Massachusetts runs through the same broad sequence as most states — offer, inspection, financing, title, closing — but two things about it are genuinely unusual: state law puts a lawyer in the room for the closing itself, and a meaningful share of the state’s housing stock sits on private septic systems with their own inspection deadline. This walks through where Massachusetts’s process diverges from the generic version.
Massachusetts closings require an attorney — this isn’t just custom
In a lot of states, hiring a real estate attorney is optional. Massachusetts isn’t one of them. The Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Real Estate Bar Association v. National Real Estate Information Services (2011) that the closing of a residential real estate transaction requires “not only the presence but the substantive participation” of an attorney, and that key closing functions — examining and certifying title, disbursing funds under the good-funds law — constitute the practice of law here. Separately, state statute requires an attorney to certify title before a purchase-money first mortgage on a dwelling of four units or fewer can close (M.G.L. c. 93, § 70), with real liability attached if that certification is done carelessly or not at all.
In practice this means a title company or settlement agent can still be involved, but an attorney is doing the substantive legal work — title examination, deed preparation, funds disbursement — rather than a non-attorney closer handling the whole file, the way it works in title-company states like Florida or Arizona.
Property is assessed town by town; deeds record at the county Registry of Deeds
Massachusetts doesn’t use a county property appraiser the way many Southern and Western states do. Each city or town runs its own Municipal Assessor’s office and sets its own local tax rate, so there’s no single county-level valuation office to check. Real property is still recorded at the county level, though: the Registry of Deeds covering your county holds the actual deed and mortgage record. RefPages’ County Records directory links to the Registry of Deeds for your specific county, and to your city or town’s own assessor site where available.
The deeds excise tax — a modest, statewide stamp tax on the deed
Massachusetts charges a deeds excise tax when a deed is recorded: $2.28 per $500 of consideration (or fraction of it) above the first $100, which works out to roughly 0.456% of the sale price in most of the state. Barnstable County charges a higher combined rate under the same statute — currently $6.48 per $1,000 of consideration (about 0.648%) — so confirm the local figure if you’re buying on the Cape. Nantucket’s deed excise itself follows the standard statewide rate, but Nantucket (like Martha’s Vineyard) layers on a separate 2% Land Bank fee on the purchase price, paid by the buyer under its own, different statute — not part of the deeds excise. By long-standing custom — not by statute — the seller pays the excise, and it’s collected as part of recording the deed rather than billed separately.
Septic systems and Title 5 — a real closing risk outside the sewer system
A large share of Massachusetts, especially outside the older, denser cities, runs on private septic rather than municipal sewer. The state’s Title 5 sanitary code (310 CMR 15.000, authorized under M.G.L. c. 21A, § 13) requires the system to be inspected within the two years before a sale, with the inspection report delivered to both the buyer and the local board of health. A small set of transfers — mainly between spouses, parents and children, or full siblings — are exempt from the inspection requirement. If a system fails inspection, expect it to become a real negotiating point: repairs or a full Title 5-compliant upgrade can run well into five figures, and some lenders won’t close on a property with a documented failed system until it’s addressed. Ask early whether the property is on septic, and if so, whether a current, passing Title 5 report already exists.
What sellers have to tell you beyond that
Outside of septic and the federal lead-paint disclosure required for any home built before 1978, Massachusetts leans toward buyer-beware: sellers have to disclose known material defects and can’t actively conceal a problem or lie about it directly, but there’s no comprehensive statutory checklist the way some other states require. Most Massachusetts sales still use a standard disclosure form as a matter of practice, even though the underlying legal duty is narrower than the form itself.
After you close: the Declaration of Homestead
Once you own the property, Massachusetts’s homestead law (M.G.L. c. 188) is worth acting on — it’s a creditor-protection mechanism, not a tax break the way Florida’s homestead exemption is. An automatic homestead protects up to $125,000 of home equity from most creditors with no paperwork required. Recording a Declaration of Homestead at the Registry of Deeds raises that protection to $1,000,000. It costs little and takes one filing, so most owners record it shortly after closing rather than relying on the automatic minimum.
If work is needed before or after closing
If an inspection turns up something needing a permit — electrical, an addition, work tied to a septic upgrade — RefPages’ Building Permit Departments directory links to the relevant city or town permitting office.