Sandra’s Story

A couple of weeks ago, an excited and enthusiastic art teacher named Sandra viewed a house in Tempe that she was very interested in buying. It was in the mature neighborhood she always wanted, it was the right size, and one of the bedrooms had a wall of windows with the perfect exposure. It would give her the light she needed to paint her still-life’s. On the down side, the property was older.  The A/C and bathrooms were new, but the kitchen would need a complete overhaul including new cabinets, counters, plumbing and appliances. The house was priced lower than many others in the area of the same age and square footage, but did that mean it was a good deal? Sandra worked with her Realtor and tried to put together a good offer, but realized she couldn’t do that without knowing what the true cost of the completed house would be. What would a new kitchen cost? How long would it take? She called a few contractors but they couldn’t really help her. They would need to come out to the house and take measurements, Sandra had to decide what the materials would be, and the price would only be good for 30 days. Sandra’s agent told her that her sister had just remodeled her Kitchen and she spent $46000, and that the work took 4 months to complete. Since this new kitchen would be much smaller and the price point of the house was much lower, Sandra could probably get away with spending $28000, and it would probably take 3 months. Sandra’s Realtor, trying to be helpful, made her best guess. The problem was that at an additional $28000, and 3 months without a kitchen, the house wasn’t such a good deal anymore. The perfect natural light in that bedroom began to fade. Sandra made a few more half-hearted attempts to make the numbers work, but that $28000 had spoiled the energy in the deal.  Sandra decided to stay put in her condo.

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[SinglePic not found] You mark the date on the calendar with a big Red X. It will be the party of the year, all the people you care about will be their, the food will be catered by your favorite restaurant, there may even be a band. You have the baby-sitter all set up, your clothes are back from the dry-cleaner on time, your hair turns out perfect. You get to the party and everything is just as you imagined except for one thing….you have a horrible time and you don’t know why.  Has this ever happened to you? Have you dreaded an experience only to find out that it wasn’t so bad? Why do Rock stars kill themselves? Why, more often than not do lottery winners end up worse off than before they won the Megabucks? It’s about your focus, your internal dialogue, and what you decide things mean. It’s also about triggers. A color, a phrase, a taste. Especially a smell. These triggers can change your mood, your experience, your perception of what you are seeing and experiencing means. They can change your mood completely and you won’t know why.  You and your family will spend more time at home than anywhere else on the planet. Whether you know it or not, your kitchen, your bedroom, your backyard can set the tempo, mood and perspective for the way you will view your day…week……year……….life.

Over the next few blogs we can explore this and try to figure out why some mornings we pull out of the garage whistling and other mornings we don’t want to get out of bed… and how our house can make all of the difference.

Interested?  Leave me a Comment and let me know.

[SinglePic not found]We are living in Unique times, and with the Unique challenges we face, there are also Unique opportunities. While we can’t control the real estate or financial markets, we have the choice to create a beautiful and exciting home in which to weather the storm. Thinking about selling in the next few years? You’ll have stiff competition and your home will need to be the most it can be. This down time is a great time to remodel and renovate. Your dollar has never had more buying power!