Fore!
So today was the first day the house officially went on the market and we had FIVE showings, thank you Jesus! This house is so clean it’s scary, but I guess it’s paying off because everything went great and people said all kinds of nice things. Now we just need one of ‘em to show up with a dang contract.
Ok you guys, I have to tell you something funny.
I’ve mentioned my next door neighbors, the Master Gardeners, right? The ones with the tiered rose bushes, koi pond, fountain, manicured lawn and cutting garden? They are such sweet people and great neighbors; I’m really going to miss living next to them. Well anyway, about two years ago I looked outside one afternoon and saw Mr. Master Gardener and a white-haired gentleman I didn’t recognize both walking across my back yard very deliberately as though they was measuring it, or marking it off or something. Later that day, he approached me with a big smile and said excitedly, “Russ is a golfer, isn’t he?” I replied that yes he used to play a lot, but he had gotten so busy he rarely took the time anymore. Mr. Master Gardener’s face lit up even more and he said, “Well, pretty soon he won’t have to go any farther than his back yard!” Apparently he and the white-haired gentleman (another neighbor, but one I’ve never met– retired Naval officer) had plans to install a 9 hole, par 3 private GOLF COURSE, incorporating several neighbor’s back yards and the common area that ties them together. And darned if he didn’t! Within a matter of days, (and for no apparent reason) I had an actual putting green complete with a cup and a flag at the edge of our back yard below my garden boxes.
Here’s the deal: I always thought if you wanted to live by a golf course, you bought a house by a golf course–so to suddenly have one out behind my house with a hole actually in my yard was kind of weird. But sweet Mr. MG was so excited and proud to provide this for his neighbors that I didn’t have the heart to put a damper on it. I mean, what was the harm? He totally takes care of the whole thing, including the green in my yard– waters it daily and trims it himself with a push mover and clippers. It’s just a lovely-looking lush manicured green circle at the bottom of my yard… that people rarely use. I’m talking only a handful of golfer/neighbors have actually played on it in the two years it’s been here, so it has certainly not been any kind of imposition or nuisance. Frankly, I don’t give it much of a thought one way or the other– until we listed the house! When we were cataloging all of the assets our home has to offer, I suddenly remembered and almost apologetically I told Lynne, “Oh yeah, there’s also kind of a little golf thingy in my back yard, but we could probably get rid of it if we needed to…”
So you can guess how this story ends, right? Yep, that little afterthought is now known as Selling Point #1: a private golf course! Everyone seems to be so intrigued by the idea, it’s one of the first things people ask about. They can’t believe that they don’t have to pay any kind of fees or dues, and that someone else takes care of it completely. Lynne said when she showed the house today it was a big hit, especially with the men. Yes, thanks to my sweet neighbor I now have a wonderful asset in my back yard, instead of the faintly embarrassing white elephant I thought I had!
I’m kind of a marketing genius that way.
