We parents have reflexes that kick in. When we need to stop short while driving, we fling our right arm to the side to cushion our child in the passenger seat. When our pre-schooler suddenly reaches up above his head to grab for a hot pan on the stovetop, we swoop in and try to prevent calamity. And when we think about the possibility of moving our kids to a […]
Do you see the house down the street with the For Sale sign in front of it? Yeah, neither do I. I wish I did. But it is not there. In many of the neighborhoods and communities in which my buyer clients would like to purchase homes, there are very few homes on the market. Very. Few. Homes. Sometimes none. An example….A few weeks ago a colleague thought I was […]
Can you tell what is going on in this photo? It’s “Bobbing for Donuts.” (You know, like bobbing for apples, turned upside down, with no chance of drowning.) This game was one of the many events that took place at a recent neighborhood Block Party…to the delight of all. To the best of my knowledge, no families actually moved to this neighborhood because their wish list stipulated “4 bedrooms, 2.5 […]
HGTV has had a big impact on buyer expectations as they search for a home (can you say: stainless steel/granite, stainless steel/granite, stainless steel/granite??). But it hadn’t occurred to me until recently that HGTV real estate shows had also impacted buyers’ beliefs about how many houses they should see before making an offer. On TV, buyers seem to see 3 houses and then select one. Recently a young client, after […]
Quite a few Mother’s Days ago, when our 4 children were all very small (and had many needs), my sweet husband asked how I would like to celebrate the day. And I answered him, with the raw honesty born of extreme sleep deprivation: I wanted him to peel the kids’ 40 fingers off of my ankles, and I wanted to step into our walk-in closet, and close the door behind […]
Yes, you heard me right: I’m glad their car broke down. My own clients. I’m glad their car broke down. Malice in my heart? General meanness of spirit? Nope. I’m grateful that their car broke down because it saved them from making a mistake. This was a young couple that was just beginning their home search process, but suddenly stopped short because their car broke down and was going to […]
Conventional wisdom says that the winter real estate market is slower than other times of the year. In the late Fall of 2012 (or, as I like to call it “last, last fall”) I began predicting that the “Spring” real estate market was going to begin on January 2nd. Colleagues laughed at me and told me that was much too early to see buyers and sellers turning their thoughts to […]
It happened several years ago. A buyer made an offer on a home my client was selling, and gave us a strong pre-approval letter from a large local bank. All the better, we discovered the buyer was an employee of that bank…so we did a little happy dance expecting they were treating his loan process with extra special care since he was part of their team. Fast forward to 23 […]
Quick: what were your favorite parts of the house you grew up in? (And by “house” I really mean wherever you lived when you were little. Apartment. Whatever.) Did answers come to your mind right away? When I was first asked this question, my mind popped out immediate responses. I loved the window seat in my bedroom, the biiiiig closet in my bedroom (which felt more like a clubhouse to […]
Some children have a “totally flexible” vibe. Doesn’t matter what you throw at them, it’s all a wonderful new adventure to enjoy, and they never look back. Never met a new food they didn’t like. They are comfortable wherever they go, and their transition from one activity to another takes about 5 seconds. Well, I have HEARD there are children like this, but I’ve never parented one of them. […]
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