Rosemont Roundup, Featuring the Tale of the Attack Cat
Yesterday I got to preview several homes in the Rosemont area, 95826, for a buyer who’s flying in from Oregon. This killed two birds with one stone because it allowed me to see some of the homes competing for buyers’ attention with our 4032 Birchgrove listing. It looks like our price is quite competitive, with the homes that were in the “yeah, that’s better” category listed at $20,000 more. Once again, this home features a newer roof (less than seven or eight years old), new laminate flooring installed in 2005, newer vinyl dual pane windows, and a huge backyard with a beautiful oak shade tree. My buyers kind of tied my hands on this one, since they don’t want to see a home I have listed — perhaps I’ll offer to show it to them and get them another agent on the buyer side if they like it.
I was able to cross a few homes off the list (which is the point). 8992 Alderson I found to be pretty smoker-smelling and nondescript, so since my buyers send me this one it was a no brainer to scratch it. Also not likely to be visited again was 9066 Clendenon Way, a pleasant looking enough home from the outside which immediately revealed a bare concrete slab entryway, which the sellers have offered to fix with a carpet allowance. But what really put me off about this house was that I almost lost my life to a dangerous attack cat. That’s never happened to me before. The cat simply would not let me into the house, and once I’d made some progress in that direction, it was equally determined that I wouldn’t make it out of the house. All told I think I made it about eight steps in either direction, and was lucky to escape unscathed. The cat presumably was a cross between a tabby and a doberman pinscher. I found an illustration that conveys some of the horror. Needless to say I let the listing agent know so hopefully he can get over there with somebody equipped to handle such a beast. Now I’m really starting to mourn Steve Irwin — we could have used him.
By the way, I called Vicki to tell her my tale of the attack cat, and she later told me that on the same day during a showing in Shingle Springs, she’d managed to accidentally walk in on a naked guy in a hot tub. I guess it was just an adventure-filled weekened all around.
Meantime, back to Rosemont. 8948 Alderson Ave. was an interesting sort of mish-mash owned by an investment company. The best feature of this home is a the size for the price, some of which undoubtedly comes from what’s apparently a converted garage with a lovely bay window overlooking the driveway. This one’s on a corner lot with an interesting black and white tile kitchen and new looking carpet, but I’d want to have a whole house inspector take a look at the water heater installation — it may be fine, but I’d check it out. My buyers picked this one, and I found nothing so awful to make me scratch it anyway.
3517 Coralwood Way is one that I picked. This one would be a great home for an investor, I would think. It’s a bank repo (REO — “Real Estate Owned”) that shows well from the curb except for a few dead plants in the entryway that should be replaced with live plants in the entryway. Inside, I think this home would have sold at this price already except for the animal smells in the carpet — clean it or replace it. Other than that there’s an updated kitchen and baths, a new roof and dual pane windows. My people today aren’t investors, so I’ll leave this one to their discretion.
4224 Tallyho Drive is a very clean house currently listed at $309,900 that the broker was holding open. There are too many new features in this one to list, and the home shows really nicely. I especially liked the vaulted-ceiling living room.
8924 Rosewood Drive is a terrific little home with a new roof and nice large kitchen, for the right buyer. In this case, it’s easy to know who the right buyer is, too. The right buyer for this home loves brick. If you love brick, call me. I’ll take you out to your new home. If you hate brick, don’t bother. If you’re neutral about brick, check it out. Did I mention the brick?
3518 Rosemont Drive is clearly one of the front-runners in this area at $305,000. This home features hardwood and tile floors throughout, newer roof, crown moulding, an alarm system, and more. This was definitely among my favorites, but if there’s one thing more than anything else that working with buyers has taught me over the years, it’s this: whatever I think, it’s not up to me because I’m not the one paying for it!
Bottom line in my opinion: Rosemont is one of the leading options — perhaps the leading option along route 50 — for balancing a charming neighborhood with prices that may be in reach of a first time buyer. Again in my opinion, Antelope carries a similar honor along route 80. My buyers and I are going there today, too!
