Monday, March 30, 2009

4 $ALE

Our house is officially up for sale.
We have a sign in our yard.
We have a VERY STINKING CLEAN house.

We actually put the house up for sale just before we left for spring break. We met with our realtor, Jason gave him some pictures he had taken of the outside and inside of the house to put online, we signed a few papers, and that was all it took to put our house up for sale. Well, that and hours or rearranging things to get perfect pictures for the MLS site. Because that’s how people with OCD sell their house. Actually, at the end of the final conversation we had with our realtor just after signing the papers, he honestly said –and I quote, “This is the time I usually take to tell people what they need to do to get their home ready to sell. Most people need to declutter and get their house cleaned up, but not you!” We should be paid to go and declutter homes.

Here’s the scoop, because I’ve had several people asking ever since Jason updated his status on Facebook. We have been thinking about moving to Colorado for a very long time now. We love it there. We both have looked for jobs in the area and had interviews but nothing has really worked out. So we decided the only way to make that happen… if we decide that’s what we want to do… is to put our house up for sale and see if it sells. Then we will go from there. If the house doesn’t sell, we stay there (but then I’m requiring someone build me a tornado shelter because I’m terrified of them!) If the house DOES sell, we will either find a house in this area that is a bit bigger –hopefully 4 bedrooms, a fireplace, a basement (for tornado protection) and don’t forget the front loading washer & dryer. Oh wait. We have to buy those? OR we will move to Colorado. That leaves things very open ended, now doesn’t it?

We had our first showing yesterday. We got the call on Saturday asking if they could come. I have made several observations based on this showing.

#1. We were about to allow STRANGERS into our home while we were not there. That creeps me out. Will they look in my underwear drawer? -Always a question in the back of my mind. They came with a different realtor, so that didn’t help the strangerphobia at all. Spell check is telling me strangerphobia is not a word. I’m taking the issue up with Webster!

#2. We spent all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday getting our home ultra clean for this one visit. Our house was cleaner than when Jason’s parents would come to visit! How can I keep up with this?! Am I going to need to do this every stinking time we have a showing? Because I’m already feeling like I’m willing to let STRANGERS come into our home and have the house looking like a disaster area. Because I’m not sure I can keep up with the strain of cleaning. Then again, we are an OCD family, so our house is normally unhealthily clean. In an OCD sort of way. I think they should put a time minimum on these showings. If I’m going to spend 2 full days of house cleaning for these people, they should be required to look in my house for a good ½ hour!

About the showing…
When it was time to leave our house, we drove around out neighborhood like stealth stalkers. We couldn’t wait to get a glimpse of the people who were about to walk in our front door. We passed an unfamiliar car that was driving rather slowly and stopping at other homes in our neighborhood that were for sale. Of course we had to pretend that wed didn’t know they were about to go in our house to look in my underwear drawer, so I pulled my mirror down and pretended to put on makeup. Then we saw the realtor’s car parked at our house. And we knew it was their realtor’s car because it was pretty fancy. So stealthily parked around the corner of our house, turned the car lights off and waited. The car we passed was parked in the driveway too. They had been in the house for 10 minutes. And out the walked. 10 MINUTES!! THAT’S IT! THAT’S IT? WHA?! That wasn’t even enough time for them to realize how awesome and CLEAN our house was?

By the way… do you ever get updates about what people think of your house after a showing? Inquiring minds want to know.

Okay,
Along with this I can post the pictures of our friends the lurkers who spent several hours talking with us about the process of selling your home and choosing a realtor.
We had it narrowed down between 2 realtors, so the lurkers also helped us with choosing. Jason made us play “Oh Wise Knife” which we ended up using a water bottle so don't go getting any crazy ideas that we play spin the bottle with our friends.
and had Dawson choose a crayon of significant color.
I think he actually had Dawson do this twice because Jason wasn’t sure Dawson knew the impact of the color he was choosing… Thank you lurkers for your hours of expertise.
Thank you male lurker, for teaching Dawson valuable lessons straight from his truck buck...


P.S. Lurker friends-what’s the status on YOUR house?

7 comments:

Holly said...

wow! i can't imagine the stress of always trying to keep your home clean and presentable !! guess it's a good thing I'm not OCD :-) We will miss you if you move away though, so maybe you should leave your house messy and then no one will want to buy it! Seriously though, may God's plan unfold the way He wants it to for you guys!!!! and it's nice to know we'll always have Smiling's My Favorite if you guys DO move away!!

The Robbs said...

Xenophobia- Fear of strangers or foreigners.

The Robbs said...

And I don't correct your massive spelling errors, because I am a good friend that is able to look past simple mistakes

michelle said...

please come declutter my home! i'll pay you!!!

p.s. DON"T MOVE (unless God tells you you HAVE to, then I guess I'll consent).

Kevin Flick said...

you totally crack me up and i would love to be your coach next time you have a baby!!!! :) push that thing out joy!!!!! ha! i can't wait to see you. i am totally up for whatever works for you. we will be in the hospital until tomorrow morning. just let me know. you can email me and let me know what you're thinking or give me a call!
mindy

ashley said...

i believe the lookers realtor should contact your realtor and let you know what the lookers thought! :)

Anonymous said...

wow!!! i can't believe that you guys are selling ur house!!! how sad, but exciting....we willl miss those fun little trips out there, and spending holidays w/ you guys!! :( But CO will be fun!! ANd wait, i'm confussed.....are those lurkers the ppl who want to buy ur house, or what!?!?lol