The Holding Pattern isn't so Bad

It's been 2 weeks, and our house is still for sale.  Thankfully, time is working to our advantage.  3 of the top 4 houses on our "potential future house list" have dropped their prices significantly over the past week.  Since waiting 2 weeks has saved us approximately $20,000 on some of these houses, I suppose waiting a few more weeks is only going to work to our advantage too--assuming that someone else doesn't buy some of these houses first.  Only time will tell...

 

The good news is that I'm still functioning--hey I'm actually blogging!--and my house is shockingly cleaner than it was when we had our open house. (Of course, as I type I'm hearing 2 little boys who are having a blast in their bath tub. So, who knows how the house will look in 30 minutes?)  But unlike some of my fellow home sellers, I haven't thrown in the towel yet. 

 

Some of my neighbors are trying to sell their large 2-story homes on my block.  Fortunately for us, ranch style homes are selling much faster than 2-stories around here.  Needless to say, some of the 2-story sellers are starting to grow tired of the process.  One neighbor informed me that she had given up on the cleaning part and would just do her best to pick up when a realtor called.  She also said that if the showing time was inconvenient, they would just head out to the backyard instead of leave.  I certainly hope that I had my best nurse/poker face on when she told me all of this, because I was horrified by her statement.  (No buyer EVER wants to see the seller or their messy house!!!!)  In my opinion, it's worth it to me to do everything to sell everytime someone comes to shop.  My housework is not going to deteriorate.  And I'm still packing up the cats, dogs, and children when a realtor comes by.  I guess we'll just wait and see who sells first.  Not that I'm competitive or anything!

 

I suppose you could say that at the moment, we're literally in a holding pattern.  We're waiting.  Between our real estate and work and homeschool plans, I think it's safe to say that at some point in the near future a whole lot is getting ready to happen all at once.  Sometimes it's okay to enjoy the calm before the storm.  Why do we never appreciate when God places us in these holding patterns?

Memorial Day

 

Happy Memorial Day!  Too often this day passes without a lot of notice.  In the past, Memorial Day has marked the end of the school year or the weekend of the Indy 500.  And in the present, I've come to realize that I don't personally have anyone in particular to memorialize on this day.  As far as I can recall, I don't personally know anyone who has died fighting for our country.  I've heard stories of great uncles who have lost their lives or limbs fighting in WWII, but these were men that I know very little about. Dear Husband and I were both blessed to have Grandfathers who fought in wars and came home.  Other than that, we are blessed to have been born in an era where the men in our lives weren't drafted and obligated to fight.  The men who we would memorialize are still alive today.  And we are both so thankful for this fact.

 

2 years ago, Dear Husband and I took our boys to San Antonio over the Memorial Day weekend.  Getting to spend my Memorial Day at the Alamo was really special.  Not only did I feel the weight of that battle on that day, but I stood outside the mission walls and watched as my Senator swore-in Navy Servicemen as United States citizens.  This was the first time that I ever really "experienced" Memorial Day. 

 

I don't have any special plans today to haul my posse around to some patriotic sight or battlefield.  I don't have any war movies cued up to record on my DVR.  And I don't have any graves to visit.  Still, I'm thankful for all those who came before me who died (or lost a loved one) so that I might live free.  Happy Memorial Day America!

 

Mommy's New Routine

So we've survived another round of house showings this weekend.  I have the utmost sympathy for people who have to do this for months or years while trying to sell their homes.  10 days of getting my house ready to be shown has turned me into a semi obsessive-compulsive cleaner.  You might think that with my type-A personality that this is not unusual.  But trust me, I've never been accused of being a super neat freak.  I've always had the ability to be organized in a messy way (much to the chagrine of my mother).  My disorganization peeked during my last pregnancy to the point where I was encouraged to hire a maid--something that I think is an utter waste of money.  So anyway, this whole keeping-your-house-beautiful thing is rather stressful for me.  And it's a new experience.

Today, however, I was able to do a victory dance.  The realtor who showed our house yesterday informed our realtor that our house was "extremely clean and well staged" so much so that his clients are thinking about making an offer.  Ironically, the only staging that we did was to move a couch and a TV to the garage.  Other than that, the supposed staging is just how we live.  (I abhor clutter and knick knacks.)  The extremely clean part is just the result of my OCD tendecies that are starting to emerge. 

Every morning I go through the same routine.  I dust, vacuum, sweep, spray the bathrooms, wipe the counters, wash the windows, light candles, and do whatever else I feel compelled to do.  Interestingly, my routine has started to get so nuts that some days I even get out the touch-up paint for the walls, spray special cleaner for the floor grout, and scrub my outside gas grill with Clorox.  I know that I'm obsessing over details that nobody really sees. But the longer the house is for sale and the more I clean it, the dirtier it is appearing to me.  Hence the fact that I was bleaching my pantry yesterday.

Needless to say, when the man said that our house was extremely clean, I was shocked.  The first thing I thought of was "Did he see the crayon mark on my son's closet wall?" or "Did he notice the blue speck of paint on the floor in the laundry room?"  My craziness has gotten to the point that I've been having nightmares where people are seeing rooms that have huge spots where I missed paint.  I mean, I'm turning into a nut case!

I've always been somewhat of a germaphobe.  But now that my germaphobe fears are combined with my real estate OCD, a whole new sort of monster is emerging.  Let's hope this monster doesn't go into heart failure when she buys a new home and has to battle with someone else's former mess. Stay tuned...

Enjoying the Process

As of noon today, our house will have been on the market for 1 week.  We've had quite a bit of traffic, but our future buyer has yet to make an offer.  Trust me, I'm not complaining.  I was getting tired-head just thinking about having to accept an offer and make an offer within days of listing the house.  Having some time to process and pray through our decisions is actually much better for type A "thinkers" like Dear Husband and me.  We are not spontaneous, go-with-your-gut people, so time is on our side. 

 

I confess that I don't enjoy my morning ritual of cleaning EVERYTHING in my home, but I secretly love having a clutter-free, clean house.  I'm thinking that if our house is for sale for a month, maybe my housekeeping skills will become an unbreakable habit (doesn't it take 30 days or so to form a habit) and I will always have a clean house.  Is it really possible?  Well, a mom can always dream...

 

Anyhow, it's kind of fun to hear what people have to say about your house.  We've had a few people say that our house and/or yard were too big--seriously?  3 bed 2 bath 1962 sq foot house on 10,000 sq foot lot is too big?--and we've had others say the house was too small.  Thankfully, all the feedback we've gotten has been on things that we cannot change.  We've been told that the house itself shows nicely.  All I can say is that it better, because I've done more housework in the last week than I did during my entire pregnancy with Baby G!!! 

 

So that's where we stand at the moment.  We have some good contenders for our "future home" and we're praying about those possibilities.  Other than that, we're secretly enjoying the real estate process and are hoping that this is the first and last time we have to do this in our forseeable future.  So why not enjoy it while it lasts?

Long Time No Write

I know, it's been forever since I sat down to blog.  I've actually had quite a few funny posts in my head, but I just haven't had the time to put the pen to paper.  Unfortunately, there's been lots to blog about!

 

I could tell you about the golf outing I had with the men in my life (Dear husband, Father, and little brother).  I probably have enough from that day to start a new blog about my family's golf adventures, but somehow I feel that I would be breaking some unspoken "guy code" if I told you about how terrible we were.  Let's just say that we were a team in a church scramble and they actually used my ball more than once.  Based on that information, you probably won't be surprised to hear that we tied for last place.  But hey, we were one of the best dressed teams out there!

 

I could also tell you about my little boy's birthday party.  He turned 3.  I was all excited to plan a Polar Express party, but instead he wanted a Ranger's baseball party.  So, we had a family outing with the grandparents to the Ballpark to watch 4 innings of our Texas Rangers (hey, we had a 5 mo old with us!)  Then we had a snow cone outing and some Texas Ranger cake.  He was thrilled.  We were happy.  3'rd birthday was a success!

 

So many other things have happened in the last few weeks, that I'm kind of sad I haven't taken the time to record all of our excitement.  Fortunately, my lack of blogging can be attributed to the fact that we've decided to make a big life change: We're Moving! 

 

Actually, we're listing our house on the market this week and will the start the house hunt accordingly.  We originally thought this could be a summer-long process until the house behind us sold on Day 0 on the market!  There's no way to predict what will happen, but it is more likely than not that we will be making a big move across town shortly. 

 

I guess you'll have to stay tuned for more...