As I Live and Learn
 

Friday, April 10, 2009

More, more, waiting

The weekend before last, I had three showings in three days! One a day, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. It turned out one of the weekend days and Monday was the same person. The other had "mild interest". But the woman who came twice, I heard, was going to make an offer! But on Monday she brought a friend through who talked her out of it. :( Nooo! The feedback I got was the friend said that the woman wouldn't be able to afford buying the condo AND painting it, re-carpeting it, and updating the bathrooms. *sigh* Hey, I'd repaint!

I didn't realized how hyped-up I was to sell and buy until after no offer came. It was a huge let down, more than I realized! Not just a "well that sucked". I wasn't crushed, but it felt like my eminent future was pushed away. So odd. I didn't realized I was lining up plans in my head. This is why I tell myself not to plan for things that aren't sure. When I do, they don't happen. When I don't, they do happen! But also odd, while I was let down, I also was less stress. Just a lot of stuff I no longer had to do. At least not yet. And, of course, it's Super nice to be able to live in a place. Not have to keep it pristine as much as possible, always picking up before leaving because someone is coming through that day or might be the next. Maybe that's why I feel less stress, because I stopped caring if there *might* be a showing, and am operating under the plan that if a showing is called I'll just have to jet home and clean up. So at least 1-2 hours notice will be needed.

Even before that though, I had seen a couple things I could do to make the place look better. I washed the door windows in the living room, I went around and pulled out/vacuumed down dust webs in corners and on the ceilings, and I (FINALLY!) cleaned off the round little fairy table in my bedroom, and then I also cleared off the toy box/seat in the bedroom hallway to the master bath. It looks wonderful! How I had actually wanted it to begin with moving it in here, but I didn't have anywhere better to put my Nana's dolls. Side tracked there, anyway...

Cleaning the windows made me notice one day as I was coming home that my front glass storm door was REALLY dirty on the bottom! One of those things that when "fixed" isn't noticeable, but is Very noticeable when not looking good. And while perspective buyer wouldn't notice I made an effort in cleaning it, they would notice if I didn't. So a couple days later I managed to get out and clean it, and then I noticed the bottom of the main front door was a little dirty too. I tried to clean the whole front door, but some of it is chips. Ah well. But, of course, that cleaning lead me to see how awful the main slot looked! Rusting, discolored, even green in places! So I managed to get out an buy some brass polish (though I just found today I already had some - I thought that bottle looked familiar!) and went to clean it up. The green came off, and things shined up, but there was still a lot of discoloration. When my Dad came by to pick me up last Saturday I asked him how could I get the rust off? He said rust remover would take it off, but it still wouldn't look right because the rust had already eaten away some of the finish! Oye.

But of course I should fix it. It's the front door, the first impression. Even if some people don't notice it, as my Dad said, they might on a subconscious level. And for those who do notice it, it's not something I want causing doubt in a buyer's mind. So after trying to buy a replacement mail slot, and confirming I got the wrong color (Home Depot only had one color) I found the correct color online yesterday and went today and got it. I tried installing it a couple hours ago, and while it's the right size, the door flap operates slightly differently, but just enough so it won't open when put on one way and won't close when put on another! Jeepers! I forced it to scrape out some of the door insulation, so now it works, but doesn't close quite all the way. In trying to fix that, I got door particals in my eyes. Okay, I'm done. It looks great, and that was the point. It will do for now.

And I think I will re-paint, I've decided that's something I can do and wouldn't really mind doing. I just need to find the time to. Moving furniture and taping will be the worst part. But I like painting, it relaxes me. Same colors as now, just paint over the scratches and marks and places where tape has pulled off paint. Make things look fresh. :) I probably should also pull down the wall paper in the second bathroom and paint, but OYE that will be a project. And I'd have to orchestrate it so it'd be done in one day. Can't risk someone wanting a showing while it's mid-project and looks awful.

I like living in "my" home thought. I had been trying to detach myself from my condo, because that was advice on how to help sell. Stop thinking of the place as yours. I'm not sure I can keep that up and still be happy me. Just this past week I went through two changes that got me the rest of the way from "Work is good but, I could be better emotionally" two Thursdays ago to "Life is going well! Only thing I can really complain about is not selling my condo" this past Thursday. Being able to spew my concerns to Lisa, even if it was online for only a couple minutes, really helped. Talking with my Dad a couple minutes about my feelings might have helped too. And, the random 4" of snow. :) And maybe even the nice 50 degree weather (hey, after deal with sub-zero temperatures for days, 50s is warm!) has helped. But whatever the reasons, I'm back to my positive self. :) Inside, as well as what you all see. Baby wanting and all. I think.

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