Do you have a favorite new local restaurant or business that you are really excited about?
I’ve been trying the coffee at a new place in Germantown called “Germantown Espresso“. It’s very good actually.
What do you enjoy in your free time?
I cherish my free time, driven by the rude calculation that shows me how little of it I have. In the summer I set great store by the simple things, like sitting in Julie’s treasured garden and tending, perhaps whimsically, to the plantings, or setting out planless, on foot, in the old Wissy. Hanging with my wife and kids on a Sunday night is always something fun. What’s not to like? Reading late at night is another favorite. Come deep winter, you’ll find me watching old movies on the lighted box, cooking dinner and entertaining friends. I own several antique automobiles. Surprise: I am happy as can be playing with them under the hood. Sometimes, uncut and unhyphenated indolence wins the day.
What is your idea of a perfect weekend?
I’m partial to taking my wife on road trips in one of our old cars, setting out (for example) early on an autumn morning with the top down, threading our way through the Poconos with no particular place to go, ending up contentedly at a village inn, staying the night after a cozy dinner by the fireside.
iPhone or Android?
Where is your favorite place to vacation?
I love Italy. Rome, Florence, Amalfi Coast, Capri – in that order.
What is your favorite dessert?
Any chocolate will do, whipped cream also.
Tea or coffee?
Mostly coffee/espresso, but I still love a good tea.
What is your favorite style of house?
The “PAID OFF” kind
Vacation Type: Adventurous or relaxing?
There are trips and then there are vacations. I prefer vacations.
What is your favorite season of the year?
Why did you decide to make real estate sales a career?
I cannot with confidence peer back through the mists of time and put my finger on exactly what underlay my decision to get into the selling of real estate. Long, long ago, this one! I would say, though, that the plunge was more or less the product of a personal evolution. In my early days I had worked as a contractor and developer, but tugging at me all the while was a raw and untrained—but authentic and powerful– love of art and music. Houses and buildings can be extraordinarily beautiful, from the deceptively noble row houses in the river wards to the Xanadu of Chestnut Hill. At some point, it struck me that the only way to actually live in a work of art was to make one’s home in a structure of beauty, either unmeant beauty or plain-to-see beauty, and that appealed to me. I say “live in.” It works for me just to broker the sale of a good house. It is also worth noting that real estate is one of only a few ways a common man can snuggle up to something like wealth. I have flipped my share of houses. End of confession.
To contact John, call 267-312-1925 or email john@elfantwissahickon.com
