“The Curb Cut Clue” ” and the Clincher It’s not always the case. But, +90% of the time, when there’s a curb cut (and possibly driveway) in front of a home that leads nowhere . . . the owner (or a previous one) converted what had been a 1-car garage into finished square feet. Clue...Read More
Bad Call? The best way to sell a house is to exceed Buyers’ expectations (plus dangle a tempting price, and stir up lots of “pre-list” and “new list” buzz). The corollary? “The best way to lose a Buyer is to disappoint them.” —-Ross Kaplan, “Realtor Sales Secrets”; City Lakes Real Estate Blog. Is it a mistake not to...Read More
Avoiding “The Bowling Alley” Effect First, a caveat: unless there’s also a detached garage in the back of the house (typically, off an alley), converting a one-car garage into something else is a non-starter. That’s because going from a one-car garage to a no-car garage is guaranteed to destroy much more value than it creates....Read More
Bad Call? “The best way to sell a house is to exceed Buyers’ expectations (plus dangle a tempting price, and stir up lots of “pre-list” and “new list” buzz). The corollary? “The best way to lose a Buyer is to disappoint them.” —-Ross Kaplan, “Realtor Sales Secrets”; City Lakes Real Estate Blog. Is it a mistake not to...Read More
Avoiding “The Bowling Alley” Effect First, a caveat: unless there’s also a detached garage in the back of the house (typically, off an alley), converting a one-car garage into something else is a non-starter. That’s because going from a one-car garage to a no-car garage is guaranteed to destroy much more value than it creates. But, assuming that that’s not the...Read More
Normally, you’d expect a home with only a one-car, tuck-under garage to be steeply discounted. Except in this case, the homes that come with the less-than-ideal garages** are the “Painted Ladies” in San Francisco, a series of Victorian Homes in Alamo Square with spectacular views of the downtown skyline (pictured above). Most recent selling price: $3.1...Read More