Posts Tagged ‘selling a house’
And so it begins…
Posted on: September 4, 2008
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I honestly don’t know how people live in houses that they are trying to sell. It took us about an hour and a half this morning to “hide” our lives and make our home ready for the real estate agent open house today. And that doesn’t reflect all the nights that we spent cleaning and organizing to get ready. How I long to just vegetate in front of the tv for a night.
We decided to drive into work today since we missed the last train shuttle this morning. As we sit in Lincoln tunnel traffic I am very grateful we do have the train to take most days. But I digress…
I have mixed emotions about selling our house at the moment. The house we loved did not wait for us and we have yet to find another place that feels like we could make it our home. If we sell, I’ll most likely have to work in corporate a but longer so we can spend a little more to get a nicer, bigger place in a neighborhood where we won’t have to lojack the car. If we don’t sell, I can quit my job without worrying, as I know we can comfortably live on Jay’s salary alone while I take the steps to move forward with opening a SweetElement storefront.
I’m leaving it up to the universe now. I’ve put ample time and effort towards both scenarios, so I think now it’s time to see which actions speak louder to the masses. Bakery or house?
In the meantime, we shall live in an impecable house so clean that my mother would be proud and that makes us feel like we are living in a stranger’s digs.
House Photos …
Posted on: August 23, 2008
After a lot of lost sleep, too many trips down to the basement, and paint fume & heat delirium … here are the staged house photos we gave to our agent today to include in our house listing. We could never have gotten these shots without the aid of the most awesome photographer & friend — for a treat take a look at his work here.
I’ve posted these shots in the order I’m assuming prospective buyers would experience the house in a walk-through.
The front … no flowers, but still fairly well kept up shrubbery & brand new driveway!
The Living Room … much more sparse than before, and with added greenery.
The Heart of our Home … the Kitchen — much too bare bones for me, but the room & counters do seem bigger with no clutter.
Our one and only bathroom … & one of the most difficult rooms to keep clutterfree – especially when you only have ONE!
My library (and Jasper’s sanctuary). I’ll miss this room, my 2nd custom-built by Jay … but I’m sure the books will find homes quickly in our new place 
Our bedroom … and my favorite shot. Why we didn’t always have it set up like this boggles my mind! The side tables, lamps, picture above the bed, curtains and bedding are all new. I was aiming for a modern hotel feel …
Our media room … video game room, and guest room. It took an entire day to clean out the closet and the storage shelves in this room, but I think it was worth it …
Jay’s office. For the first time in four years … there’s no mess ANYWHERE on the floor — and art on the walls!!! The infamous desk … three years in the making, will most DEFINITELY be coming with us to our new place
Our deck – complete with natural gas grill (staying with the house), my old kitchen island (stainless steel table) and teak patio set (both coming to the new place).
The giant backyard … too giant for us, but a big selling point since not a lot of homes around here are on a double lot like us.
Zzzzzzzzzzzz …..
Posted on: August 14, 2008
As you can see … no photos. I fell asleep. We ended up going out to dinner, I ate too much, and when I laid down to “rest” … well … somehow I just never got up until this morning. On a bright note … Jay finished his desk! Yup, while I was passed out, he worked on finally getting it all together and now just has to get it all set up and move the desk he hates down to the basement. Yeah! I think I may tackle the upstairs TV room first tonight since it’s one of the easier rooms to get ready. I’ll just need to go and get some more bins when I get home …
Breaking It Down v. Breaking Down
Posted on: August 13, 2008
I have one week to get our little cape photo-ready. To many, that may seem like a fairly simple task. For me, it involves a giant list and has me feeling incredibly daunted. All those last minute projects need to be addressed, and the cleaning…
I spent some time today reading about house staging, and realized I will also have to clean out closets, cabinets and shelves so that potential buyers can envision their own belongings filling the empty space. What freaked me out a bit was reading how it’s also important to have a clutterfree basement, especially if it has the possibility of becoming a finished basement. Let’s just see how magical those “space bags” really are. I wish they made them for non-squishy objects too. I shall have to invest in some more plastic bins and labels and just see how good my tetris-like packing skills are to store the most possible in the least amount of bins.
After this is all said and done and we have our house photos taken and have our first open house, I am praying that we will have a bidding war over our place fast. Hey, a girl can dream right? The longer I have to keep a meticulous house while my life is in boxes, the higher the chance is that I may need to be moved into a psych ward instead our new house.
I’m hoping photoblogging the “process” will help me feel somewhat less stressed. On that note … I will end this entry here and post tonight’s progress before my head hits the pillow. Let the staging begin!
