There’s a moment every fall in Albuquerque when I start looking for the sunny chair instead of the shady one. The mornings are cool enough for a sweater, and by late afternoon the Sandias catch the light while I’m already thinking about dinner. It’s a small shift, but it changes where I want to sit, when I want to walk, and how I spend my time at home.
I think about that when I walk through houses with buyers. We start with the things we can count. Three bedrooms. Two baths. A two-car garage. Then someone stops in the kitchen and says, “I could have my coffee right here.” Sometimes that’s the first moment I can see them picturing an ordinary day in the house.
A home is a place to have your life. It’s where you drop your keys, put soup on the stove, and pull up another chair when someone stays for dinner. It’s where you take a phone call in the quietest room you can find. It’s where the chair by the window turns out to be your favorite spot in the whole house.
After more than 30 years as a real estate broker, I still enjoy the moment when a buyer starts talking about how they’d actually live in a house. Someone who loves to cook may care more about a stretch of usable counter than a big island. Someone who walks every morning may pay closer attention to what’s just beyond the front door. A little room with a door that closes can be the room that makes the whole house work.
If you’re looking at homes this fall, picture a Tuesday. Where would you set down the groceries? Where would you go for a little quiet? What would you look forward to coming home to?
And if you’ve lived in the same place for years, you probably already know your answer. Mine, this time of year, starts with a chair in the sun.
Linda DeVlieg Killman
Qualifying Broker, Linda DeVlieg Real Estate, LLC
