Canton, MA

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all my clients, colleagues, friends, fellow bloggers and even all those anonymous readers out there a Happy Thanksgiving! I wish you all a day filled with family, friends and good food.

I like to think of Thanksgiving as an opportunity to remember to be thankful for those things that are most important - family, friends and health.

I hope you all enjoy the day enjoying your Thanksgiving traditions - whatever they may be - food, football, family, parades, or even shopping!

For myself, I have some cooking to do!

Oh - and good luck to the Canton Bulldogs in their annual Thanksgiving Day football game against Stoughton! Maybe this will be our year!

Canton Alliance for Public Education Announces Fall 2011 Grants

The Canton Alliance for Public Education (CAPE) is a non-profit volunteer-run organization that provides grants to the Canton Public Schools to help fund programs and projects that are not able to be funded through the usual school budget. Grants are written and submitted by teachers and administrators from the Canton Public Schools.

CAPE has two grant cycles - fall and spring. They recently announced two grant awards for Fall 2011.

The first grant was awarded to Canton High School for the establishment of The Change Agents Club at Canton High. The purpose of the Change Agents is to transform the social and academic enviornment at Canton High by opening up conversations about race and ethnicity. The founding members of the club attended a conference in May 2011 and the goal is to build upon what was learned at the conference. Activites and goals include discussions at bi-weekly meetings, sponosring assemblies, setting up a display at the high school, creating local TV programming and more. The grant provided the funding to establish the group.

The second grant was awarded to the Galvin Middle School for a new Lego Robotics Program. The math and science departments at the Galvin Middle School are working to expand learning opportunities in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math areas (otherwise known as STEM). The grant will be used to purchase 10 Lego Robotics kits, which can be used by up to 20 students at a time. The teachers who wrote the grant hope to expand the program in the future.

CAPE grants are funded through the generosity of Canton businesses and individuals that donate to and participate in its fundraising programs like the annual Spelling Bee, Spring Gala and Honor Thy Teacher program. Since 2004, CAPE has awarded over $140,000 worth of grants to the Canton Public Schools. They have funded items such as smart boards for Math classrooms, iMacs for the performing arts, science boxes for elementary classrooms, history re-enactments, music for the autistic program and much more.

If you would like to live in a town with strong community support for public education, consider one of the many homes for sale in Canton MA. Contact your Canton MA Buyer Broker for a free listing of homes for sale in Canton MA or a surrounding Norfolk County community.

Canton MA Market Report for October 2011

In October 2011, there were only four single family homes sold in Canton MA. The median price of those homes that sold was $521,500.00, with a low of $150,000 and a high of $750,000. Considering that there are currently 102 single family homes for sale in Canton, the number of sales in October certainly is low.

The fall does traditionally see a slow down in sales, however four is still a very low number. So I thought I would take a look at number of homes sold in October over the past several years. The hart below shows that while 2010 was not much better than 2011, there is a variation of numbers of homes sold in October.

Nonetheless October 2010 and 2011 seem to have the lowest numbers in recent history.

Of course, the other piece of data that is important to Buyers and Sellers is home prices. The silver lining, at least for Sellers, is that the median home prices in October 2010 and 2011 are a little higher than in previous years. In spite of slow sales, home prices have remained fairly stable over the past several years.

With a good inventory of homes on the market and slow sales in October, combined with continuing historically low interest rates, the opportunity exists for serious buyers to do some negotiating and find a place to call home in Canton MA.

Canton MA offers easy access to Boston, highways, shopping, arts and recreational opportunities, along with a good school system, a suburban, small-town setting and historic charm. If you want to find out more about what Canton has to offer, contact your Canton MA Buyer Broker. I would be happy to show you around.

*All data is courtesy of the MLS Property Information Network, Inc.

Keeping it Local on Thanksgiving

I will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year. I have two local establishments that I rely on each and every Thanksgiving.

For the turkey I rely on The Main Course in Canton to order a fresh turkey from a local farm. They will season it for me as well. You can order the whole meal from them too. But I just get my turkey as well as a side of butternut squash - theirs seems to be better than mine ever turns out. They have a great selection of wines as well so usually I pick some up when I get my turkey. If you are not sure what kind of wine to pick, they will make suggestions for you. The Main Course has a lot of other gourment foods for other times of the year as well!!

The Main Course also offers Thanksgiving pies and desserts. I am sure they are also delicious.

However, the holidays do bring back a certain nostalgia & so I like returning to my home town of Milton - right next door - to pick up my pies from Bents Cookie Factory. I remember it as being "the broken cookie factory" when I was a kid and you could get a bag of broken cookies! I think the broken ones were cheaper. It always smelled so good in Bents!

G.H. Bent Co., a/k/a Bent's Cookie Factory, has been in existence since 1801. The current store stands in the same bulding, although they sell more than the water crackers that they ere originally known for. Now, they have a deli & a booming lunch business too - both new additions since I was a kid. While I do like to cook my pies (I make a great Sweet Potato Pie), time is not always on my side - plus my kids do not all like the traditional Thanksgiving pies. So, I have already ordered my Thanksgiving pies from Bent's this year - Pumpkin, Pecan & Boston Cream. When I go pick them up I will be brought back in time to my childhood & maybe I'll get myself a sandwich too!

The Main Course in Canton and Bent's Cookie Factory in Milton are part of my day-before-Thanksgiving traditions. What are some of your Thanksgiving traditions?

Would you like to own your own home for next Thanksgiving? If you are looking to buy a home in Canton or Milton or a surrounding community, contact your Canton MA Buyer Broker.

Real Estate Can Get Emotional - Good Reasons to Hire a Professional

Buying and selling residential real estate can get emotional for both buyers and sellers. Sellers may be selling their long time family home and it carries a lot of memories for them. Buyers may be just starting out - maybe just married or expecting a new baby - and have a lot of conerns. They want to make sure they are starting out on the right foot.

Even the most well-advised and well-prepared buyers and sellers can get emotional - even if they have no intention of doing so. A qualified professional can put that emotion out of the equation and help either side focus on negotiating a deal in the best interests of their clients - and a fair deal at that.

I just finished negotiating a For Sale By Owner property for my buyer client. We had looked at homes for a little while and had not found the right thing. Then, they heard about this home through a friend of a friend whose mom was selling her aunt's home of 40+ years out of an estate. They met with her about the house but decided they wanted me to see it and to negotiate on their behalf. The Seller wanted to avoid paying a commission and did not want to use an agent.

My buyers understood that it could get complicated with their friend, the personal connection they had made with the Seller and wanted me to handle it for them. A wise choice.

And it did get emotional for the Seller. How could it not when so many family memories are involved? Your beloved family member's home is being picked over and analyzed and compared. You might even be told it is not as nice as other homes! That is where a professional real estate agent comes in with negotiating skills, focuses on the facts and helps work through this.

In my situation, the Seller worked through it on her own and in negotiations I tried to stick to the facts and data too, while listening to her concerns. But it was emotional for her and while I did not get emotional, I did feel and empathize with her pain.

It easily could have gotten out of hand and blown up the deal if either side had let the emotions get in the way. If that were me, the price of having someone else handle it would have been worth ever penny.

If you are looking to buy a home in Canton, Milton or any other Norfolk County community, work with an Exclusive Buyer Broker who will put your interests first and foremost and focus on the facts not the emotions.