north lexington

Negotiating is a lot like playing poker

by John Rice

When I was a little kid, my dad had this old set of poker chips. There were red, white and blue ones built into a little round thing with a handle on top. I remember playing poker as a pre-teen with my friends. I also remember winning a lot. I didn’t do it by bluffing or anything that actually had anything to do with the game itself. What I got good at was studying my friends. It’s pretty darn easy to win when you can tell if your pals have a good hand or not. My dad always told me I was pretty good at reading people and seeing their motives. That has been a useful skill in my career as a realtor. 

I remember a sale many years ago with a great realtor. He did everything he should have done. My clue about the buyer’s motivation was the closing date.  It was the Friday before school started back after Christmas break. Sure, most real estate deals close on a Friday. What made this one stand out to me was how soon it was. Not the usual 30-45 days out. This one was just about 2.5 weeks out. So, I hit Facebook, and sure enough there was a person with the same name with school aged kids who lived in the same surrounding town that was on the check for the earnest money. I also knew that most seller’s wouldn’t want to be moving out of their home the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. We stood firm and got our price.

I had another deal like that. My listing was in the only neighborhood in its price range to have the very desirable school district that it did. We got an offer so low that we didn’t even counter. The buyer’s realtor told us the reason for the low offer was due to the perceived poor condition of the house. I figured they must really want to be in this school district. I mean, there were tons of new/newer houses within walking distance of this one, but they were in a different school district. I don’t know why somebody would pick a house they didn’t like that much when they can get a better house for the same money. It had to be school district. I went online to see what all choices this buyer had in that school district. The only other house was one with a crazy steep driveway…….so I knew we could hold firm to our price. We did and we got it, despite the other realtor’s great effort to get it for less.

From the lines of that old Kenny Rogers song, “You gotta know when to hold ’em.  Know when to fold ’em.  Know when to walk away.  Know when to run.”

Happy 20th Realtor Anniversary to me!

by John Rice

This month marks my 20th year as a Realtor.

I had always wanted to be in real estate. I wanted to do it all. I wanted to be a Realtor, renovate houses, be a landlord and build houses. I have done all of those other than building a house. Guess there is still time.

When I was in high school, one of my favorite things to do was skip school and drive around neighborhoods all over town. I got to where I knew most every street. One day a friend of mine and I were talking about where something was and I started naming streets and talking about the area. He said I was quite “The LEXpert.” Thank you Bo List. I had no idea that one day I would trademark that name for my brokerage.

Many other realtors back then didn’t think I would make it. Why? I did not want to waste my time doing the old school versions of making Tiktok reels, which were mailing people stuff throughout the year like UK sports schedules, calendars and junk to remind them you are a realtor. I remember saying that if my clients didn’t remember me when it came time to buy or sell, or when their friends or family asked for a recommendation, then I didn’t deserve to be remembered. Guess it worked since I rarely have a client who hasn’t used me before or hasn’t been sent by somebody who has.

Those early years were fun. Everything was an adventure and new. I sure learned a lot about myself, others, houses, mortgages, title work and about everything else a good realtor needs to know about.

I’ve been told I should write a book someday about my adventures. Maybe I will. I could go on and on about many of them here but I’ll save you the time. I’ve been stuck in an elevator, opened doors in houses and found people asleep, I’ve chased pets that have escaped, I’ve been chased by pets, my car has been keyed while showing a house, and I once found a naked guy playing guitar in a house that was supposed to be vacant. Sound like a book you might buy?

I could not have gotten here without a whole lot of people. Clearly my parents are at the top of that list. My wife put up with me being gone many evenings over the years and always having to reply to calls/texts during every vacation we have ever been on since I got my real estate license. Many friends would watch my two sons when they were young so I could go show houses when my wife was at work….the Ponders, the Boyds, The Davises, The Jones, The Leahys, Amanda Brady. I have Kris Vanzant and the whole Vanzant family to thank for giving a loud and obnoxious guy in shorts and sandals a chance to work with them and learn from their real estate wisdom. I also have my best friend Shaun Ring to thank. He is the one who said back in about 2009 that I should do this new thing called blogging. He has also said I should have a podcast, but nah. He is a realtor who got into this about the same time I did so Happy 20th Anniversary to him as well. His first sale was my first listing. It has been a great 20 years with him. And then there is you. I reckon if you are reading this, you are a friend, client or just somebody who cares enough to get this far into this post.

I will be a very old man 20 years from now. I plan on still being here though to write a little about what the next 20 years holds for me.

The best place I have ever lived

by John Rice

HK for blog

 

Of all the places I have ever lived, this house was my favorite.

Somebody once told me that people either are moving away from pain or moving towards pleasure.

We were definitely moving from pain.  We were miserable at our old house due to two neighbors.  One held poker games several nights a week.  40-50 guys gambling and drinking until the middle of the night was going to eventually erupt into something scary.  The other problem neighbor was an animal hoarder who kept multiple dogs outside 24/7.

We had a contract to build a brand new house.  Then it turned out that the Army Corp of Engineers had not issued a required permit the developer needed.

My wife told me I had better find her a house fast!

I had shown the house we eventually bought to another client.  It didn’t really impress me.

The price had just been reduced so I told my wife we could go see this place but I had been in it and didn’t think she would like it.

She did though.

I wasn’t too excited about it, but it was better than where we were living.  We bought it on my oldest son’s birthday.  I remember having to leave his party early to go drop off the signed contract to the listing agent.  This was a few years before we all used electronic signatures.  Today, I would have been out in the backyard with he and all his friends doing it from my phone.

We moved in.  I woke up the next morning and it felt so good to have all the natural light flooding the two story foyer.    It also felt good being on a dead end street.  And knowing my boys were safe.

We had no idea what an awesome time was ahead of us.

There were lots of boys the same age as our two.  A family across the street was in the same magnet program our boys were in.  We carpooled a lot.  We didn’t realize it when we bought the place, but it was just down the road from my oldest son’s best friend.  My wife’s roommate from college lived about 200 feet down the road too.

It just felt like home.  We knew our neighbors.  Everybody was friendly.  Our kids and all the other boys could play outside.  The floor plan really worked well too.

It was…….perfect.

This is what I hope to find for all of my clients.  It feels really good when you touch base with somebody after they have moved in and they tell you they are loving everything about their new home.

 

Best undervalued neighborhood in town

by John Rice

My first new car was a 1996 Geo Prizm.  Green.  Because green was a hot color for everything in the mid 90s.  We bought it because it was mechanically the same thing as a Toyota Corolla.  General Motors and Toyota had a joint plant back then in California where they produced the Geo Prizm and U.S. market Toyota Corollas.

They were the same car, only the Prizm was cheaper.  Few people knew that you were essentially getting a Toyota Corolla for less that what a Toyota Corolla cost.

Neighborhoods can be like that too.

If you are the type to have picked the Geo Prizm over the Toyota Corolla, then you should check out Old Paris Place.

This is a Ball Homes neighborhood.  It has the same model houses as any other Ball Homes neighborhood, only they are cheaper than you will find in other neighborhoods like Masterson Station.

If you are looking in the $125-160k range, this neighborhood should be on your radar.  The same houses will cost you $140-175k in other similar neighborhoods.

Here is what I like about it:

  1.  You are close to the interstate if you need it.  Close to Hamburg too.  Close to all the cool things on the north end of downtown.  And not a terrible drive to the south end of town either.  My kid’s school is very close to Old Paris Place.  I remember rushing to pick them up from a house I was renovating waaaaay out Harrodsburg Road.  It mentally felt like I was super far away, but I would hop on New Circle at Harrodsburg Rd and before you knew it, I was turning left on Old Paris Pike.
  2. You are closer to restaurants, banks, gas stations and grocery stores than you would be if you lived in Masterson Station and paid more for your house.  You’re 10-15 minutes away from Hamburg too.
  3. Several of the lots back to a wooded area owned by the HOA.  Many back to two farms.
  4. I have had a couple of clients live in this neighborhood and have met several other residents.  All say it is a friendly place to live.

Right now,  this neighborhood is a little undervalued.  Most people wanting a 10-15 year old home in this price range default to Masterson Station for their search, just like most car shoppers knew about the Toyota Corolla but not the Geo Prizm.

 

My crystal ball was clear that day

by John Rice

In the long-range, Lexington will eventually use all of its available land.  When that happens I think we’ll start to see a huge price difference between Lexington and the surrounding towns.  When the land becomes that valuable, we’ll see a lot of what are now cheap areas redeveloped.

That is what I said 7 years ago yesterday and it is happening.  I know this thanks to Facebook’s “On this Day” feature.  Besides being reminded that I had sushi for lunch with my wife on February 4th in 2013, I found an old blog post that was mainly about downtown.

All this is happening because there practically is no affordable housing in Lexington.  Builders have given up on the first time buyer market because the land costs them so much.  Why would they use their expensive land to build small/plain houses when there is so much money to be made building expensive/upscale houses?

We have practically built out to the urban service area……..aka the city limits.  There are few big tracts of land for the big builders to obtain.

That has forced buyers and investors into areas that 10 years ago were undesirable.  Downtown is a prime example because that is where the cheap land is….or was?

The Distillery District, between the time it was actually distilleries and trendy businesses, sat empty and was mostly industrial businesses and junkyards.  There were probably more rats than people down there on any given day back then.

The Newtown Pike extension is connecting Main Street to South Broadway right through a really depressing area of Lexington that few people ever knew existed.  Meanwhile, all the old tobacco warehouses along South Broadway are gone with apartments and businesses taking their place.

Then there is all the activity on the north end of downtown.  Jefferson Street.  NoLi. Midland Avenue.  Cool restaurants, bars and old housing stock.

Heck, even Cardinal Valley and many north end neighborhoods are becoming an acceptable location to young first times buyers with a tight budget wanting to live in this expensive town.

Many people will think all this is happening because people want to return to the urban core.  Lexington isn’t big enough to have true suburbs.  Plus, you can get to downtown from any where in any traffic within 30 minutes.   So I don’t think that is the main reason.  I think the reason is because infill projects and fixing up cheap houses are the only options for a town that is always growing and has run out of space.