Our old house is back on the market today after a week of “freshening up.” On the advice of our new realtor, we set a budget of $1,000 and used that to fix up a few things. First, I had a landscaper we’ve used several times before come back and clean up the beds, which hadn’t been touched since September. Second, we bit the bullet and had the living room, dining room and bonus room painted back to their original “builder beige.” I have to admit that from a buyer’s point of view, it looks better this way — fresher and cleaner and simpler.
Finally, we had an appraiser measure the house to confirm what the livable square footage is. We had one number from when we built it, but the county had a lower number. The difference was about 150 square feet but at the average going rate in this area of $100 per square foot, that’s a price difference of more than $15,000! Our previous realtor gave us poor advice on several accounts, but this is the one I’m most upset about — I brought up this discrepancy multiple times and she blew me off. In retrospect this was a huge red flag, but I didn’t realize it at the time. The good news is that yesterday’s measurement came back at the higher square footage which will justify our re-listing price. (We’re re-listing it at the same price it was already at as of a week ago.)
Owning this house for longer than I planned has made it start to feel like a ball and chain. But being over there a couple times this week reminded me that it really is a nice house. We spent a great 7 years living there. And as much as I want to now be rid of it, I also hope that whoever buys it will have some really good years there too.
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This is the first day since Monday that I’ve felt like a normal human being. Both Jose and I came down with the same flu-like crud this week — at the same time we had to deal with the flurry of house stuff. Joy. Neither of us can remember ever being sick at the exact same time before, and it was no fun. We both stayed home from work on Tuesday and Wednesday. Yesterday he went in for a bit but came home still feeling lousy, and I stayed home and did a bit of telework as I felt up to it.
A couple “free” days with your spouse would normally be a good thing, but we spent them basically moving from the couch to the bed to the couch again watching mindless TV and napping. The girls seems to have avoided it thus far — and thank goodness for that, since it meant they could still go to daycare. If one or both of them had had to stay home sick…well, that would’ve been pretty awful all around.
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A couple weeks ago I moved all the plastic kid cups and plates from a high cabinet down to a lower one so that Emma can get all her own stuff. But now — you guessed it — Charlotte’s favorite thing to do is take the plates out one by one, followed by the cups one by one, followed by the bowls one by one. At least it keeps her entertained for a few minutes, right?
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I saw this little notepad at Barnes & Noble on Monday and I now officially have a new mantra. Mom is Wow upside down. Ha! I didn’t buy it…but I should have.
Crossing fingers on your house getting sold! I’m really surprised it isn’t selling fast, though I guess Houston did hit a slump when O&G took a hit.
And I love the card! Maybe go back and frame it?
It surprised me too but I think we got hit with a couple negatives. The market did slow down a lot right when we put it up for sale, so that hurt. We also priced it too high. We set the price based on our realtor’s recommendation — unfortunately, we didn’t know better. So that hurt as well. By the time the market started to pick up again, the house had been sitting for several months and I think people started to give it the side eye, wondering if there’s something wrong with it.
Anyway, hopefully with a new agent and the freshening up, we’ll get rid of it now!