Today is the one-and-a-half-year anniversary for William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and for my family's move into our home in Bethesda. To commemorate both occasions, I bought a handmade Emma Bridgewater Royal Wedding mug last year. Because we had sold our house one day before buying our new home, we were homeless for a day. Our generous friends Nick and Carrie let all four of us plus our two cats stay with them for that night. The Royal Wedding coverage started in the US at 5:30am ET on Friday, April 29, 2011, so Carrrie and I awoke before dawn to watch the ceremony. It is no coincidence that Carrie is the one who started my Emma Bridgewater collection and that we were watching the festivities together.
This is the mug I use every Friday for my morning coffee. I derive simple pleasures from the feel of the mug in my hand, that continued joy of home ownership, and the few moments of peace before the busy-ness of life.
I feel lucky every day that I wake up in my beautiful home, with its Tudor charm, gourmet kitchen, and cozy sunroom. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to help other buyers find their dream home, too.
In a new occasional feature, maybe to become a side bar on this blog or to stay as brief posts, I will share a Quote of the Day. Sources will vary. Additional commentary is optional.
The first QOTD was printed on the top of my Franklin Covey day planner for the week of July 30 to August 5, 2012.
Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing.
-Harriet Braiker
Ponder this in the context of a new home search. There is no such thing as a perfect house. Rather, one can strive and hope to find the most excellent home that meets the highest percentage of your needs and wants.
There is an interior designer somewhere who is going to see this photo and think, "Bare light bulbs hanging from a sconce electrical connection, brilliant!" Well, this presupposes that any interior designers actually read my little blog and that they have a unique perspective on design.
Sadly, we have had bare bulbs hanging over our non-existent mantel for longer than I care to admit (think last winter). The light they emit does produce an almost blinding amount of light (dimmer to follow). We just have not had the time, or funds, or decision-making capacity to select actual sconces, buy them, and install them.
When we bought our house in Woodhaven, it included an imposing wooden mantel piece which extended to the ceiling and about 12 inches out from the stone surround. We removed it (well, my friend Pieter did) and discovered a plaster disaster plus two outlet covers. Whoo hoo - possible light!
The electricians connected the sockets to a light switch by the front door. To test the wiring, they "installed" these bulbs; everything is safe with no exposed wires. They don't even match: one, as shown, in its modern efficient glory, and the other, old-fashioned and pear-shaped.
Sometimes it takes a while to figure out what you want to do in your home. As I real estate agent, I care about these "staying" decisions as much as what you should do to prep your house for sale and how to choose the best home to buy. I thought I'd share a personal example of how I can appreciate that these types of home renovation decisions are not always easy.
I'll post later once we get the sconces, and paint, and add a mantel.
Recently one of my colleagues likened the final 7-10 days before the closing on a real estate contract to "being in the red zone." For those not familiar with football of the American variety, the red zone is the twenty yards before the goal line. NFL teams are ranked on their effectiveness in the red zone by percentages of touchdowns and field goals scored. This is equivalent to "closing the deal" in real estate.
When I started pondering this analogy further, I debated with myself about whether there actually are offense and defense in real estate. Occasionally as an agent, one may feel on the defensive, to protect their client's best interests. However, the period of time from agreement and signature on a ratified sales contract to the settlement table where parties transfer ownership of real property is one of mutual interest. Both sides of the transaction, the buyers and the sellers along with their respective agents, want to get to closing (while still maintaining confidentiality and the best interests of their clients). They share that goal.
Perhaps a better football comparison is the 2 minute warning. Let's consider the game clock to be the limiting factor and the whole team is working to get to the closing deadline with all issues resolved, all the money available, and the property in the condition as previously agreed in the contract. In both analogies, here is a goal and a time constraint (the number of downs or the clock).
Either way, this period leading up to settlement is busy. Real estate agents, settlement coordinators, lenders, inspectors, and other professionals are solving problems, answering questions, working together in the best interest of their clients to reach the goal line.
I use three-page checklists as a guide through the period from contract to closing. This organized process helps me be particularly effective in the red zone of real estate.
What's with all these sports posts and sports-related analogies? This is supposed to be a blog about house and home (and occasionally gardening). Well, I love sports. And other topics.
And so sometimes I might just be inspired to write about the Washington Nationals who won game 4 of the NLDS last night with a walk-off home run crushed by Jayson Werth into the left field visitors' bullpen at the end of a stubborn 13-pitch at-bat. I only heard it live on the radio as I was driving my older daughter and two of her teammates home from softball practice last night. I believe one of her friends had a brief heart palpitation because of my cheering in the car.
Wish I had been there. Happy for all my friends and other loyal Nats' fans who were actually there (especially those who came back after the tough loss the previous night). It is cool to witness the excitement that sports teams can bring to our whole metropolitan DC region.
Another shout-out to the Os who won in 13 innings in NY. My nephew loves the Baltimore Orioles so I'm sure he was happy when he woke up for school this morning. Local sports teams can bring people together and as I've said before, they help create that sense of place, of home. I will be cheering for the home team tonight. Go Nats!
Real estate is real. That is one of the reasons I have enjoyed real estate for so many years: you can touch it, visit it, improve it, paint it, and of course, live in it. Real estate is not some intangible investment for which you might get a paper proving ownership. Particularly for your primary residence, but even for investment properties like rentals or second homes, you don't just know about it once a month when you get a statement from your financial institution. To me, this all defines real.
It is worth understanding, I think, a few key terms with respect to real estate.
1. Land: The concept of owning land might seem obvious, but when you own land, you typically own not only the surface of the earth's crust but the soil and other minerals and materials from the outline of your land down to the center of the earth. You also own the air rights going straight up into the sky above your land. It gets a little more complicated if you or a previous owner has assigned some of the rights to those minerals or soil or the airspace above your land through an easement. But that is more Real Estate 201 than 101. What this means generally is that, subject to local laws and regulations, you can build things upon, or improve, your land and you can grow things in that land and you can use the space above your land.
2. Real Estate: Real estate includes your land as well as any improvements or other human-made physical additions. Improvements include homes, sheds, garages, sidewalks, driveways, paths, sewer lines, and the like. Note that not all improvements allow exclusive right of use (like sidewalks and sewers), but if those are on your property, they are part of your real estate.
3. Real Property: Now it gets even more interesting, because real property includes land plus improvements plus your bundle of legal rights to the real estate. The nuances of these bundles of rights morph into Real Estate 301, but it is useful to know what they are at their core.
A. right of possession
B. right to control the property within the framework of the law (e.g., the right to forbid use of your property)
C. right of quiet enjoyment (meaning, to use it legally)
D. right of exclusion (to restrict access through installation of a fence)
E. right of disposition, to sell, will, transfer, or otherwise dispose of or encumber (restrict) your property
I am happy to explain any of these concepts in detail upon request.
Teddy wins! This only means something to you if you, A) live in the DC area; or B) follow the Washington Nationals, which for the most part you'd only do if A) also applies. The Nats have been bad, really really bad, from their first season in DC in 2005 until 2011. This 2012 season is another story of course. Today is the last day of the regular season and the Nats recently clinched their NL East division title and are playing today for the top seed in the entire National League.
So why am I writing about a baseball team in a blog about real estate? Well, following a sports team, and I think in particular a baseball team given the lengthy MLB season and all the little details in this game that only a local newspaper bothers to cover, is a uniquely local occurrence. This is not to say that someone can't live in Maryland and be a dedicated fan of the Green Bay Packers, for example, but many people follow sports teams that they either grew up with or adopted in their adult homeland.
Characteristics of a place, such as sports teams (whether long-suffering or dominant for a decade), local cuisine, weather patterns, and hobbies and other interests based on proximity to attractions and outdoor features, factor into decisions about where people choose to live. They also draw us together to create a broader sense of community and home. Home is your residence and it is your home town. Let me know how I can help you find your next home.
And go Nats!
I went to a realtor event last week on development efforts in Southwest DC. Traditionally called Waterfront (because it is on the water, and that is the name of its closest Metro station), this area is the smallest quadrant of DC. It is slotted between the Potomac River, South Capital Street, a sliver of the Anacostia River, and the Mall to the North. It boasts the oldest fish market in the US (yes, even older than Pike's Place in Seattle). From SW DC rooftops, one has stunning views of the DC monuments and skyline and, of course, water.
New public and private development is afoot. A new concert hall, condos, apartments (including uber-efficiency units for minimalists), shopping of all varieties (think livability shopping like drug stores, grocers, dry cleaners, plus destination retail), office buildings, mixed use like churches with apartments attached, green space, walkable corridors, bike share, streetcars, the list goes on. There is a tremendous focus on sustainable development, LEED certification for both commercial and residential buildings, and multi-modal transportation and transit options built into the plans.
You heard it here first (well, at least that's my claim). Look to SW DC in the very near future as the place to be hip, before the word spreads. Give me call if you need help finding a rental or if you want to be notified when new properties go on the market in this area.
Everyone's vision of home is unique. What works for you might not work for your best friend or your sister or your neighbor, or even for that person you see walking through the same open house as you are. And home is something that really does conjure up an image in one's mind. Buying a home is often the most expensive purchase people make in their lives and although it is an investment, it is filled with emotion. Because of this concept of home.
As a real estate agent, I help buyer clients find a home. And I help provide guidance, data, and even some reasons they might not want to buy, to help confirm if they do want to actually put pen to paper and write an offer on a house.
I recently re-read "The Hobbit". Immediately on the first page, I was struck by images of home. Home for a hobbit, of course, may be different than home for you. But I wanted to share a long quote to help expand your idea of home and help illustrate this concept that home creates a vision, an image, a picture. As a buyer's agent, it is helpful if my buyer clients can help paint their picture of home for me. It helps us work together as a team to find the house that will become their home.
In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, ... it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort. It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats - the hobbit was fond of visitors. ... The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were teh only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river.
The emotion of home comes back to Bilbo Baggins frequently during his adventures. Give me a call or email if I can help you articulate, then find, your next home.
