5 Things I Love About My New Listing

Today I am starting a new series called "5 Things".  I will feature five things that I love about some real estate topic, in this case my wonderful new listing in College Park, Maryland.  These 5 attributes of this particular home illustrate how small touches in a home can add to its overall appeal and how sellers can help prospective buyers feel "at home" as they tour through a house, even during their first visit. Also, these details are difficult to cover in a one page property brochure or the 400 characters we are given in the listing remarks section of our multiple listing service, so I wanted to share even more about this house in other creative ways.

1. On the left, I call this the Perfect Pantry. By adding simple white contact paper as part of their house sale preparation checklist, this pantry shines as tidy, useful, pleasant and convenient storage in the kitchen. For homes of this size and price point, this pantry is a gem.

2. On the right, just off the kitchen along the stairs to the basement, is even more storage. I adore built-ins and so do today's buyers! The previous owners added shelves to the old back door when they built an addition, and this extends handy space, too. Bonus: no perilous reaching; there's a landing right in front of these shelves.

3. Staying in the kitchen for another favorite thing, this 5 burner, stainless steel, gas range is as gorgeous in person as it is in this picture. Although the LeCreuset French oven does not convey with the house, of course all the appliances do. Upgraded kitchen appliances make such a huge difference to buyers today (call it an HGTV influence) and this beauty is joined in the kitchen by a French door refrigerator, a stainless steel dishwasher and the over-the-stove built in microwave (peeking in at the very top of my photo).

4. The crown molding and trimmed doorways in the dining room nicely frame the passages to kitchen and living room. They also give a polished, upgraded, lovely feel to the home.
 
5. An enclosed porch off the back of the house really does extend the living space since this one has outdoor carpeting, three full walls of glass windows with screens, lighting and a ceiling fan. This is a very pleasant spot to sit and relax and even dine, as there is room for a cafe table and chairs.

To summarize the 5 Things I Love About My New Listing:
1. Pantry
2. Built In Shelves
3. 5 Burner Range
4. Crown Molding
5. Enclosed Porch
 
Although I have not posted in a while, I think about blog topics constantly and have quite a few stored for the near future.  So stay tuned and be sure to follow or subscribe to my blog so you don't miss any useful and fun topics.

Dream Kitchens, My Kitchen

As a dedicated reader to the print versions of the Washington Post "Local Living" section on Thursdays and the "Real Estate" section on Saturdays (and yes I do still pour through the Real Estate open house ads on Sundays, in print, even though as a Realtor I have access to our local Multiple Listing Service directly), a couple weeks ago I enjoyed an article about the modern kitchen of 2013. It got me thinking about my own kitchen, aka the reason we bought our house. (OK, we actually bought our house for lots of reasons like its Tudor style, the wonderful location in the woods and close to my daughters' schools, the gorgeous original wood floors, the massive fireplaces that I adore, the laundry shoot, etc.; the kitchen was the reason we insisted on coming to the open house.) I thought the Post article was a little light on function and tilted toward style and while I love the look of my kitchen, I appreciate its layout and features even more.

Most days begin, after my first sips of coffee, with making my girls' lunches. Tucked at one end of the 7-1/2 ft center island is a shallow cabinet we call the lunch station. Note the lunch boxes, water bottles, small reusable storage containers and lunch utensils. Mealtimes are made easier by the pair of refrigerator drawers installed near the kitchen table. In these we keep beverages like milk and OJ, pop and beer, as well as bagels, bread, yogurts and sour cream.

The 36 inch, 6 burner Wolf dual-fuel stove is great for cooking, although the oven does take a while to preheat and there is only one oven space, so we did have to supplement with my beloved countertop Breville toaster convection oven (not shown). I should mention some style elements that are not as in vogue today yet I do like them personally - the dark soapstone counters (I am partial to the matte finish) and the slate backsplash. According to the Post article, rich cherry cabinets are still popular. My favorite part of our cabinetry is the convenient and ample storage it gives us. This particular set is next to the table again so we can store all our daily dishes for quick table setting and dishwasher unloading. The lower ones feature pull-out shelves too.

A buzz word in real estate today is Open Concept. Well that is two words. The previous owners who renovated the kitchen and dining room into its current configuration did eliminate one wall to create the single room and open the space to the living room. They also enhanced the pass-through to the back addition (done by the previous previous owners). We use this space as a dining room plus sun room including music space, so we enjoy hearing our fourth grader play the clarinet and love it every single time we pass food and then dirty dishes through this window.

So those are the highlights of my dream kitchen, which also happens to be our actual kitchen. Kitchens are a central and important feature of any home so buying a home with a renovated kitchen or one with hopes of renovating yourself (like some current buyer clients of mine) is something I discuss with buyers almost every day. What works well in your dream kitchen? And how can I help you find or build it?