OK, this is going to sound bad coming from a beek, but there is no shortage of bees and sometimes you have to put your home above a bunch of insects. This late in the season really isn’t the best time to be trying to start up a couple of hives in Mass. Yes, it’s possible with the help of a good beek, but the odds of success aren’t real great. If you kill the queen in the removal process (covered with honey), the whole thing ends up to be a lost cause this late in the season. Waste of your time and waste of the bees.
If you really want to save the bees, I would wait until spring since they’re not really going to be building much more comb this late in the season. So whatever damage the bees may have already done to your brothers home, isn’t going to get any worse between now and spring. It will also be easier to deal with the hive in the spring because there will be a whole lot less bees and LESS honey in there to make a mess. Plus if you screw up in the spring and kill the queen, the bees can make a new queen.
I would put my house above the bees, but of course don’t do something stupid like spraying them with raid because that will just result in an even bigger mess with all the honey sitting there under his house for the rodents to get into.