Which for me doesn't mean a whole lot. I'm previewing a house that intrigues me tomorrow, after a social walk downtown through a different neighborhood I don't know all that well yet. On Sunday there's an open house I want to drop by, and then a knitting group in my favorite park. It's the charity group that makes baby hats and hats for seniors and others in need in our county. I like that it's a very local charity, because there is certainly plenty of local need.
Not that you could tell if you judged by the houses I've been in lately. Holy Frickin' Movie Sets, Batman! In my personal previewing and researching, I am focused on the price point that is selling - which is between $175,000 and 225,000, more or less. On our weekly office tours we never seem to see anything below $300k, and can be way, way above, like, oh, 10x above?
And you know what? I've seen only ONE over a million dollar house that truly made me want to win the lottery and buy it, because I could totally see it as a fantastic family home, with dogs romping on the rolling lawns, and me cooking on a big grill on the big stone patio while friends and family milled around in bare feet with beers in their hands, and hell, my son and FDiL could get married there on the gorgeous rolling lawns out back. It was that spacious, yet warm and friendly and charming. Extremely well appointed, but not ostentatious at all - the high end stuff was stuff you'd love to have every day, like an amazing kitchen with restaurant quality appliances and yards of countertop working space. I could see myself living there, oh yeah. I'm getting a warm, fuzzy feeling about it just writing about it.
The other million plus houses, not so much. Sometimes too much is just too much, or the house is great but you get to it off a single lane gravel road practically straight up a mountain. (A builder type said what I was thinking the other day - "I'd like to have been here when the roof trusses were delivered!")
City Girl here - I like to be able to run out to the store if I need something, and it DOES snow here. Yes, the view is stunning but it won't put half and half in your coffee, or toilet paper in the bathrooms, for that matter. Those houses are meant for people much more organized about their grocery lists than I.
Of course, I am not here to pick houses for clients, I'm here to help them find what THEY love, and I'm learning the market every damn day to be the best I can be at that. I can see the appeal of those properties - not for ME, but for somebody else. Somebody who never gets too low on half and half or toilet paper.
OTOH, I did a drive-by on an adorable little house in a historic neighborhood in the city yesterday, and I have an appt. to preview it tomorrow afternoon. I was wondering why it was priced so low, but after the drive by, yeah, there is a Parking Issue. It's pretty much an insurmountable parking issue - it's a small street and a historic district, so I think it is what it is, but I'm curious about options for expanding the postage stamp parking pad into a driveway maybe. Maybe not. But the interior photos are wonderful, the neighborhood is lush and green and like a secret garden, and I can't wait to see the inside of this house, because I think I must make it my mission to find the right people for it. I want it myself, even more than that million-plus dream house, but I'm not in a position to buy it - somebody will love this house, because oh hot damn, that street is like a secret garden lined with historic homes yet 15 minutes from anything.
So that's just the random stuff rattling around in my head today - I am basically Never Not Thinking About Work lately, but it's so much fun to learn the neighborhoods and market details. I already know the real estate business - I've been in and around it nearly all of my working life. I ain't skeered of representing a client, I know my shit, and right now I'm obsessed with learning every detail of the local market so I don't have to stop and think about details, but can just open my mouth and rattle off the current asking prices for single family homes in Neighborhood X, and what you get for that price. As I told someone in frustration the other day, I went from being drinking buddies with half the legal and real estate community in FL and knowing damn near every neighborhood in a huge metro area by heart to "Hi, my name is" networking events and learning the city from scratch. Thankfully, it's a damn small city. But I'm at it 7 days a week right now, which has seriously impacted blogging time.
Thinking back to the only time we were involved with a Real Estate Agent, looking for a house to move into when we returned to Sydney in 1984, it wasn't easy because some of the agents simply did not listen to our wish list.
ReplyDeleteNothing worked until we lucked onto a very cluey lady - the males were pathetic, they just wanted to sell us a house, and could not understand that when I asked for four bedrooms, I meant I really wanted and needed four bedrooms.
She listened and asked questions and clearly understood which items on the list were musts, and which were less important.
Good luck with it -- I wish I could have you on hand in our planned upcoming move. Time indefinite, I cannot move from here while my father (91, Alzheimers) is still alive, since the move we are planning will take us about 10 hours driving time (interstate) from where we are now.
The it will be Gae, in Kyneton, instead of
Gae, in Callala Bay
Must haves and would like to haves, and we'll adapt our search parameters as we go along. We'll look at the likely targets right now, and then I'll send you off with some homework to do drive-bys of some maybes, and we'll regroup and discuss the choices. Ultimately, the most important things are a payment you can live with in a place you want to live in - because buying more house than you can afford will turn any dream house into misery, and a location that doesn't work is just as bad, no amount of money can fix it.
ReplyDeleteListening and asking questions is everything. I am not there to sell anybody just any house, I'm a consultant who wants to find what fits you. I have my own "interview" questions which are lifestyle oriented - Are you a drop in on your way home grocery shopper, or a "make a list and go once a week or two" type? In this area that's a serious thought - there are some fantastic houses if you don't freak about running out of half-and-half when the road is icy and you might not get out for a day or...five. I love the diversity of this market, it's a riot and so different from the cookie-cutter world of Florida, but it makes learning the ins and outs more complicated.
You are the kind of agent we need more of. When we moved from GA to NJ we got a couple (female) agents who didn't understand the meaning of "we'd like a little bit of land". They kept showing us zero lot line homes. Finally we found Claire Turkiewicz. Yes, I remember her name 14 years later. She listened. We bought a 3.5 acre wooded place with a stream, off the main road in a new subdivision and the perfect playground for our fur kids.
ReplyDeleteNothing beats being excited about your job. Energized, fascinated, yeah, maybe a little obessive. But what fun! and eventually you will know every neighborhood and will rattle off comps like a calculator. Sounds so MUCH better than the boredom of corporate drone-dom.
ReplyDeletep.s. Frances was standing by when I opened your blog - she said she'd like to paint your photo of the mountains!
ReplyDeletelove the new look..your doggies are just so adorable..
ReplyDeleteI am loving hearing all about your new city. I would love to live in the house with the little secret garden. Maybe parking isn't too big an issue if you can walk to everything that quickly.
ReplyDeleteHave started knitting the Effortless Cardigan" I fell totally in love with the pattern. I immediately downloaded the pattern and ordered yarn. The construction is brilliant since I don't enjoy seaming. This is first sweater I have knit in close to 10 years. I would love to hear and see yours.
Betsy Hernandez
@Betsy - I have NOT started the Effortless Cardigan, it's on the list of things I'd like to do before the leaves turn. I fell in love with the construction too - I am a sucker for that sort of seamless, clever construction.
ReplyDelete