Capital Homes

The House Specific Buyers

This week I showed favorite buyers a house that was definitely “Buyer Specific”, and the people I showed it to may well have been the specific buyers – perhaps the only ones in Washington - for whom the house would be perfect.  So, that’s a good thing, right? First, let me describe the place.  At an asking price of about $1.5 million, it is a mid-century bi-level on a busy street, has a sort of plain brown wrapper façade and has two bedrooms.  At least one of these factors would not work for your typical buyer.  So what does work? 

Are We Taking "Staging" Too Far?

Years ago, I listed a house that showed extremely well. The owners were anal retentive neat freaks taken to a whole new level. I mean, you could eat off the floor of the boiler room in the basement. You could eat off the floor of the firebox in the wood-burning fireplace! These people even had great taste. But their house had been on the market for over a year, and I was their third agent. And even I couldn’t get it sold after a hefty price reduction and ambitious marketing efforts.

When a friend gave me a visit to a great astrologer for my birthday, the wise old seer said, “I see a very clean and beautiful house for sale. It is too clean. Tell the owners s to burn a fire and leave a dirty dish in the sink.”

They did. It sold.

Get Me To The House On Time!

My father was always on time - for everything.  Whenever he had an appointment or meeting, whether it was for the dentist, Mass on Sunday or an airline departure, he always built in what he called "flat tire time".  It was part of some sort of ethic he tried to pass on to his children.

Like my father, and most real estate agents, I am habitually punctual, sometimes compulsively so, and have been annoyed by people who are not.  And the last couple of months, in the context of house renovations, I've been amazed at the number of home improvement professionals who have a very casual relationship with on-time arrivals.

If someone says "I'll be there between 1:30 and 2 o'clock, and if they show up at 3:15, is says to me that they are careless with their word in small things.  So, how will they handle the big stuff?

If a guy shows up late for the first appointment, will he begin work on July 5th, or will it be the 25th?  If I'm planning a week at the beach, will my plans be disrupted by a contractor's schedule? 

One More Pull of that Thread!

First, let me say that the person I'm about to write about has not paid me to post this.

For years - about 23 - I've been recommending a central air guy named Ron Gallant. And he has consistently received fabulous feedback from everyone who's used him, and the list includes a lot of clients and friends I really care about.

During that time, my own house has been the cobbler's children's shoes, as my clunker window units have done a more or less passable job of keeping my house cool during Washington's humid summers. Since the house is being pulled apart to make way for the new bathrooms, it made sense to go ahead, bite the bullet and have central air put in.

So finally, this afternoon Ron was going through my house to put together an estimate and plan for bringing my house into the 21st century.

First, he showed up when he said he would! The other guy I talked to came two hours late, and only after I repeatedly called his office (no answer) to make sure I was still on the schedule. In fact, most of the people auditioning for roles in my renovation have had a casual relationship with on-time arrivals - and it drives me nuts because I am cumpulsively on time.

Second, Ron clearly loves his job.

Condo Envy

Last November, I posted "When Sparks Fly" about the electrical fire at my friend, Jean Kornfeld's beautiful home that sits just behind my own.

Since then, her insurance company has rented temporary digs for her to live in while her house is being rebuilt.  It happens to be a very cool 2-bedroom, 2 bath with a den condo on the 1400 block of Church Street.  God!  It even has parking.  And every time we get together and meet at her place, I feel the urge to move downtown.

Buyer Specific Homes

Last Tuesday, I saw a great house in Woodley Park.  It had a renovated kitchen, pretty floors, lots of bedrooms and baths, and it was on a beautifully landscaped lot that backed onto the parklike campus of one of the areas private schools.  The gracious living room led to a patio that would be perfect for summer entertaining.  There was only one little thing.  It had no basement and very little storage space.

In real estate, we call this "buyer specific".  These are homes that really don't work for most people, but they work extremely well for a few. 

When we are out touring the new listings, there's a lot of opportunity for discussing the houses we see with the listing agents.  And in this case, I was really impressed with the agent's approach.  Mary White (with Washington Fine Properties) was asking for feedback.  I felt the house was priced on the nose (although it's quite above it's "Zestimate" but then, you know how I feel about Zillow).  I also felt that Mary was right  about how the lack of a basement or storage would shrink the buyer pool. 

And that wasn't really her focus. 

Zillow.oops Returns

Today, I finally got a chance to look at the Washington Post weekend real estate section.  And there it was - again!  The latest article about Zillow.com illustrates perfectly why people who give out real estate advice really ought to be licensed.

The article ("Does Every Owner Have a Price?") talks about this seriously flawed web site's most recent hare brained idea, "Make Me Move", where people can put up information on a house that isn't really for sale, but could be had for some price the owner pulls out of thin air.  At least, we hope they pull it out of thin air .  God forbid they base their expectations of the value of their most important asset on the  "Zestimate" they can obtain by logging on and typing in their address.

One of the problems with "Make Me Move" is that, as the article points out, it invites abuse. You can post your house, or anyone else's.  Say you have pesky neighbors who let their back yard go to weed and breed pit bulls.  You can post a "Make Me Move" for them.  And while they wouldn't have to take any offers, you could certainly send them a message.

But this article buries the lead - that is that the "Zestimates", Zillow's estimates of how much homes around the country are worth, are way, way off base.  Take the block that I live on, for example.

Home Improvement

So many of my clients do what I did.  They buy an imperfect house with the best of intentions.  They plan to renovate the kitchen, do some landscaping, lose the purple wall-to-wall in the rec room, and have the lead paint laden cracking plaster repaired. 

Then, like me, they help to pave the path to hell.  They move in and get used to the place.  The avocado green kitchen counter isn't all that bad, and the even though the rec room was inspired by "That 70's Show", the shag carpet has some good years left.  And the weeds in the back yard are really sort of - umm -  perennials.

Years later, when they unexpectedly decide to move, there's this real estate agent in the living room explaining that, in order to sell the place, they'll have to bite the bullet.  They need granite for the kitchen counter.  They need ceramic tile for the basement floors.  Then they'll have to paint, refinish the hardwood floors, bring in the Roto-tiller guys to create a back yard paradise and install central air.