Ooooh that smell...

I love the smell of a new property, a brand new clubhouse, the newness, the fresh landscaping, spending the day on a construction site. This is what I do for work, for those who don't know my company develops, builds and manager apartment communities and shopping centers. While our corp office is in Bellevue, most of our properties are out of state. This is why I travel. I have to travel to each property a few times a year to do inspections and open the new properties.

I'm in CA this week and visiting 7 properties in 3 days. So to say the least it;s been busy. Our new property is in Turlock just south of Modesto. It's about 1.5 hours south of Sacramento.
So back to the smell thing, you see each new property has the "new car" smell, the clean, fresh ready for business smell. This is our third and last property to open in 2008. Tierra Point in AZ opened in May, The Meadows in WA opened in Sept, and Sierra Oaks in CA will officially open in Dec. Today was the first day I walked onto the Sierra Oaks site, the clubhouse if finished and first building will be ready for occupancy in Feb. Another plus to opening is that I don't have to wear a suit and heels since it's still under construction and there is something nice about dressing in jeans and wearing a hard hat. It was also sunny and 75 so I got my vitamin D today.
Three more property visits tomorrow and then I should be home by 11pm.

Here are a few pictures of the new property.





Congrats Libby! Joe told me he got the card in the mail today. I'm super happy for you and Brian!