Randy and I are fortunate to call Sonoma County our home. We have built a strong professional foundation rooted in our love and respect for the area as well as the people who call it home. We joined Sotheby’s International Realty over ten years ago not only for the worldwide brand recognition and quality of service but because Sotheby’s has a profound respect for the people that work within the organization. This commitment ultimately benefits the people who hire a Sotheby’s agent to represent them. We are honored to serve Sonoma County residents to find their ideal home and be an ambassador for Sotheby’s International Realty brand. Give us a call today and learn more about how we can help you reach your real estate goals.
Growing Boutique Wines
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© Robert Kneschke | Dreamstime.com
Some of the best products come from small-scale endeavors. Wine is no different. In Sonoma County, the boutique wineries are some of the most spectacular, not only for their wines, but also for the ambiance and the passionate people associated with these small grape farms. The small-scale viticulture in the area helps promote a farm-to-table lifestyle and community.
With many of the area’s small wineries being multi-generational family affairs. It takes hard work and a lot of love to make these farms successful. Keeping the operations small and intimate is not only a goal (one area winery aims for the whole process to be a one-man show) but a commitment. This self-imposed size limit the vintner’s promise to the people who visit and drink their wine so that they feel more like family than customers. With the home-like ambiance and the friendly farmers, it’s a good thing there are so many opportunities to visit and taste the wine from the small farms in Sonoma.
© Cookamoto | Dreamstime.com – Vector illustration
There is so much that goes into making a great wine, but not so much that you can’t grow some successfully at home. A lot of the success (as with much in life) is in the planning. Factors such as ripening season, weather, water source and control, sun exposure, and pests all have to be considered, and issues abetted before grapes can really flourish. Only after all the careful planning can you pick your grape!
Now take a minute and think about what you could do with your very own small scale, Sonoma county winery… What if the property was already turn-key, ready for you to move in and grow, harvest, and drink? One property in the area provides opportunity. This 7.32 acre property and home is conveniently located to offer the best of town and country life. Since all of the planning is well past completion, enjoying the 4.25 acres (4,514 vines) of Pinot Noir and 0.25 acres (180 vines) of Chardonnay is just a harvest away. So many of the planning issues have been resolved when you invest in a property such as this, with a water storage tanks for both the home and the crops and the properties own 200 foot deep well.
Caring for your own small-scale vineyard is full of hands-on work that can fulfill your love of the great outdoors. From watering, to fertilizing, and weeding and pruning, there are so many opportunities to use your hands, that making this a family affair, or hiring some outside help, can help maximize the enjoyment factor.
Harvesting your grapes and making your wine can be a learning process. The timing of harvest is just as important as the how. But once you have a fully harvested batch of grapes, ready to make into wine, the real fun begins. Making sure you have the right equipment is essential in a successful wine-making experience (there’s that all-important planning part again). Keeping your area and tools clean and inspecting the grapes has to happen before and during the wine-making process. After making the grapes into juice, fermentation is the process that is a little skill and a little magic (well, microbial activity, but winemaking is definitely a little magic). After fermenting and racking the wine, the wine can be bottles, sealed and shared. The fruits of your labor can finally be realized (and enjoyed, of course).
Now all you have to do is sit back, take a sip, and decide how to share your grapes (and maybe your wine) with the world!
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Know the Emotional Element in Selling Your Sebastopol Home
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When you read up on the dos and don’ts for selling your home, there is one piece of advice that’s universal when it comes to negotiating a successful deal: don’t let emotions get in the way. It does seem peculiar that something that is so obvious about any negotiation would have to be stated at all—much less repeated so often. You have to conclude that it happens a lot.
It does, and there are deep-seated reasons. Although selling your area home is primarily a business venture, it’s one with some of the emotional overtones usually associated with creative endeavors. When an artist or sculptor, jewelry designer or photographer—any creative professional—decides to offer works for sale to the public, it’s nearly impossible for him or her to remain completely objective about how it is received. Or to avoid forming feelings about those who accept or reject the creation.
Selling your Sebastopol home only seems to be all business. True, it’s a single-transaction enterprise. It begins with preparing the property, and concludes with negotiating to close the deal. Every step of the process may seem to be all business. But in reality, it’s almost unavoidable for emotional cross currents to seep in from the very first step.
Consider preparing the property. If there were such a thing as a perfect home, this would be a cut-and-dried affair: all it would involve would be to eliminate every flaw. But since perfection exists only in some alternate universe, deciding which of a home’s features need to be enhanced, replaced, or done away with altogether involves making subjective judgments. Some of these can require paying significant amounts of money; others, significant amounts of elbow grease.
When the work is done and the results are first put on display, it’s like Opening Night. It is only human to feel personally connected with how prospective buyers react. Not only is the ‘product’ that’s being evaluated one that reflects your tastes and efforts—it’s also where you live! Your home, for goodness’ sake! It deserves to be appreciated at the very least…
Especially when it comes to the negotiations phase of selling your area home, this is one business venture wherein it’s nearly impossible to avoid the personal element. Acknowledging it is simple. And knowledge is power—if you expect that you might experience an emotional reaction at some point, you’ll recognize it for what it is. If it’s an overreaction, you will be much more likely to be able to simply take a deep breath, put it into perspective—and come up with an appropriate response. “A lot of times buyers and sellers will argue tooth and nail over things that aren’t really that important,” New York City closing attorney Sandor Krauss blogged recently; “and sometimes it blows deals.”
One of the great advantages to having a local agent by your side when selling your Sebastopol home is to have an experienced intermediary working on your behalf. It can put you at a professional distance from the direct negotiations with buyers—and their emotions! If you will be selling your home in Sebastopol this winter or spring, I hope you will call us!
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