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Tina and Matthew
We met in college in Boston and got married after graduation. We decided to purchase a starter home in Lexington, known for its great schools and community while being able to commute easily to our respective workplaces. We are a very active family with two small children and we enjoy a variety of sports, birding in the great outdoors, and making music.
Why Wenjen and MA Properties Real Estate?
We did not have an agent at the time so we decided to give MA Properties, the listing agency, a call. They suggested that Wenjen would be a great Real Estate agent to represent us, and it was indeed the perfect match! Even though there was a blizzard that weekend, Wenjen graciously offered to meet us to see the house as soon as the roads were cleared.
Why did you decide this was the right time to buy and sell?
Our children are 10 and 5 years old and we all love the community, teachers and friends that we have found while at Maria Hastings Elementary. We were not actively looking to buy or to sell, but more casually browsing and keeping tabs on the happenings in and around our neighborhood. When we stumbled upon a listing for a beautifully maintained 1970s home with ample natural light within the same Hasting school district, we had to see it.
Walk me through how Wenjen prepared your home to sell? What stood out to you?
Wenjen brought in her team of experts, and we talked through timing, staging, advertising, etc. We were amazed at how responsive and attentive the MA Properties team was to every question we had. In preparation for staging, the team went above and beyond, braving the New England winter and icy stairways to help us temporarily stow our excess furniture and personal belongings out in the garden shed.
Listing and Staging Video
What surprises and challenges did you encounter during the buying and selling process?
We were surprised that we instantly fell in love with the house even though we were not really in the market for a new home. At the same time, given how hot the real estate market was in Lexington, we knew we needed to act quickly with an extremely experienced agent to make an offer. It had been over a decade since we last made a home purchase, so Wenjen quickly and clearly guided us through the process, and she consistently made critical suggestions that ultimately enabled our offer to be accepted!
What surprised us most about the buying process was how quickly we had to make decisions, make an offer, get it accepted and sign the P&S. The whole process from beginning to end took less than a week, and Wenjen walked us through every step of the way. It was intense, but it also felt like we had a good friend Wenjen who we had known all our lives helping us buy the home of our dreams.
The most challenging part of the selling process was the open house and waiting for the result. We stayed away from the house for the entire 5-day Open House process, which became a mini-adventure for the whole family. Wenjen and MA Properties have a handy dashboard that helped us track the activity with our listing and open house. It was really easy to get these status updates while being away from home and being curious about what was happening there. We were surprised at how much interest there was for the house, and how competitive the market was.
What are your top tips when buying and selling?
Our top buying tip is to have the funds ready and keep browsing until you find the home you love. Then with Wenjen and her team on your side, everything will just magically happen!
Our top selling tip is to completely trust the process to the amazing experts at MA Properties. The MA Properties team is filled with every expert imaginable: they recommended the colors for paint, contractors for updates, items for staging, took amazing photos that showed off the house’s best attributes, and had a bulletproof pricing strategy that got us over 30 great offers on our house.
