Movin' On Up: Week Three

Still no news on the house; this past week is very similar to week 2.  EXCEPT I learned that there are some very inconsiderate in this world, let me elaborate.

Monday night I was fixing supper for our little family.  (Nothing that required an easy clean up.  No.) I was making a baked chicken and pasta dish, which required you to make everything before hand, and then bake it for 25 minutes.  Was is an easy dinner- heck yes!  Was it an easy clean up- heck no! 

So, I’m in the kitchen, cooking and entertaining Little Boy when my phone goes off.  “OMG someone wants to come and see our house!”  That’s my reaction when I see the text message from Showing Time.  Then I realize that they want to come and see our house IN AN HOUR.  It’s 5:30, I’m in the middle of making dinner, I’ve been locked up in the house with a 9 month old who is into everything…and you think I can let you come into our house in an hour?

I responded that we couldn’t have a showing at that time, but recommended they come at the same time on Tuesday evening.  I got another text back saying they wanted to come at 10:30 Tuesday morning.  “FINE!”  I’m thinking this is great, we can clean up tonight, get everything spick and span, and Little Boy and I can leave the house in the morning as soon as he’s done with his first morning bottle.

It was perfect…

It was perfect, until I received a text at 9:45 am, while I am at my in laws, saying that the showing was cancelled.  CANCELLED. 

Livid.

Disappointed.

Frustrated.

LIVID.

Mr. spent all Monday evening cleaning our home, while my sister in law and me entertained Little Boy.  Mr. didn’t get to spend any time with Little Boy, no playing, no reading, no nothing.  I can’t believe how inconsiderate people are.

When Mr. and I were house shopping, and we knew we were going to look at a home that was occupied, I asked to see the house 24-48 hours away from the time I was speaking to our realtor.  I knew that people were still going on with their lives while they were trying to sell their home.  

Doesn't everybody know this?  Needless to say, I wanted to throat punch someone.

So, our house is still for sale.  We've had one showing in three weeks, one showing cancelled, and have reduced our list price.  I don't know what is wrong.

Week Three Advice

Continue to check in with your realtor- email, text, talk on the phone.  They know exactly how frustrating the buying and selling process is.  They go through it everyday.

Try your best to keep your house ready to show- lesson learned the hard way.

Do not throat punch anyone- this is consider assault  

Movin' on Up: Week Two

16 days on the market.  Mr. and I are more than a little discouraged.  I've seen that we've had over 800 electronic views of our house, which is awesome!  I'm just discouraged that no one, not a single person, has taken interest in it.

Mr. and I both want to sell, and we are feeling the pressure.  Since we have a contingent offer on a house, and we definitely don't want to lose that house, we feel like we need to do whatever we have to do to get this house sold.

I think we need to have an open house as soon as we can.  We need to get people in here.  Our realtor advised to go ahead and drop the list price, and see if that helps with getting traffic.  I thought having an open house would be the better idea.  I figured if people say they love the house, but it's too expensive- we can work on that.  If someone comes in and says they hate this or that, it would make me feel a little better getting some type of feedback, other than what the Showing Time app says.

I know we've only had the house up for two weeks, but I thought we'd get a little more traffic.  One showing in two weeks I don't think is something to brag about.  We want to sell, but we also don't want to give he house away.  (We decided to go ahead and reduce the house.  I’ll let you know if that gets us anywhere within the next week.)

Week Two Advice

Take charge- talk to your realtor about your feelings, what is making you happy/unhappy, excited, discouraged.  A good realtor will listen and take your feelings into consideration.

Try and have an open house as soon as you can.  I think getting people into our home with out an appointment gives you better leverage on knowing what is great about your house, or what needs improvement. 

Communicate with your spouse.  You two have to be on the same page when it comes to selling.  You have to be united 100%.  Make sure you confide to each other your thoughts, feelings, and concerns.  It will make you feel better, and help you with coming up with points to bring up with your realtor.

Movin' On Up: Week One

Well, we have had our house on the market now for eight days.  I feel like it’s been longer!  We never heard back from the couple who came and looked at our house.  I wish I knew what they didn’t like.  I have been wishing, hoping, dreaming, and praying that someone would be interested in buying our home.

I will be honest- it has consumed me this past week.  I have been thinking of nothing but getting this house sold.  I know, I need to not worry- but it is so hard.  I just want to know why these people didn’t like our house. 

I do have some good news to share…the house we fell in love with this past weekend accepted our offer.  It is contingent.  So this just adds to the stress of getting our house sold.  I feel like this new home is on the top shelf of a cabinet, and it’s just out of reach; and if I quit tippy toeing, and get a chair I’ll be able to get it.  It is the worst feeling.  (Yes, I have already mentally moved into this new house.  Yes, I know I shouldn’t have.  Yes, I know someone else could come and sweep it away from us.  Yes, I have gotten my hopes up and not followed my own advice.  I know all of this.)

I guess that’s the name of this game- stressfully waiting. 

Week One Advice:

Don’t try and beat another house in your neighborhood’s selling record. (We had a house sell within a week of it being put on the market in our neighborhood.  I thought our house could sell just as fast.  Nope.)

Don’t check all of the sites your house is listed on (Zillow, Realtor.com, etc.  It will drive you nuts seeing how many people have viewed your home and have not shown any interest in coming and seeing it in person.)

Try not and take it personally when someone isn't interested your house (I have had to let it go that this couple didn’t like our house, for whatever reason, and I need to move on and hope that the next couple will fall in love with this home…and appreciate all of the love that we have put into it.)

Movin' on Up: Day 3

Well, our first showing has come and gone.  It went really well!  We haven’t heard if the people are interested in purchasing our home, but they had great feedback!  Everything was positive, nothing negative- and that was a wonderful relief!

Up until we left for the showing my belly hurt.  I was really nervous about this viewing.  I told my Mom and sisters that I felt like judgment day was upon me.  I mean, complete strangers were coming into my home and looking to see if they could make it their new home.  That’s a lot of pressure as a homemaker.

I am hoping for the best…that these people saw how great this home is.  I am not trying to get my hopes up.  I’m just going to take it day by day.  I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Mr. and I did go look at a potential home for us- and we loved it!  We are going to put a contingency offer on it.  (This basically means- I will buy your house as soon as I sell mine.)  Hopefully these homeowners will see that we’re serious and take us up on our offer.  The house is awesome, has a lot of potential, and could be our forever home.

That’s where we stand for Day 3 of our house being on the market.  Hopefully I’ll have some exciting news to share within the next few days.  Until then, pray that God’s Will will be done.  We would appreciate it!

Day 3 Advice

Don’t get your hopes up

Be flexible

(Your schedule isn’t going to look normal when you’re trying to sell a house.)

Look for guidance

(Talk to your parents, friends that you trust, or someone who has just bought a home.  These people can see what the house is, since you may have some blinders on.)

Movin' on Up: Day 2

Well, we are looking at the second day of our house being on the market.  We had the For Sale sign delivered, and stuck into the front yard, yesterday afternoon.  Things are moving along according to plan.  We are excited!

This morning I received a text message from an App that the incredible Miles and Smith Group uses called: ShowingTime.  Basically (in a nutshell), someone sees your house- they want to come and look at- that information is sent to the app, the app sends you a text with the time they are wanting to come and view your home; and you either respond with a yes or no.  Simple.  Easy.  I love simple and easy.

With that being said, we have the first showing of our house tomorrow afternoon.  Yes, our house went up on Thursday, and we already have a showing for Saturday.  I know- that was fast!  I’m telling you, it works for the better to find a realtor that is willing to work for you.  Do your research!  J

We decided to use The Miles and Smith Group because a friend of mine from high school works for them.  (She’s out on maternity leave, so we ended up not working with her).  They have an incredible record of selling homes, getting (or close to) your asking price, and moving things along rapidly.  That was something that was important to us.  We didn’t want our house to sit and sit and sit.  We wanted to put it up on the market, and have it sold quickly.

I will let you know how the showing goes.  We are hoping for the best!  Here’s to Saturday!

Day Two Advice

Be sure your home has curb appeal

(Plant some flowers, cut the grass, and trim the trees.  The outside of your house is the first thing people are going to see.)

Make sure your home is ready for potential buyers

(Get rid of all personal pictures, move furniture around to create maximum space, dust in places you never knew existed.)

Look into staging your home
(We’re fortunate that Mr.’s sister is an interior designer.  We had her help us with de-cluttering our home; using furniture and artwork we already had to make our home still look homey, and telling us what things we needed to go ahead and pack up and put away in storage.  This was great because when the listing agent came to our home, she really didn’t have anything to say about what we needed to do to get our home ready for the market.  It had already been done.)

Movin' on Up: Day 1

Mr. and I have decided that we are going to sell our home.  Yes, our first home.  It is bittersweet, but with Little Boy growing (as well as his toy supply) we’ve decided that we need a little more space (a basement).  Our house is for sale.

This isn’t something that we just thought about doing in a day.  If you know Mr. or me, you know that when it comes to big decisions- we take our time.  We had originally thought about selling in Spring 2015, then thought hey- let’s try Summer 2014, and see what happens.  Our house is for sale.

So here we are.  We had a listing agent come and evaluate our home.  Had a photographer come and take professional pictures of our home.  We have broken the news to our beloved neighbors.  Our house is for sale.

We received the email (this morning) from our listing agent that our house can be found on the MLS listing site for other realtors to see- and that it should be available for public viewing on sites within the next 48 hours.  This ship is setting sail.  Our house is for sale.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE our home.  Love it!  We just need more space.  In a dream world, I would take our current home, set it on top of a basement, and have 5 acres of land surrounding it.  With that said, that’s the home we are currently searching for.  I haven’t been able to find it.  So, I teeter between buying a home and building our new home.

I feel like I need to document this journey.  I hope that you will come along beside me and help me get through this next phase of our life.  Honestly, I hope our house sells quickly.  I hope that we can get full asking price.  I hope that I can make up my mind with trying to find a home- or building one. 

I think what else I’m gonna do is give you a little bit of my advice on selling your home while I go through this process with my Mr.  Who knows, you might be sitting and reading this thinking, “Hey, I am ready to sell my home too!”

Day One Advice:

Find a good realtor 
(we are using  http://www.milessmithgroup.com)

De-clutter your home 

(anything that you can live without for the next few weeks, pack away)

Create a to-do list 

(things that you have been meaning to fix, fix it.  For example, we put in a new entry door to the garage and Mr. hadn’t gotten around the painting the trim.  Long story short- it’s painted now)