INTRODUCING THE NEWEST HAYMOUNT HOME - GREENLAND DRIVE

We are so excited to introduce the newest Haymount Home: Greenland Drive. Greenland has an amazing front porch for your sitting pleasure. Add a chair and some sweet tea, and you’ll be ready to relax! The porch was fully replaced and is now sturdy and beautiful richly stained wood. Venture into the back yard and you will have room to roam in the fully fenced space.

Greenland Drive is a 2 bedroom, 1 bath home and has been lovingly transformed. It boasts farmhouse styling throughout, including a shiplap dining room and kitchen!

Greenland Drive has been quite a project but a labor of love. This has been the largest project we have undertaken and nearly every surface of this amazing home has been transformed. I will post more before and after photos for you in upcoming blog posts. I know everyone loves to see how far the home has come. I can promise you that we saved this little gem from years of neglect.

The dining room at Greenland is the hub of the home. Centrally located and accessed from the living room, kitchen, and porch, it will be a gathering space for all your friends and family. The attached living room offers ample space to relax and the gorgeous fireplace is a statement piece. We were able to retain the original mantel and add amazing herringbone tile.

Greenland Drive features hardwood floors throughout the living, dining, and bedroom spaces. The kitchen, porch, and bathroom all have ceramic tile. The brand new kitchen features wood cabinetry from our friends in Southern Pines, soft close drawers, and farmhouse style accents. The amazing black pearl granite countertops offer a honed matte finish and accent the beautiful undermount infinity edge stainless sink. Open shelving finish off the details along with beautiful stainless appliances. Did we mention a gas range? Now your culinary dreams can become reality!

Let’s talk about the porch/mudroom. It’s now beautiful - but oh my, it was not. There is now a lovely enclosed laundry closet, a beautiful tile floor, and amazing sitting area. With easy access to the kitchen and dining room, it is now part of the living space of Greenland.

Greenland Drive features a beautiful fully tiled bathroom, complete with pedestal sink and storage closet. The vintage iron soaking tub has been restored and holds the water temperature for so much longer than a plastic tub insert!

There are two bedrooms in Greenland, both of equal size and both have a closet and two windows. Vintage hardware adornes the doors throughout the home and the doors are solid wood. The home features a new roof and windows for maximal efficiency as well.

Living is easy at Greenland and you will enjoy the vintage charm with updated design. We are so pleased with the outcome and believe it is now a home to love. We would be remiss without thanking the amazing guys that helped us with the project. If you need someone to bring your dreams so life, rest assured that they can help you achieve that goal! You can find their information in the “about us'“ tab on our home page! Special thanks especially to Geo Livingston, Darin Halford, Don Armstrong, Colin Sherrill, Justin Haire, Ricky Hair Jr., Dustin Brewington, Clint Suggs, Kevin Williamson and Ron Geddie on this project; y’all are lifesavers!

Greenland is already home to our newest client. She is a brave soul that reached out to us earlier this year and reserved Greenland as her new home - even in a state of mess and chaos. We were so thrilled that she had the confidence in us and were so delighted to find that she loved her new home as well.

“Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”

— Alice Walker

We hope you enjoyed this home tour. Forgive the imperfections in the photos - some day I will really know what I am doing! Don’t hesitate to leave your comments below - what did we get right? What did we miss? We love hearing from you!

Until next time, go on loving your home!

-Casey

SETTING A RENTAL RATE

650? 1000? 1500?

Utilities? Yard Care? Pet Rent?

Yikes! Where do you begin? 

Spinning from the last post about the 1% rule, we already know that the house needs to rent for approximately 1% of the total purchase price of the home.  So, using our last example, if the home was $100,000 to purchase, then the home needs to rent for $1000/month.

You have to understand your rental market to know if your home can command this price.  This is where you must become a student in your market.  You need to invest time researching your market.  There are plenty of rental sites to choose from.  One of my personal favorites, is zillow.com, but there are plenty of them to choose from.  Look around the area you are considering purchasing your home.  What are the going rates?

You'll quickly find that it is hard to compare.  Some homes will have the same number of bedrooms and bathrooms as yours, but yours might have additional rooms that offer more square footage.  Some homes have better or worse finishes than yours, such as granite verses laminate counters in the kitchen, or a master en suite bath verses a shared bathroom.  The list of comparisons can be daunting.

Comparing homes can be difficult, here are some fairly tried and true rules that I have learned that allow me to size up the market and the competition.

• Number of Bedrooms
• Number of Bathrooms
• Quality of the Kitchen and Bathrooms
• Overall Square Footage
• Yard
• Storage

Let me preface this by stating that we rent mostly historic homes.  These homes are in an area that particular streets are more desirable (less traffic) and yard size is often small (thus, more private, larger lots, matter).  Additionally, historic homes traditionally offer storage challenges, so when a historic home offers storage, this is a big advantage.

That stated, people overall care about having a nice space/street to live on, some place to store their holiday decorations, and enough space for their family.  They also care about the amount of bedrooms and bathrooms.  The price of the home is usually most dependent on the number of bedrooms, more than bathrooms, but no one will complain about having additional bathrooms!

People care about kitchens and bathrooms and the quality of the finishes.  Depending on your market, the level of quality can change.  However, across the board, attractive surfaces, cared for appliances, and nice flooring go a long way.

When you put this all together, you can start to compare homes on a more equal basis.  Perhaps you have a very nicely appointed two bedroom home that has 2 bathrooms, a fully remodeled and upgraded kitchen, and a private, fenced yard.  This might rent for the same price as a three bedroom, one bathroom house that has a standard grade kitchen and one less bathroom, on a busier street with a smaller yard.

It is not simply the size of the home that determines the rent, but as importantly, the quality of the home.  Some people will sacrifice more space for better finishes; others will want that extra bathroom. When pricing your home, consider the competition in your size range and determine if you were looking to rent, where would home fall amid the available competition on the market?  Would your home be as nice as the others? Nicer? Less nice?  If you were looking to rent, consider what price would make your home a "no brainer" or "I need to call quick before this house is gone?"  That is the price you want to consider.  Something that makes a potential client act so they don't lose out.

We'll cover more on this in the future, but hopefully this helps guide you in determining a rental price for your home. Once you know your market, you can better compare what your home has to offer a potential client, and you can more accurately determine the best price.

- Casey