Bidding wars: they’re baaaack

Remember when sellers ruled the market, causing buyers to try and outbid each other for the best homes?

After several years of buyer supremacy, the bidding wars are back.

Today buyers must strategize to make the most attractive offer on the ”hot” homes. One strategy I’ve used for some time–perhaps left over from the day when agents actually presented their client’s offer in person–is the personal letter.

This WSJ article does a great job of covering the winning letter and explaining why it’s made a comeback.

Why Asheville rocks

Asheville, NC: our beautiful mountain neighbor

Do you like the Carolina mountains? What about mountain river towns? How about awesome craft beer and mead? BBQ that’ll knock yer socks off? An arts scene like nowhere else? Then Asheville, just 250 miles west of Raleigh, is your kind of place!

Outdoor magazine put Asheville on its prestigious list of “Best Towns”–and if you’ve ever been there, you know why. Check it out!

(Check out a local Asheville honey wine maker, Fox Hill Meadery. A friend of a friend is the owner of this growing family-owned business.)

Campout! Carolina this weekend

Campout! Carolina is October 12-14

Ever wanted to turn your backyard into a wilderness campsite?

This weekend, October 12-14, is EarthShare North Carolina’s 6th annual “Campout! Carolina” event, where you can show your support for the environment just by camping somewhere… even your own backyard!

(Oh, and there are some cool prizes you can win too. REI in Cary is donating gear.)

Register/learn more at campoutcarolina.org. Get out there and enjoy our beautiful autumn weather!

Tell a friend: move to Raleigh

Ever been on the phone with a friend who lives far away and heard yourself waxing poetic about life in Raleigh, wishing your friend would take the hint and move closer? Have I got a web link for you…

The Raleigh Relocation Guide has all the ammunition you need (and more) to get your friends and family to start packing boxes!

Here are just a few of the awesome facts about life in Raleigh:

• Considered a top place to live/work/play by residents as well as national magazine surveys
• Diverse economy, affordable housing, and low unemployment rate
• One of the top public school systems in the country
• Thriving arts and music scene
• Nearby Research Triangle Park, world-renowned for work in biotechnology, telecommunications, and computer hardware/software
• Home to one of the finest research universities in the country (and adjacent to two more)

As the guide says, “There is no better place to live and work than Raleigh. And the friendly people of this Southern town with an international touch will welcome you with open arms.”

(Psssst… Don’t forget to hook your friends up with Breeze Realty when it’s time to buy a home!)

Right-size your home for better living

Varied ceiling heights create a sense of shelter over the bed and the window seat — details that make a house more personal.

Are there rooms in your home that you hardly ever use? Would more vertical storage and less total floor space give you that cozy cottage feeling you’ve been craving? Are you spending way too much on utilities during these hot summer months? Then maybe you should consider scaling back to a smaller home–an increasingly popular trend during a rocky economy.

Benefits of a smaller, downsized home can include:

• lower mortgage payments
• lower property taxes and utility bills
• spending less money on decorating
• spending less time on housekeeping, yard work, and other household chores
• reducing some of the stress that comes with maintaining a larger home

Two women ahead of this trend are Deryl Patterson, owner of the Jacksonville, Fla.-based architecture and planning firm BSB Design, and Raleigh’s own Sarah Susanka, FAIA, owner of Susanka Studios and author of “The Not So Big House” book series and “The Not So Big Life.”

Patterson takes an individualized approach to designing the right home, taking a home-buyer’s lifestyle into consideration. “To effectively downsize,” she says, “you must furnish the floor plan so the buyer can understand how it lives and performs. Women often get this better than men. Women also understand what not to downsize — like kitchens and storage.”

Susanka’s right-sizing approach to house design is as applicable to remodeling as it is to new construction, and it can be applied to homes of any price and size. “A not-so-big house is also a sustainably and energy efficiently designed home,” she says. “That is one of the core principles behind ‘Not So Big.’ In the long run, that somewhat smaller but better designed house of your dreams will become the best investment for the future.”

If this is something you’re ready to get serious about, call me so we can look for the right home to remodel or hook you up with the right builder to design your dream right-sized home!

Adapted/excerpted from National Association of Home Builders online, 
“A House ‘Built for Me’ — Consumers Beginning to Drive Right-Sizing Trend”

Why eat local?

(image from Slow Food USA)

After Earth Day last month, a lot of us are feeling newly motivated to do our part to help the environment. You could plant tomatoes in your backyard, grow herbs in your kitchen, or join a community garden. You could also try “eating local.”

You’ve probably heard about it in the media–organic farming, locally sourced foods, slow food (a global movement linking the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment).

So what are the benefits of eating organic, locally sourced food, and why should you care?

1. Heavily processed food is not healthy, neither for the people who consume it nor for the environment.
2. Eating local helps the local economy. Buying food grown locally (within a 100-mile radius) keeps $0.80-$0.90 of every dollar in our community.
3. Add more variety to your diet while sampling new cuisine. Try creatively prepared local organic foods at restaurants, including Zely and Ritz just a block from my office. (Stay tuned for news about an upcoming Breeze Realty event at Zely and Ritz!)
4. The fresher the food, the better it tastes. Lettuce picked fresh this morning for sale at a local farmers market (or grown in your own garden) hasn’t been treated with chemicals to help it survive a long journey across the country or around the world.
5. Local farmers love to share what they know. You can learn everything there is to know about where your food comes from, and how to grow some of it in your own backyard, by asking questions at the farmers market.

(Adapted from EatLocalTriangle.org)

Interested in learning more? You can find a bunch of great info about slow and local foods at Slow Food Triangle.

Where to start with a fixer-upper

Mary Dionne (left) and kitchen designer Ruth Ann Taylor in Mary's new kitchen

Breeze Realty client Mary Dionne was looking for her perfect home, but what she found was a great mid-century house that needed a few changes to fully suit her needs. While some might find a home renovation project daunting, especially when it involves hiring contractors, Mary was inspired to build her dream kitchen. The results are beautiful and functional, plus they add value to her home. Here’s Mary, in her own words.

Breeze Realty (BR): Why did you decide to renovate your kitchen?

Mary: I bought a 1957 ranch in a lovely inside-the-Beltline neighborhood. I am the same age as the house, and we both needed a renovation. The kitchen was tiny, positioned incorrectly in the space, and tired-looking.

BR: How did the kitchen designer aid in the process, and would you recommend using one?

Mary: I had a talented, reasonably priced, well-credentialed, and PATIENT kitchen designer. Ruth Ann Taylor, CKD, CBD, is with Cassedy and Fahrbach Design Partners. Ruth Ann helped me with creating better placement for the kitchen by relocating it to an adjacent room. This unified the kitchen with the living and casual dining space to create a great open area for entertaining. The kitchen itself is also beautiful and functional. There is appropriate and plentiful storage in all the right places.

BR: What was the biggest lesson you learned about choosing a contractor?

Mary: Ask a lot of questions, and use all the resources available to you. Even though the local municipality inspects the work, hire a home inspector to ensure that the work is to code and according to the architect’s or engineer’s building specifications. Also, do not order the kitchen cabinetry until the door openings, framing, and windows are placed. When checking the contractor’s references, be sure to ask the following questions:

• Did the contractor meet deadlines and stay on budget?
• Was the contractor prompt and courteous?
• How did the contractor handle stress on the job site?
• Who were the subcontractors, and were you satisfied with their work?
• How much time did the contractor spend onsite, and what was the contractor’s role in monitoring work quality?
• Did the contractor provide lien waivers from the contractor and all subcontractors?
• If you decided to hire the contractor for time and materials, how did the contractor handle unexpected expenses related to building errors by the subcontractors?

BR: How have you used your new space?

Mary: PARTY, PARTY, PARTY! Since I am new to Raleigh, the kitchen has been the perfect backdrop to entertain my new friends and neighbors. I had a large potluck with 70 neighbors, bunco, and lots of other impromptu dinner parties.

BR: Tell us about your favorite feature and the best outcome.

Mary: That is hard to pick just one. So I’ll give you two. (1) I have an 8-foot Carrara marble island that is the focal point and gathering place whether it is just me or a houseful of guests. (2) Before I made an offer on this house, I almost bought a home in Five Points, and it had a gorgeous butler’s pantry. With the existing open bookcase, we were able to modify it to be an almost perfect replica of the one at the Five Points house.

BR: Is there anything unexpected you learned in the process?

Mary: Always keep your mind open to alternative uses for what is there already. The open bookcase is an example of that. Additionally I reused brick from where we enlarged the windows to build a table out of the brick steps that were no longer needed.

BR Postscript: Look for a follow-up conversation with Mary soon… One of her dinner parties was featured in a News & Observer article!