Robbie, Stephanie, Harrison and I went to the Street of Dreams together yesterday. What I enjoyed most, was their company. What Harrison (age 3 1/2) enjoyed most, was the school bus ride from and to the car. His first ride on a school bus.
The house I liked best, though not everything about it, was of course the highest priced one at $5,500,000, but I’d want it moved somewhere else with a view. Because I am a “view person”, not everyone is, I came home and liked my own house better than any of them.
Trends, products, styles, features…a run down. I guess I’m “jaded” by having seen lots and lots and lots of houses all over the country, because I didn’t see anything I liked, at least not that I liked in that setting. House number 6, which is purportedly “sold” was the best of the batch, all things considered. Best lot, house that seemed appropriate to the lot and setting, house that seemed appropriate for the area. But I’d like to “live in it” for a week or two like a timeshare. I’d want to move it to the bottom of a ski resort and timeshare it out for two weeks at a time unless I could afford it as one of many homes as a “getaway” house. But then I’m a City Girl who can’t be rustically oriented for more than two weeks at a time. I get hives.
Lots of too much dark, caves, caverns, pitch black theater rooms, stone inside the house, even a clay tile roof inside the house. Lots of too much “old” as in new made to look “old”. Coming from Philadelphia, I know what old looks like, and that’s not it. Two of the homes had a very dark “wood” floor that was supposed to look like the floors of an historic home. Not. Wide plank…yes, dark, yes, waves in each and every plank…not. Someone said it looked like it was made out of plastic.
Every house had a “butler pantry”, I think, and I was evaluating them all. One was totally off as if the designer didn’t know what a butler pantry really was all about. A butler pantry, copied from historic homes which were likely homes patterned from England, is that small galley between the dining room and kitchen with counters and cabinets on either side. It originally did not have a sink, as any water used by the butler would have been the “soda water” type in a bottle to freshen and make new drinks for the guests. For a “butler pantry” to be “true”, the butler should be able to stand in it and see the whole dining room table from it. He watches and quietly comes out as needed to fill a wine glass, freshen a drink or refill the string bean bowl as it gets low. The vantage point should be such that the guests do not really see him most of the time. So the one butler pantry that had only one side and standing there gave the butler a view of the backyard? I don’t think so.
Stephanie noticed this and it was a riot. In one house there is a fish tank inside the shower. Cool, but…the other side of the fish tank built into the wall was not in the master bedroom, it was in the hallway! I went into the shower and did a little dance as Stephanie stayed in the hallway to see if she could see me moving about. All of the people in the house were laughing and talking about how the kids in the “West Wing” could sneak down the hall and watch Mommy and Daddy in the two headed shower through the fish tank.
Moral of the story is NEVER go to The Steet of Dreams with a Real Estate Agent. They look at what’s wrong…not what’s right, at least this one does. Mostly the homes were not “true to themselves” mixing modern smack against historic replica features. That new sink that looks like a laundry tub (modern) next to an island with an Early American spindle table leg built into the corner. The pantry with relatively cheapo looking shelves, with a crystal chandelier hanging in the middle of the pantry. Better to hire a carpenter to build the shelves in, if you are planning to hang a crystal chandelier up between the Frosted Flakes and the Pop Tarts.
So Robbie and family got a taste of what looking at homes with Ardell is like. They look at what’s right, I look for what’s wrong. Robbie kept wanting me to give an opinion of value and projected days on market…but that’s something I do after I get home from showing property, as it is a “data” driven function, not a WAG 🙂
Yeah, there wasn’t one house that wow’d me. Maybe $3-5 million doesn’t buy as much as it used to or Ardell’s skepticism rubbed of on me? I think the 1999 show was better. I liked the outside of the 1st home, the layout & backyard of the 3rd, the bottom floor layout of the 5th, the second garage of the 6h. If I could afford to build a custom home, I’d pick aspects of each. None of them had an elevator. None of them had enough air conditioning power. None of them had a good data center room for geeking or blogging. 🙂
I think the “problem” with Street of Dreams is that it seems more to be a place for builders, designers, & vendors to show off ideas, products & services. Not necessarliy to show off somebody’s dream home. Or as Ardell said, “I like the ideas, just not all at once”.
I’m guessing the advertising & admissions money goes to pay the builder, and then Street of Dreams sells the home? Maybe the promotional value to the builder, is worth losing money on the home? Still if you’re a member of the general public, it’s a nice way to see homes you’ll never be able to afford.
Random points:
Supposedly Bill Gates home is about 5 times larger than the largest 2006 Street of Dreams home. It seems more impressive now that I have an idea of how much space that number equates to.
Stephanie loved the rock shower that opened to the outside.
Harrison loved the school bus because it “got him back home”. 🙂
Yeah, there wasn’t one house that wow’d me. Maybe $3-5 million doesn’t buy as much as it used to or Ardell’s skepticism rubbed of on me? I think the 1999 show was better. I liked the outside of the 1st home, the layout & backyard of the 3rd, the bottom floor layout of the 5th, the second garage of the 6h. If I could afford to build a custom home, I’d pick aspects of each. None of them had an elevator. None of them had enough air conditioning power. None of them had a good data center room for geeking or blogging. 🙂
I think the “problem” with Street of Dreams is that it seems more to be a place for builders, designers, & vendors to show off ideas, products & services. Not necessarliy to show off somebody’s dream home. Or as Ardell said, “I like the ideas, just not all at once”.
I’m guessing the advertising & admissions money goes to pay the builder, and then Street of Dreams sells the home? Maybe the promotional value to the builder, is worth losing money on the home? Still if you’re a member of the general public, it’s a nice way to see homes you’ll never be able to afford.
Random points:
Supposedly Bill Gates home is about 5 times larger than the largest 2006 Street of Dreams home. It seems more impressive now that I have an idea of how much space that number equates to.
Stephanie loved the rock shower that opened to the outside.
Harrison loved the school bus because it “got him back home”. 🙂
Just for kicks sometimes, it would be fun if a small group of agents were to take a small group of folks around town on a tour of million-dollar-plus homes, because everyone would be shocked – shocked – at how little a million bucks – and more – buys you these days. Like Ardell says, everytime I preview or show a million or even multi-million dollar home, I come home and think how much better I like my modest little home.
But then every once in awhile, I’ll see a place that’s maybe 700k-800k that absolutely knocks me out with its incredible architecture, floorplan, integration into the surrounding environment, attention to detail and finish work. Saw one like that a few weeks ago over by Carkeek Park…
I guess it speaks to the overall Californication of our local real estate prices over the past 15 years or so.
Just for kicks sometimes, it would be fun if a small group of agents were to take a small group of folks around town on a tour of million-dollar-plus homes, because everyone would be shocked – shocked – at how little a million bucks – and more – buys you these days. Like Ardell says, everytime I preview or show a million or even multi-million dollar home, I come home and think how much better I like my modest little home.
But then every once in awhile, I’ll see a place that’s maybe 700k-800k that absolutely knocks me out with its incredible architecture, floorplan, integration into the surrounding environment, attention to detail and finish work. Saw one like that a few weeks ago over by Carkeek Park…
I guess it speaks to the overall Californication of our local real estate prices over the past 15 years or so.
Gordon,
It’s “against the law” to walk people through other people’s homes just for kicks and track up their carpet for no good reason, no good reason to the owner that is.
Where is that “law”. Could be in that code “Ardell’s Code of Ethics as taught to her by her Mom” as reinforced by all the Catholic and Jewish guilt trips 🙂
I said that in a joking way, but it truly is a misuse of privelege to use a lockbox key to go “joyriding”.
BTW – Russ Cofano’s impressions of the 2006 show are on the Seattle PI Real Estate blog.