Saturday 4 August 2007

panic stations

I got yet another preliminary taste of what is to come, yesterday, when the Real Estate agent rang, 6pm on Thursday night, to ask if he could bring around another interested party, the following morning. So, like the gal in this ad, we had to act fast.

Actually, it was nowhere near as bad as the last time. I had just gotten a guy in to clean the carpet that very day, and I had scrubbed all the bathrooms the day before that, chucked a whole heap of useless crap from the cupboards over the weekend, and had even cleaned the fridge, so all we really had to do was re-organise inside a bit (hide the dog beds and microwave) wash the floors, fold the laundry and a bit of gardening, which wasn’t too bad after our big clean up the last time. Ashley had even poisoned some of the persistent weeds and stray grasses that insist upon growing through the cracks in the driveway; these had died off and were easy to remove.

So what was the verdict? It was a woman looking for a place for her parents, who live in another province. I don’t think the house is going to be suitable for them. For a start, it is a pretty big house for an older couple; it even seems too big for us, but still the woman reckoned her parents would want to put in a new kitchen (nothing wrong with the old one, other than being a little on the snug size); they would want to knock out a wall somewhere too (bit extreme), and they want to double glaze all the windows, which is fair enough. The woman also didn’t like the idea of a lit tennis court out the back either. I have never actually noticed any adverse effects coming from the lights to tell you the truth, so last night I went outside to see if they interfere with our yard, but the only ones we can see from our yard are beaming out the other way, so I am not sure what she is talking about really, it is not like they play all year around anyway. If these are the buyers concerns for the house, then why would they bother buying it? She took some pictures to email her parents anyway, but I doubt we will hear anything more. The realtor sounded a bit disappointed, but it isn’t even on the market yet, so it is no biggie. It is also good to get some feedback ahead of time.

I think we are going to get a stager to come in and do a little something with our L-shaped lounge. We have only a couple of sofas in it – sparse is an understatement, and we are neither in the position nor the mindset to buy more stuff at the minute. Sounds like fun. Actually, I wouldn’t mind having a go at doing something like that myself. I love doing that kind of thing….

August 20th is the week we officially go on sale, so it is creeping up quickly. It is a long weekend over here at the moment. We are going to hit the garden shops and plant colourful stuff. Hope you all have a good weekend too.

5 comments:

jeanie said...

Hmm - what an interesting inspection...

When I was at a birthday party yesterday, the adults got a tour of the new house and some anecdotes came out about inspections.

Make sure you don't just stuff all the crap into the built-ins seems to be the consensus - because buyers like to see INSIDE them...

ELIZABETH said...

Are you doing the open house routine? We have a tendency to visit them when a house like ours goes up for sale so we can compare decorating styles. *grin*

Some places declutter to much these days and places look sterile.

Don't envy you but it will all be worth it in the end.

Kathleen said...

It's quite a project to sell a home these days, isn't it? Everything so-so, and getting a "stager" like you mentioned...whatever it takes to set your place above the rest and make it more desirable. I have a feeling that if/when we ever sell our place, we will plant a "For Sale" sign in the yard, and if it sells...it sells. If it doesn't , we'll be here forever like I'm figuring on anyway! You can see how optimistic I am, and how much effort I want to put into it!

Unknown said...

What a process. I think I would get really defensive if someone came in and started critiqing my space. Hope that sale happens fast.

strauss said...

When we sold our place in Australia, I had an 11 month old and a 2 year old. On two ocassions I had the realtor ring me at lunch time to tell me he was bringing around some tire kickers in 45 minutes.
I can tell you I was literally sweating as I ran, scrambling to clean up lunch, pick up strewn toys, clean the yard of dog poop, hide all the clutter in the shed and disappear with the two yappy dogs and my babies strapped into the buggy. I shudder at the thought of having to do that again, so a nightbefore warning is actually quite appreciated.