Selling your Nantucket home from off-island: what you do and don't need to be here for

If you own here and live in New York, Boston, Washington or farther away, you've probably assumed that selling means a run of trips: to meet an agent, to get the house ready, to sign. It rarely does. Nearly every step of an island sale can be handled from away, as long as a few things that do need a person here are planned early.

The pricing conversation, the listing agreement, reviewing offers, negotiating and signing the purchase and sale agreement all happen by phone, video and electronic signature. So does most of the closing, which is covered below.

What you do need is someone you trust with a key and a plan for the house itself. Everything that requires presence is about the building: getting it ready, letting people in, and passing two or three inspections.

An island house that sits closed most of the year needs help to show well.

• Access. Showings work when there's a lockbox or a caretaker who answers the phone. A buyer on the island for one weekend who can't get in rarely comes back.
• A winterized house. If the water is off and the heat is turned down, a buyer's inspector can't test the plumbing or the heating system. Plan on having the house opened back up, by your caretaker or plumber, before inspections, and keep it that way until closing.
• How it looks closed up. Covered furniture, stripped beds and a cut-back garden tell a buyer the house is waiting for summer. A day of opening it up, airing it out and setting it the way you live in it changes the first impression.
• Your things. Decide early what stays with the house and what you want back. Shipping furniture off the island takes planning, and many island sales include the furnishings.

Photographs do most of the selling for a buyer who is also off-island, and they last the whole listing. If you're thinking about selling next spring, the time to photograph the garden in bloom and the porch set for dinner is this season, not March. It costs little to shoot early and hold the images, and it's one of the few things you can't fix later.

A few items can't be done from a laptop, because someone has to be at the house.

• The smoke and carbon monoxide certificate. Massachusetts requires a certificate of compliance from the local fire department when a home is sold, and the department inspects the house to issue it. The state's advice is to call as soon as you have a closing date. Someone has to let the inspector in.
• The Title 5 inspection, if the house is on a septic system. The inspector needs access to the property and the system.
• Final water and sewer readings, so those bills can be settled at closing.
• The buyer's inspections and the final walk-through, which need the house open, warm and running.

None of these needs you. Each of them needs a person, a key and a date. The seller's checklist covers every document in the order you'll need it.

Massachusetts allows documents to be notarized remotely, over a recorded video session. For a home closing, the law requires that the notary be a Massachusetts attorney, or someone working under the supervision of the attorney handling the closing. Whether your deed is signed that way, signed in front of a notary near you and sent overnight, or signed on your behalf under a power of attorney is a choice your closing attorney makes with you, based on what the buyer's lender and title insurer will accept. Ask early. It's easy to arrange with two weeks' notice and hard with two days'.

Two more things to know before closing day.

Wire fraud targets closings. Your proceeds will usually arrive by wire. Give your wiring instructions to your attorney by phone or in person, never in reply to an email, and if anyone emails to say the instructions have changed, call your attorney at a number you already had.

If you live outside Massachusetts, the state may hold back part of the price at closing. Since November 2025, sales of $1 million or more carry a withholding step for nonresident sellers, and the form that controls it is signed before closing. It's worth reading about well ahead.

The owners who find this easy are the ones who do it in order.

A few months before listing. Have the pricing conversation, decide what stays with the house, and get the photographs taken while the garden and the light are right. If the house is on septic, order the Title 5 inspection now.

A few weeks before listing. Have the house opened up, cleaned and set. Confirm who has keys and who answers the phone when an agent calls to show it. Gather the permits, the survey and the septic or sewer records, so the buyer's attorney finds nothing you haven't already seen.

Under agreement. The buyer's inspections happen in the first couple of weeks, so the water and heat need to be on. Tell your closing attorney how and where you plan to sign, and ask about the state's withholding if you live outside Massachusetts.

Before closing. The fire department inspects for the smoke and carbon monoxide certificate, the meters are read, and whatever you're keeping leaves the house. You sign from wherever you are, and the proceeds are wired to the account you confirmed by phone.

When the owner is away, the agent becomes the person on the ground. For an off-island seller, that should include:

• meeting the caretaker, the cleaner and the photographer at the house
• arranging the fire department inspection and being there for it
• coordinating access for the Title 5 inspector, the buyer's inspectors and the appraiser
• walking the house before every showing season, and telling you plainly what it needs
• sending you feedback after showings, not just when there's an offer
• attending the final walk-through and handing over the keys

If you're interviewing agents from afar, ask each one who physically does these things. The answer tells you most of what you need to know.

If you're selling from away