Character VS. Neutral & Safe

by John Rice

I had a chance to catch up with an old friend recently.  This guy makes fine furniture and cabinets for a living.  He was showing me all the things he has done to his house.  It was pretty sweet.  Not something you see everyday. Loads of character.  Then he says to me that he doesn’t get this going neutral for resale thing.  He just does what he likes.   He then went on to say that the last house he had, he sold to the first person that saw it for top dollar.  I’m usually the one saying go neutral and play it safe, but like so much in life, there are exceptions.

I think what my friend didn’t realize is that not everybody has such great taste.   His house really rocked because all the work he did was so excellent and the house was full of hand-made furniture.  Not everybody can pull that off……I know I couldn’t!

Most buyers are happy to have some common updates when they go out looking for a house.  It is safe to go neutral because that has the broadest appeal.  But (again with the exception thing again!) I will say from experience that when a buyer walks into a house that has enough character to be remembered after they leave, they really like it or they really don’t. 

I sold a place recently that had a lot of character.  Hardwood floors, unique lighting, a sunroom, a koi pond, a heavily landscaped backyard.   Those sellers had great taste too.  Their house really stood out as a winner.   I’ve also seen several houses that the seller went with their own sense of style, and that is what is keeping their house from selling.  I guess I even went a little out of the realm of my own advice when I picked cherry for my hardwood and slate for some tile.  Safe would have been a medium brown oak & a neutral beige tile…….cheaper too!  I even polled my Facebook friends to see what they thought.  Some thought it would be awesome, and some thought they wouldn’t like the slate at all.   I know that when I sell, in like 20 years, that I will be looking for somebody with taste similar to mine.  When I find them, there will be a huge gap between my house & their second pick.  For others, they might come in and say “Why did they do that!?!”  By doing something so polarizing, it will either pay off big time when I sell or I have shot myself in the foot but just don’t feel it yet.  Of course, in 20 years just about everything you can buy today will be outdated and/or worn out.  I remember all the dark cabinets and floors, all the texture of the 70’s.  In the 80’s we all wanted light, bright & sleek.  We’re back in the 70’s again.  I wonder if an updated version of mauve counter tops and simple glazed tiles will be the next thing.

So, if you are going to throw caution to the wind and go with something out of the ordinary, here is my advice:  Make the whole house work together.  Don’t do one room at a time without regard to how it relates to the rest of the house.  No 4 different types of flooring or anything way random like that.   There is a difference between an accent and being totally random.  It is okay to mix maybe a couple of different finishes, but buyers will think you didn’t have a plan if they see a kitchen that has brass hardware, nickel light fixtures & oil rubbed bronze fixtures.  The house will come across like you just went to Lowe’s and bought what was on clearance.  See, a buyer is walking through your whole house and in their mind, they don’t separate the rooms mentally like we all do once we actually live in a house. 

Well, I hope I’m not contradicting myself too much here.  I guess the bottom line is that playing it safe is fine….maybe a little boring, but fine.  Character is a gamble.  If you are only planning on being in your current place for only a few years, go safe.    If you want a house with character & will be there for a longer time, go for it.  Chances are what you pick will be outdated/worn out by the time you sell, and you’ll get to enjoy them while you live there.

Video tour of West Wind

by John Rice

Took the Miata out today and did a video tour of West Wind.  If you don’t know, West Wind is an upscale neighborhood inside of Hamburg.  What do I like about West Wind?  Well, it is right in the middle of Hamburg, so you have all the shops, restaurants and entertainment only a few minutes away.  Unlike most newer neighborhoods, it isn’t really that far out on the edge of town either.  Since they opened Star Shoot to Liberty Road, you can take Liberty Road to Winchester Road and be downtown pretty easily.  Any way…….here’s the video!

Saving my folks a few grand

by John Rice

Man, I’ve had a fantastic week.  I had a great family come into town to pick out a house.  It was another one of those marathon weekends, but I always have fun. I really saved these folks some money too.   See, they were willing to pay more for the house than they got it for.  They wouldn’t have been smiling as big, but they would have done it.

The other agent is somebody that I have a lot of respect for as a listing agent.  This person knows how to get things done, which is probably why they are so successful.  (Thought I’d better lay that out since I don’t want to come across otherwise.)

While I like this agent, the bottom line is that I’m not working for her, I’m in this for my folks.  They’re the ones trusting me to do my best for them.  We made an offer a little lower than what the comps showed the house to be  worth.  Then the agent and I talked about a range of where we’d both like to land.  The other agent came back with a number and said that was the sellers bottom number.  Like written in stone bottom number.  Knowing the personality of this agent, I knew she would want to wrap up the deal ASAP.  I had a theory that if I just moved slow and drug this out, that I might get a little more out of this for my folks if I was the one in control of the gas pedal.   I told her that I didn’t know if my folks would go for that.  Since it was getting late, I said I’d call them in the morning and let her know.  The agent reminded me that we were only a few thousand bucks apart.  I said that I thought the gap was enough to send my folks back to the thinking chair, and at which point they maaaaay just have to go with an identical model house around the corner that was $5k cheaper.  I also told her that the listing agent for that house had e-mailed me saying that the seller would buy new carpet for my folks and let them pick the color.  The agent was on the computer looking at that house before I got done…….which was pretty smart.  The agent was like, “John, that house has white cabinets and I have those nice cherry ones”.  I was like, “Well, a few thousand bucks covers a lot of negatives.  Plus white goes with anything.”   Then the agent started in about how little the gap would make in my peep’s mortgage.  It was about $18 a month.  I told the agent to convince the seller that if they would only add $18 to their next mortgage, they can sell their house tonight.  That worked, because about 20 minutes later I got a call that they would meet our price. 

So, I am feeling pretty good about going the extra mile for my folks.  They are only going to be here short-term.  If they had gone with the $18 a month logic, they still would have felt the price gap when it was time for them to sell.  I always say that now is not the time to overpay for a house!

I also had a great time working with this agent.  This person is high energy.  I totally respect that this agent was trying their hardest for her peeps.  I also always learn a lot when I am working with great agents, I just wish there were more of them out there.

Video Tour of Andover Hills

by John Rice

Here’s another video tour…….This time it is Andover Hills.  This is more of an area tour since everybody calls this whole area Andover Hills, even though the estate section of townhouse section have their own neighborhood associations and aren’t technically Andover Hills.

 Here is a little info about the area:

 1000  +/- homes, prices go from low $200’s to as much as $700,000ish.  Most of them are in the $225k-350k range.  Lots of golf course lots.

 Elementary school is Athens- Chilesburg (A.C.E.), Middle is Edythe J. Hayes and high school is Henry Clay.

 Close to Hamburg, Jacobson Park and the Interstate.

Can’t vs. Won’t

by John Rice

I’m in the middle of the worst part of all real estate deals…………Negotiating repairs after the inspection.  You see, all sellers think that they’ve lived in the house for x number of years, and the things the buyer wants fixed haven’t been a problem for them.  All buyer’s think they are inheriting the seller’s problem house.  Unless one party just totally does everything the other party wants, ain’t nobody really happy.   It is kind of the bummer part of being a realtor, since I want my peeps to be happy!

I’m in one right now where the other agent really needs to take a course on presentation and charm.  Maybe I’ll send him a link to this blog.  See, he told me, in great length, why the seller WON’T do a couple of repairs we asked for.  I don’t know about you, but when I hear WON’T, it makes me want to dig in my heals and push back. 

One of the repairs was over an issue in the backyard.  They had a major landscape company come in and do a koi pond and patio.  I think the reason for the WON’T was because they just couldn’t emotionally bring themselves to “Undo” the work they have done.  That being the case, if the other agent had just said something like “I’m really sorry, but after putting so much of themselves into creating that wonderful space, the seller’s simply CAN’T bring themselves to makes the changes your client wants.”  Isn’t that much better than hearing WON’T??  I mean, the bottom line is that they aren’t going to budge on that one, but getting it in a pill that is a little easier to swallow leaves us not wanting to push back.  

See, we aren’t done yet.  We haven’t accepted their  repairs.  We also have to get past the walk-thru.  Let me ask you this.  Don’t you think it would be easy to turn this into a battle to see who will win?  Wouldn’t you be tempted to get right up to the walk-thru, when the seller has a loaded U-Haul in the driveway, and then have an issue with how one of the repairs were done?   When one party comes across as unreasonable, it makes the other party want to be unreasonable too.  It takes a big person to not respond in that way.

In a real estate deal, both parties have a lot to walk through together.  If you’re the seller, remember that you only have one house to sell and the buyer can go out and pick any of them.  Remember that you want the buyer to find the house acceptable at the walk-thru.    Remember that the buyer has a little more control over the time/date of the closing than you do.  If you are the buyer, keep in mind that you did pick the seller’s house after seeing a bunch of other ones.  Also remember that the seller will be living in the house until you close.   See, both parties really need to keep the other one happy since each have a little control over the other. 

I tried to buy a house in Autumn Ridge a few years ago.  We really liked it.  The roof had hail damage, there was evidence of up to 6 inches of water having been in the crawlspace, and one of the furnaces wasn’t even working the day of inspection.  I put it all on the list, and didn’t really expect the seller to do much of it.  I had in mind the lowest point I would accept.  I could put in a sump pump,  the roof could go a few more years, but I really needed a working furnace.  I didn’t even ask for a brand new one, I just wanted it to work.  The seller wouldn’t do any of it, so I had to walk away.  I guess he felt like he won, but what did he gain?   He got to hang on to his vacant house that needed a new roof and furnace, and had a water problem in the crawlspace.   There was no real victory in that!

So, CAN’T is sooo much better than WON’T, even if the results are the same.  WON’T always comes across as aggressive.  CAN’T at least has a chance of getting some sympathy from the other party.  I don’t remember if it was my dad that told me about CAN’T and WON’T or if it was my old mentor Susan Webb.  Both of them are pretty fantastic, so I guess all that matters is that I learned it.