House Showing Feedback

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM BEN CARTER: "Cute house, not crazy about the neighborhood. Well staged and made us feel welcome. Thanks"

Tuesday, May 28, 2013 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM DENISE ATKINS: "they liked the house but are still looking for home have not decide on anything yet"

So far, this is the feedback we have gotten while trying to sell our house. Encouraging, but an offer would be even better. We already have another showing set up for Sunday and hopefully a few more will pop up between now and then. Perhaps the future showings will be a bit more punctual however. The showing last night was from 6-7 but the agent and clients were spotted entering the gate at 6:56 and didn't leave until 7:15. It makes it hard to not cross paths when they don't stick to the window but we sorted it out in the end and they were none the wiser.

Our realtors/ friends, Shawn and Heather Hickey, have been really great. We have gotten some great tips on staging the house and we have great exposure throughout the real estate marketing material in our area. The pictures Heather took, really do a great job of bringing all of the strong points of our home to the forefront. Even if we had not been friends before they were our Realtors, I would highly recommend them. Our first experience with real estate agents was not a pleasant one and this time around it has been almost fun.

Based on feed back so far, it looks like it is only a matter of time before some lucky couple finds their soon to be home. The sooner the better, so we can begin the search for our new humble abode.


For a great Realtor and better selling/buying experience:
http://www.century21.com/real-estate-agent/profile/shawn-hickey-10901009
http://www.century21.com/real-estate-agent/profile/heather-hickey-10930928

House Listing Today!!!

The day is finally here and I am actually a little nervous. We have worked very hard over these past months and we finally have a go from our Realtors/ friends to list our home! I desperately hope that it sells in a timely manner. We have tried hard to make sure that we have done a good job on our repairs and prepping to  list our home. I can only hope that nothing comes up unexpectedly in our home inspection. Wish us luck for a quick sale and hopefully the next place will be the perfect place for us! Someone is getting a much better house for the almost the same money we paid for the house initially. We have really put a lot of love and work into our home and I think we can be proud of what we have done. There is room for some learning and improvement, as always in life, though. I was humbled a bit during our initial walk through at the simple realization that I had never actually thought to repair a very simple part replacement on our closet door. We have made our house a home over the years and it will be bitter sweet to jump into the unknown with our next home. I can only hope that we do a more thorough job of looking over our next home and locating any potential long term issues.

How to Convert PDF to Microsoft Word, Rich Text and Open Office Text

This is a quick video for free PDF to word conversion. It worked well. I used the first website mentioned and the only issue was a slight delay in receiving the email and it went to my junk folder instead of my inbox.

Running in Place: An exercise in complaining

It seems that no matter how much we apply ourselves, to any task or challenge at hand, all we can do it stay on an even keel. We don't make progress. We don't lose ground but we never seem to gain. If we do manage, by some miracle to make some progress in one area, we lose an immense amount in another area. The trend has the capacity to leave me questioning many things. Am I the best person for the task at hand? Is there something that I could be doing differently that would be more effective? Sweat, elbow grease, and vigilant effort seem to do nothing. 

All the while, I watch the people around me list their homes and make progress in their lives. I can not for the life of me, figure out where I have gone wrong. I have always thought that if you tried hard enough that you could make just about anything a reality but the harder we try, the more it seems like wasted effort and time. We have sacrificed many of our weekends and most of our free time to getting our house ready while those around us can do it in a week or two. I didn't think that our home was in such a state of disrepair that it would require almost every waking moment to get it ready to sell. I have no love for the building any longer. At first it was a pleasure to improve and clean up but the constant onslaught of never ending tasks has left me feeling downtrodden and at a loss. I can't look past the flaws to see it how other people will view it and perhaps that is the real issue. Jessie seems to think we have made real progress and that things are coming right along. I only wish I were so optimistic. Up until now, I have considered myself pretty handy and capable but the further we delve into this sea of repairs and improvements the more I realize just how bad I allowed everything to get. Some preventative maintenance would have gone a long way. On top of everything else, it could be months before this place actually sells, if ever. 

To have come so far and be only at the point of wanting to walk away is a sad state of affairs indeed. I can only hope that maybe in the coming weeks we actually get to a point where maybe we can list the house. I need a moment away, with the wind through my visor, and the only concern where the next stop on the journey is. I have lost all optimism for this task and have come to a state of apathy and cynicism regarding the whole thing. 

The worst part, as we "progress" through these repairs I know in the back of my mind that I still have two cars in need of attention, a job I am less than efficient at, and a variety of other trivial concerns that combine to form an "Everest" sized to do list that may never actually have any progress made on it either. How is it that those around me go through life moment to moment enjoying each step of their epic journey? What life lesson have I missed out on that has left me ill equipped to balance all the facets of my life?