A couple of posts back, I mentioned that we were starting to get serious (finally hallelujah) about putting our house on the market. Well, I'm pleased to say that we're making actual progress in that direction.
First, I researched some real estate companies here in town. I know at least a half a dozen people who are realtors and BH knows a realtor or two as well. But we agreed not to go with someone we know personally for several reasons, the biggest of which is the fact that we want this whole process to be a business transaction/relationship.If we went with a friend as our realtor, it could get messy. Anyhoo, we decided to go with a locally-based agency and set up a meeting with a guy who specializes in our part of town. Let's call him "Tom" even though that's not his name but it's what BH insists on calling him, which is really confusing. I spoke with Tom on the phone and covered some preliminary stuff, and then we set up a time for him to come see the house and speak to us both. Because I'm a genius, I scheduled our meeting with him on a Friday right after our housekeepers had come, so our place looked pretty great. We walked him around, inside and out, and pointed out upgrades and work we'd put into the house along with areas of concern. He liked what he saw and said, "I'd show this house in five minutes," which made me nearly burst with pride. Tom is cool. He doesn't seem like a schmaltzy used-car salesman type. He loved on our pets and we talked music and kids (he's got two young ones). Plus, he seemed smart and had really done his homework on our neighborhood. He had a couple of suggestions for us to do to get it staged and photo-ready, but (thankfully) nothing too major. He told us he'd call us on Monday with a suggested listing price, and we could go from there.
The following Monday (which also happened to be my birthday...43...yee fucking haw) rolled around, and he called just like he said he would. His number landed exactly where I was hoping it would, and so we are definitely going with him and his agency to list.
Since then, BH has been working his adorable booty off doing projects around the house--inside and out. As I type this, he's painting the dadgum kitchen--taking it from a bright, cherry red to a cool, pale gray. We're also painting the front door (going from white to terracota) and doing some other tweaks here and there. I think the next BIG thing we'll do will be move some of our stuff to storage in order to declutter a little bit.
Crazy, but exciting.
On my end, I've created this "New House Scorecard" spredsheet that has a list of subjective criteria (ex. "Style of home") that can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5 and then more objective stuff (ex. His/Hers Closets in Master) that is given a point value like +10 points the house has it, -10 if it doesn't. The moer important the item is, the higher the point value. Dorky? Yes. But I'm hoping that it will help us when we start looking for a new place in earnest.
The thought of a new house--that we purchase together--makes me all tingly.
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label real estate. Show all posts
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Mixed Emotions
We've begun some house projects that are intended to prepare our little casa for sale. Now, granted, we're not currently in a spot (financially) to put it on the market, but hopefully this time next year (or maybe sooner), we will be.
Last month, I bought a new dishwasher sort of on a whim. I'd gone to Lowe's to look for paint colors (more on that in a minute), and ended walking out with two paint sample cans and the paperwork for a new dishwasher I'd purchased. Normally, when it comes to things like appliances, I like to do my research and prepare mentally and financially for the purchase. That's how I did with my oven (purchased last year). But this time? Nope. Total impulse purchase. There was nothing wrong with our old dishwasher other than the fact that it was SO FLIPPIN' LOUD that you couldn't hear yourself think or have a normal-volume conversation when it was running. So I got one of the super SUPER quiet ones that just happens to be from the same brand/series as my newish oven--these appliances now actually match and look quite nice. And even though it was impulsive, I haven't regretted the purchase.
This month--today, in fact--we're getting all three bedrooms and our laundry room painted the same (boring) shade of (boring) off white. Prior to doing this, the bedrooms were light yellow, pale blue and dark red, and the laundry room what white (but banged up and dingy). Now they're all off white. And boring. But hey, we've still got the slate blue accent wall in the master bath, the dark eggplant walls in the dining room and the red walls in the kitchen. But my prediction is that the neutralization of everything else is only going to make those rooms seem pretty obnoxious. We'll have to wait and see.
Next up (probably next month or May): carpet replacement. I SHOULD'VE replaced the carpet before I moved in, but I just didn't have the cash. So now after living on this carpet that was waaaaaaaay past its prime in 2005, you can probably imagine how much it needs to be replaced.
I'm also going to be researching window replacement, making sure the HVAC and hot water heater are checked out and doing fine, looking into replacing the black/white "diner" type tile that I've grown to HATE in the kitchen, and the crappy, damaged laminate flooring in the dining room. Again, if I'm going to do this, I want to be able to live with it and enjoy the results for a while before we move, so I'd rather just bite the bullet and do it all sooner rather than later.
BH is also going to be working on some projects outside the house as well, including trying to fix a sidewalk drainage problem that rears its soggy head every time we have even a little bit of rain. He's also done a ton of work on the front and back yards since he's moved in that have made both of them look way better than they would've without his touch.
It's looking like 2010 is going to be a very "domestic" year for us.
Where the "mixed emotions" come in is in the fact that I am still SO proud to have been able to buy this house ON MY OWN. I still remember how scared I was, but at the same time, how ready. And if it were still just me and The Geej by our lonesome, we'd probably stay here indefinitely. But I bought this house for two full time residents, and now there are three of us--one of whom works out of the house about 80% of the time--and two every-other-weekend-and-sometimes-more kid residents, so this house just doesn't fit our family any more. Also, when BH uprooted and moved here from Colorado, he moved into an already furnished and decorated dwelling. I'm sure he's never felt like this place is truly "his", and that bothers me. Plus, having a new place that suits our family's needs and is truly OURS is really important to me. Therefore, it's made very frustrated with this place--and for that, I feel kind of guilty and materialistic.
We occasionally go to open houses on the weekends, just to see what's out there, and I get so envious of what we don't have in our current situation (ex: a dedicated study/office) that it kind of bums me out. But we NEED to go see what's out there so we can get familiar with the neighborhoods and home styles that we like--and those we don't. We've got very different tastes and ideas, so getting in tune is going to be an important (and challenging) part of this whole endeavor.
So yeah...expect to see more exciting home-related posts from me in the future. Some may even have pictures! And definitely all of them will be filled with mixed emotions.
Last month, I bought a new dishwasher sort of on a whim. I'd gone to Lowe's to look for paint colors (more on that in a minute), and ended walking out with two paint sample cans and the paperwork for a new dishwasher I'd purchased. Normally, when it comes to things like appliances, I like to do my research and prepare mentally and financially for the purchase. That's how I did with my oven (purchased last year). But this time? Nope. Total impulse purchase. There was nothing wrong with our old dishwasher other than the fact that it was SO FLIPPIN' LOUD that you couldn't hear yourself think or have a normal-volume conversation when it was running. So I got one of the super SUPER quiet ones that just happens to be from the same brand/series as my newish oven--these appliances now actually match and look quite nice. And even though it was impulsive, I haven't regretted the purchase.
This month--today, in fact--we're getting all three bedrooms and our laundry room painted the same (boring) shade of (boring) off white. Prior to doing this, the bedrooms were light yellow, pale blue and dark red, and the laundry room what white (but banged up and dingy). Now they're all off white. And boring. But hey, we've still got the slate blue accent wall in the master bath, the dark eggplant walls in the dining room and the red walls in the kitchen. But my prediction is that the neutralization of everything else is only going to make those rooms seem pretty obnoxious. We'll have to wait and see.
Next up (probably next month or May): carpet replacement. I SHOULD'VE replaced the carpet before I moved in, but I just didn't have the cash. So now after living on this carpet that was waaaaaaaay past its prime in 2005, you can probably imagine how much it needs to be replaced.
I'm also going to be researching window replacement, making sure the HVAC and hot water heater are checked out and doing fine, looking into replacing the black/white "diner" type tile that I've grown to HATE in the kitchen, and the crappy, damaged laminate flooring in the dining room. Again, if I'm going to do this, I want to be able to live with it and enjoy the results for a while before we move, so I'd rather just bite the bullet and do it all sooner rather than later.
BH is also going to be working on some projects outside the house as well, including trying to fix a sidewalk drainage problem that rears its soggy head every time we have even a little bit of rain. He's also done a ton of work on the front and back yards since he's moved in that have made both of them look way better than they would've without his touch.
It's looking like 2010 is going to be a very "domestic" year for us.
Where the "mixed emotions" come in is in the fact that I am still SO proud to have been able to buy this house ON MY OWN. I still remember how scared I was, but at the same time, how ready. And if it were still just me and The Geej by our lonesome, we'd probably stay here indefinitely. But I bought this house for two full time residents, and now there are three of us--one of whom works out of the house about 80% of the time--and two every-other-weekend-and-sometimes-more kid residents, so this house just doesn't fit our family any more. Also, when BH uprooted and moved here from Colorado, he moved into an already furnished and decorated dwelling. I'm sure he's never felt like this place is truly "his", and that bothers me. Plus, having a new place that suits our family's needs and is truly OURS is really important to me. Therefore, it's made very frustrated with this place--and for that, I feel kind of guilty and materialistic.
We occasionally go to open houses on the weekends, just to see what's out there, and I get so envious of what we don't have in our current situation (ex: a dedicated study/office) that it kind of bums me out. But we NEED to go see what's out there so we can get familiar with the neighborhoods and home styles that we like--and those we don't. We've got very different tastes and ideas, so getting in tune is going to be an important (and challenging) part of this whole endeavor.
So yeah...expect to see more exciting home-related posts from me in the future. Some may even have pictures! And definitely all of them will be filled with mixed emotions.
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