Mike Sylvia is EXACTLY what I look for in a Real Estate Broker. Ultra responsive, explanations in detail, always willing to listen, and provide useful and expert feedback. I had Mike rent out my Apartment and he was able to list, and have a lease signed in a matter of weeks. Mike is a sharp negotiator, and I would highly recommend him if you are looking to rent your place out, buy new, or sell. FYI.. I am a Senior Loan Officer for Mortgage Master Inc in the South End... Needless to see Ive interacted with hundreds of agents over my 15 year career. Mike is at the top of my list for Boston Real Estate. Thank you Mike! read more

Two years ago, Mike Sylvia (owner of The Terrier Group) helped my husband and I buy our first home, a 2-bedroom condo in Southie. We used him as our buyers' agent and he was excellent. He talked us out of buying a condo that we thought we really liked (and which was more money than we intended to spend) because he thought it was overpriced. I knew then that he had a great deal of integrity and that he was a Southie expert. He ended up helping us buy a gut renovation on the east side of South Boston. It was an amazing home with parking and he got us a great deal. Two years later, our circumstances changed and my husband and I needed to move out of state and sell our home. Honestly, I was just hoping we would break even because we had planned on staying there much longer. Given our awesome first experience with Mike, we knew we wanted to use him to sell our condo. He was so helpful and honest once again - no surprise! Our home sold in 2 days and there was a bidding war. In 2 years, we made 20% on our home, which was completely unexpected. I have no doubt that part of that was due to Mike's expertise, professionalism, and salesmanship. Mike is pleasant to work with, incredibly responsive (it felt like emails were returned immediately, almost all the time), professional, and truly an expert in the biz. Mike is an amazing real estate agent on both ends of the game - if we were still living in Massachusetts, we would absolutely use him again! read more

My wife and I used Terrier to purchase our first home in South Boston. We worked with the owner Mike after he was recommended by a family member. Short and sweet, Mike was great. Very responsive and helpful throughout the crazy mortgage process and we love the condo on the East side. He guided us through the process the whole way and made some great recommendations for a lawyer as well as a home inspector. Can't recommend Mike enough. Thanks Mike! read more

We worked with Mike Sylvia when purchasing our first home. And what a tremendous help it was! We were initially considering purchasing without an agent to try to save some money, but were so glad we worked with Terrier instead. So glad. Especially as first time home buyers, it would not have gone well. Instead, Mike helped us navigate the surprisingly complex waters, assisting with securing our mortgage, finding a trustworthy lawyer, and making sure we were on schedule for the mountains of paperwork in need of filing. Mike was honest with us, no-pressure, extremely easy to get ahold of and get questions answered. He went above and beyond in making arrangements and being available for visits with contractors prior to closing. Over all, I can't imagine things going as smoothly as they did with another realty group. Would recommend to anybody, without qualification! read more

Michael Sylvia , CEO of the Terrier Real Estate has been incredible to work with. He has helped my wife and I rent our unit in South Boston for the last 8 years. We have gone through three tenants during that time and every time we have had to find someone new, he has rented the unit in under a week to great tenants. He has come with suggestions on how the unit should be shown and even helped us find a handyman in case of issues with the unit as we are out of town now. His wealth of knowledge of Boston real estate and South Boston in our case, is second to none. He is helpful and courteous and always available and responsive if questions come up. Their is no one in the business i would trust more to rent our unit and because of this we will be giving him the unit to sell as well when the time is right. 5 Stars Michael keep it up and thanks for everything! read more

My wife and I have worked with Mike on 2 purchase and sales in Winchester. I could say a lot of generic stuff, like he was great, but I never find those reviews helpful. The things I can pinpoint where Mike added value are: Sale process - Mike did an outstanding job in selling our home. He told us right away that he was going to set-up an online tour of the home, which I was skeptical about. However, I couldn't believe the number of people who commented on it. Our Open Houses had a tremendous amount of traffic. The video was definitely a factor. He also helped us with staging the home, which we thought was important. We appreciated that he took charge of the situation and laid out a timeframe and strategic plan for the roll out of selling the home. I'm not so sure other brokers do the same. Negotiation - Our 2nd purchase in Winchester was a new contruction home. The builder wasn't willing to back off of the sale price too much, but Mike helped us implore other strategies to help get value we were looking for (See below). Financing - In towns like Winchester, it is tough, if not impossible to say you will buy contingent on the sale of your other home. In our situation, we needed some of the funds from the sale in order to make the new purchase. Mike helped manage that process so that we could come to an accepted offer on the new home. Ask him how he did it. After the fact it seemed simple, but people were surprised when I mentioned it to them. Knowledge - Part of this comes back to the negotiation piece. Mike has a very strong working knowledge of costs for fixtures, floors and countertops. That knowledge helped us tremendously as we negotiated the spec list. For example, we were originally given a $5,000 budget for all the countertops throughout the home. Mike knew that wasn't close to enough and countered with a number that would fit what we wanted to buy. Multiply that our for each item on the spec list and we picked up a lot of value justifying (in our minds) the price the builder wouldn't move off from. Taste/Ideas - Mike has a good eye as he is not only a real estate agent, but also has remodeled numerous properties. Our first home was a fixer-upper. He saw the value in buying a entry level home in Winchester that was essentially a long-term flip. He helped us over the course of a few years as we made changes to the first home, which he helped us sell to get into our new home. On the first purchase he went over our style preferences and he helped carry that knowledge into suggestions for things in our new home. (Like using quartz instead of granite). Also, referring us to a place to see appliances where the sales people had a ton of knowledge and pass along good deals. Attention to detail - On our final walk through before closing, Mike noticed a couple of very small details that weren't done according to our contract. I am the son of a carpenter so I have a decent eye for noticing things, but I didn't event notice what Mike saw. As an example, he noticed that wrong/cheaper light switches were installed instead of the higher end one we negotiatied on our spec list. Lastly, Mike set expectations on day 1 that buying a new construction home was a ton of work and that working with builders is very fustrating. It proved to be true, but Mike really helped our communication with the builder and made numerous suggestions to us in terms of products or other things we should have in the house. I work in a service industry as well and I expect professionalism and prompt replies to my inquries. Mike regularly replied to my in a reasonable period, which I appreciated. read more

I was in the market to buy a condo about 2 years ago. I had very little to no knowledge of how the real estate market worked. I was looking for something moderate. I contacted Mike through his web site and he got back to me within 20 minutes. We met at his office on Broadway. Upon meeting with Mike, he had this folder with all the information that one would need to delve into the condo market. We went over all the ins and outs of purchasing a condo. When I left the initial meeting, I felt like I had enough information without being flooded. I gave Mike my information on what I was looking for and he set up his web site to send listings that met the criteria. Each day the web site would send me a listing of available units. I would send Mike an email and asked what he thought. I was very impressed with how well he knew how my criteria matched or did not match certain condos. If he thought something was not a fit, he would say so and explain why. This was extremely reassuring because I felt like he was looking out for my best interests. I got swamped at work which hindered my time to look at condos. I was still getting the emails from his web site which were really helpful. I would reach out on occasion if I saw something that peaked my interest. Mike saw something in South Boston that he thought might work for me. He called me up and mind you I was not as active for about a year. But even with my lack of activity, he still kept me in mind. We went and looked at it the next day. The condo was better than perfect for what I was looking for. Mike walked me through the whole process of putting an offer in and the following steps. I saw the condo on a Wednesday, put the offer in on Friday and the buyer accepted my offer the next day. After the offer was accepted, Mike gave me a list of next steps and contacts that I needed. I just followed the steps and within two weeks I closed. I could not be happier with the condo and with the process of purchasing it. What impressed me the most of dealing with Mike is that he understood what I was looking for and was able to find places that met my criteria. His knowledge of real estate and the finances associated with it are outstanding. I always felt like he was looking out for what was in my best interests. Also, I was buying something on the low to mid range in terms of pricing. But all my dealings were with Mike directly which as a buyer made the experience that much better. I would highly recommend working with Mike. read more

I've never written a review online but I feel compelled to pass along my experience with The Terrier Group. After unsuccessfully attempting to sell our home for the past 18 months (like so many of you out there), we decided to give Mike Sylvia the opportunity to market our place in South Boston. Mike possesses the in-depth knowledge required to be an expert in the South Boston market (he lives and is based in 02127). Anyone can put a home on the MLS and wait for the people to show up at an open house. It's what you do after they walk in the doors that counts. This might sound basic but the simple follow up on all leads, communication and constant feedback, and tireless efforts to go above and beyond are what gave us the confidence in The Terrier Group. Mike always answered his cell phone, returned emails in minutes, and responded to all of our crazy questions (even a hundred of the same question: Why isn't our place selling???). We finally sold our place this month. But Mike's efforts did not stop with the signing of the P&S. He helped coordinate the handymen required for the little things that needed fixing and even rolled up his sleeves to help with some of the work. We're happy to be using Mike to help facilitate our search for our new home. He's already put several hundred miles on his car going out to see homes with us! I'm 100% confident that The Terrier Group will deliver for all of those who are looking for an excellent real estate professional, a quality communicator, and a genuine good person with a tireless work effort. read more

My roommates and I worked with Keri Sylvia at the Terrier Group and she was wonderful to work with. She was very knowledgeable about the area, and has good standing relationships with landlords as well as previous clients. Keri was also very thorough and took the time to go over any and all questions we had regarding the lease and our tenancy. The company also had some really great listings. We're really excited to move into our new place and would highly recommend The Terrier Group to anyone looking for an apartment. read more

Mike Sylvia of Terrier Real Estate is outstanding! My husband and I used Mike to sell our home in South Boston and couldn't have been happier. First, Mike knows the market and home values very well. We received great offers that led to a successful sale, and much quicker than we expected. Second, he is professional, very responsive (via phone, email, and/or text), and willing to go the extra mile. He even took off his shoes when he first visited our home (no other realtors did that!) and retrieved our mail twice after our closing because we had moved out of state. Third, he helps you with every step of the process and his marketing materials are top notch! Selling your home is stressful and overwhelming, but Mike made it as easy and seamless as possible. If you need a realtor, we highly suggest Mike! read more

They were great to work with. We were given so much information up front. All of our questions were answered. Keri made sure that we had all of the information we needed to make our decision. We were not pressured at all but encouraged. I would highly recommend The Terrier Group to anyone. read more

I don't know if I can express in words how grateful I am that I was referred to MT Fox. We were looking to sell our place in South Boston and had a terrible experience with our first realtor. Having had one deal fall through we were very nervous and anxious to get our place sold so we could move on with our lives. MT came in and looked at our place and knew exactly what had to be done to make the place look as great as it should. She took amazing photos, and had everything up and running within one week. She worked tirelessly to make sure everything went well for us and was very calming and supportive through everything. Our sale was challenging and she took it on with grace and confidence. She also referred us to Attorney Killgoar who rocked and between the both of them we could not have been in better hands. After having our first deal fell through we received no other offers with our first realtor and he had it listed for 3 months. MT had our place in top shape and sold it and closed in a little over 30 days. We could not be more grateful and appreciative of her work and dedication. If you are looking for someone that has your back and will do whatever she can for you - this is your girl. I would not look any further or hesitate to work with MT again. I almost wish we were looking to buy so she could represent us! read more

I called The Terrier Group to talk about listing my Back Bay property. The person on the phone was very rude. I speak with an accent and because of that was made to feel unwelcome. I have read the other reviews and thought they sounded reputable. I did have another agent list my condo which sold in about two weeks for above our asking price. Boston seams like a "melting pot" of people so i dont understand how a company can be so rude to customers just because they are foreign. Thankfully there are other agents out there. read more

Mike Sylvia at The Terrier Group was our broker and did an amazing job when we bought out home this Fall in Winchester. From start to finish, Mike and the Terrier Group was there. He went to numerous showings and open houses with us, pointing out things we may not have noticed. When we finally located the house we eventually bought, he walked us through every aspect of the offer, counteroffers, P&S, and ultimately closing. Out offer to close time frame went by extremely quick and Mike made sure everything went smoothly, sometimes meeting with us at 10:00 p.m. to get papers signed. When we needed more time to get loan approval, Mike was on the phone getting us extensions. He was always reachable and never kept us hanging when we had a question or issue. We strongly recommend Mike Sylvia and The Terrier Group. read more