We did it

Wow it has been more than 2 years since my last entry, and quite a LOT has happened. To explain, in the autumn of 2010 I was approached by my former employer, Jones Lang LaSalle, about a potential job opportunity. With children in full time school, and 8 years of stay-homed-ness behind me, it seemed to be an offer I couldn’t refuse. So on December 6, 2010, I boarded Metro-North and began my journey back to me. Employment, with all of its “advantages”, brought more income to our household, and a renewed interest in doing something (ANYTHING) with our house to make it work better for us. We contacted our architect and began the ball rolling again. Hubby got to work on the plan – we had realized that while our architect could be useful, no one was better to put our ideas to paper than…us. Plus, I am living with a somewhat frustrated would-be- but non-engineer, so it made him happy. We would face a few challenges along the way – the floor area ratio in our neighborhood is severely limited, and all “above ground” space (including the garage) is included in the calculation. For a house like ours with a gloriously large garage, this is a down side. It meant that we were limited to the number of square feet we could add to the home (less than 500) without a variance from the city. This was mostly a challenge because in order to add square footage to the main living areas, it must be added to the downstairs as well. We applied for a 13% variance and were granted the same, thank goodness. During our planning phase, we talked about what was important to us: 4th bedroom, powder room for guests (so they would not have to share with our fast-approaching-teenagerhood daughters), new full bath for the girls, larger master bedroom, walk-in closet and bath, decent sized dining room (as opposed to the 9’ x11’ original), and a kitchen/family room on the main level. We decided that having more substantial sized rooms would be more important than the number of rooms. And that is how we ended up with a 30’ x 18.5' kitchen! Over the next few entries, I will reveal how we transformed our modest raised ranch to a sizeable home that flows beautifully for entertaining, has the right amount of “WOW” factor for our tastes, and feels more than ever like the house we have always dreamt of. Construction began in April. Our contractor (whom we LOVE) recognized our need/desire to stay in the house as long as possible before moving out to make way for his work. His plan was to excavate, pour foundation, replace windows and do practically anything and everything he could do while we were still living here. He framed and built the addition abutting the existing house, so that as I sat at my dining room table I could look out the window “into” my new kitchen. For a period of time this was fun, and exciting, especially for our cat. But in mid-May, as the dust began to accumulate and the workers were encroaching on our space, we moved in with Grandma and began our summer of displacement. The plan was to turn the dining room and kitchen into a more substantial dining room and hallway leading to the kitchen, which would be 100% addition. We would also add about 9 feet onto the Master bedroom and bath, with a deck behind. Downstairs we would add 9 feet to the family room which would make space for a 4th bedroom and 3rd full bath in the front of the house. What I learned very quickly (the day after we moved, in fact), is that contractors love to rip sh** apart. So when we walked back in on that fine May day, our WALLS WERE GONE. I seriously did NOT know they would rip everything out, so that I could literally walk between walls. But I trust the professionals, and have no expertise in the area of residential construction, so there we were, wall-less.

Guessing Game

Who can figure out this Real Estate market? I am seeing houses in this town sell for anywhere between $350 and $650 per square foot, and I cannot fully understand what accounts for that spread. It appears as though brand new homes are still able to command a premium, up to a certain square footage at which there are diminishing returns, meaning the price per square foot begins to slide because people do not want or need the excess space the home offers. Updated older homes that exude charm are also in demand, unless they are in a poor location. Friends just bought a lovely remodeled 1960’s home in a nice neighborhood on a flat ¼ acre lot for $360/sf. Granted, the street is a double yellow cut through between two busy roads, but it is generally a quiet neighborhood nonetheless. A tired but cute Cape Cod with deeded water access and a somewhat funky layout (MBR on ground floor, garage access though MBR sitting room, etc.) just sold for $400/sf. But a brand new house with a small (.11 acre) lot on a main road is in contract for somewhere in the neighborhood of $550/sf.

It comes down to this: there are not a lot of buyers out there, and those who are looking want value. If a house needs work, they want a discount. And so, our offer of over $425/sf for the house on our street was actually high. I keep thinking it is worth closer to $400/sf, but then the sales come through and begin to make me think otherwise. We wonder when they will come back to us, although my husband suspects that it would be too difficult for them to admit they were wrong. Of course, we would admit we were wrong too, and lower our offer. That should go over REALLY well. We are still hearing about “quiet layoffs” all around the New York area, and if the trend continues, Real Estate as a lagging indicator of the economy could continue to slide. No one can predict the bottom of the market – it is a guessing game. My guess is that the Real Estate market will keep us guessing!