The following is a guest-post by my husband and in-house marketing nerd, Clayton Snodgrass.
Remember those insane Slim Jim commercials that featured pro-wrestler “Macho-Man” Randy Savage? Whether or not Slim Jims are your favorite brand of encased meat, you have to admit that those spots were memorable. After watching just one commercial, you knew exactly where Slim Jims stood in the snack sausage spectrum – they were extreme and crazy! Slim Jim’s choice of product spokesperson was no accident. By choosing someone who embodied their brand’s image, they helped audiences associate their product with “extreme snacking” (which, apparently, there is a market for).
How does the concept of product spokesperson relate to real estate and the choice of a realtor? For one, most every “For Sale” flyer I have ever seen contains the contact info and a photo of the home’s listing agent. The listing agent may be the first person an interested buyer may speak with about your home. What kind of image does your realtor project? Will your target market identify with your agent? Does your realtor’s image mesh well with your home’s image? Does your agent’s persona accurately represent your home and your neighborhood? When choosing an agent, I think it’s an important thing to keep in mind.
Oh snap, I found MY HOUSE. I love it and I want it. It is so over the top decorated – seriously, it is like a museum in there. But even with (and strangely enough, maybe because of) all this stuff, the house really speaks to me. I didn’t realize how much I liked the traditional center hall plan, but this one is really well-built, it has that vintage charm I love, and it is sunny and bright inside. Plus, it is across the street from the Brookside shops and the trolley track trail. Check out some pics:
Entry with cool black trim details
Front of house
Guest room - all white and overflowing with lush green plants
The sellers of this home are regular readers of my blog, but I am, sadly, not their agent. These folks already had a strong relationship with their agent which is a wonderful thing, but that is not always the case. If you are reading this and you need a realtor, call me. I love working with people that share similar interests and passions, and I do want to hear from you.
I will be holding this house open on Sunday from 1-4. It is located on a great street in the Brookside area within walking distance to schools, shops, grocery, and the Trolley Track Trail (exercise trail winding through scenic Brookside). It has authentic Craftsman style architecture which is evident in the low-pitched roof lines, overhanging eaves, the stucco, the decorative timbers at the top just below the eaves, and the porch with the strong vertical (lime)stone support columns. I toured this home on Tuesday, and my favorite feature is a toss-up between the porch probably because I am longing for porch weather, and the foyer. It has a great welcoming feeling as you step inside and into this stylish home.
Readers, let’s hear it in the comments: What do you think of the paint on the living room and dining room ceilings? It is an unusual choice, and I like that they took a chance and did something different. I think it looks cool and bold. I am not sure what the current trend is with ceiling paint, but I know designers usually go with a lighter shade than the walls to give it an illusion of height and openness. What are your thoughts?
Ever read the Before and After section of Design Sponge? It is so fun, and I am especially fond of viewing the exterior renovations. This particular story was submitted to me by a reader living in Johnson County. She noticed that this ranch for sale just off Johnson Drive has a striking similarity to an exterior renovation featured on Design Sponge. Good eye, Ashlee! The house is very affordable and would be a great candidate for a design sponge style makeover. I am not sure I would go as modern as they did in the renovation, but it is exciting to see the changes and what is possible. If you are looking for a quality home to renovate and add value to, call me! I love this kind of stuff, and I know about a slew of great makeover candidates for sale in KC right now. Also, if you want your stylish before and after renovations featured on my blog, send me your (low res) images.
above: The house for sale in KC right now
above: Design Sponge BEFORE (check out the similarity to the local house!)
above: Design Sponge AFTER (what a transformation!)
There was a new phrase coined this year: Mid-Century Modest. The writer of one of my favorite blogs, Pam Kueber with Retro Renovation, wrote a mid-century modest manifesto giving credit and recognition to those modest, more affordable and mass produced mid-century homes, and she is featured in the video below discussing this new term.
I think she is really onto something here. Mid-century modern has become a very hot trend, and many homes are haphazardly lumped into this category when they are not, in fact, very sleek or modern. Also, many details are called mid-century modern such as metal cabinets, pink bathrooms, stacked stone fireplaces, horizontal windows – when they may be found in a more traditional or modest home. Many ranches and split level homes from the mid Twentieth century share some similar construction and design details, but are much more accessible properties. For example, here are a couple homes on the market. The first is a stylish and authentic mid-century modern home designed and built by local mid-century modern hero, Drummond (the second interior shot is from a different Drummond for sale in Mission Hills). The other is a much more traditional ranch, but inside shares the modern characteristics such as aquamarine countertops, stacked stone fireplace with strong horizontal planes, and a completely retro-licious and perfectly preserved aquamarine bathroo
Wayne Coyne really is as eccentric as he seems if his house is any indication.
The whitewashed futuristic bathroom featured on Design Milk. Pitchfork has some background and a video. Below is a photo by Joseph Mills from the architecture firm, Fitzsimmons Architects, who handled the project. I love this place – what beautiful use of light and materials. It’s far-out, but in a tasteful and modern way. Plus, I love that Wayne is investing the love, time and money into a blighted area of urban Oklahoma City. We should all take a cue from him instead of wasting precious resources pushing the boundaries of our cities ever farther.
Did you guys see this exciting story in the Kansas City Star over the weekend? If Rosedale Development Corporation is involved and the TIF district is already set up, I would think this is pretty much a done deal on the County’s part anyway. Let’s just hope Lane4 can come up with their funding. Any new development on the Wyandotte County side of the state line is only going to increase property values and help Wyandotte County properties compete with those across 47th into Johnson County, and across State Line into Jackson County. Right now, there is an obvious disparity between these values, and it would be great if they were more competitive.
Take Mission Cliffs for example. Mission Cliffs is a brand new housing neighborhood just west of Rainbow off of 39th Street. It has beautiful homes, reasonable prices, and some of the only new home construction close to the metro area. My clients just moved into a gorgeous new home there on the cliff with an amazing western view. It has Craftsman style architecture, three bedrooms, two baths, a large yard, and an attached garage. This home would go for much more if were across the state line into Johnson County. It’s great that we have this affordable option, but it just seems like such a secret and I hope that people keep buying there and that property values appreciate at a normal level over time. I think this new development will really be a benefit to residents of the Rosedale area if it happens.
Today I was in Kansas City’s historic northeast neighborhood just east of the River Market and Downtown to show someone my new listing. While there, I stopped in at BLVD Pastries for an iced sugar cookie. I had heard from Lauren over at Framework Design how terrific they were, so I thought I’d give it a try.
It was pretty good; not the best I’ve ever had (that would be McLain’s), but good enough that I will definitely stop in again. Before heading back to work, I took a picture of my favorite sign. I LOVE this retro sign. I think it should get some sort of historic designation – it is that cool.
Yesterday I held an open house at 1008 W. 70th Street in Kansas City. The home is located in the popular subdivision of Romanelli Gardens, which extends from 67th on the north to Gregory on the south, and Wornall on the east to Ward Parkway on the west. I created a map in Google Maps so you can visualize. There are about 615 homes in the subdivision, all of which were built from about 1925-1940. Though the subdivision is now about 80 years old, these homes are all well-kept, updated, and each have their own unique beauty. Occasionally while walking my boxer along the Trolley Track Trail, we’ll wonder over to Romanelli Gardens for a change of scenery – its quiet streets are a great place to view the diverse scenery of the homes, the landscaping and the mature trees. Most homes in the area are Tudor-style homes, but you can also find other styles (or a mish-mash of styles) such as colonial revival; many of which have original brick and stone detailing. Below is a photo I took at my open house. I fell head over heels in love with the iron detailing on the front door. This type of door and detailing is common among tudors in the area.
p.s. This was my busiest open house ever. Probably due to the tax credit, the buyers are out in droves and they all said they wish there were more homes for sale. Unfortunately, inventory is down, but I think we will see a spike in listings pretty soon.
The winter edition of my quarterly newsletter was just mailed out to my clients, friends and neighbors. My newsletter provides the latest on local market news, select events, finance, special features from the blog, and other timely news and stories. If you would like to receive this quarterly newsletter, you may complete this sign-up form and begin receiving future editions in the spring*. You may also view the current edition online (pdf).
*Note: I will only use your address to send the quarterly newsletter, I will not send junk-mail or share your address with anyone.
I happened upon an edition of Better Homes and Gardens magazine from 1954, and inside was a story about a (modern) steel framed ranch home. The excitement was that, with the use of the steel supports, the interior could flow into the outside with large expanses of glass and continuous materials as you will see in the photos below.
In a related note – my pick of the week is a home just listed in Prairie Village. It is a mid-century modern style ranch home near Mission and 79th Street. This house was built around the same time – in 1956; and while I do see some similarities, I also note many differences. For example, the home in the magazine layout has glass walls leading outside and stone, while the pick of the week seems to be a more traditional wood-frame ranch with modern lines, stacked stone fireplace and vaulted ceilings.
This is a wonderful guide to residential architecture, found on the Anderson Architecture Website. It has photos of 15 different residential architecture styles with brief descriptions of each style’s outstanding features. The styles and development of our cities must have coincided because this grouping of photos and architectural styles greatly resemble that of Kansas City. For example, I could find a very similar Queen Anne in the historic Northeast, the Neoclassical along Ward Parkway, the Italianate in Westside, the Bungalows in Brookside and Midtown, Arts and Crafts and Prairie styles in Sunset Hill and Brookside, Tudors in Brookside and Waldo, the Shingle Style in Hyde Park, and so on.
