House Prep Begins!

I haven't been a very good Bloggerella yet! Waaayyyy too busy! After getting the "real" house ready inside for the prospect I needed a few days rest! I had put in many 16 hour days for almost 2 weeks...had one "major" meltdown...and overall~felt satisfied with my work! It turned out the prospect was just looking! I don't blame her...you never know! But, she called to say she had to have a bathroom for each of her preteen daughters...and there are 3 daughters! Where is my magic wand to make this a 6 br-4 bath house? Voila!!! Somehow 4 of us usually shared the upstairs bath room...including 2 males!!! She is a good example of what the new president is talking about: An overbundance! A sense of entitlement! Oh, of course...should I talk? Working on 3 houses myself...quite a carbon footprint!!! But at least I am an antique dealer and restorer....recycling the finest!!! Hah! (At least, I think some of my things 4 sale are fine!!!)
In my eye..the inside of the house looked beautiful...and it was tidy, (finally,) so I thought it would be a good time to interview some agents and find out anything I could about getting it listed and SOLD! Another flurry of activity...not so frenzied this time! The first agent..is a beautiful newer agent with a young...but already large, company (RealEstateReinvented is their motto.) She is the daughter of co-workers whom I noticed advertised heavily and still seemed to be selling in the slower market. She came in the front door and pronounced the house "Fabulous!" I really liked her! (But not just because of her pronouncement!) She said I didn't seem to realize what an "upscale" house I have! I think the burden of how much more work is needed keeps me from jumping up and down about it! It is NOT a McMansion...almost everything in it is 30 years old...but it is well built...nice mouldings and proportions. All the sinks and faucets are shot...someone is due any minute now to measure for new garage doors! Her company provides an appraisal and inspection before setting the price...The other agent showed me houses years ago and is the major player in the neighborhood if there is one. She pronounced it "Beautiful," and said the Master bedroom gave her goosebumps! I really like her, too! She called me back the next day to say that since there have been no sales for appraisers to go by she had to go strictly on square footage to price it. This is her way of protecting her investment in MY house and making sure no appraisal is too low. I don't blame her, times are tough. I haven't had a marketing price yet from the first agent, but I like their approach better: They advertise heavily, everywhere...they are Internet savvy, they include the prelisting "extras" for the 6 %. Now I have to inform the 2nd agent I'm not going with her.

Working too hard

Ooh! I am working too hard! A woman who asked about seeing the inside of my house to be for sale called and still wants to come in! Now...I was aiming for a mid-March listing....and it has set off a mad scramble! Yesterday I put in 14 hours! They are coming in a week, I guess its shaping up OK!

I have moved a bit in my adult life and each time has torn at the heart strings. Once I couldn't bear to go back on the last day. "Frog Hill." It was an old (just 90 or so,) ramshackle southern vernacular farm house and smelled deeply of mousey dung...but it was situated by a pond and actually had a dock in a cove of a creek. My children were all in the same elementary school (a feat since they are separated by 9 years from oldest to youngest) and...believe it or not...rode their bicycles to the little school! Plus they wore uniforms which I swear were made of cast iron and the color was complimentary to them!...And...we had no TV....my oldest son tempered my feelings about the house when it was decided to sell: "Frog Hill? I hated that place!" He had been uprooted from No. Virginia, had to make new friends...and NO TV!!!

Well, none of us hate the place we live in now...and all of them grew up here and now the youngest is 23 and in Law School in NY. The Frog Hill hater is 32 and lives in LALALand!!! And loves L.A! My daughter is a few miles away with an apartment and roommates...she loves TV.

So, what I started to say before I began reminiscing is that this time I notice a big difference in my feelings about closing up shop in one place and moving on to another: a lack of sentimentality. Is it self-preservation? One reason has to be that my hormonal nesting instinct flew away with my nestlings!!! And also because as an antique dealer (who has sold thousands of items in the last 22 years) I have learned to let go. Its because in that 20 something years there have been painful "forever" losses. Its because I don't want to pick up after 4 grown adult peeps anymore...(oh boy, you got that straight!) Well, all of the above...and more....I've owned, still own and sold 5-6 houses since Frog Hill...and I've always managed to hit the market at its down cycle (and this one now is pretty down...) and the stress the market creates makes me want to dance in the streets when one sells...never mind the hassle of moving that is ahead...

So. I accept the challenge...I will continue to declutter and pack ....paint and repair where I must...get the outdoors as spiffy as the indoors and CHAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGE ahead to the future with conviction and excitement...because I've learned from experience that when you close one door you open another!

2009 sounds fine!

I was microwaving potatos for myself and the boys and decided it would be my NY resolution to write on the blog which I named last year. So, here I am. I feel a bit timid...like the first day of high school or something!

Sniff sniff? I think the potatos are ready. (Is it potatos or tomatoes that has the e in the plural...or is it both?)

Anyway, 2009 has a nice sound to me for the New Year. I think I am going to like saying it! I expect some great changes this year...a house sale? Hopefully...maybe 2 of them, and a major move...and to where I am not sure! I get asked that all of the time: "What are you going to do next?"