The Boston Home Team

In 2013 my wife and I purchased a home in Roslindale, MA using William Brokhof as our agent. My wife and I couldn’t be happier!
Will took the time to meet with us personally at our current home to go over the details of what we were looking for in our next purchase. He took the time to listen to all of our concerns and to explain to us what the process working with him was going to be like. He’s a real go-​getter!
We got to work that weekend going to open houses and started seeing what inventory was available in the areas we were looking in. Will always took the time to meet us before the open houses (if we wanted, sometimes we met him there) and always offered to chaperone us around town as we viewed various homes. He also never minded us needing to take the time and stop for coffee (if you haven’t been house hunting yet, it can be tiring finding exactly what you are looking for!) We traveled all across the greater Boston area and Will was always knowledgeable about the homes we were visiting and the neighborhoods they were in.
Another great thing about Will is that he is also very knowledgeable about home construction techniques used over the past century (at least), home renovation, and design. While sometimes we didn’t like what we were seeing, he was able to explain to us what the property could be with a little imagination. Basically, Will could easily be on one of those HGTV shows where they feature a home buyer looking for a great deal on a place and then remodeling it to be exactly what they want. All for less money than they would have paid for a already remodeled turnkey home.
In the end we purchased a home in Roslindale and are completely satisfied with both the home and Will’s services. In a time when inventory was low, Will managed to get us a private showing of a property before it went to open house. This saved us thousands by avoiding a bidding war! By then he knew exactly what we were looking for. He saw the opportunity on the property and got us in there immediately.
I won’t go on forever, but I would be impressed if anyone wasn’t satisfied with Will Brokhof’s services as a Home Buyer’s Agent.

I cannot recommend a real estate agent more highly than Will Brokhof of The Boston Home Team. Will has expertly handled the purchase of two homes for us, and the sale of one. We returned to him seven years after our first transaction together because we were so impressed with his ability to navigate our target market (JP, Roslindale), his expertise in everything from staging, to negotiation, to resale value, to landscaping. We relied on him for every step (movers, storage, staging, inspectors, lawyers) and he always came through. If you want to find the best home for you, for the best price, and if you want to sell your home quickly and efficiently, Will is the broker for you.

As a Realtor working in this neighborhood, I know first hand which agents are knowledgeable, professional and care for their clients. Will Brokhof is undoubtedly one of those agents. As his colleague I appreciate Will’s hard work and professional insight. As his competitor, I know him as a tough and informed negotiator who won’t sleep until his clients are happy. A buyer or seller will find themselves in more than capable hands when they choose to work with Will and the Boston Home Team.

I can’t say enough about these people — specifically about Jeff Stineback.
I bought my place a year ago. I was an amateur and Jeff walked me through everything. He put up with me when my dad wouldn’t stop calling (yikes). He helped me pull the trigger on the perfect property. I know I can still call him if I need advice about anything. Totally pleased. Would recommend Jeff and the Boston Home Team to anyone.

My husband and I have worked with Will on three projects during the last eight years, and only hope that he will still be doing this work the next time we need him! He is smart and honest and creative in his thinking — he is also just fun to work with under less than fun circumstances. We have always felt he was doing everything possible on our behalf.

My wife and I worked with William Brokhof to buy our condo in JP. Straight from the get-​go, he was calm, warm, and professional. We were concerned about working with a Real Estate agent because we’ve heard that they can sometimes seem nice while they are simultaneously lying to you, or manipulating the situation in their favor. Will was the exact opposite. When we later got into a situation where we were one of two bidders for the condo we really wanted, he stayed up late to do everything he could to help us come out on top. The thing I liked the most about working with him was his no nonsense and clearheaded way to approaching these inevitable real estate problems. When we move in the future, Will will be our man again, and I recommend you make him yours ASAP!

This spring, my girlfriend and I decided it was a good time to casually start looking for a Jamaica Plain condo. We went to a few open houses and realized we should find a local buyer agent. We found the Boston Home Team (thanks to Unilocal) and set up an initial meeting with Will Brokhof and Jeff Stineback to learn about the home buying process.
That first meeting put us at ease right away. Will and Jeff were respectful (we had our concerns as young, first-​time buyers) and were willing to explain everything to us. We felt very comfortable with them and appreciated that they had a sense of humor. This home-​buying thing might actually be fun!
After that meeting, we worked exclusively with Jeff. He took us on some showings, which was extremely beneficial: he learned more specifics from us on what we were looking for in a home, and we learned from him what kinds of questions we should ask seller agents, and things we should be looking for at showings/​open houses. Jeff was always willing to listen to our feedback and thoughts on condos we visited.
Although we ended up finding our future condo at an open house without Jeff’s presence, we were able to confidently make the decision to start the offer process because of the knowledge that Jeff had given us. He kept us patient during the price negotiations with the sellers, which meant we were able to get the closing price down about 4.8% from the listing price.
Throughout the offer, acceptance, home inspection, and closing, Jeff was consistently available to answer questions (even late at night!), calm our nerves, and be our general go-​to guy. He was even willing to go the extra step when needed – like speaking to our parents when they had questions.
We think very fondly of Jeff and would recommend him to anyone looking to buy in the greater Boston area!

When you work with Will and the Boston Home Team, they work FOR YOU. We enlisted him to help us buy a house that didn’t meet minimum occupancy standards in the middle of the housing crisis of 2009. We had to get a 203K loan through the federal government, we were trying to purchase the home from a lawyer/​executer, and there was complexity and uncertainty at every turn. Will was calm, helpful, and navigated the evolving drama with us in a truly helpful way. He can be trusted to do everything possible to get your needs met, whether it’s buying your dream home or selling your home for the best price. He knows the market and how to maximize it!

My Girlfriend and I were first time home buyers in February 2010. We started looking for a home on our own, we then decided to use ZipRealty. The Realtors on ZipRealty that we kept getting set up with were impersonal, and took a very long time to get back to us. Being first time home buyers, we really did not know much about the process, except our approximate price range, and the all of the amenities that we were looking for. We found the Boston Home Team in the Jamaica Plain area where we were very interested in buying. After setting up an appointment we met with William Brokof who took an entire night to go over all of the paperwork we would be seeing, and basically walked us through the entire process of buying a home, realizing that we may not even choose him as our realtor. Our meeting with him impressed us both and we decided to go with Will as our guide through the long process of buying a home. He thought it was important to show us properties that we would not like and properties that were a little on the higher end just so that we could get perspective into what were necessities and what we could live without. We thank him for his patience as he eventually steered us to the house that both of us fell in love with and bought. We started looking in February, and closed on April 30^th, Will made it an educational and fun process with an extremely happy ending, and of course was there for us ever step of the way from walking through the properties, answering questions, and closing. He even set us up with a number of his own resources from people who helped us get approved for our mortgage, to lawyers that helped with the actual closing. I can quite honestly say that i didn’t think that home buying was going to be so painless. I strongly recommend Will Brokof if you are looking for an individual who goes above and beyond to get you the home that you will want to make your own.

My husband and I were first time homebuyers AND new to Boston when we started working with Will. When we decided we wanted to buy there was no question that Will would be our buyer’s agent. He knows every block of JP and is heavily involved in the community (ie. proactively helping to improve the quality and safety in JP). Quite simply he lives and breathes JP!!! It’s difficult NOT to get excited about this neighborhood after talking to Will.
After a couple of weeks of looking at houses in our price range and not finding anything that we were absolutely in LOVE with – I was beginning to get a little discouraged that we would not find the ‘perfect’ place. Will kept us encouraged and one morning I saw an MLS listing for the a condo that looked PERFECT for us. When we called Will around 10AM and he told us that he already had an appointment for us to see the place. Of course we instantly fell in love with the condo and with Will’s help we put an offer in the next day. We were the first buyers to see the house and I sincerely do not think we would have gotten the house if that were not the case (the location and layout is very unique to the area). He also kept us in check as to what we SHOULD be paying for the house.
Thanks to Will being in tune to what our needs AND wants were, we’ll be happily living in JP for a long time!

Conventional wisdom in early 2010 for home sellers:
– Not a good time to sell (buyer’s market)
– Expect to be on the market for a long time
– Don’t expect to get ²⁰⁰⁵⁄₀₆ prices
Thankfully, we listed with Will, and sold our house in one day for 5% more than we bought it for in 2006.
Sure, we had a beautiful condo in a great JP location. But Will did an excellent job of setting the price, marketing the open house, guiding us on staging, managing a bidding war, and most importantly, setting our expectations (which he then exceeded.)
He’s not your typical hyper-​caffeinated-​hampster-​in-​a-​Mercedes realtor, and has a seemingly laconic approach, but that masks great real estate intuition and a lot of hard work. He knows JP inside out, and you won’t go wrong with him on either end of the transaction.

First time homebuyer here. My wife and I came to Will a few weeks ago without even being sure we wanted to buy or keep on renting. Will sat down with us and gave us the lay of the land. He conveyed a flood of information but explained everything in a clear and concise manner so that it wasn’t at all overwhelming. After meeting with him, we decided to start looking seriously in Jamaica Plain.
It didn’t take us long to find a place that we fell in love with, head over heels. Will immediately crunched some numbers and came back with a comparative market analysis that showed the true value of the place to be significantly below the asking price. We were prepared to pay more, but we made an offer based on Will’s numbers. Well, the sellers weren’t too happy with our offer. And this is where Will earned his pay. He went to bat for us, and actually convinced the sellers that their asking price was out of line with comparable properties, and talked them down to the number he got from his analysis. And after getting a professional appraisal as part of the mortgage process, the appraised value was EXACTLY what Will said the place was worth.
Will is laid back and very casual with his clients, but make no mistake, he knows how to play hardball and get the job done. Ours was clearly not his first rodeo. We’ve gone from lifelong renters to timid prospective buyers to homeowners in the span of 10 weeks (after we close in a couple of weeks), and we have Will to thank for making the process smooth and saving us tons of money on a home we couldn’t be more excited about moving into. You won’t find a better agent.

I worked with Will and Christine for the first several Art Houses* that they coordinated in Jamaica Plain and I have to say, they are fantastic, detail oriented, kind people who really get that buying a house is more than just sinking your money into a building — it’s choosing a life, a lifestyle, a neighborhood, and a particular community that you are hopefully going to become an active member of. They have a great aesthetic, are patient and efficient, and they see things through to complete the original vision. Most important to me is that they care about nurturing the creative community that they both live and work in and seek to bring people together through really positive experiences. Good comfortable people all around — definitely worth working with. Good luck finding your new home, especially if its in JP!
(*“Art House” is an event where they collaborated with local artists to furnish open houses as galleries so that our art would gain exposure and the homes would look extra stylish! A brilliant idea which was also wonderful for those of us participating…
Thanks guys!)

Seriously, Will and Christine (aka the Boston Home Team) are the best. We met Christine as we were starting our search for our first condo and haphazardly checking out open houses on our own and knew immediately that we wanted to work with her.
The next day, in her office, we met her other half, Will, and it was a total bonus. Nothing like having 2 real estate agents working with you to make you feel like you got «people». They are a great team, with Christine’s knack for finding great listings and Will’s extreme attention to detail. That guy doesn’t miss a thing. And he plays Devil’s Advocate like no other, forcing you to consider the good and the bad on every property.
Will and Christine were patient with us, our never-​ending questions, and our low budget as first time buyers. One of the reasons why I have recommended them to several friends for buying, selling, and rentals is because they always made us feel like we were their only clients. They worked tirelessly on our behalf to help us find the perfect house, and basically schooled us in all that was cool in JP. They know JP (and Boston proper) inside and out, and are super involved in the community.
When we did finally find *the one*, they met us at their office at 10pm on a Friday night to write the offer so that we didn’t have to cancel our dinner plans. Dude!
These guys are great. Straight-​shooters, hard workers, and good people. I highly recommend the Boston Home Team to anyone looking to buy, sell, or rent in JP, Rosi, West Rox or Boston!

I used this guy! Will’s cool. We would go into houses and be all oh hey, look, they got a shiny new refrigerator, we should buy this one! because we’re idiots, and then Will would go down to the basement and point out a huge crack in the foundation. We miss these sorts of things. We are distracted by shiny things. We ended up getting a great deal on a house with a crappy old refrigerator and a solid foundation, and we just bought a new fridge. That was a good idea, because fridges are cheaper than foundations.
He and his lovely wife Christine (and Carrie Anne, who I think is Christine’s sister) also do this thing called Arthouse (
) where they pick a cool house that’s on the market, put up a bunch of local artists on the walls, hire a DJ and throw an open house. That’s a tremendously cool idea. You can go even if you already have a house! There’s free booze! There’s booze, and it’s free!
They know Jamaica Plain absolutely cold, and they’re really involved in the community, which I kinda appreciate. (Not that they can only do JP — Will showed us a bunch of properties all over the rest of town, too.)
We liked Will so well that we recommended him to our friends, and they were happy with him too, so that ought to prove that I mean it.
Coincidentally, he was recommended to us by another Unilocaler, the gone-​and-​totally-​forgotten Dan P. — that dude went to law school and totally sold out. So if you use them for your real estate people it’ll be like continuing a long, proud tradition. With free booze.