The Lifestyle Question

by Greg Tasker

Before you ask yourself what (and where) to buy, first ask, “How do I love to live?”

When it comes to buying a new home in Northern Michigan, there’s much more to consider than bricks and mortar or a prized parcel of land.

Your lifestyle plays an important role in your decision, and can ultimately determine how well you adapt to—or even like—your new home, says William Kaupas, owner of Social Realty in Traverse City. Kaupas, who has been in the real estate business 15 years, is adept at helping his clients figure their lifestyle needs into their home-buying decisions.

For Kaupas, the interview process is not a formal survey. Instead, he tends to ask less about the house a client is dreaming about, and more about their family, their interests, and what they do. He doesn’t have a ready set of questions in mind; he considers himself naturally curious and social (hence the name of his real estate company).

“I’m very informal up front,” says Kaupas, who also maintains a second office outside of Detroit in Royal Oak. “I take someone to lunch or dinner and get to learn about them. We spend a lot of time together. Where the conversation begins is not where we are going to finish up.”

Here are a few of the lifestyle scenarios Kaupas has encountered in recent months, and how his talents helped steer clients to more suitable options.

Active, social: A Houston couple relocating to Traverse City had their eyes on Old Mission Peninsula. But as Kaupas learned about their lifestyle, he realized they loved biking, being out in the community, spending time at restaurants and happy hour on Traverse City’s Front Street. They preferred to bike or Uber rather than drive. He redirected them to a downtown Victorianera home, with easy access to the city’s amenities and no worries about getting around.

Family: A young couple in their thirties with four young children were looking for a second home. They wanted a small cottage on the water for swimming and to use as a source of rental income. Instead, Kaupas steered them toward selling their suburban home and adding those funds to their cottage budget so they could live on the water. They ended up on south Long Lake, with a 120-foot beach they can enjoy every day. “I told them, ‘You are never going to use the cottage the way you think you will,’” he recalls, pointing out a host of kid-related issues on their horizon, everything from sports and activities to something as simple as a child not feeling well. “Our children are only little once, the memories of them growing up in this special place are priceless,” he says.

Aging, active: A man in his early sixties was looking to buy a house on Old Mission Peninsula; a bay view was his only non-negotiable. During conversation, the man joked, “I’m only one fall away from never mountain biking again.” With that in mind, and a 1 million-dollar budget to work with, Kaupas ended up finding this client a 1970s ranch home for just over $600,000. Kaupas is now coordinating extensive renovations that include panoramic bay views, as well as a spacious first floor guest suite with a large barrier-free bathroom, just in case it’s ever needed in the future.

Busy, social and concerned about resale value: A thirtysomething tech guy wanted to relocate from his Traverse City condo to lakefront property. This client didn’t like fixing things around the house, didn’t want to deal with cutting the lawn and was very social; his main impetus for a lake property was to entertain. After looking at several lakefront properties, Kaupas found him a modern home in Traverse City, where he could entertain and not worry about the lawn; the back yard had all native plants. What’s more, he is close to downtown and popular hangouts, and the house will be easy to resell.

Elderly widow: The children of a 78-year-old widow wanted to sell her spacious Williamsburg home and move her into a Traverse City condo. The woman was spry and active but couldn’t maintain the property on her own. “When her children left the room, I asked her point-blank, ‘What do you want?’” Kaupas recalls. Although she realized she couldn’t live there anymore, she didn’t want to sell the house; it contained many of her late husband’s artifacts—he was a paleontologist. Kaupas came up with an alternative: the family is keeping the house, housing the artifacts in a locked basement and renting the rest of the house as an Airbnb, providing enough income for the client to live in Cordia at Grand Traverse Commons, an all-inclusive senior residential community.

“Everybody is different and if you’re willing to take the time to listen to them, to let them speak, you’ll find out what they really want,” Kaupas says.