My newest listing is a rare find indeed. 29 Camelot Lane, Westfield, MA is situated on a small cul-de-sac with the best bluff views in town, this 15 room Colonial is stunning. Only the finest appointments in this home which offers 6 bedrooms, 5 1/2 baths and loads of storage. Five of the bedrooms are suites with baths attached.
Before I was a mom I remember thinking that having children would be so special because the love between a mother and a child is the most amazing thing in the world. I was right, but I didn't understand a few very important line items.
Before I was a mom I thought that raising children was simply a a matter of loving them enough. Once again, I missed something.
Before I was a mom I thought that I was smart, funny, educated, energetic and brave. WRONG, WRONG. WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
As a compass, Motherhood is altogether humbling.
Last week I did three very cool things: I rode in a (very) small plane built and flown by my boyfriend,
I flew in an aerobatic bi-plane that threw 4G's my way and kept the change
AND
I flew a plane MYSELF.
Many of my friends, family and co-workers have told me since that they think I am: crazy, brave, nuts, amazing, fun, and totally insane. None of what I did last week can hold a candle to the "simple task" of getting my girls to bed.
I am a brave person, but I am also aware: motherhood (and I am certain fatherhood, though I can't attest to it) is not for the feint of heart. Enter conciously, tread lightly and be kind to yourself and your kids...this is a hard gig.
Motherhood has asked of me things I would never have offered willingly, but am glad to give. It has demanded of me gifts I didn't know I possessed and has required strength I thought impossible. My gifts to my children have been equally granted to me as I have learned that I can survive things I never imagined.
What does this have to do with my career or blog in the real estate field?
Not a whole heck of a lot.
UNLESS....
You are a mother, or a father, or a person who has met unrealized challenges, or a grandma, or a grandpa, or an aunt.....you see where this is going.
Our challenges are lessons. Our fears are challenges. We learn, and if we are lucky, we grow.
Every weekday I start my day as a mom. I get my oldest daughter on the bus to 2nd grade at Highland School in Westfield, MA and take the younger daughter to her preschool at the YMCA in Westfield, MA. We walk up the stairs and look at the artwork the teachers have tacked up for display.
The other day I stopped to look at one particular piece and it stayed with me the rest of the day. The theme of the art was "When I Grow Up" and each child had drawn an illustration of what they wanted to be. Some were traditional: a teacher, a policeman, a hairdresser, but this one picture stood out to me:
When I grow up I want to be: A Ballerina Doctor.
My first reaction was a giggle and I thought, how cute. But after reflection I started to think, well why the heck not? See, when we are four we think we can be anything...DO anything and we are RIGHT. Somewhere along the way we learn fear and allow that fear to alter dreams into something safe. We stop pressing ourselves because people may scoff or say that what we want is impossible. Tradition steps in and we take our allotted roles.
I decided after admiring this young lady's bold dreams that I was a convert to her way of thinking. I too, want to be a Ballerina Doctor (rhetorically speaking) and am making a concerted effort to find my four year old bravery.
I am taking chances, boldened by a four year old's wisdom. Risks don't seem so frightening anymore, they are new challenges, exciting and fun. Limits are gone and in their place are steps to take one at a time to reach my dreams. My goals haven't changed, but my road to reach them is a totally new route with fun stops along the way.
So, I decided I would hang my proclamation up on my virtual stairwell so that everyone can see what my dreams are, too.
When I grow up I want to be: The real estate agent people in Westfield, MA think of when they need help. I want to be known as a problem solver and a caregiver. I want all of Western Massachusetts to understand my drive to help people when they need to or want to buy or sell real estate.
This little girl will never know the gift she bestowed upon me, but I hope she never loses sight of her ability to pick the dream that fits her best and work each day to reach it.
I share this with you so that you might tap into your four year old self and remind you to dream big and be brave...life is supposed to be fun!
Lesley Lambert, The Real Estate Natural at Park Square Realty
Allright, you went and looked at all the houses for sale in Western MA and you finally found the house you want! Now what?
Buying your first home can be confusing and sometimes overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Preparation and education prior to getting involved will help to make the process more enjoyable and exciting for you.
Choosing the home is the easy part...the real work comes after you pick the home. Be sure that your REALTOR is keeping you informed each step of the way, explaining the forms and all the legalities involved. You will feel comfortable making your decisions if you understand the process a bit better. If you missed the first video in this series, you can view it here: "Buying Your First Home in Western MA"
This video discusses what happens after your find the right Western MA home...I hope it helps you!
If you are looking to buy your first home in the Western MA area, contact:
As a 20 year veteran of the real estate profession, a lot of my time has been spent helping first time homebuyers. This is the most important purchase of their lives and they rely on their realtor for guidance and education. I give that and try to pepper it with a lot of fun along the way.
This video is intended to help first time homebuyers in Western MA start their journey with advice on what to do and in when to do it! This a fun story about my recent day spent with first time homebuyers in Springfield, MA...we had adventures!
Here in my hometown of Westfield, MA we have a large population of squirrels, and many of them are black.
When people come to visit they are often amazed by these rare little rodents and inquire about their origins.
Photo by Stan Freeman/The Republican
This excerpt from Stanley Park's website explains how these cute little critters landed in Westfield, MA:
"A Westfield phenomenon since the late 1940's, the black squirrels now populate most areas of the city and have moved into surrounding communities. Because they are not indigenous to Western Massachusetts, the presence of the squirrels has led to a rather large collection of stories and tall tales as to how they got here, when, and perhaps most important, why? They were a gift to Frank Stanley Beveridge, the founder of The Stanley Park of Westfield, Inc. and Stanhome Inc., from former Stanhome Inc., sales manager's, Hubert L. Worell and Alvah (Al) Elzerman. In 1948, Worell and Elserman brought the squirrels from Michigan to Westfield, Massachusetts when they were to attend a conference here at Stanhome Inc., or known at that time as Stanley Home Products. The first arrivals were kept in cages and did not adapt well to their new environment; they failed to reproduce and eventually died. Undaunted, Worell and Elserman tried again, this time bringing six squirrels, allowing them to roam free in the confines of the park. The squirrels found their new surroundings and their freedom to their liking, and were soon an established tenant of Westfield. Now black squirrels are to be found all over the Pioneer Valley and are numerous especially in the park."
Masslive.com featured an interesting story about the black squirrels today, which was the spark to write this blog. It always amazes me how every region has something special that we treat as common and forget is unique. Westfield is blessed by having a wonderful park like Stanley Park. When I am not busy helping people with buying or selling a home, it is a favorite destination with my daughters.
The wikipedia definition of the black squirrels tells about the various locations that they are known to thrive and also mentions our beautiful Stanley Park, Westfield, MA. The population of the black squirrels extends into about 60 communities in Western Massachusetts at this point.
These unique animals have spurred a retail business spoofing on the Black Dog items from Martha's Vineyard. You can buy any number of products sporting the Black Squirrel at this site.
If you are interested in the biology of the black squirrel, this report has all the statistics you are looking for.
While searching google for more information for this blog, I discovered that there is another Stanley Park in Vancouver with black squirrels....what an odd coincidence! Here is a photo of their squirrel.
If you are looking to move to Westfield, MA: home of the adorable black squirrel, be sure to get in touch with:
Lesley Lambert of Park Square Realty in Westfield, MA chose Park Square Realty as her brokerage for a lot of important reasons.Not the least of those reasons was the fact that it is a company with proven results.Park Square Realty recently released their five year statistics and the numbers were incredible.
During the years 2004-2008 Park Square Realty was the #1 real estate company in Westfield for getting their listings sold.Park Square Realty sold 42% more homes than their next closest competitor.
For that period of time Park Square Realty sold 527 listings, the #2 company sold 371, the #3 company sold 296 and the #4 company sold 138.
Park Square Realty has been locally owned and consistently successful since 1987.Lesley Lambert has been in real estate for 20 years and has extensive experience.Lambert is a specialist in short sales, foreclosure/bank owned properties, investment properties, historic homes and residential re-sale.
Last year I had done a market analysis for a woman who owned a home here in Westfield, MA, but was now living 8 hours away in Maine. She was contemplating selling the home in Westfield and asked if I could assess the property for her.
As she was so far away, we never met in person. We corresponded by email and telephone and she decided that she would want to sell the house in the near future, but not right now. Since that time I have stayed in touch with her and recently we found each other on Facebook.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of finding this lovely message from her on my "wall":
I blocked her name in case she wouldn't want it all over the internet, but if you want to visit my Facebook profile, you will find it on my wall.
This is a great reminder that staying in touch with people is key in the real estate business. She and I will continue to correspond and even if she decides never to sell the house, I have made a new friend.
In this day, it is important that your home be marketed to the buyers in THE WAY that the buyers prefer.
What does that mean?
Simply put, we all have our preferred methods of researching something we want.
Customer A likes to read the morning paper with his coffee and uses the classified advertisements as his resource. He decides that he wants to buy a house and starts checking the ads there and picking up the other print media options that feature homes for sale.
Customer B is on the go with her Iphone at her side at all times. She never reads the paper, preferring instead to follow her RSS newsfeed for the news she is interested in. When she wants to find something she turns to the internet and Google is both a noun and a verb in her mind. She has decided that she wants to buy her first home and is on-line that evening.
Marketing to Customer A is standard real estate marketing. The sign in the yard, the newspaper and magazine ads, open house ads, etc. This is what any real estate agent will provide for you, the seller. It is needed to reach Customer A, but Customer B will most likely never see any of it.
Reaching Customer B is where most real estate agents get confused. Most real estate agents know that the internet is an important place to be, but they lack the knowledge and skills to place their listings in the optimum position to be found by the buyers.
That is where a REALTOR like myself (or another great one from across the state) comes in...
To appropriately market a listing to all of the buyers in the way that they want to find it your agent MUST have internet marketing skills. They should understand how to optimize the listing for search engines and where to network to bring the best exposure to their listings. Does that agent understand how to work the on-line marketing to ensure that when someone googles the home's address that home comes out first?
Can they allow people driving by to text for more information including photos of the interior and feature sheets?
Will they do a video tour of the home and include that on their website, blog and social media sites?
If you want your home exposed to all of the buyers, you need an agentthat can position your home to appeal to all types of buyers. You can never be certain what avenue the buyer will take to find your home, but a good agent can offer some shortcuts to get them there faster.
If you are looking to sell your home in Western MA in the Greater Westfield/Springfield area: I would love to sit down and explain my complete marketing plan. I am high tech with old fashioned service!
Call Lesley Lambert, The Real Estate Natural at Park Square Realty at 413-575-3611
Nothing, unless you are Lesley Lambert and happen to be showing 13 houses in Springfield, MA to your new first time home buyer client!
Never let it be said that being a real estate agent isn't a constant adventure!
So, my day started out with meeting my new buyer client for the first time and doing a buyer agency counseling session. After that we loaded up into my car and started out on our three hour journey.
The first home was normal enough. Lock box where it belongs, house was ok...we moved on.
The second home was confirmed with the homeowner to let us in. We find the street and my buyer points to a house with a sign and says "there it is". I park, we head to the door and knock. No answer. I try the REALTOR to see if I can use the lock box and can't get in touch with him. As I am getting on the phone with the listing office my buyer informs me that we are at the wrong house. Color me dippy...I never checked the house number, sheesh. With a laugh we make our way to the correct home which the buyer didn't like.
We zig zag across Springfield (my showing order got messed up by the listing Realtors time requirements) and go to our next home which isn't plowed or shoveled out. After stomping through the foot of snow we discover that it is also not the right home. Ah, the joys of showing REO listings in the winter in Western Massachusetts.
Next stop was almost not a stop as we slid sideways down the ice encrusted hill leading to the home. We can't go inside this one because the agent hasn't called me back in four days with the lock box combo...of course, they love this one, so we have to re-schedule.
Moving along we use my GPS to find the next stop, only the road has been barricaded with barrels and chains. We decide to park and walk vs. trying to find our way around. This home is a treasure! It is a large Craftsman home with a different inlaid floor pattern in each room, beamed ceilings, gorgeous built in features and wood galore. The MBR has a bath AND a fireplace and we are all falling in love, until....we go into the bedroom with icicles on the ceiling. This is a bank owned "where is, as is" listing and these buyers are not ready for that kind of project.
NEXT!
A series of homes that are just not quite right follow as we continue to loop around town. We pass the same landmark a few times and I start making "Look Kids! Big Ben!" jokes a la the movie European Vacation.
We eventually land at our last home which looks adorable from the road and has a large lot. The driveway has totally iced over and the three of us are literally skating to the back door to access the lock box. After a few axles and triple loops we get inside the house, which is quaint. This home is somehow been frozen in time, including the amenities which include this lovely AM/FM toilet paper dispenser. I have been showing homes for 20years and I must admit, I have never seen this before!
At the end of the day, we had shared a lot of laughs and seen a lot of interesting things. I know more about these new buyers and what they are looking for in a home and we will be going out for more adventures next weekend!
If you know someone who is looking to buy a home in Western MA and would like to make it an adventure...have them call
