Getting to Know Your Neighborhood

I have been experiencing a new phenomenon.  I have been getting to know new neighborhoods on a really personal level.

Of course I know the neighborhood in which I grew up, in Albany, CA.  In fact, I know the whole city very well as many of my friends still live there.  I know the neighborhood I live in now.  I know much of San Mateo as well, having raised my two children there. Same with the Parkmead area of Hayward.  I lived there for 8 years.  Twice a week I walked the whole neighborhood.  You get to know a lot of neighbors that way!  Now I am selling my home there and reacquainting myself with them after several years away.

Now I also know Gearydale, in Pleasant Hill close to as well as any I have ever lived in.  How is that? Because I have walked it thoroughly, in preparation to listing a home in that neighborhood.  I know what people think of their neighbors, which is really interesting.  My perception of said neighbors is not necessarily the same as theirs.  They call one lady "the witch".  My perception is that she is someone who was raised in a very formal environment, and has not chosen to change with the times.  When I invited her to my seller's open house, she said she was "otherwise engaged".  You have to be pretty old to have heard that term used on a regular basis.  Most people would think it was snooty of her to say that. But my grandmother would have said the same thing, meaning nothing snooty at all. She was just raised to speak that way.

I learned other things about the neighborhood that will be helpful to new buyers.  I met many people who they will want to meet as well.  In a way, I think the party we had for my seller's neighbors brought all the neighbors closer together.  I am hoping that when we are close to closing on the house that we can have a second party so my seller can say goodbye, and the new owners can meet all the neighbors.  I have no question that people would come back a second time, especially those who took home leftovers, lol! And who gets to meet their neighbors all at once anymore?

About 4 months ago I started walking a neighborhood in Vallejo's Hiddenbrooke at the request of a buyer that was an internet lead from my company.  I had no personal knowledge of him prior.  But he believed himself to be interested in a particular floor plan.   So I went to all of the homes with that floor plan.  There was one that was vacant.  A few weeks later, it came on the market as a short sale, and I took my buyer to see it.  He didn't like that floor plan after all...

SoIi started knocking on the doors of any house on the street because he wanted that street.  I met another neighbor who wants to sell.  But before I could connect them together, another neighbor I had not yet met found him on their own, and he is buying their house instead. shucks.

While he and I didn't end up working together, he did motivate me to reacquaint myself with a neighborhood in which in which I have made several offers in the past.  It was nice being able to tell a current home owner that the reason his front entry floor was not damaged from the broken front door window (still unrepaired!), was because I cleaned up the glass before it got ground in, thinking that it was going to be my buyer's home.  The seller rejected our offer for the type of loan it required, but ended up selling it for far less than we had offered.  I think I earned a place in the new owner's heart, lol!

Since I started walking the neighborhood, I have grown to know the different floor plans by name, and have found 3 other homeowners thinking of selling.  I have met some really nice people. I am waiting for the one who will let me get theirs listed and then I will invite all the neighbors to their listing party...

I started walking a local neighborhood to me as the result of another internet lead.  I thought the subject property was a different one than it was. I ended up approaching the correct owner without realizing that he was the lead.  He was REALLY rude to me.  In all the doors I have ever knocked on, he was the only one who was rude.  Even a little bit.  He lives there with his mom and I guess he cares for her.  She was the one who made the internet inquiry.  Maybe he was just stressed from the responsibility.  In meeting several other neighbors on that walk, many commented that all the neighbors were nice, except that one guy.  So maybe I dodged a bullet.