Q: After nearly 20 years in real estate, what has surprised you the most?
A: One of my favorite questions to ask homeowners is, “What will you miss most about living here?” The answers are almost never the Wolf range or the marble countertops. It’s the screened porch where neighbors lingered after dinner. The morning light in one particular room. Hearing children laughing as they walk to school. The view from the kitchen sink. Over the years, those conversations have taught me something important: every home has features, but not every home has a story.
Q: Why do you ask that question?
A: Because those answers tell me far more than a list of improvements ever could. Every home has a personality. You just have to know how to find it. Understanding what made a home special allows me to tell its story authentically and gives the next family a chance to see what made it so memorable.
Augusta Road listing (Submitted photo)
Q: Does that change the way people experience a home?
A: Absolutely. I’ve toured remarkable homes with beautiful architecture, designer finishes, and every luxury imaginable, only to have clients politely admire them and move on. Then we’ll step into a classic North Main bungalow, an older Alta Vista home, or a timeless Augusta Road residence, and within minutes someone quietly says, “This just feels right.”Buyers rarely fall in love with a specification sheet. They fall in love with a feeling.
Q: What makes these neighborhoods so special?
A: Homes don’t exist in a vacuum. They’re part of a street, a neighborhood, and ultimately a way of life. The character of North Main is different from Augusta Road. Alta Vista has a different rhythm than the Augusta Circle area. Those nuances aren’t always obvious in a listing, but they’re often what people remember years later. Recognizing those subtleties, along with the qualities that make each home unique, is one of the most valuable parts of my job.
After all these years, I’ve become convinced that the homes people remember most aren’t necessarily the largest or the most expensive. They’re the ones that simply felt like home.
North Main listing (Submitted photo)
Any content, resident submissions, guest columns, advertisements, and advertorials are not necessarily endorsed by or represent the views of Best Version Media LLC (BVM) or any municipality, homeowners associations, businesses, or organizations that this publication serves. BVM is not responsible for the reliability, suitability, or timeliness of any content submitted, inclusive of materials generated or composed through artificial intelligence (AI). All content submitted is done so at the sole discretion of the submitting party.
