DEL.ICIO.USThe Search
Young family ‘zigs’ into new home
For the AJC
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Our house hunters:
The Klas family – parents John and Christine; daughters Delaney, 12; Lauren, 10; and Nora, 8; and their 5-year-old golden retriever, Scooby — were beginning to feel the pinch in their east Cobb house. John is a Delta pilot, and the family moved to Atlanta from Jacksonville 10 years ago. They were satisfied with their four-bedroom, 2½-bath house, but as the girls got older, the house got smaller… especially the bathrooms. John and Christine, an assistant teacher at a private Montessori school, looked last summer but the prices in the areas they wanted were too high. Then the housing market slipped. “I’m a big Clark Howard fan,” John smiles, “and Clark says that if you can zig when everyone else zags, you can get some great deals.” So they began looking again last fall.
The process:
They turned to neighbor Ed Robeson, whose daughter baby-sat the Klas girls. He’s also with Keller Williams Realty First Atlanta. A few years ago, before the housing market began its shift, Ed and John worked together on some houses that John bought and rehabbed. “Ed seems to know everyone,” John says, which is helpful when you’re buying and selling a house. They wanted a good school district in east Cobb and a large basement. They also wanted to move up in size overall and to add more bathrooms, specifically. They targeted the Penhurst and Sewell Farm communities.
Choice #1: On the lake
Priced at $549,900, this five-bedroom, 4½-bath in Penhurst had a master and hardwoods on the main level and a renovated kitchen. John and Christine loved its location on the lake and its spacious first floor. The 1985 traditional also had a basement with a mother-in-law suite.
Choice #2: Large entertaining area
Christine and John were impressed with the open floor plan of this five-bedroom, 4½-bath traditional in Sewell Farm. Listed at $469,900 and built in 1991, it boasted a large kitchen that overlooked a screened porch and a family room with large windows and lots of light. They also liked the “huge” basement, which, with its pingpong and pool tables, was obviously built for family fun.
Choice #3: Beautiful backyard
With five bedrooms and three baths, this European traditional in Penhurst was built in 1996 and was priced at $480,000. “We loved the kitchen,” John says. It was on a corner lot, and, John says, “the backyard was very spacious and had a neat little pool with a water feature.” There was a bonus room that would be great for the kids.
Which house did they choose?
No. 2, but there was one little problem: Before they spotted what would become their new house — and before interest rates dropped — Christine and John had decided to renovate instead of buy, and had gutted their master bath and basement. Then they saw the Sewell Farm house and knew it was the one. They wanted to make an offer, but they couldn’t afford two mortgages, and who would buy their house with its master bath and basement in mid-renovation? Enter Ed Robeson and his vast network to save the day: Ed knew of someone who was looking to move to east Cobb. So he showed them the Klas house, and they loved it. They could see John’s vision for the renovations, and liked that they could choose many of the fixtures themselves. “We had back-to-back closings,” John says, adding that he’s certain that if they’d waited to show their house after he’d finished the renovations, they would have lost the new house. They moved in the day after closing and couldn’t be happier. The light-filled family room and attached kitchen are all they hoped for, with a slight wallpaper modification in the kitchen. There are plenty of bathrooms — each of the girls has her own sink — and the pingpong and pool tables stayed. What’s more, the girls’ new school is just a walk away, and so is the kitchen. “No more carrying groceries up the stairs,” John laughs.