The Kitchens of Distinction
I was a scholarship student in the UK thirty odd years ago and there was a semi-well known band at the time called The Kitchens of Distinction. I have no memory of what their music even sounded like, but the name stayed with me. It was ironic and suggested a certain late 1980s anti-bougie sentiment. Hold that thought.
Two months ago my husband and I bought a new apartment. We’d been looking for a slightly bigger place for a very long time, but here in San Francisco the real estate market is tight and insanely expensive. Our incredibly patient real estate agent Loida probably showed us a hundred places over the last decade. Every once in a while she’d reach out, say she had a property we might like, and each time it fell short in one way or another. You want a great place? That’ll be $2,000,000. You want an “affordable” place? That will be worse than what we already have. So we did nothing.
Then this place appeared. It hadn’t officially been presented for sale yet. Loida had just received the keys. The sellers were out-of-town family who had inherited the property from an elderly aunt. They had a specific price in mind and wanted a quick sale. Loida put together a proposal for light renovations and staging of the property. If they spend $37,000 up front it would almost certainly sell for $300,000 more than in its current condition. The sellers wanted no part of that plan. They wanted to do exactly nothing so long as they got their price, even though that price was significantly below the market value. We offered precisely that number on the spot and they accepted the next day. There was no competition and no negotiating. Everyone got exactly what they wanted and the sale was fast and easy. This is the value of a really good agent who knows you, knows the market, and has the right personal connections. She earned every penny of her commission.
The sale wrapped up over two months ago. Since then we’ve done nothing to the place and continue to live in our old apartment. We’re currently getting official drawings and paperwork done in preparation for some renovations. We each have very different ideas about what needs to be done and how much time, money, and effort should be expended on the project. I believe the existing space is basically good the way it is. There are some mechanical issues that need to be addressed since some of the pipes and wires are a century old, but the general configuration is solid.
For me, once those health and safety concerns are corrected mostly the place just needs to be scrubbed clean and painted. Yes, a few relatively simple upgrades would make a big difference. But mostly I want to preserve the 1924 era character of the space because it has really good bones and functions perfectly well as is. I’m also not keen on dragging out the process in an environment of inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain disruptions. I don’t need or want a Kitchen of Distinction.
My husband has a different understanding of the situation. From his perspective we have a golden opportunity to transform the place into our Dream Forever Home. We’re in our 50s so this is the moment to prepare for our retirement years by making modifications that will help us age in place over time. And we’re currently living elsewhere so we won’t have to endure the misery of a construction zone. So why not take things down to the studs? These are all excellent points. But the devil is in the details.
We’re still in the process of sorting this out. In the meantime there was a unique opportunity to provide the apartment as it is to some of the Ukrainians we have sponsored, rent free for the duration of the process. They will have to tolerate the inevitable disruptions, but having access to good paying jobs in the city with no overhead is a good deal they embraced with both hands. By the time the apartment is done they should have a solid reserve of money and enough personal connections to make a smooth transition to independent living. I call that a win.
