Everyone Needs a Home

Dear Fearless Homeowner,

There was a flurry of activity around our house last week. We mailed over a thousand marketing mailers to homeowners in some of our busiest neighborhoods. That meant the home office was overflowing with piles of postcards, and stamps seemed to be stuck to everything! We were so distracted we almost didn’t notice the activity occurring outside our house.

The text on our mailer said, “Springtime is here! The best time to buy or sell a house is just around the corner. Are you ready?”. Under the words was a picture of a spring songbird. If I was in my ninth grade English class, Mr. Surbeck would have pointed out how that bird foreshadowed my week. Apparently, it was time for a pair of birds to find a new home as well, and our front porch light was just the spot!

I first heard them while I was planting flowers on the front porch. It was the desperate cry of baby birds who don’t want to be ignored. As I peeked into our light fixture, I saw four beaks swing open at the same time, clearly hoping I was bringing a cricket snack for lunch. Since that moment, those four little birds seem to have taken over our lives. We try not to linger on the porch for fear we might disturb the bird family, and we check to make sure we’re not interrupting a feeding when we come and go through the front door. We’ve also taken to using flashlights to get in and out of the house after dark, since turning on the porch lights might disturb the nest. And that’s not to mention the tizzy into which our cats have been thrown by the whole situation. They spend endless hours gazing out the window as the bird parents troop back and forth from the nest.

Despite the slight inconvenience, we enjoy having baby birds on our porch. We also enjoy all of the other wildlife that shares our neighborhood. Since we’ve lived here, we’ve seen all sorts of animals—rabbits, foxes, deer, wild turkeys, turtles, hawks, and opossums, just to name a few. That’s part of the reason we moved so far north a few years ago.

I watch the new neighborhoods being built in this area with mixed feelings. I’m a nature lover at heart and dislike encroachment on wild habitats; it makes me sad to hear builders literally working in our backyard on new houses. But I’m also a realist and a believer in progress. Much of the area north of Oklahoma City was used as farm land for generations, yet it hasn’t been plowed in years. It’s time for it to be repurposed to support Oklahoma’s growth. I’m always pulling for Oklahoma City to be successful, and the hammers I hear on my way to and from our house mean the economy is picking up and the city is expanding.

While I’m glad Chris and I are able to assist buyers in finding their ideal home this Spring, we’re also glad we’re able to offer a brood of baby birds a safe and comfortable home while they grow and learn how to fly. Chris has learned that in real estate repeat customers are some of the best people to do business with, and maybe in another year or two these baby birds will come back and build a nest of their own in our light fixture.

~Kristin

The Flavor of Local Food

Dear Fearless Homeowner,

Are you a canvas bag toting connoisseur of locally grown food? If so, you’re in the right place! The Oklahoma City area is lucky enough to offer a variety of excellent farmer’s markets, and now is the season to start exploring them. The Edmond Farmers Market started up again last Saturday. I was there, were you?

I’ll admit I haven’t always been into farmers markets. There was a time I considered people who enjoyed sustainable shopping practices to be fringe hippies. For Chris and me our ‘Aha moment’ came after watching the academy award nominated movie, “Food, Inc.”. Suddenly we had a new perspective on the impact of our diet and shopping habits, both on our own bodies and on the world around us. I’ll admit it, I buy Michael Pollan’s books as quickly as he publishes them now.

I guess I’d say we began buying local and organic food because I was tired of feeding my family food full of preservatives and pesticides, I wanted to support small local growers, and I believed in humane treatment of the animals that nourish us. I’ve stayed with it because I LOVE how much better real food tastes! Our neighbors raise chickens, and the eggs their daughters sell us taste like an entirely different food than anything I’ve ever bought at a grocery store. And yes, owning chickens is completely against our HOA rules. I love the fresh eggs, though, so please don’t mention it to anyone on the board.

All of that said, I’m not going to pretend we don’t run to Wal-Mart at 11 PM when I realize I’m supposed to bring snacks to the meeting tomorrow. I do have a friend who only uses cash when she shops at Wal-Mart because she says that way no can ever prove she really shopped there. I admit it; I shop at Wal-Mart. There may not be much that is local or sustainable about the retailer, but sometimes the convenience and thriftiness of shopping at Wal-Mart wins out. And I still buy a lot of things at Crest because much like everything in life, it’s all about balance. We have to balance our limited time, money, and resources. And at least Crest is locally owned, so maybe that’s worth something.

I know the sort of consumer I’d like to be. While I may not always be that person, I am always striving to find ways to fit a trip to the farmers market into our hectic schedule. And maybe I’ll even get around to joining the Oklahoma Food Co-op this spring! I remember my parents used to belong to a food co-op back in the 70’s. I guess it’s true that trends are cyclical and we do all eventually turn into our parents.

~Kristin

For more resources on local food sources, check out our tip sheet here.

The Sunnier Side of Tax Day

Dear Fearless Homeowner,

When you feel spring in the air do you begin to dream about what new flower varieties you’re going to experiment with this year?

For me, landscaping is one of the more exciting parts of owning a home. I love looking at the blank canvas and deciding where a redbud could be added, which places are sunny enough for irises, and where I could add another bed of daises. You can never have enough daises as far as I’m concerned. Our current house has a couple acres of land, and I was excited to find a good online resource for buying wildflower daisy seeds by the pound this year!

I’m a fourth generation Oklahoma farmer/gardener, and the itch to plant in the spring is in my blood. With that said, you’d think some gardening wisdom would have also been passed down to me. Somehow, I often struggle to handle the challenging weather Oklahoma gives it’s gardeners.

I remember the first year I was eagerly awaiting spring planting. I was in graduate school in Norman and had upgraded from the typical small college apartment to a larger duplex. The highlight of the new housing arrangement as far as I was concerned was the front porch, which had endless potential for container gardening!  I had grown up wandering through the rows of my grandfather’s garden, and I was looking forward to finally flexing my own green thumb!

As I carefully watched the weather for a trend of sunny days, I was thrilled to see how nice it was in Oklahoma for the beginning of March. I was sure the time had come to plant, and I quickly ran out to the store to buy my first round of flowers. I am now convinced stores only put out spring flowers early to tempt us to make the novice mistake I made that year by planting way too early. 

As I was cheerfully playing in the dirt and planting away on the front porch, an older gentleman  strode past me on the street. He made a comment about admiring my optimism. I didn’t entirely get it at the time, but I thanked him nonetheless. A week later, in typical Oklahoma fashion, a hard freeze struck the state. In all fairness, it didn’t kill ALL of my newly planted flowers. The pansies I had painstakingly picked out remained alive, but the rest of the tender annuals shriveled up and died.

So with weather the way it is in Oklahoma, when do you decide it’s safe to put out new flowers? Well, according to local gardening expert, Leigh Howell Love, the general rule of thumb in Oklahoma is Tax Day, April 15th. So when you’re done tallying up the totals for Uncle Sam, reward yourself with a trip to the garden store! Rest assured your flowers will thank you for not putting them out too early in this crazy Oklahoma weather. And with the tax deadline being pushed back to the 18th this year, you could spend all day Friday happily gardening. I think I will!

~Kristin

For more Oklahoma gardening resources, check out our tip sheet here.

If you’d rather just look at your pretty flowers instead of planting them yourself, be sure to check out Leigh’s landscaping company! She helps many residents in north OKC and Edmond design and maintain their gorgeous gardens.

Greetings!

Update: This post was originally written when Chris and I shared a blog. We have since separated our postings into two unique sites. This blog is all mine now, and Chris is off doing his own thing. You can see what he's writing by clicking here.

Greetings Fearless Homeowner,

I’d like to take a minute to introduce myself. While Chris is off doing the heavy lifting for his real estate business, I’m generally the one here at home shuffling the papers and making sure the busy work gets done. That said, I do sometimes accompany Chris on listing appointments to take pictures and notes on the property, and I’ve also been known to hold a baby or two while all of the important documents are getting signed. I am Chris’ go to assistant. Oh, and I’m also his wife.

In a former life I was a teacher, children’s librarian, and a trainer for the National Center for Family Literacy. That last job required being on the road constantly and was dependent on ever diminishing grant funds, so now I’ve settled down a bit and stay in Oklahoma most of the time. I still do some literacy and parenting trainings, but I spend most of my time working with the family business. That is, when I’m not in the garden or working with animals.

This is really Chris’ blog, but he’s so busy these days he doesn't have as much time to write as he’d like. For those of you who own your own business, you know being busy is a good thing. So, I figured I’d pick up a few blog posts for Chris. I’m still going to leave the nuts and bolts of buying and selling real estate to him. Being a lawyer by training, Chris tends to be more attentive to fine details than I do. Also, he’s the professionally licensed realtor and Broker-Associate in this relationship. I hope to focus on the light hearted side of home ownership: pulling together the look of your new home and property, exploring your local community...You know, the fun stuff!

So, thank you for being here at our web site, and thank you for taking the time to read our blog. Please come back, and I’ll try to have some fun, useful information each time you visit our site. And don’t forget, we’re never too busy to answer your questions about buying and selling property. That’s how we make our living after all!

~Kristin