Timing is Everything!

There should be much thought as to when to put your house up for sale. I know that there is not always a choice, because of job changes or life changes, but I think there are a few things that I wish we would have done differently.  Here is a list of 8 times when I believe it is not a good time to put your house up for sale.

1.) Right after your dog has had surgery. For obvious reasons, you cannot leave you dog in the house during showings.Trying to take your dog out of the house when they are medicated and have limits on there mobility is very difficult. Poor Edy.

2.) Just before a Holiday weekend, like Easter. No-one wants to go house shopping during the holidays, this would include their Realtor.

3.) Just before your County's school Spring Break. Now some of you are thinking that maybe people go house hunting with their kids during Spring Break. WRONG! If they have kids, and want to visit the schools while looking for a house, they cannot do that during Spring Break, because the schools are closed.

4.) Before Spring had greened everything up. Looking out at a brown yard, bare trees and empty flower beds does not lead to great curb appeal.

5.) When there are already two houses for sale on your block. At this point pricing is everything. Must have the lowest listing price to stay competitive. Oy vey!

6.) During the wettest time of the year, and your house does not have an over hang over the front door. Buyers do not like to stand on the front porch getting wet, while their Realtor tries to get the house key out of that stupid lock-box. ( Maybe this one is a little too personal.)

7.) When your Mom is 400 miles away, failing in health, and you cannot leave your house to visit her because you have to clean it everyday just in case you have a showing. (This one is definitely personal.)

8.) Just before your husband has hernia surgery. What were we thinking?

Hope you found this list helpful. As I am sure you figured out, we made all these mistakes.

The Cone of Shame

Meet Edy, our miniature long haired dachshund.                        

Edy has had a lump on her belly for over two years and as good dog owners we have taken her in to the Vet periodically to have the lump checked. The Vet would aspirate it and always tell us that it was just a fatty mass. They would tell us that if it changed size, or started to bother her, to bring her in and they would check it again. Well, about three weeks ago it seemed like all of a sudden the lump got bigger, and was really noticeable when we picked her up. She didn`t seemed to be bothered by it, but we were.

Off to the Vet I go and they seemed a little more concerned about the lump this visit. They still think it is a fatty mass, but it now had a vein going to it, and that was a curious change to the Vet. Time to remove the mass. I got the estimate, I had a short pause to remind myself Edy was part of the family and she needed this done, then I scheduled the surgery. Of course this is all going on at the same time we are selling our house. Can you really have too many things going on at once?

I took Edy in two weeks ago for surgery and got a call from the Vet when the surgery was complete. As it turns out she had a hernia. She had to have major surgery to repair the hernia and with that of course came a larger bill. Talk about sticker shock! Good thing we love this dog, right?

I go to pick Edy up that evening and besides being very well medicated she was wearing the dreaded "Cone of Shame". As we all know the Cone of Shame, or E collar, is to keep the dog from bothering her incision. The cone she came home in was too small and she was able to get to the incision. As you can see her nose hangs over the edge. You can also see she is totally medicated without a care in the world.

Back to the Vets to get a bigger "Cone of Shame".  This one was, too BIG. Edy couldn't walk with her head down without it hitting the floor.  The poor dog got the cone caught on a throw rug, the steps, her bed and would come in from outside with mulch in it. The larger cone was like a shovel. It was pathetic watching her walk around medicated,  not able to keep her head up and running that cone into the the floor or anything else in her way.  Time for Plan B.

Our youngest son is a hockey player, and has had more injuries then we can keep track of. During one of his broken bones, or sprains, he received a medical wrap that attached at both ends with Velcro. I cut one wrap in half and used both on Edy to cover her incision. In theory it was a brilliant idea, if her body was not wide in the middle, and skinny at the hips. When she would sleep and wiggle around it would come off  her incision and off her back legs. Of course it was while she was in bed with us, in the middle of the night, that I would hear her licking her incision and had to get up and wrap her again. Need Sleep! Time for Plan C.

I tried to make a t-shirt for her that had straps that would Velco up her back and around her back side to hold it on. It was a lot of work and didn`t come out so well. Off to Target's baby department for a 4 pack of 18 month baby onesies.  With a little hole in the back for her tail, it worked like a champ. How cute is she?

 There were a few nights that she was able to wiggle out of it, but they were very few. She was so use to me putting them on her she didn't even mind after a few days. Although, I did start to feel like those creepy people that dress their dogs all the time. She wore them up until yesterday when she went to the Vet, in her onesie, to get her staples out. I am very glad she has recovered and back to her sweet lazy low maintenance  self.

 


                                                  

Getting Ready to Sell

I have always criticized people that wait until they sell their homes to do improvements. Well, I am now one of those people. Now in my defense, I have only been in this house for a year and a half, and it was a fixer upper. I also did not plan on moving only after being here for less than 2 years. The tricky part is what changes do you invest your money in that you think you will get the money back out of it? Who the heck knows?

We picked 3 thing that we were going to update/fix anyway. The first was the master bathroom. When we bought the house we were going to change the tile for sure, and maybe the lighting and cabinets. These changes were on our schedule this Spring, but now we are leaving and so the bathroom just got freshened up. We had a company come in to deep clean the grout, fix any grout problems and remove and replace all the caulking in the entire bathroom. They did a great job and the bathroom looks great.

Secondly, we had the company that replaced our front walkway come and repair loose stones and grout on our basement patio. Very expensive and not loving it, but it is done. Outdoor grout/mortar is hard to match, so you can see the difference. We will hope for rain and sun to tone it down, lol.

On the left hand side of the picture you can see the new grout and it looks yellow right now. Getting a good rain today, so maybe it will look better tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Hope the buyers just look at the beautiful view, Right?  Or the cushions I made for the chairs, they turned out great.

Lastly we replace and fixed some windows. One had a rotting sill, one had a chunk out of the frame and we had one of the side windows beside the front door replaced because the lattes that was inside the window was crooked. All three of these projects were priced great and the outcome was fab. Just a little disclaimer on the windows. I did call the manufacturer while they were still under warranty right after we moved in, and they did not respond with all the information we needed for months and by that time the warranty ran out. SHOCKING!

All the work is done, house is on the market and now we just wait. Well, by wait I mean live in a house like it is a museum. Someone please buy this house so I can stop cleaning everyday!!!

Finding a Realtor

After the Relocation company gave us the go ahead to pick a Realtor, well I mean pick from the two options they gave us, we made the appointments and we were on our way. Realtor number 1, was a very nice mature woman, takes one to know one, and seemed to know real estate marketing. She was very complementary about the house. Loved my sewing room! We watched videos about her company, looked at comps in the area and took some pictures. She did a market analysis and sent it to the Relocation company.

Realtor number 2 came two days later. Younger man who seemed to really know the housing development and even went through a few of the houses for sale in the neighborhood before he met with us. Very impressed! He talked a lot about us, our house, the market, his company and we did a walk through, took pictures and gave us hope. After the last move we needed that the most. He did not like my sewing room the best, points off, he did like the garage, points from my husband. He did a market analysis and sent it to the Relocation company.

After Realtor number 2 left, my dear sweet husband looked at me and said, "Gigi, What is that on your shirt?" Well, I had just put the shirt on before the Realtor came, because I had painting clothes on. It was a new shirt that I just pulled out of the closet and there in all its glory down the front of my shirt was the Med size sticker. It was on my shirt the whole time I was talking and giving a tour to Realtor number 2. Of course my husband waits until he leaves to tell me. I was soooooo embarrassed.

The next morning I told my daughter about it on our morning phone call, and she thought it was hilarious. Until she called me yesterday afternoon. It is very rare that I get a call from her on a weekday at lunch time, so I was concerned that something was wrong. She said, "Mom, Remember the sticker on your shirt story? I have one better. I went to work today and after being here for several hours I walked past a mirror and realized that I didn`t finish putting on my make up this morning. I didn't even rub in my foundation all the way, and I looked like I had a skin disease. I am on my way home for lunch, and to finish putting on my make up".

She wins!

Oh, just in case you were wondering, we picked Realtor number 2.

Dear Mom

Dear Mom,
   I have some wonderful news to share. After 31 years of living away from our families, we are moving to Texas and for the first time in all those years we will have family near by. You have always been my shoulder to cry on all those years when I lived away from my family. The calls where I would cry because I was homesick, or just upset because no one came to visit. You always understood those feelings because you had them when you moved away from your family.
  It was hard raising a family without any extended family support, but you and Pop were always so good about coming to visit and even traveling to babysit so Alan and I could have a break every now and then. We grew up being the grandchildren that lived away from our Grandparents and never had that closeness with our Grandparents that our cousins had. Then I moved away and my kids had that same distance with their Grandparents that I had. You and Pop were such special guests when you came to visit and my kids cherished their time with you. Still, I was always jealous that my siblings, nieces, and nephews could see you whenever they wanted. I know you knew that feeling because you too experienced that with your family.
  Now my kids are following in my footsteps and they too have moved all over the country. Jackie is experiencing that awful distance from family now that she has her son. We are going to break the cycle! The thought of being able to see my sweet Grandson whenever I want is so exciting words cannot express the joy I feel. But the joy would be heightened if I could only share it with you.
  I know you will never see this blog and know that you may never understand how important it is to me that I share this news with you. Our communication methods are limited and while moving will take me closer to my family, it will take me farther from you. No matter where I am I take you in my heart. I miss you and love you dearly.