Space, Location and Greenery Have Prospective Buyers Abuzz

Selling points: A landmark tree and all the trimmings

Location: Fountain Valley

Asking price: $289,900.

Status: For sale

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The tree that grows in Pam Shier’s yard reaches past the second story of her house and is widely recognized as the biggest tree in Fountain Valley.

“I don’t know what kind it is,” Shier says of the tree, which has flower beds and moss underneath. But it’s not the only one prospective buyers can contemplate.

In the backyard of the stucco-and-wood house, which has five bedrooms upstairs, are peach, apricot and fig trees. Not to mention the swimming pool.

The home was built in the ‘60s across from the Fountain Valley High School, on land known as the “Old Farm.” Shier points out that it’s a safe neighborhood--plus, it’s only five miles to the beach.

And prospective buyers seem pleased with the whole package.

“They like the inside location, they love the tree out front and they love the location to the school,” she says.

But, as a real estate agent, Shier knows what buyers think when they see an outdated kitchen. “Everybody walks in and says, ‘It needs this, it needs that and it’s going to take a million dollars,’ ” she says. “It does not.”

So Shier followed her own advice and took the house off the market in November to redo the kitchen and repaint. Now the 1,800-square-foot house, which boasts two bathrooms and solar panels, is on the market again.

Information: (714) 964-2301