Zelda Kohn's Q&A

when it comes to flooring i try to have them professionally sealed before i move in. it is hard to do it right w/o proper tools and process. you can use almost any water based poli coating to create as little or as much gloss as you like by applying 1, 2, 3 or more coats of it. oil based coatings are not "green" and are shinier and bring out deeper reacher wood color. water-based coating will stay closer to original wood representation w/o making the color deeper and will add only a slight gloss to it.

The whole purpose of a Short Sale is to get out of debt w/o jeopardizing your credit! That means you or somebody on your behalf negotiates with your lender to forgive you the difference between what you owe and what you can get from prospective buyer!  so your credit should be safe, and your wife's too. The process needs to be handled carefully with as much communication with your lender as possible.You need to focus on doing whatever you can to sell "short" before the home gets foreclosed. It is when the property get foreclosed your credit gets severely impacted for years to come. How your wife's credit gets impacted in such a scenario is not clear and depends on many other factors.I suggest you work with an experienced agent who can help you through, handle the sale properly as well as negotiation with your bank to get the Short Sale approved. When your lender approves the amount offered by a prospective buyer and the house gets sold "short", your and your wife's credit should not be changed as a result of the sale.

you need to find out how many units are owner occupied and how many are not. the lenders who are giving out FHA loans (allowing buyers to put down as low 5% or even 3.5%) require a certain percentage of owner occupancy. different banks require different %age. at a minimum you need to have 51% owner occupied units to be FHA qualified.

Hi Aniramko,I suggest you talk to couple of agents who know Chestnut Hill area, live close by and, of course, the one you trust more. I live in Brookline, work out of Newton office and know many trustworthy agents. I'll be happy to talk and see if we would like to work together on this, if not I can help you find another match. Best of luck to you!

- an Appraisor can arrive to your home price for a nominal fee.- a Realtor can give you a price range based on CMAs at his/her own expense (in time&marketing $$s)- you can price it yourself at your own expense of time on research of similar house pricing While PRICING IT RIGHT IS CRUCIAL in order to invite offers, Your home is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it!

You may explore these options:1) if zoning and lot allows, build an addition to the house to allow expansion - that will give you larger home2) if $$ are available, improve the home to bring it up-to-date (new kitchen, new roof, new bath, etc) - that will increase the home value 3) shift your thinking from "loosing" on your house to "winning" on the new one, since the prices and rates have dropped in the past 4 years to allow you get into the house you, probably, would not be able to afford otherwise - if the market had an upward trend The market is adjusting and so can we.

The # of FSBOs sold as such continues to decline. In 1997 it was 18%, in 1999 - 16%, in 2004 - 14%... currently, it is somewhere in a single digit %. In Boston area, lately, I have not heard about succesfully sold FSBOs at all even though there are FSBO listings. The mortgage industry changes, the economy and related factors have a ripple effect on the changing market conditions, thus making the property sale a challenging process even for a professional Realtor with a large clientelle.Some of my best clients are those who, actually tried to sell themselves and in the process learn just enough to appreciate what I do for them :)

Hello,may ask you a few questions before scheduling a visit?

can i ask you a few questions about the property (if it is still for sale)?