As most of my clients know I drive a Toyota Prius. I enjoy new technology and over the last couple of years have especially enjoyed the gas mileage. As a Carmel and Pebble Beach Realtor and with the number of miles I put on the car, a Prius is a nearly perfect vehicle for showing my clients homes and land for sale on the Monterey Peninsula.
Of course, there are limitations. I also represent properties in Carmel Valley and have several clients that are interested in “horse properties.”
I recently spent six hours with a client and his son touring Carmel Valley and introducing them to properties with horse facilities or vacant land upon which they could build a home, barn, and arena. They are from the Galveston area of Texas and it was important that they left after the six hours with a good feel of the various areas of the Valley and an understanding of relative value depending on property location, size, condition, view, and slope. My goal wasn’t to find them a property but to send them home with enough knowledge so that we can discuss properties over the next six months with a shared vocabulary.
Too often I met people who bought a home in a given area after only a couple of weekends of visiting open houses and now wish they had opted for a home in another Peninsula area. The difference between Carmel, the Carmel Highlands, The Santa Lucia Preserve, Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach is dramatic but not immediately obvious without reflection and research.
All are wonderful places to live but are dramatically different from each other in terms of weather, demographics, lot size, zoning, distance from grocery stores and restaurants and school systems.
Take the time to explore each before narrowing your search.
