ADVICE
keys to a new home
TIPS FROM FAMILIES AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS ON HOUSE HUNTING WITH YOUR KIDS
WRITTEN BY JENNIFER V. HUGHES
28
AUGUST 2017 | (201) FAMILY
hysterically and as soon as he opened his mouth,
blood just was everywhere,” Starkman says.
“He had almost bitten through his tongue.”
Her husband, Ari, and their Realtor, Joshua
Baris, began frantically searching for towels.
“In the end, there were only a few drops on the
carpet because I pretty much caught most of it in
my hands,” Starkman says.
Given that about 30 percent of households in
Bergen and Passaic counties have children under
age 18, it’s likely that when it comes to a real
estate transaction there will be kids involved on
one side – or both. And area real estate agents,
who have quite a few horror stories involving
kids to tell, have some suggestions about how
to make the process as painless as possible.
FAMILY HOUSE
HUNTING
Natalie Starkman’s advice
for taking a child to an
open house? Bring a first
aid kit. (Above) Starkman
with her husband, Ari,
and their children,
Alessandra and Eli,
outside their new
home in Demarest.
N
ot long ago, house-hunters
Natalie Starkman and her
husband went to check out a
colonial in Tenafly with their
toddler son in tow.
They walked through the
renovated kitchen and bathroom and admired
the newly added, sun-drenched family room
before they got to the master bedroom suite,
which was outfitted in wall-to-wall white carpet.
And then, the unthinkable happened. They
got blood on the carpet.
“It wasn’t even a bad fall or anything, but my
son was leaning on the edge of the bed and he
must have had his tongue sticking out – he just
fell into my leg and all of a sudden he’s crying