Jan Skrentny

It’s early October and the leaves have begun to change. Over night a cloud system covered the mountains creating a grey overcoat around the towering pines and cedars.

Where I live the fog gathers thick on the needles and when the wind blows and the tree shakes rain falls.

We call it tree rain. But it only happens on one side of the house; the side that is canopied by the tall trees. One side of the house has rain, the other is dry. Micro-climates not more than 60 feet apart. I can plant and grow totally different flora from the front door to the back door. It’s quite delightful and fascinating.

There are many micro-climates up here. In one area it might be socked in, a mile distant it coule be patchy clouds and a mile further it is sunny.

I like athmoshere and weather – vision altered, light becoming shafts of illumination.

Throughout my garden I have mushroom lights with rounded glass top. At night in the fog the light goes up in straight beams much like those eerie images of the lasers that were shot into the sky where the World Trade Centers once stood.

I have dozens of shafts of light, outlining stairs and pathways that lead far up the mountain side, up to leveled area where I built my grandchildren a tree house. In the fog it is like a light house, high above our home, the gardens and waterfalls, its illumination dimmed and then brightened by a dancing cape of fog.

It’s eerie and magical. I hope some day you’ll get to enjoy it.

I’ve mentioned in other posts that the motto of Prime Properties is “Transforming Real Estate.” The best example of that catch phrase realized is our Welcome Center / Sales Office – an eye-sore of an old gas station turned into a glorious craftsman style office.

But just recently I had another opportunity to demonstrate the value of that phrase. I was referred the home of two doctors from Redlands. They and their family had owned and enjoyed the lake view home for over 20 years but of late because the boys had grown and moved away, the house was not being used. The interior  was in excellent condition but the exterior had a lot of deferred maintenance that greatly reduced the value of the property – peeling paint, wood rotted decks, a dated feeling. Our agents estimated that in “as is” condition the home would sell for under $300,000.

But we calculated that if the doctors would spend money to fix, repair and repaint we could get them their investment back plus a fair amount more. A designer on our staff consulted with them about new colors for the home. We got bids from several builders and I over saw the repairs. In my next post I will show pictures to prove the point – the house turned out beautifully.

The doctors paid $20,000 for all new decks, paint, termite completion and exterior upgrades and before the house went on the market I got an offer of $365,000 for the property. Their $20,000 investment gained them a $45,000 profit in under one month.

Now not everyone has that kind of disposable funds available. But this is absolutely true – most buyers in this market want well cared for homes. Those sellers who are throwing their homes on the market in “as is” condition are lumping their most precious possession along with the banks repoes — also sold in “as is” condition.

You only get one chance to make a good first impression – use it wisely.

Several weeks ago we had three separate winter storms roll through the San Bernardino Mountains starting on Monday and carrying through to Thursday.

Snow depths ranged from three feet in Crestline to over four feet in Lake Arrowhead (the difference is based on altitude: Crestline is just below 5,000 feet and Arrowhead is at a mile high, 5,280 feet — with every 1,000 feet of elevation temperature drops roughly three degrees — thusly the higher the altitude the colder the air and the more snow.)

On Saturday I got a call from clients saying they wanted to come up and view property. I told them that  there was lots of snow and that I doubted if many of the homes had been shoveled out. They said they were okay to climb over snow berms (where the snow plows had piled snow to clear the roads) and trek through knee high snow fall.

And by God, they were.

The group,  myself and six others, in two SUV’s blasted our way down snow packed streets and trudged through deep snow. The skies were blue, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature was in the high 40’s. It was a delightful time, even when we had to shovel snow away from doorways to gain entrance. One of the men offered his sweat shirt so we could wipe our feet when we viewed a newly remodeled home that had no entrance mat.

Amazingly, they found a place that they loved: A very rustic cabin with huge views that in the white dressing of the day looked as picturesque as you could  ever imagine.

Afterwards, over a hearty lunch at a local lakeside restaurat, Woody’s Boat House,  everyone admitted it was fun. 

It was fun: Embracing the elements instead of hiding from them. 

Just don’t wear tennis shoes, they get pretty soggy.

In winter my SUVs are outfitted with extra boots, gloves, coats, shovels, towels, powerbars, water and buckets of salt. I can’t guarentee I have sizes for everyone but I do my best to take care of my people – my clients and friends.