Two Things Worth Starting Yourself
These are not things we can do for you, and they both take longer than a sale conversation does. Starting them now costs little and they are useful whoever eventually buys.
Call Boston Fire Prevention About the Certificate
The smoke and carbon monoxide Certificates of Compliance are a seller obligation at closing, and on a damaged building the inspection is not routine. The requirements assume habitable levels, power and ceilings. Find out early what a building in your condition needs, rather than a week before a closing date when there is no time to solve it.
Apply for an Article 85 Determination
Staff at the Boston Landmarks Commission have 10 calendar days from a complete application to determine whether your building is significant. A "not significant" letter clears the demolition route immediately. A significance finding means a community meeting, a hearing and up to 90 days after it closes.
Why Do These Before Talking to Buyers?
Two Things We Do
The records. The assessor's record for the year built, which determines whether Article 85 applies at all, and the construction type. The Registry of Deeds for the deed, any lien, and whether the parcel is recorded land or registered land. Inspectional Services for permit history and any open violation. All public, all free, and we tell you what we find.
The building. Whether it is frame or masonry, and what that means for what survived. In the masonry neighbourhoods a standing shell carries the whole file. In the triple-decker belt there usually is no shell, and pretending otherwise produces a number that will not hold.
What Are You Actually Looking for on the Structure?
What Comes Back
A written figure with every line showing: what a finished building on that lot is worth, what restoring it costs with the shell credited or not, clearance including the Article 85 timeline where that is the route, carrying cost across a realistic schedule, the deeds excise, and margin.
On a multi-unit building the finished value line is calculated on the units rather than on a comparable single house, because three restored dwellings on one lot are worth what they are worth and pretending otherwise understates your property.
What If the Figure Says Do Something Else?
Then It Is Your Call
No deadline from us. Massachusetts closes through attorneys, and what slows a Boston file is the combination this city produces: an Article 85 determination nobody sought, a certificate nobody raised, tenancies across multiple units, and occasionally a registered land parcel that needs a conveyancer who has handled one.
Compare figures if you want to. The questions on our page about how to tell local cash buyers apart work on us as much as on anyone.
Things That Never Happen
No fee at any stage. No request that you clear the site, board it or make any repair first. No requirement that your claim be settled. No assignment of the contract to a third party. And no suggestion that you conceal anything from a buyer — Massachusetts requires no disclosure form, but that is not the same as permission to misrepresent, as our page covering Massachusetts certificates, claims and excise sets out.
Common Questions About the Process
How Long Does It Take?
Address to written figure is usually a few days. Closing depends on title, on the certificate, and on whether an Article 85 determination is needed. The fire itself rarely drives the timeline.
Do I Need to Be in Massachusetts?
No. Out-of-state owners are common on inherited property and remote closing through the attorney is routine.
What If I Have Already Had a Certificate Inspection Fail?
Tell us what it said. A failed inspection on a damaged building is information rather than a problem, and it tells us more about the condition than most reports do.