Mountain Views News          Saturday, May 15, 2010

13

Homes & Property

 Mountain Views News Saturday, May 15, 2010

One Of A Kind: Featuring unique homes & gardens and the people who create them Story and Photos By Chris Bertrand


At Home In A Japanese Garden

New Book Recounts Fairy Tale Ending To Sierra Madre House Hunting

I went to my first book reading 
here in Sierra Madre last week. 
The author, Karen Maezen Miller, 
recently released her second 
publication, “Hand Wash Cold” with 
a reading at her home and Japanese 
garden, where a large part of the 
manuscript takes place. Her subtitle, 
“Making peace with the laundry, the kitchen and the yard,” 
spoke directly to me, my life and yes, my laundry.

More than once in our three decade marriage, my own sweet 
husband has asked if I could find it in my heart to do a little, 
ahem, laundry in between writing assignments, contractor 
appointments, family life and gardening, so I was ready to 
hear more, more, more of her insights amid the family’s 
travails, adventures and everyday life.

As the author read select tidbits on that idyllic Sunday 
afternoon overlooking the pond, Japanese teahouse, stone 
lantern and koi, I was captivated by the story of Karen and 
Ed Miller’s Sierra Madre house hunting, and received her 
permission to reprint the excerpt here in this column.

The real estate agent was chatty, a fount of commentary to 
drown out the disinterest with which we viewed our housing 
options. Two years married and as yet unsettled, we were 
looking for a house to rent, a spot to park our ambivalence 
about commingling our separate ways and starting family life 
for real: a place to finally grow up. In one overgrown backyard 
she dangled a promise in lieu of any other attributes: “You 
might find the footprint of a Japanese garden underneath all 
this ivy.”

My eyebrow went up.

She couldn’t know the conversation that had preceded this 
expedition by four years, the lighthearted exchange that had 
predated our wedding by a year: the awkward introduction 
made just months before Maezumi Roshi’s (Karen’s Buddhist 
teacher) unexpected death. Meeting the man who would later 
become my husband, Roshi teased him about living in a quaint 
suburb of Los Angeles, a funky hamlet with an overblown name.

“I hear you have been living in Sierra Madre,” Roshi said as 
he shook my future husband’s hand, rattling our composure. 
“What are you doing living in that dinky little town?”

I was stunned. “Roshi, do you know Sierra Madre?”

He laughed. “I was a gardener there when I first came to 
America.”

When the echo sounds, we might finally hear what we’ve been 
told.

Still, one cocked eyebrow does not a conversion make. We’d 
come to Sierra Madre to look, and so we kept looking. 

“Let me show you this one just for historical interest,” the agent 
said from behind the wheel as we approached another house. It 
had been a long and fruitless day. Perhaps we were tourists and 
not takers.

She braked to a 
slow cruise as she 
began the story 
of a bygone estate 
once encircled 
by three gardens, 
including this 
one – we stopped 
– now the oldest 
private Japanese 
garden in southern 
California. The 
empty bungalow 
beside it was added 
at midcentury, 
behind the rusty 
wrought iron fence 
and a thicket of 
giant bamboo, 
beyond a garden 
gate etched with a 
kanji inscription, 
“Mosses as 
abundant as ocean 
waves.” 

I had goose bumps by the time we stepped inside the 
front door carved with birds on a blossoming branch, 
and out back, again into the garden, the welcoming 
arms of the garden, its ponds and rocks poised in place 
since 1916 under the shifting shade of century-old 
sycamores, the water falling in the hushed company 
of a silent teahouse, the pines pining, and each perfect 
plant waiting patiently for a gardener.

“The whole thing was built for Zen,” the Realtor added 
knowingly, knowing nothing about me or how to judge 
the reaction that had frozen me in place.

I looked at my husband looking at me. I cried, he 
smiled, and we stepped into a story that was suddenly 
ours.

If you’re as charmed by this excerpt of “Hand Wash 
Cold” as I was, you can purchase the whole book at 
www.KarenMaezenMiller.com, www.Amazon.com 
or at Sierra Madre Books. You’ll also find future dates 
for local book readings and retreats at her website.

Know of an interesting home, garden or person who 
helps create them? Send the particulars to C.Bertrand@
MtnViewsNews.com,


Chris Bertrand


You may be hearing that things are improving in the residential real 
estate market, and while that is true, not every area is experiencing 
the euphoria yet. Even where sales are making gains, it often still 
depends on the ranges of listing prices - bargain foreclosures, mid-
range homes, or high-end properties. 

My last two columns addressed the approaches that buyers and 
sellers should take when the transaction involves homes in the first 
two categories, but luxury listings are a different story. Between 
the economy and the credit crunch, this top 10% of listings is 
suffering, largely because lenders aren't committing to financing 
such large loans. 

As high-end prices will probably still drop, buyers who do 
qualify for financing have more power in negotiating these sales. 
However, seek loan pre-approval before you make any offers. 
Jumbo loans require larger downpayments at slightly higher rates, 
and qualification takes time. 

As the seller of a luxury home, you may have to bite the bullet and 
undercut your competition, if you're truly committed to making a 
sale. Use your agent's Competitive Market Analysis to make your 
pricing decision, and if you can, offer to finance the deal yourself. 

The painful truth in this high-end market is that recovery will take 
longer, so you shouldn't hesitate to set a lower price and offer other 
concessions to make your sale happen.

Luther Tsinoglou has just been named the top producing sales agent 
in Dickson Podley Realtor's Sierra Madre office for 2009, making 
the top 10% at the company overall. Luther has been licensed and 
practicing real estate since 1992. He specializes in residential and 
income property in Southern California. Luther can be reached at 
his direct line (626) 695-8650 or at luther@tsinoglou.com. 


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