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I'm always a little amazed and amused when I get the inevitable question from the Buyer's Agent prior to the offer date: "What are the Sellers' expectations? (They're "great.")
With more than 20 years of selling Real Estate, I've yet to answer that query the way they'd probably prefer: "They just want a nice family who will love the house as much as they have. Price isn't really their driving force or even their objective . . . " (Yeah, right.)
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“I love the house,” the woman said, “but it’s the garden I can’t get over,” she gushed.
The compliment was well deserved. Artfully designed by a landscape professor from UC Berkeley, the front and rear gardens at our newest listing in Elmwood are spectacular. Featuring a graceful landscape that includes a wisteria-covered arbor, fig, apple, and pomelo trees, herb garden, blooming ground cover, lush beds, bubbling Zen fountain, gas fire pit, and expansive deck, it’s easy to imagine the hours spent here with fresh lemonade and a good book. "Which of these walls are load bearing?" the women asked at my Sunday Open, pointing at the long hallway running down the center of the home.
"Well, certainly the exterior walls are," I said. "I meant which of the INTERIOR walls are load bearing?" she repeated, clearly impatient with me. "You'll need an engineer or a contractor to answer that," I said. "I'm not qualified on that topic." (Nor would I hazard a guess.) "Then what are you here for?" she snapped. "My son and daughter-in-law are interested in the house, and I've come all the way from France!" "Bon jour," I said, "but that still doesn't make me an engineer . . . " Here we go again . . . I spy the tell-tale signs of a bird's nest under construction on a rafter high above my exterior side stairs. This feathery duo return each spring (like the swallows of Capistrano) to build their roosts. Theoretically, I don't object to birds nesting around my house . . . it's just that these birds are slobs (truly, they make a MESS). It begins with twigs, straw, strings and grass littering the steps, then once the chicks are born and on a 24-hour feeding schedule, it gets really ugly, really fast . . . (need I say more?).
I spent the morning in my garden planting for a tour I've agreed to host in May. Five of us were asked to open our gardens to a visiting club from Pasadena, and while I'm happy to do so, between you and me, this is both an unexpected honor, and an awfully BIG CHORE . . . which is why I've been working on the flower beds a little bit at a time.
That being said, gardening is one of the few tasks that pay you back in spades . . . I spent last weekend in bed recovering from surgery. Like many people, when faced with the prospect of an invasive procedure, I had put it off for a few years, but I could no longer ignore the problem. Now that the issue is resolved, it's back to business as usual. (Thanks for your well wishes.)
“I wanted to let you know that my daughter and I saw some people in the house earlier today,” the elderly neighbor conspiratorially whispered at my Sunday Open," and when we asked the Agent if we could come inside, he said, 'I can’t show you the house." (He’s right; he can’t.)
"He was rude," she added, clearly bent out of shape. We're struggling with whether to sell now or later . . . " is a repeating refrain Sarah and I are hearing at many of our listing appointments with potential Sellers. Followed by "What do you see happening next Spring?" (I wish I knew.)
Because the economy is only ever understood in a rearview mirror, the correct answers to their questions are: "I don't know." In fact, nobody knows and anyone who tells you differently should be immediately suspect. Sarah and I can only speak to the current marketplace which has been robust for some, while leaving others short-handed and less than pleased. No sooner had our newest listing hit the market, when an unexpected offer was dropped into my inbox from an LLC specializing in real estate investments. While preemptive offers are usually presented by highly motivated Buyers who are hoping to shut out the competition before the Sunday Open, this one was anything but . . .
There's been a lot of news of late regarding DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) and while I typically stick to lighter topics specific to Real Estate (avoiding politics for obvious reasons), it occurs to me that the practice of Real Estate would be NOTHING without diversity, equity, and inclusion.
As Sarah, Jill, Kate, and I specialize in "transforming" properties, we rely heavily on the contributions of our crews, vendors, and specialists; many who epitomize "diversity" (not to mention strength, courage, and generosity), and who now call the United States their "home" (and have for decades). |
AuthorJulie Gardner, has been writing The Perspective for 18 years and has published more than 775 humorous but always informative, essays on life and real estate. 
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