THE NEW
STANDARD Sage Realty Partners is the premier real estate brokerage in Oklahoma City — a tight-knit team of trustworthy, experienced agents who provide the highest level of service in the industry, delivering what what we call “The Sage Standard.”
NICHOLS HILLS: 6430 N. Western Avenue
Sage405.com | DOWNTOWN: 10 N. Lee Avenue
THE NEW
STANDARD Sage Realty Partners is the premier real estate brokerage in Oklahoma City — a tight-knit team of trustworthy, experienced agents who provide the highest level of service in the industry, delivering what what we call “The Sage Standard.”
NICHOLS HILLS: 6430 N. Western Avenue
Sage405.com | DOWNTOWN: 10 N. Lee Avenue
Cover photo by Skyler Smith for Sees Deesign; Photo from the Jeffrey Court Collection
CONTENTS OF TERRITORY ISSUE 15 HOME
(Left) photo by Skyler Smith for Sees Deesign; (Middle) Walker Zanger Collection; (Right) Butler's pantry by Isaac Harper for Marissa Adler Designs & Young Bros. Inc.
Beauty as Birthright
Much Better Than Good Enough
Next-gen vision steps up at the venerable Sees Design house.
Expert advice on optimizing the opportunities–and anticipating the pitfalls–of buying and selling a home.
14 Swinging for the Fences Hometown dreamers trying to evolve the way we live in the city core.
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Building Smart Making savvy choices and choosing splurges that help the bottom line.
44 Strangers into Neighbors Growing community, one conversation–and one toadstool–at a time.
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An Italian-inspired nightly eatery in the heart of the Dallas Design District. thecharlesdallas.com • 469.917.9000 1632 Market Center Blvd, Dallas, TX
INTERIOR DESIGN BY
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
There was an elegance that inhabited everything my grandfather did. My favorite photo of him was taken as we left the beach in Ft. Lauderdale. I was in elementary school and he had our sand bucket balanced jauntily atop his head. One lithe arm gestured to the side, a cigarette lightly balanced between his fingers like an exclamation point at the end of a sentence. The Fred Astaire stride of his long legs made his swim trunks look like Yves Saint Laurent. Bompa, as we called him, was an interior designer. He wintered in a condo overlooking the ocean. His walls were mirrored and the Florida sunshine bounced provocatively around the most eclectic mix of Lucite and bamboo, toile and animal prints. It made my highly visual brain spark and churn. The interiors Bompa composed inspired me to take seriously a love of design, only intensified by summer camp at Cranbrook. My family came from modest means, and many pitched in for those camp fees. But for our clan, there are only two forms of status– being funny and having good taste. We were raised to understand that beauty, like humor, is powerful.
Photo by Skyler Smith for Sees Deesign.
Oklahoma City interior designer Corbin See reminds us that a person’s aesthetic develops over time, through exposure and experience. It is cultivated. Territory’s support of arts and cultural events is our way of encouraging us all to elevate and nurture that highest impulse of humankind–art. But there is one expression of artful living we’ve neglected, until now. It wasn’t long after we started Territory in 2015 that we started receiving nudges to cover Oklahoma City’s bustling home decor and real-estate communities. Real talk: we just weren’t that inspired by the editorial norms of shelter magazines. Blind consumerism is boring, and so are empty tombs to design. But things have changed a lot over the last four years. Our Oklahoma City culture is fomenting with new ideas and expressions
of beauty in design, architecture, cuisine and art. We’re demanding more from one another. As broker Rob Allen reminds, high standards attract and inspire more of the same. We are getting more serious about ourselves. Not in that ’90s consumeristic way; that’s a behind-the-times approach that keeps Oklahoma behind the curve. But when we saw the sexy space the young Sees Design team created at The Charles–or the sculptural placemaking enacted by The Elliott–we could hold back no longer. We invited the collaboration of some truly exceptional Oklahomans into our first special issue, Territory: Home. It is our honor to share their expertise and dreams with you. We hope you find much guidance and inspiration in these pages.
Veronica Pasfield 7
NOW SERVING SUNDAY DINNER
LUNCH | DINNER | BRUNCH | 405.235.2200 MIDTOWN | 1201 N. WALKER AVE. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73103
Contributors Rob Allen Rob is co-founder of Sage Realty Partners in Nichols Hills. An Army veteran, Rob received a Purple Heart. He graduated from OCU School of Law. He and cousin Chris Allen are quickly building one of OKC’s top boutique brokerages.
Brad Yocum Brad founded Cadence Homes. A Navy vet, he graduated from OSU, earned an MBA at Oklahoma Baptist University and degree in product design and engineering management from Stanford. Brad serves in leadership at Central Oklahoma Builders Association and OKC Ballet.
Skyler Smith Skyler Smith was born in Midwest City, Oklahoma. When he was eight years old, Smith's Grandpa gave him his first pawnshop camera and the rest is beautiful history. We feature his images in our Sees Design feature.
Tiffany Solomon Tiffany is the director of operations at Young Brothers, Inc., a family-owned stone and tile design center and fabricator since 1969. Tiffany has advised us for years–not just on design, but as a foodie and craft cocktail devotee.
Trey McNeill
Alex Berry
Associate Publisher alex@territoryokc.com
Julia Radke Ad Designer julia@territoryokc.com
Veronica Pasfield
Andree Miller
Beagle Studio
Publisher trey@territoryokc.com
Editor editorial@territoryokc.com
Photo Contributor @a.millerphoto
Print Design @beagle.studio
3100 N. Classen Blvd. Ste 103 | Oklahoma City, OK 73118 | www.territoryokc.com @TerritoryOKC
@TerritoryOKCmagazine
@TerritoryOKC 9
Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890). Daisies, Arles (detail), 1888. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo: Travis Fullerton. Š Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Nicole Rickey Interior Design
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Beauty as a Birthright
Swinging for the Fences: The Elliott
Feature
Beauty as Birthright Next-gen vision steps up at the venerable Sees Design house.
Good interior design tells the story of the people who inhabit a space, and is pleasant to the eye. But great interior design? It transports us, and deepens our relationship with place. Perhaps this explains why humans have been compelled to create beauty since the ancients. The venerable Sees Design has long been a media darling. We’ve been titillated with the blossoming of the second generation of See designers: Ross, Corbin and wife Sara, a luxury textile designer. Particularly splashy: the landing of Corbin and Sara onto the Dallas design scene in 2017. Paper City and D Home magazines named them among the year’s best and “most powerful” designers. D Home also featured the Sees' interior design for the residence of Benji Homsey, president of Hotel ZaZa and an OKC native. Sees-designed rooms can be read as fine art as well as function—a marker of superior interior design. Layers of texture, shape and color attain a delicious visual tension. Collected objects, not catalogue merch, titillate with stories of origin. It’s the yang of, say, a Joseph Dirand coffeetable book against cable TV’s transient yin. Last summer brought The Charles, a chic Italian eatery. This sexy bistro pleases the heady aesthetics of the Dallas Design District while still appealing to a laid-back lustiness that Italy and Texas share. Corbin and Ross partnered with ZaZa veteran Chas Martin for the concept. Sees Design has long worked all over the country from its Heritage Hills headquarters where founder, Carson, and Ross office. But Corbin is quick to remind that Oklahoma design reaches beyond our borders, and travels with the state’s famously wanderlusting natives. “That pioneering drive to create something original and your own is what defines our designs,” says Corbin.
Interview with Carson, Corbin, Ross, and Sara Sees by Veronica Pasfield – Photos by Skyler Smith
15
Feature
Tell me a bit about the creation story of Sees Design. CARSON We had an Uncle Marvin that had an antique store in Tennessee. My wife and I filled a U-Haul, leased a space in 1975 and called it Sees Design. The design part stuck. Always having a passion for music, architecture, fine art and furniture opened the door to a great adventure. I’ve never had so much joy and pride until my kids came in 13 years ago—bigger than we had ever dreamed. I’m blessed. What more could a dad dream?
What is your relationship with the power of beauty? CORBIN To some, putting value on beauty sounds shallow, but it doesn't have to be rooted in vanity or materialism. Beauty isn’t really a luxury, it’s biological—best when rooted in nature. Mother Nature has had time to perfect balance and scale. No one else can do it like her, but (humans) try in everything we do: art, fashion, culinary, interior design, etc. (Music producer) Rick Rubin said “the power of nature is what all art strives to be.” He also said, “edgy things tend to get my attention.” That’s true for me, too. I tend to like my beauty in high doses of visual calories. Our definition of beauty can be different (but it) forms who we are, fundamentally.
What makes Sees Designs so compelling to me is your devotion to – and skill with – composition. CORBIN You form an aesthetic based on exposure and build on it over years. When selecting furniture, art, accessories—it’s all about creating balance. I can’t paint, but I imagine it’s much the same in choosing color, shape, form. (Sees Design is) an art machine. We all have our strong suits (and) perform like one unit. Maybe that’s where being an actual family is a great advantage. It's hard sometimes, but it also provides great unity.
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What is your advice to homeowners dealing with stuff that can't be easily fixed, like oddly shaped rooms or a low ceiling? ROSS Every room is a type of puzzle that can be arranged to accomplish the owner’s purpose. Oddly shaped rooms make us think outside of the box. Painting the room all one color helps trick the eye. Painting the ceiling a few shades lighter on shorter ceilings will help give the illusion of height. Weight and balance of furniture play a large role in giving one perception on scale and symmetry.
Let's talk next-gen stuff. Tell me about expanding the Sees brand in Dallas. SARA Let’s face it…Dallas-ites like shiny new things! And we couldn’t be more grateful that they took notice of our work. But our brand identity hasn’t changed or waivered. We’re still known for interiors that excite and inspire, while having an element of the unexpected. Case in point: The Charles. That project started long before we moved to Dallas and has been an exciting entrée (pun intended) into the Dallas Design stage. Now, we just get to share our work with a broader audience.
CORBIN Okies understand space. You have to learn to respect and admire it. By that I mean, negative space is sometimes more important than anything in a composition. When I look at (OKC-born artist) Ed Ruscha's work, this negative space is what is most inherently Oklahoman, in my view. That said, what defines Oklahoma for me is the people. The pioneer mentality (creates) a willingness to take risks and define our own style, voice and path. There are Oklahoma designers who regurgitate a version of a glossy LA and, conversely, there are others that look to replant traditional New England styles. Neither is authentic. When I first moved back to Oklahoma from Chicago 15 years ago, I tried to convince my Dad of some LA designer’s style, which has become totally overexposed since. What he said, I will never forget. He told me he wasn't interested because he was too busy trying to develop his own unique signature. That’s been my objective ever since.
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Feature
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Beauty as Birthright
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Swinging for the Fences: The Elliott Expat dreamers abandon LA entertainment world and create a next-level Midtown concept.
Story on The Elliott and its founders Grant Willoughby and John Ridley by Veronica Pasfield Renderings by Elliott + Associates Architects
Feature
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The Elliott
the view "We don’t have mountains. We don’t have the sea. We’ve got big sky. We’ve got a horizon that was recently orange and is magnificent, and all the big, black clouds that come through. You’re in conversation with the sky more than you knew was possible." – Rand Elliott
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Feature
RA N D EL L I OTT
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The reason there’s presence to the scale of the building is that the openings are proportioned to the Golden Ratio. It is said to be the perfect, balanced proportion of space. The Pantheon, DaVinci’s Vitruvian Man — they’re based on this ratio. It’s a natural, human scale which gives us the feeling that all in the world is good.
The Elliott
Grant Willoughby remembers the day he left his music career in LA and drove home. He got in his car at 4 am to beat the notorious Los Angeles traffic. His grandparents and other family members occupied his thoughts and his feeling was simple: “My time here is done. I want to go home.”
As he pulled out of town, headed east, Willoughby looked over a lovely LA
skyline and “it felt like a breath of fresh air. I thought, ‘I’m ready to write the next chapter.’ It was a good drive home.”
As he listened to this story, John Ridley nodded his head from across the
Willoughby | Ridley office building, perched on one of the last empty lots in Midtown. Ridley had attained a place high on the Warner Bros. executive ladder, and worked his tail off on production companies for Leonardo DiCaprio and Casey Affleck. Most mornings, as he left his Brentwood home, Ridley chatted with family while he negotiated a brutal commute.
When the time came to renew his Warner Bros. contract, Ridley thought
about his overworked, under-fulfilled colleagues and decided he valued his personal life too much to stay. “Driving around LA, I felt like a stranger in my own town. I never had that sense of home. I couldn’t be around the people I like and the places I know.”
A framed drawing of an In-N-Out Burger now hangs on the wall between
these childhood friends, a memento of their past. Nearby, a crimson light beam shoots up the office wall, a clue to their future.
Any student of OKC architecture knows the signature light beam belongs to
Elliott + Associates, the architect for Willoughby | Ridley’s new luxury midrise at 1305 N. Classen Drive. The Elliott name commemorates Willoughby’s grandparents, who recently passed. It’s a bittersweet affirmation of Grant’s decision to return home: “There’s a plan for everyone, and you don’t realize it.”
B A T T E R U P Sometimes the evolution of a city
looks like a patch of grass very much in need of a higher purpose. Rather each bit of ground ends up as a park, low-income housing, or a chic skyscraper, when taken cumulatively, will end up defining Oklahoma City. As Willoughby says, “developers are dreamers.” To dream is an audacious act, one energized by a yearning for change and fear of vulnerability. Such dual flames are setting off sparks in every OKC district right now, as residential developers compel us to reimagine how we could live downtown. From Midtown’s Villa Teresa condo and boutique hotel development across from The Elliott to the Wheeler District’s New Urbanist vision across the
river, Oklahoma City is undergoing a fascinating residential rethinking. With our first Home Issue, Territory undertakes a new editorial series called Swinging for the Fences. We’ll be looking at new models for living in the city core. Our inspiration: famed urbanist Jane Jacobs, who boldly stated, “Suburbs are perfectly valid places to want to live but they are inherently parasitic, economically and socially, too, because they live off the answers found in cities.” Answers: perhaps the most tantalizing notion of all, no? Those are in short supply at the moment— it’s simply too early. But there are some seriously cool questions being asked by OKC’s residential developers right now. 27
Feature
T H E E L L I O T T asserts a most stylish, future-
facing vision for our city. If we doubt the new identity for downtown dwellers, consider The Elliott’s first tire-kicker, a doctor who zipped over from Heritage Hills atop a Lime scooter. An empty nester, the doc and his wife sought stylish luxury living even closer to downtown, but without bighouse upkeep. Michelle McBeath, manager of the Oklahoma chapter of the esteemed Urban Land Institute, affirms the wisdom in this growing trend: “Cities like OKC are magnets for talent and hubs of new ideas and innovation. Reports suggest that ‘good density’—dense, well-connected development that is thoughtfully designed to promote a high quality of life—may be more sustainable and prosperous in the long term. It’s therefore more likely to provide more resilient risk-adjusted returns for investors.” Located near NW 13th Street and N. Shartel, The Elliott expresses its transitional location between residential and commercial districts. Nearby neighborhoods previously have resisted a taller build on this lot. Architect Rand Elliott reminds that land prices rise, and thus higher-density projects are not only inevitable, but positive. The Elliott is “increasing the encouragement to do vertical,” says Elliott. "This is the beginning of that shift. This is a city growing. It is a city becoming a city…and we need people that are willing to make those early first steps. That’s what we have with Grant and John". Willoughby and Ridley long dreamed of working with Elliott, imagining him as a sort of mythic white whale a la Captain Ahab’s quest for Moby Dick. Elliott delivered, propelling the theory and imbuing every square inch with intention. Dividing the building into two stylistic sections modulates perceived scale, out of respect for smaller and residential elements nearby. Century-old reclaimed brick clads the northern face, which gazes towards Heritage Hills. The gleaming glass elevation shares the sky with Devon Tower, and aligns parallel to it. “This acknowledges a relationship to the core,
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and a relationship to the future,” says Elliott. “Architecture is about solving a problem in an inspired way.” Like Eloise’s suite “at the tippy top” of The Plaza, its creators hope The Elliott becomes a memorable place in its own right, where interesting things happen. A concierge staffs an artful library lobby designed for gathering, reading and learning together. Thoughtfully conceived outdoor spaces make the property feel like a social club for people with good taste. “Sky boxes” open to fresh air and replace balconies, a way to keep Oklahoma’s extreme weather at bay. A glut of unsold luxury real-estate in Nichols Hills, and a corresponding coalescence downtown, emboldened the project. “A year ago we wouldn’t have tried this,” says Ridley. “We were set in our nice little Nichols Hills pocket. Midtown felt like an experiment, almost, until we realized, ‘No it’s here and it’s incredible.’ We’d like to help turn the page and bring this kind of living to the city.” Will Willoughby | Ridley succeed in championing a downtown project committed to high design and concept? Rather The Elliott and similarly ambitious projects nearby succeed will inform whether other developers try the same. Reminds ULI’s Michelle McBeath, local developers “represent homegrown investment into building a more thriving community. One of my favorite quotes is, “A place is not a place until people are in it.” As we continue to add housing stock in infill locations, we’re adding life and vitality and people to the heart of our city. That’s ultimately a good thing when done thoughtfully.”
The Elliott
the library "The centerpiece is a curated table. It’s a giant art platform featuring books or goods from local sources curated for residents. The wood elements on the walls and ceiling suggest the spines of books." – Rand Elliott
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34-39 Much Better Than Good Enough
Real Estate
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Much Better Than Good Enough Expert advice on optimizing the opportunities–and anticipating the pitfalls–of buying and selling a home.
A bundle of contradictory nouns populate Rob Allen’s life story: rebel and overachiever, world traveler and hometown guy, stubbornly perfectionistic and broad-minded old soul. Rob is the kid who graduated far from valedictorian from McGuiness high school and magna cum laude from Oklahoma City University School of Law. He’s an Iraq war hero and former Chesapeake Energy attorney who once worried he’d wait tables at Texas Roadhouse for the rest of his life. For those about to buy or sell a home, this matters for one simple reason. The guy at the helm of Oklahoma City’s most high-profile boutique brokerage has come out the other side with a relentless investment in fundamentals. To the brokerage recently founded with cousin Chris Allen, a long-time Realtor, these men bring the procedural orthodoxy of military officers softened by an easy Okie energy.
Photo (left) Rotunda Chevron Mosaic tile from Jeffrey Court, courtesy of Young Bros..
Chris and Rob started Sage Realty Partners in 2017, after Chris helped his cousin find a new house. Rob studied property and contract law at OCU, and Chris had been a Realtor in Oklahoma City metro for over a decade by then. The cousins asked themselves what an ideal brokerage would look like. About one thing they were crystal clear: it would be populated by full-time, professional Realtors only—even if such is a rarity. Let’s be honest, for all of its achievements, Oklahoma City too-often tolerates “good enough is good enough.” Sometimes that translates into a laid-back charm, other times it’s downright maddening. Chris and Rob share a common ethos apart from that. Chris graduated from the Air Force Academy, and served as a decorated pilot all over the world, including a stint as a presidential support pilot and a Nuclear Airlift Aircraft Commander. “Neither Chris nor I are the type to fall in line,” said Rob. “I don’t think it’s in our DNA. We’re both take-charge types that want to improve the industry and the people around us. We want Sage to elevate standards.” Last year, Sage captured the attention of Territory by swiftly adding some of the city’s top Realtors and rolling out a robust, modern brand. We asked them to help us put together an editorial package that guides our readers about some of the most important decisions facing home buyers and sellers. We also asked Rob to share about his winding road in life, and how it shaped him as an entrepreneur.
Story by Rob Allen and Veronica Pasfield
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SELL WELL Where to invest energy and funds before listing a home CLARIFY THE END GOALS Trying to sell a house as quickly as possible because you’re ready to move on? Willing to make improvements to pull in top market price? Weigh the discounted selling price against the cost of repairs and upgrades, then let your Realtor weigh in about what matters in the market. “A good Realtor will know what busts deals and advise you well,” says Sage Realtor Jennifer Kragh, who specializes in core-downtown luxury homes. “Start your process with a conversation about needs and goals.” Even if you decide to sell your home as is, you must disclose known issues. Doing so also insures the process is less likely to blow up in your face at inspection time.
Whether it’s quartz or marble, “light and bright” is what buyers want to see in kitchens and bathrooms, says Kragh. “A tile refresh and a coat of paint on the cabinets make all the difference.” Tiffany Solomon of Young Brothers, a premiere stone and tile distributor, recommends tile “interlaid” with metal details, and fabric and wood looks, which are on the forward edge of the trend in OKC. On the high end, Solomon likes dreamy Walker Zanger natural-stone collections Byzantium, Ellington and Studio Moderne. “There's just something about bringing the natural elements into our homes.” Solomon also recommends Jeffrey Court's new The Press collection for a historic look at a moderate price. ”It's important to give a space a story,” she advises. This line is a riff on old newspaper buildings. The condition of a home not only affects the asking price, “but if a home will sell,” says Rob. 36
STAGING & STYLING Start by renting a storage unit because, trust us, you will need it. Staging almost always means nearly emptying your home of clutter. Sellers want to imagine themselves in your home. Help them do that by removing beloved family mementos and ruthlessly purging closets. Take comfort that this process will literally lighten your load when the movers come. Staging photos are everything. Put clear daylight bulbs in all the lamps, and work with your Realtor to make your rooms pop in pictures. “People will be first looking online,” says Kragh. “What can you do to make someone stop clicking and swiping and take a good look at your home?” CLARIFY THE MESSAGE Whether it’s quartz or marble, “light and bright” is what buyers want to see in kitchens and bathrooms, says Kragh. “A tile refresh and a coat of paint on the cabinets make all the difference.”
Photo of Walker Zanger Villa d'Oro stone mosaic tile, courtesy of Young Bros.
REFRESH KITCHENS & BATHROOMS
Much Better Than Good Enough
SOUND FOUNDATIONS Sage advice for engineering a process with integrity DEMAND EXPERTISE A Realtor is a general contractor, financial advisor, home stager, legal representative, and marketer of your substantial asset. Sound important? Be confident you’ve partnered with an experienced agent. “The bar to becoming a Realtor is very low,” cautions broker Rob Allen. “So many get into it as a side job to make some extra money. They seem to think, ‘Well, I like looking at houses, so I would be good at real-estate.’” Allen estimates the percentage of full-time, professional Realtors is in the single digits in Oklahoma City. “The sad thing is that people feel obligated to use friends or family members who’ve become Realtors, rather than doing what’s best for themselves and hiring a true expert with deep expertise in the market and the process. For many, purchasing a home is the biggest investment of their lives. Would you hire a part-time financial advisor to manage your retirement portfolio?”
APPRAISALS: A CAUTIONARY TALE The devastation of the housing collapse in 2008 led to the Dodd-Frank Act, which tightened restrictions on lenders. The intent was to prevent lenders from influencing the outcome of the appraisal amounts. Now the lending institution has a vetted list of appraisers they work with that are assigned each job by an Appraisal Management Company (AMC) or an in-house appraisal manager.
The downside? Rob respects and consults
with Donnie Keim, a mortgage lender at Valor Bank in Edmond. Keim cautions that many larger banks have long lists that aren’t as carefully curated. The AMC or in-house person will just select the next appraiser in the queue without properly matching that person to the job. An appraiser may even come from out of town and not have knowledge on the market dynamics of that neighborhood.
When a hot property inspires a bidding
war, it is sometimes sold for more than the asking price. Or perhaps the appraiser doesn’t
GET YOUR MONEY RIGHT
give proper value to comparable sales because
An experienced Realtor will know about the
they aren’t familiar with the market differences
rules of financing and recommend lenders.
in adjacent neighborhoods. Many appraisers are
Rob recommends working with a local bank.
reluctant to give a home full value because they
Not only are they invested in the community,
are afraid they may expose themselves to the
establishing a relationship with your local
liability of overvaluing a property.
banker helps with future lending needs. Ask for a thorough pre-qualification
In those instances, the buyer’s loan amount
may have to be reduced to account for the low
and verifying letter. It makes you a more
appraised value, and the seller won’t be able
competitive buyer.
to realize the full value of their home. That’s
Finally, try to see your home as an
when cash is king, says Rob, "and having an
investment five to 10 years down the road. Can
experienced Realtor to consult the appraiser,
it accommodate the growth of your family?
address points of tension, and advise about next
Are renovations going to pay off when you
moves comes in mighty handy."
sell? Then “pay a bit more where it matters,”
advises Rob, with quality-of-life stuff such as
to find a trustworthy, local lender who engages
This is also one more reason it’s important
neighborhood and proximity to work. There
appraisers with extensive local knowledge.
is value in living in a home you love that isn’t calculated into your ROI. 37
Real Estate
BACKSTORY Rob Allen on owning your life and committing to excellence.
What made you decide to settle in your hometown? I like that Oklahoma City is constantly trying to find a way to make itself better. Success has never been a given for this city. We don’t have mountains, and we don’t have beaches. We have good, hard-working people that want better lives for themselves and their families.
Tell me a bit about growing up in Nichols Hills.
Teen years–fair to classify them as rambunctious? In your senior year at McGuinness, you joined the Army. Rambunctious is a good word. My middleschool principal described me as “the smartest C student he ever had.” Fast forward 15 years, I graduated law school magna cum laude. It was never a matter of intellect or potential; it was a matter of effort. My father is an Army combat veteran of Vietnam. Both grandfathers were in WWII. No
My parents owned a flooring company together.
one ever pressured me to enlist, but I grew up
Dad is a funny, Clark Griswold type. Mom is
hearing my dad’s stories. When I enlisted, I had
creative and organized, a rare combo. In 1993,
no idea what to expect.
she engineered her dream of buying an RV and
I went to University of Central Oklahoma and
traveling the country for a year. She did this
served in the National Guard. I goofed off a lot.
with no internet, no email, no social media.
But one weekend a month, I’d shave my face
She wrote letters to the state tourism bureaus
and polish my boots. I was a really good soldier,
and asked for advice. She calculated gas and
and I felt proud of myself. That was the beacon
routes using paper maps. A whole book could be
of light in my life.
written on how that trip affected me. How could
When 9/11 happened, I wanted to go
it not change my worldview, right? My family
active duty in the Army. My commanding
truly spent time together. I read over 30 books
general agreed to let me go if I would do one
that year—not bad for a 7th grader.
deployment. They said I could go to Egypt
I have no doubt that I grew up very, very
(peacekeeping mission with beaches) or Kuwait
fortunate. I got to go to private school and
(likely invasion of Iraq). I thought, ‘If I’m going
grew up in a safe, loving home. But my parents
to go, let’s go.’
consistently reminded me that nothing was going to be given to us, that you have to work very hard in life—and that life gets harder and not easier.
I just kind of had this aha! moment when I realized nobody's going to take control of my life for me. 38
Much Better Than Good Enough
You talk about that experience in Kuwait with giving you a "light bulb moment." Photo by Ford Yates; (left to right) Summer Smith, Chris Allen, Rob Allen.
I was sitting in guard tower in the middle of
Review. I got an internship at Chesapeake, graduated with honors and got hired on as a litigation attorney there.
it was pitch black and I was staring out into the
How did being a soldier shape the entrepreneurial side of your life?
darkness. My battle buddy was asleep on the
Some of it will sound cliché, but it’s the truth. As
floor next to me. During deployment you have
mentally and physically exhausted as I may get,
a lot of time for self-reflection, and I had some
I know how to work through it. I learned that
stuff to figure out.
integrity is the cornerstone of trust. People can
the night. We were just north of Baghdad and
I just kind of had this aha! moment when I realized nobody’s going to take control of my life for me. I knew I needed to apply the Army’s
trust that I’ll do what’s morally and ethically right, even when nobody’s looking. I believe people are drawn to high standards.
work ethic and values to every other aspect of
By maintaining these standards in our brand,
my life. That was the moment I decided I’m
the cream very easily rises to the top.
going to stop living like a frat boy. I’m going to re-enroll at UCO and go straight into ROTC– combine being a soldier with being a student. I got home from Iraq, and within a week I walked into ROTC and signed up. I commissioned as an officer, went active duty in the Army, completed a second year in Iraq, got into law school, made dean’s list and Law 39
5609 NW 4th St. OKC, OK.
405 787-0111
Photo by Isaac Harper; Designed by Marissa Adler; Tile by Young Bros. Inc.
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Building Smart
Strangers Into Neighbors
Building
Building Smart Builder Brad Yocum on making savvy choices and choosing splurges that help the bottom line. I believe in processes and planning. Territory asked me to share the advice I’d give to my own family about where to wisely spend building dollars. Understanding the options can help save thousands of dollars when building your dream home.
First, let’s speak to the overall approach. A custom home should first fit the dynamics
of the family that lives there. How many kids do you have? How old are they? Do you have pets? Do you like formal spaces? The home should emerge from a design that fits around the family instead of the family having to adapt to a design.
When it comes to making choices on how a home is built and finished, I’m a practical
person. Our team at Cadence Homes believes it’s our responsibility to exhaust all
work on behalf of a homeowner, not persuade someone to spend money unnecessarily.
Each build is unique, but a smart approach is universal.
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Written by Brad Yocum
Photo by Cadence Homes.
possibilities for reducing costs, but still achieve the look a client wants. A builder should
METAL ROOFS are big due to the rise of modern farmhouse architecture. They have great curb appeal and energy efficiency, they lower home insurance rates, and they have durability up to 50 years. They’re a great investment if you’re going to be in the house for awhile. FOR SHINGLE ROOFS, manufacturers tout 30-year architectural shingles, but in the harsh Oklahoma weather they’re not likely to last that long. For just a bit more, you can have high-impact, Class IV shingles. Homeowners insurance carriers typically will reduce the price of your premium when using these higher-end products, too.
TILE, COUNTERTOPS & FLOORING
APPLIANCES
BEAUTY IS A QUALITY-OF-LIFE ISSUE .
WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR EDUCATING OUR
Our emotional attachments typically relate to finishes like flooring, lighting and appliances. We joke that our interior designer, Ashley Baumgartner, is a part-time marriage counselor. Recently, we had a couple with a strong disagreement about grout. He wanted white because it will look fantastic, she was advocating for a darker tone because she’s going to have to be the one to keep it white.
BUYERS to get them the most value without sacrificing quality. But at some point, it might be obvious to me that they don’t care–they want a premium brand and that’s fine. It’s your house! MORE MAINSTREAM BRANDS are now into that industrial look and feel made popular by Viking and Wolf–but at a significantly lower price. I like Frigidaire Professional, KitchenAid
Photo of Walker Zanger Duquesa Fatima Tile.
Photo by Cadence Homes.
ROOF
FLOORING in high-traffic spaces pairs well with the new wood-look tile, which patterns in really cool ways.
and GE Monogram. It’s the same story with ranges like ZLine, Thor and NXR. REFRIGERATORS HAVE ALL KINDS OF NEW FEATURES but I’m a practical guy. Some have
COUNTERTOPS depend on your needs.
apps that create grocery lists. I don’t know
Quartz has gotten so beautiful, and it’s
if I’d actually use it. I have some friends who
durable. But who doesn’t love granite and
have Pandora in their fridge. Wouldn’t a Sonos
marble? We’re seeing a resurgence of butcher
or Alexa give you better sound?
block on the center island, too.
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ENERGY EFFICIENCY HEAT AND AIR regulations are tightening; the lowest efficiency allowable is 80%. For every dollar you spend, 20% is evaporating away. Regulations are bringing that up to 90% soon, which needs to happen. The good news is that manufacturer prices are coming down, and some of the lesser-known brands have improved
SPRAY FOAM INSULATION reduces your utility bills significantly, and can be used in combination with blown-in insulation. Maybe you only want to invest in spray foam in the attic. TESLA has made amazing strides. Its Powerwall technology is essentially a high-capacity battery that can help
a lot.
power your home. You can set it to pull
SMART THERMOSTATS are incredibly
hours to lower your bill. It also will
popular now. I like Nest and Honeywell
power from the grid during non-peak store energy from wind or solar panels.
Lyric. They are able to learn to accordingly. The ability to control the system from your phone is also great if you are relaxing on the couch–isn’t technology wonderful?
A THOROUGH COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS is key. The upfront investment likely will cost more than an appraiser will allow the value of your home to increase. But the offset in insurance and energy costs will pay for themselves eventually. The longer
According to OG&E, Oklahoma ranks seventh in the nation
you plan to live in the home, the more
for solar energy potential. OG&E developed new programs
sense the investment makes.
to connect homeowners to solar and wind power. The Department of Energy also offers federal grants to subsidize solar panels. See energy.gov. 46
Photo by Cadence Homes.
tell if you’re home and can adjust
PRO TIPS & SPLURGES LIGHTING – The quality of the light in your home is huge. Having natural light makes you feel different. Typically, the more windows the better.
Splurging on the lighting in your
entryway has real impact, too. It’s the first impression as you come into your home, and sets a tone.
I had an epiphany recently about
daylight bulbs vs. incandescent bulbs that let off a warm light. It’s crazy how much light affects the way you feel. Unless you’re using earth tones and stained wood and are looking to add warmth, daylight bulbs are the way to go. BATHROOM – It’s so easy to install an extra shower head and fixtures in a shower. Photo by Nested Tours, Designer Micah Abbanato Designs, Builder MassaRossa.
Photo by Cadence Homes.
Building Smart
It doesn’t break the bank, but upgrades the room a ton.
A bathroom vanity that looks
more like a piece of furniture gets you a lot more bang for your buck. UTILITY ZONE – If you design the back entry well, they can handle anything you throw at them. They will make sure all the gear and clutter that comes into your house stays out of the main living areas. Sometimes it works to have a laundry room back there, too.
KITCHEN – In the kitchen, make a bold visual statement with a decorative range vent hood. Pull-out microwave drawers and built-in versions are not much more expensive, but have bigger impact.
You get so much mileage and character
out of a gorgeous tile backsplash. It’s not a lot of square footage, so you can really invest in something special there and transform the look of your kitchen.
Butler’s pantries are coming back. They
make sense to me if you have a formal dining room, and if you entertain quite a bit. Why not add a bar, wine chiller and wet sink there? 47
EXTERIOR DESIGN WE FIND A LOT OF VALUE ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE HOUSE. In OKC metro,
Most importantly, I believe in
French Country is so popular that I feel the
for building homes and helping people
made considerable effort to seek influences from other areas of the country to help us design homes that are full of curb appeal, but also unique. DON'T GO OVERBOARD, it could look like a hodgepodge mess. My rule of thumb: don’t use more than three different materials on the outside. CREATE SPECIFIC FEATURES that will draw the eye–especially the outside entryway. Investments in interesting design here will go a long way with curb appeal and perceived home value.
through that process, because we love the process of creating a home. Cadence clients see our costs, and our small mark-up is discussed at the start. Our clients can follow the job log online as the project progresses. This transparency helps our clients know exactly where their money went and removes the smoke and mirrors that are commonly a sore point.
I believe people should have a good feeling when they move in, knowing they got exactly what they paid for and exactly what they wanted.
Brad Yocum is president of Cadence Homes, executive board member of Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association, and holds advanced degrees in construction management and engineering from Stanford, Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma Baptist University.
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Photo by Isaac Harper, Interior by Marissa Adler, Tile by Young Bros. Inc.
homes whitewash each other out. We have
transparency. We do this out of love
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5308 N. Classen Blvd. | Oklahoma City, OK 73118 | 405.848.6642 www.Calverts.com |
Building
Strangers into Neighbors Growing community, one conversation–and one toadstool–at a time.
Interview by Alex Berry – Photos by Greer Inez
Strangers into Neighbors
We often get bogged down in the daily hustle and
disregard the meaning of community and how to be a part of one. There is an elder who daily walks Edgemere Park, his hands clasped behind his back. A little mutt trots along at his ankles, or makes a determined run at a squirrel. If you dare approach her master, Dick Hood, Scruffy ferociously suggests otherwise.
Dick’s indigo baseball cap proclaims affiliation with
the USS Fletcher. Its proud yellow letters seem to invite a query or conversation. Dick’s ready smile rewards those who stop to chat, and his stories have charmed an entire neighborhood.
Dick was born nearby in 1932. He has lived in
Edgemere for most of his life, and his razor-sharp memory quickly delivers snapshots of the city’s smaller footprint and the days when hobos made a forested Edgemere Park their refuge. Dick enrolled in the University of Oklahoma in 1951 and was drafted into the Navy two years later. He jokingly says he has been a chemist his whole life, recalling bombs and missiles he made as a kid in the garage with his parents’ blessing. Dick later ran one of the labs as a chemist at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.
Dick was raised by a prominent family, yet enjoys
simple pleasures like collecting and painting beautiful leaves from the park. Elders such as Dick inspire us to slow down and take a moment to visit with a stranger.
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Building
How have things changed in the city since your childhood?
She went to OU to study
Back in the 30s, we had a streetcar system called the
English and that is where she
interurban, or the in-urban. It ran from downtown to El
met Dad. She never employed
Reno, one to Shawnee, Guthrie, and even to Purcell. They
outside the home but she did
looked like streetcars from New Orleans. Mother knew I
a lot of other things in the
hated shopping. I was about six years old at this time. She
community, especially her
would get me a roundtrip ticket to El Reno. I sat in that
Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
front window of that streetcar and had the time of my life. The schedule was posted and she knew exactly when I
What was Edgemere Park like
would be back.
when you were a child?
No one would even bat an eye that a sixyear-old boy was riding the streetcar to El Reno by himself. It was perfectly safe. Tell me about your family. Your dad was very involved in the community. Dad was the busiest man I have ever known. But no matter how busy he was, he always made time for me. Dad was a cardiologist named Frederick Redding Hood. During World War ll, he was in command of an entire hospital in New Orleans. After retiring with a medical retirement out of the war, dad took a $1 a year job with the government. He was appointed by Pres. Truman to be the procurement officer for the state. He was in charge of seeing which doctors went into the service and which did not. He was on the board of every hospital. He was one of the founders of the Medical Research Foundation and one of
into it and disappear from sight, literally. The trees in Edgemere (were) like the old saying, “couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” Most of the landmarks are gone, but there is one huge live oak on 34th and Hudson (remaining). At the north end, where the baseball diamond is, there used to be three or four persimmon trees there but now there is only one–and it is still producing.
There were three or
four major play areas. One playground had a pile of sand.
the founders of the Cowboy Hall of Fame.
We would build forts and
How did your parents meet? They met at OU. It was not
and had a blast. Mother had a
common for women at that age to be seen in college. My mother, Virginia, had an advantage. My grandfather William Thomas Forward married a (Native woman). He was president of a college in Tahlequah and then he was asked to take the presidency at Central State University in Edmond. So they moved there and my mother attended college there for her first year or so. She then sold her (tribal land) allotment to pay for college at the University of Oklahoma. She had two headrights, but she was leasing her land out to a local farmer and making a decent income. 54
You could step off the curb
anything else in that sand police whistle and she knew how to blow that thing. We had 15 minutes to get home or else. You said that park came in handy during the Depression. The hobos, we think back on them and we have the ability to think of them as crooks.
Strangers into Neighbors
They rode the rails. As the train tracks weren’t that far away, they would congregate at the park at night. They never caused any trouble or broke into any homes.
They had a secret code that would tell the next hobo that came along which home to go to for work and a sandwich. It was written in the street in chalk.
I never could interpret it, but I knew which houses they
wanted to go to. They would come to the door and ask if you had some work for a sandwich. Mother would have them rake leaves or find something for them to do. It seems like people were more trustworthy back then? I went to the store with Mom one day. She left a $20 on a card table by the door and we walked out the screen door, leaving it unlocked. We walked three blocks to the grocery store at 30th and Hudson. When we came back, there was a hobo sitting on the front porch step. As we approached, he got up and very politely asked if there was any work to be done for a sandwich. The house was still unlocked with that $20 bill still laying on the table. I don’t think that money had even been moved. If you could share one idea about community, what would it be? Hard to say. All the changes that I have hated, I realize are necessary. At some point, say a tree dies, and it may have died 30 to 40 years ago. All the roots are still there and toadstools start to grow. Grass and trees take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Fungi take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide like an animal. Their waste feeds the grass and they lay down their spores so the tree ring eventually grows out. They are called fairy rings, from the old kids’ tales of fairies sitting on toadstools playing musical instruments.
There is a great big ring that has been there for decades,
slowly growing out. Even when you don’t have a full circle of toadstools, if you look real close you still notice a ring of greener grass. The history and meaning behind the fairy rings and it being a natural part of the park, it often gets taken for granted.
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