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Neighborhoods with good design

by John Rice

Some people just want a house.  Some people want a house and a neighborhood.  I don’t mean location when I say neighborhood.  That has more to do with proximity to features.  Neighborhood is a vibe thing.  A feeling.  Has to do with trees, the layout of the streets, etc.  Think curvy streets and roads with landscaped medians.  Some good examples are Hartland Parkway in Hartland, or Slashes in Ashland Park.

It is no surprise that neighborhoods with a good vibe are more desirable than neighborhoods that don’t.  That is one reason the exact same house is worth more in a neighborhood like Chilesburg than it is in Willow Bend or Masterson.

I am more of vibe person.  I really like neighborhoods that have some pretty features to see as you walk or drive through them.  An element of design.  So, here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head and why I like them:

  1.  Hartland is probably the best thought out neighborhood in Lexington since Chevy Chase and Ashland Park.  It has a landscaped median running through the whole neighborhood.  All of the cul-de-sacs have landscaped islands in the middle.
  2. Chilesburg-Since it has so many creeks running into the reservoirs in Jacobson Park, the developer didn’t have much of a choice but to work around them.  There are several ponds in the neighborhood, a walking trail with plank farm fencing around it, and some wooded greenspace areas such as the best one on Willman Way.
  3. Greenbrier-There is just something about seeing so much green as you drive through it.  Then you pass the clubhouse and see the golf course.
  4. The Woods-I really like the elevation changes and meandering road that runs through the whole neighborhood.  It is now old enough to have some amazing trees.  You feel like you have left the heart of the city and are in a secret, private place.  Lakewood is a lot like that too because Lakewood use to be on the edge of town.
  5. Chevy Chase and Ashland Park-no explanation needed.

Those are my favorites.  I don’t think we will see anything like these neighborhoods in Lexington again.  There just isn’t the space left.  Other than a few areas in town, we are down to infill projects.  Those often don’t have the space to do much more than clear the land and lay out the neighborhood in a way that maximizes the number of lots.

How to WIN in multiple offers

by John Rice

Had a client who wanted to see a house this weekend.  Called the listing agent.  The place already had 3 offers on it.  That is happening more and more these days.  So much so that I thought this might be a good time to talk about how to WIN in multiple offers.

Most people think in terms of outbidding somebody.  Sure, more money is always nice, but when there are two offers that are very close in the offer amount, I normally see a seller look to secondary things.  If Buyer A and Buyer B are $1000 apart, most sellers start asking things like:

  • “How solid is their financing?”
  • “When do they want to close?”
  • “How much of a down payment do they have?”

The seller then picks whichever buyer seems most likely to get this deal to the closing table.

What are some things you can do to make your offer more appealing in this situation?

  • Inspect the house, but let the sellers know you will not be asking for any repairs.  ALL sellers hate doing repairs.  They are too busy packing to deal with it.  Most of the time, a seller just does $500-1000 worth of repairs anyway, and they usually don’t care much about how well the job was done.  It is just something they want to cross off their to-do list.  Just do those yourself and brag to your friends how you beat the other buyers and got the house.  IF the house is a hot mess, you walk away from the deal after the inspection just like you would have done anyway.
  • Find out when the sellers ideal closing date would be.  If possible, give them the time that is best for them.   Sellers are under their own stress from moving and packing.  Making it easier on them makes you more attractive to them.
  • Let’s face it.  If you are in multiple offers and really want the house, you are already going to your max offer…may as well add some personal stuff in a letter to let the seller know how much you like the house.  Sellers usually love their house and want to see it go to somebody that they think will love it too.  In multiple offers, you have no room for negotiation so I see nothing wrong with showing your cards as long as it benefits you.
  • And some stuff that seems obvious:  Don’t ask for personal items like the seller’s grill or patio furniture.  Don’t ask for things that were not listed as coming with the house.  Don’t try to pressure them to respond quickly because in multiple offers, it is their world and you are just living in it.

This is soooooo different than it was several years ago when I was blogging about how to squeeze the desperate seller out of every last penny.  Times do change.  Sometimes you are the bug and sometimes you are the windshield.  That’s why it is always important to buy a house that will be desirable in both a good and bad market.

Time is the enemy of Location

by John Rice

Location sure is a funny thing.

I showed a property in Gardenside this week.  It was on the street behind the shopping center on Alexandria Drive.  I was thinking, that when the house was new, it was probably a great bonus to be so close to one of the premier shopping centers in Lexington.  That was in the 50’s and 60’s.  Now, being so close to that shopping center is more of a negative than a positive.  It use to have businesses like Dawahare’s Department Store and Lexitalia Restaurant.  Now it has a strip club.

My family moved to Kenwick in the mid 80s.  There was a super neat house on North Hanover that we loved.  We didn’t buy it because it was just a few houses down from all the scuzzy commercial sites on National Avenue……which is now a trendy spot with cool restaurants and businesses.

Part of the whole “Location Location Location” mantra is what desirable commercial areas are close.  Schools are another big one too, but that is another post.  Can you imagine what would happen to Townley Park if that shopping center in the middle of it was half vacant, and the rest were the same businesses you see in every failing shopping center?  Nobody would want to live there.  On the flip side, look at the NoLi District on the north end of downtown.  Al’s Bar gets discovered by hipsters, then we get a lot of other cool businesses like North Lime Coffee & Donut and suddenly what use to be a scary part of town is now desirable.  I just sold a house on Rand Avenue.  Just a few years ago NOBDODY wanted to live on Rand Avenue.

It is kind of sad to see some locations lose their luster, but seeing other parts of town be transformed makes up for it.

Location is never static.  Time usually makes it better or worse.

LEXpert advice on buying rental property

by John Rice

I met with an old friend and former neighbor last night.  He is interested in buying rental property.  Thought some of what I told him might be a good post.

When I first meet with somebody wanting to buy rental property, I like to let them know what I think the pros and cons are of each type, so here we go:

1)  Commercial-Good return, a bit more volatile than others.  When you sell, your only market is another investor or a business owner.

2)  Multi-Family-Good return, a lot of work, and typically more turnover!  The only buyers for this property will be investors.  I have never seen an investor that was willing to pay top dollar.  Also, most investors only sell their properties when they have cash flowed them to death and they are in dire need of repairs/updates.

3)  Single Family Houses-Not a huge return, less turn over.  When you go to sell, you can market it to an investor or an owner occupant.  An investor wants a deal based on the numbers.  An owner occupant will pay retail.  I think this model is the best for most people.

Unless you find a super bargain, entry level single family homes are a better choice than more expensive ones.  The numbers just work out better.  If you ever need to part with one of these houses, you can sell it to a first time buyer in a good market, or somebody downsizing in a bad market.  There were a lot of people selling their bigger houses and buying smaller houses during the Great Recession.

My personal favorite is a simple, one story house on a slab.  One story because it makes it easier to repair or clean gutters and you don’t have windows up high.  A slab because you eliminate the risk of rotting wood and mold under a toilet or tub if there is a leak the tenant doesn’t tell you about.

Picked my listing to buy sight-unseen…..WHY?

by John Rice

I’ve always told people the goal of a listing’s pictures and marketing remarks was to sell a showing, not to sell a house.  LOL, looks like I have been a little wrong because I just had one of my listings sell to a buyer who has NEVER SEEN THE HOUSE.

The buyer is from out of town and only based his purchase decision on pictures and marketing remarks.  I had plenty of professional pictures.  Besides putting comments with each picture, this is what I said about the house:

” Ok, so I’m with the photographer getting pictures for this house, and you know what I’m thinking about? I’m thinking about how easy it would be to live here. This one isn’t just about good looks & move in ready condition. I can really see you living here & appreciating the seldom seen features that you would grow to appreciate more & more. Like what? Look at the kitchen. Count the cabinets. Not only a lot of them, but you’ve got drawers for big pots & sheet pans. Eating? Options are the island, the breakfast area or the dining room that offers a panoramic view of the whole first floor. Big Laundry room. HUGE bedroom upstairs that could really be used for anything….even an upstairs Family Room. The wide tiled hall between the garage & kitchen would be a great spot for cubbies. The driveway is flat & there are no houses behind you. You’re all the way back at the end of a Cul-de-sac. Listen. Silence because you back to a farm, but, you’re 5 minutes away from the by-pass.“

This house had been listed with another agent right before I got it.  It is a very nice place, but like I usually do, I asked the sellers to make a few adjustments.  We rearranged some furniture, cleared out a few things.  The bathroom had stained wood cabinets and matching panels around the garden tub.  The edges of the wood were a bit worn.  Not bad…..unless you are trying to sell your house in a market where buyers think a house has to be perfect.  Simple solution was to paint them white.  What a huge difference it made.  I think I told them to paint the bathroom a beachy blue color too, unless I am starting to confuse my listings!  Any way, the bathroom and the whole house looked amazing once the seller got all the work done.  (I think my next blog post might be about how the seller has as much to do with the success of selling their house as anything else.  Even in the terrible market of the past, I could sell any house if the seller would take my advice on price and presentation.)

I am sure this buyer studied every house that looked interesting to him.  I can’t help but think that the extra effort I spent to present the house and explain its unique features made it easier for him to make a decision.  Don’t you feel sorry for the sellers whose houses were poorly presented?  They might have been perfectly nice houses, but to a guy who was going to buy without seeing it, they didn’t stand a chance.