Are you a YAY Sayer or a NAY Sayer?
When looking for the "right home" do you find what will work for you, or do you look for what's wrong? There's no perfect home, just like there's no perfect weather system, view, or food group ... does this make sense? How you approach your home purchasing experience speaks volumes as to how you move through this process in terms of what homes you're willing to view with an open attitude. Are you a YAY or a NAY? How you visualize opportunity and your ability to embrace a home will help you in making your next home really special, and your own!
For example: Is the kitchen full of light or does it have old appliances? Does the home have soaring ceilings, a cozy den with a fireplace YAY! Does it lack a three-car garage? NAY! Are the old furnace and worn door jambs worth giving up those manicured gardens and gorgeous views of Mt. Rainer? If you find a perfectly peaceful, charming home with no road noise and the privacy you've been looking for, do you write a contract even though it's not on city sewer? OR ... you've driven by a home for years and said to your significant other, "If that home EVER comes on the market, I want to buy it!" Lucky you! The home goes on the market, and you don't make an offer ... the reason? The idea was the dream not the reality. You can see where this is going ...
If you're looking for the perfect home or trying to broaden your expectations, what do you really want for an enjoyable living situation? Whether you live alone, have a partner, family, aging parents, need a yard for pets, there are myriad combinations and living circumstances. As a buyer, we want what we want; we usually only need a few must-haves. Is it a main floor primary bedroom and a small guest room, raised beds for growing vegetables, or a view of the water? Sometimes we turn our house hunting into a problem-solving, lifetime venture. It helps to put a list together of what matters and share our list with the other members of our home hunting team. Ask your "team members" to also make a list and align your "wants and needs" in a way that builds the process and takes the stress away. We tend to be driven by what we're told: We need a perfect home instead of what we actually know will work for us.
Here's an example: Do you need 4 bedrooms, a large media room, a 3-car garage? Or, is a well-built home on a special, flat, sunny lot worth a few sacrifices? If you find a home that is a bit tired and needs a little TLC and you're convinced you can make it your own over a period of time, will that satisfy you enough to forgo a bonus room? If you love the neighborhood and the home is missing an extra bedroom, can you make it work? Put on your inner YAY Sayer.
The market continues to increase in price and the inventory is not on a buyer's side. Taking that into account, if you like your home, keep it. If you feel it's time to downsize, move to another location or state, do what makes sense. If your grocery list has milk and bread on it, do you come home with pizza and beer? (This is exactly why I don't send my husband to do the grocery shopping…however, his abilities in real estate selection are impeccable!)
Be well, live happily, and seek the YAYs in life!
My recently sold homes
Clockwise from top left: MLS#1838068, MLS#1810134, MLS#1817756, MLS#1805862
Bainbridge Island real estate over the past 30 days
18 active residential listings High $2,298,000 Median $1,044,000 Low $312,000, Average days on market 18
27 pending residential listings High $3,294,000 Median $1,050,000 Low $149,000, Average days on market 27
51 sold residential listings High $3,400,000 Median $1,106,000 Low $51,000, Average days on market 17
3 active vacant land listings High $950,000, Median $575,000 Low 305,000, Average days on market 51
4 pending vacant land listings High $875,000 Median $125,000 Low $95,000, Average days on market 10
7 sold vacant land listings High $1,375,000 Median $350,000 Low $85,000, Average days on market 42