The residential exemption is a municipal choice, not a state one: some towns grant it, some do not, and at least one re-votes it annually. Where it exists it applies only to owner-occupants who file by the deadline, and it can be worth thousands of dollars a year.

It is not applied automatically when you buy. The occupancy test and the filing deadline mean a closing date that slips across a year boundary can cost you a full year of it. An agent who has never raised this has not been helping you compare towns on the number that matters.

What is your offer strategy, and when would you tell me to walk away?

The second half is the important half. Any agent can describe an aggressive offer. What you want to hear is the circumstances under which they would advise you not to proceed — a price that stops making sense, a condominium document that raises a question, an inspection finding that changes the arithmetic.

An agent who has no walk-away answer is describing a sales process rather than an advisory one.

Would you ever advise me to waive the inspection?

In competitive stretches, waiving or shortening the inspection contingency became a common way to strengthen an offer, and in some situations it is a defensible calculated risk. What you are listening for is whether the agent treats it as a default tactic or as a decision with a downside they will walk you through.

There is a middle ground worth asking about too — a pre-offer inspection, or an inspection for information only rather than for renegotiation. An agent who knows the options is more useful than one with a policy.

How do you handle a condominium purchase differently?

Much of the inventory in Boston, Cambridge, Brookline and Somerville is condominium or converted multifamily, and those transactions carry document review that a single-family purchase does not: the master deed, the budget, the reserve position, the minutes, any special assessment in progress, and the 6D certificate at closing.

Ask what they read and what they have walked away from. Small associations in particular need more scrutiny rather than less, because a single deferred repair is spread across very few units.

How did you arrive at that price?

For sellers this is the whole interview compressed into one question. You are not testing whether the number is high; you are testing whether the reasoning survives a follow-up. Ask which comparable sales they used, why those and not others, how they adjusted for condition and location, and what they would do if the first two weeks produce no offers.

Be wary of the highest number in the room. A listing priced to win the listing appointment rather than to sell tends to correct downward in public, which costs more than starting lower would have.

What actually comes out of my proceeds at closing?

A seller in Massachusetts should expect the deed excise, usually called tax stamps, at $2 per $500 of the sale price or any fraction of it — it steps up at each $500 boundary rather than running as a flat percentage. Then the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate, the attorney, the mortgage payoff, any condominium 6D fee, and the commission you negotiated.

Ask for it as a written net sheet at your likely sale price rather than as a percentage. The difference between the two is usually where the surprises live.

Who arranges the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate?

Massachusetts requires the seller to deliver a valid smoke and carbon monoxide alarm certificate at closing, issued after an inspection by the local fire department. The municipal fee is small — commonly $50 to $100 — but the scheduling is not always quick, and departments book up.

It is a small question that tells you whether the agent runs a checklist. A certificate discovered a week before closing is one of the more common causes of an avoidable delay.

What happens if it doesn't sell?

Ask about the listing agreement's length and how you terminate it early if the relationship is not working. Then ask what their plan is at week three with no offers: price, presentation, photography, access, or something else. An agent who has thought about failure has a better plan than one who has only pitched success.

Can I speak to two clients from the last six months?

Recent and specific. Online reviews are useful but self-selected, and a testimonial page is curated by definition. Two recent clients you can actually call — ideally one whose transaction did not go smoothly — will tell you more in ten minutes than an hour of interviewing.

An agent who cannot produce recent references in a market this active is telling you something.

What is your response time, and how do you prefer to communicate?

In Greater Boston the practical answer to this question decides outcomes. Listings appear and go under agreement inside a week in tight stretches, offers carry short response deadlines, and an agent who returns calls the following afternoon will cost you a house eventually.

Agree the channel as well as the speed. Some agents work by phone, some by text, some by email, and a mismatch that seems trivial at the interview becomes friction under deadline.