House For Sale.

As you all know, our house is on the market. Having your house on the market can be exciting, yet the majority of time it is emotionally draining. I remember when my parent’s house (the house I grew up in) was on the market. My parents had already moved to the house they live in now and I lived in the house for sale while I commuted to Texas A&M Commerce my junior year in college. It was just my dog Barney and I that lived there. Aaron was there a lot, however he didn’t live there. It was easy to keep clean. If I got a call that the house was going to be shown, no biggie. I would run the vacuum, grab my purse, and out the door I went. Sometimes I would sit in my car a few houses down, watch for them to arrive, wait for them the leave, and go back home. It was pretty simple. The house was shown a lot, but it wasn’t bad because it was so easy to maintain.

My oh my, how things are different today. To be honest with you, we have had very few lookers. Our first open house, a few couples came. With an open house, you hope to have serious lookers, but normally they are just browsers. There was a couple that was interested, but I don’t think their house was on the market yet or something like that. I don’t really remember now….

We got our first call from the call service requesting a showing on October 1st. October 1st…..the day we left for Florida. We planned to leave our house at 3:00. Bags were 95% packed. We only had to add our shower stuff, etc. You know, the last minute things. I stepped out of the shower at 1:30, the phone rang saying our house would be shown from 2:15 to 3:15. There was absolutely NO way. The boys were sleeping, my hair was wet….long story short, I couldn’t have everything and everyone ready in 45 minutes to leave for a 5 day vacation. No way! Can’t happen! Come to find out, this buyer wouldn’t have worked out anyways because we can’t have horses on our lot. We only have a little over 1 acre, and in our neighborhood you must have more than that…..Aaron knows the number.

Then, 2 weeks ago, Aaron was out of town with work and the boys and I went to Wal-Mart. We were heading home and my cell phone rang at 5:58pm for a 6:30pm showing. Our house wasn’t dirty, it was just a MESS. Toys everywhere…..unmade beds…..how you would probably picture a house looking that has a 18 month old and a 3 year old who have been playing at home all day. (and a lazy mom who drank a few margaritas at her sister in law’s birthday party the night before!:)

I drove home fast. It was one of those moments where I was shaking because I knew the short time line I had. We got home, I sat the boys on the couch, turned on Barney, and QUICKLY cleaned. We were out the door at 6:28pm. A few minutes later I realized I didn’t grab an extra diaper for Garrett, so I just hoped he didn’t have some kind of explosion in his diaper.

Come to find out, this was just a realtor looking. She loved the house and brought her clients back a few days later. This time I got an hour notice instead of 30 minutes. Wow. Thanks.

Her clients loved the house as well. Their only questions were if we ever get water on our back porch (which we never have) and what internet service is offered in our area. We were expecting to get an offer the following Monday. However, Monday the question was asked – How well can we hear the races from our house? Yep, the lovely races that opened this summer. We hear them, but probably twice a month. They are not a big deal. Since that question was asked, we didn’t hear anymore from them.

I hate that. They were really the first people that looked at our house and they loved it, but I feel they walked away because of the races which really isn’t even an issue. Will everyone be this way?

When our house wasn’t being shown, it was easy to have our house on the market. I would sometimes forget it was on the market. We were actually at peace with staying here. But, then when that whole thing happened it made me more on the edge. I could only have 30 minutes (or less) to make our house perfect. Yes, we LIVE here therefore it shouldn’t have to be PERFECT….but it does!!! It does because we don’t have a lot of interested buyers where we live, therefore it has to be perfect for the FEW we get. It only takes ONE person to like our house and it could be sold.

Even though just a few weeks ago we were at peace with staying here, with the thought of getting an offer, Aaron and I REALLY wanted to move. We were excited and thinking about our options. But then….nothing. It’s not that I hate our house, I like our house….it’s the unknown. Will we live here 2 months from now? Will we live here 5 years from now? Maybe it would be less stressful if we were going to move near the community we live in now, but we’re not.

Last night I was watching House Hunters Guide on HGTV. (Yes, these shows probably make me more crazy) It was 25 tips for purchasing a new home. One of the tips for buyers was to house hunt in the winter. There are not as many buyers to compete with because nobody wants to move in the winter. It also said sellers are motivated because chances are their house has been sitting on the market since summer time and if their house is on the market in the winter chances are it is because they HAVE to move due to relocating, etc. Well……great for a buyer……not so great for a seller. The thing is when we put our house on the market it wasn’t because we had to do it. We should have waited until March or April when more people are house hunting. We probably would have had more lookers. Now when March rolls around people will see how long our house has been sitting. It just has me thinking, is it better to let it stay on the market considering it does only take ONE looker to have it SOLD…..or are we better off taking it off the market and relisting it in March so it will be “fresh” and newly listed. Who knows. I have to remember that in a short amount of time, we could go from being a seller to being a buyer and maybe we would want to take advantage of the slow winter.

Until then, we wait…and play….and clean…wait….and play….and clean….

I just want a HOME again. Preferably a new home, but if not, I want to be able to LIVE in our HOME again…..