Lisa Carey Real Estate Blog at Carey Cottage, Tallahassee

The local paper, the Tallahassee Democrat, ran a few interesting articles regarding real estate and home trends this week.  While they were separate articles on home size and home style, they really go hand-in-hand. 

According to Daniel McGinn, author of "House Lust:  America's Obsession with Our Homes", the average U.S. home measured 983 square feet in 1950.  By 2006, the size of the average newly built house had risen nearly 150 percent to 2434 square feet.  Why the growth?  Certainly Americans are having less children than in past centuries.  According to McGinn, houses are becoming bigger partly of of necessity, as Americans started owning more cars and more posessions.  We are competitive mega shoppers.  It seems the only thing getting smaller are the lot sizes! 

A friend I respect a great deal is raising 4 children (with her husband) in a modestly sized, but very tasteful and well-located, home.  She noted the other day that Americans seem to require more space per person in their homes than any other country.  If other world citizens are raising their families in smaller homes, well . . . she could too.  And, do it well.  In fact, she noted that she liked having her children close, within earshot, and being able to easily watch over their activities.  It made them a family.  The kids aren't all spread out in their own rooms watching their own televisions.  Not to mention the benefit of lower utility bills, easier cleaning tasks, and having a well-organized, well-appointed and streamlined house. 

I read recently this philosophy is called the Luxury of Enough.  Living extremely well with just what you need, but not overdoing it.  Spending your money on family activities, trips and adventures - not more stuff to fill your home.  My friend and her family live in a smaller home loaded with architectural charm and fantastic appointments, in a highly desirable and conveniently located neighborhood.  They are careful with how they've filled their home, using limited multi-functional furniture pieces of the highest quality.  Often these are re-purposed antiques that add even more unique charm to the home.  I like this friend's style! 

This does not in any way, however, mean that I don't want to sell you your 5,000 dream house (LOL)! 

Funny that on the same day, the Democrat also ran a style update noting that home design has evolved in terms of the layout of that growing space.  Design in the past century usually meant walls are built around a room's function.  A dining room has a dining table and 4 walls, a family room has a couch and 4 walls.  To change functions, you changed rooms.  Now it seem that great cavernous rooms are the trend, with multiple functions and uses happening within the same room.  This trend allows family members to be together, even while doing something different.  This design also allows smaller homes to live bigger. 

My point in all this:  Buyers considering a new home should look hard at three things:  square footage, layout, and personal lifestyle.  Sometimes a small house lives big.  But, wide open spaces are not for everyone.  I like to ask my buyers about their lifestyle, how they enjoy living, what is the focus of their weekend.  Do you enjoy hosting Super Bowl parties - let's find a big room?  Or, is one spouse a reader while the other watches TV each night.  How do you live?  

My family has gone through several moves in the last 10 years, much to my friends' amusement.  We are messy & chaotic, I'd rather talk to friends or read (alone) than watch TV, and you do no want to see my kitchen without giving me an hour's notice.  My husband hates yard work and I'm no fan of house work.  So, our house is modest and managable in size.  The kitchen is in the back of the house and not an entertainment hub.  Our dining room features an old farmhouse table to encourage daily use of the space for meals & projects.  We have a nicely-sized living room outfitted with comfortable furniture for casual entertaining & reading, and a smaller den for TV watching.  And, we have a small yard just 1 block from a big park.  We aren't living grandly, but living happily and well in a good, good fit for our needs.  

I'd love to hear how you live & if your house fits your needs - drop me a line if you feel like sharing!  Have a great weekend - Lisa Carey, Realtor

Usually I'm blogging about Tallahassee homes I've just listed or sending out mass emails looking for buyers for my listings.  This is a first for me! 

I have a very dear customer who needs a 4-bedroom, 3-bath home in midtown or downtown Tallahassee.  Must be inside Capital Circle.  It should have at least 2900 square feet and a pool would make it perfect.  In particular, an in-law suite, guest bedroom with bath, or two master bedrooms are needed.  The buyer really doesn't want to make major renovations or lots of updates.  Time is of essence here. 

If you know of someone selling their home or getting ready to put their home on the market, and the house meets this general description, please ask the seller or their realtor to give me a call. or e-mail  I really want to help this special buyer!  I've e-mailed every Realtor in the Tallahassee area in search of this elusive house.

Thanks! 

Hi – just a quick note about a new benefit of Armor Realty of Tallahassee. As you may know, Armor Realty is part of the prestigious RELO group – Leading Real Estate Companies of the World. RELO is a group of select independent brokerage firms and the RELO group outsells every franchise in North America! For more information, see the attachment above. Or, read more and search for your home at the international home search engine, www.ReloHomeSearch.com

The new and exciting benefit is that RELO was just selected by HGTV (the popular Home & Garden Network) to participate in their real estate search engine, www.FrontDoor.com. When visitors go to www.HGTV.com to get home improvement and style ideas, they can now also search for new homes through FrontDoor. And, your home will be there! With more than 80% of all home buyers starting their home search on the internet, this can be an important competitive edge.

Go to www.HGTV.com and hit real estate at the bottom of the page under search categories. Then click on the FrontDoor icon. You will enter the FrontDoor search engine and should be able to find your home by zip code or city. Or, go directly to www.FrontDoor.com

Thanks again for the opportunity to serve you!  If you have other suggestions for marketing or promotion, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I value your ideas and the partnership we have formed to get your house sold!

Confused about Amendment 1 and how the proposed property tax changes might affect you?  Here's a great link I've found that explains the proposal in clear language and gives very applicable examples.  Try this site at http://www.yeson1florida.com/

The Leon Country Property Appraiser also has some very good local information at his site at http://dta.co.leon.fl.us/prop/index.cfm.  There's even a tab for "Know Your Save Our Home Differential"

No matter what your opinion, be sure to get out and vote on January 29! 

Hi to all - I'll be trying to update my blog much more frequently this year with local statistics and news.  The Tallahassee Supply of Homes was just released, and I've included the stats for the northeast section of Tallahassee below.  The sales are year to date since January 2, 2007.  The supply is in number of months & is how we often measure the health of our market in inventory.  For example, in the $200,000 - $250,000 price range in the NE, there is a 6 month supply of homes.  So if we continued to sell homes at the current rate and no new homes entered the market, we wouldn't run out of homes in this price range and area for 6 months.  Ouch!

Columns are as follows:  Price range, active homes, active new construction, sold homes, sold new construction, supply of homes, supply of new construction.          

75,000-100,000	2	0	1	0	24.0	0*
100,000-125,000	4	0	4	0	12.0	0*
125,000-150,000	9	0	15	0	7.2	0*
150,000-200,000	109	2	189	2	6.9	12.0
200,000-250,000	153	12	306	15	6.0	9.6
250,000-300,000	171	26	273	42	7.5	7.4
300,000-500,000	293	65	380	79	9.0	9.9
500,000-750,000	94	16	88	30	12.8	6.4
750,000+	57	12	16	7	42.8	20.6
TOTALS	892	133	1272	175