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Monday, January 26, 2015

House-selling saga: Moving and shaking

So much for dialing my posting back a few notches. Almost immediately after announcing that I wouldn't be posting daily anymore, things on my little patch of Blogworld came to a grinding halt...but for a legitimate reason: We decided to sell our house.

We found a 1950 split-level that suits our needs perfectly. It has 5 bedrooms and 3 baths covering almost 3000 square feet. The lower level includes a huge master suite and a 2-bedroom/1 bath mother-in-law's suite with its own living room. The upper level has the original hardwood floors and tons of closets. And did I mention clerestory windows and tongue and groove ceilings? The owners liked our offer, but they wanted to see our house under contract before accepting.

Trouble was, our house wasn't ready to put on the market. We thought our house was in good shape until we started to look at it through a potential buyer's eyes. We realized that we hadn't really paid attention to the tiny imperfections that needed touch-up paint. We had procrastinated about calling someone to replace a cracked window pane. We needed a new front porch light.

The insanity began. We started running around like a bunch of crazy people trying to meet even crazier deadlines so we could start showing...appointments with the glass repairman, the real estate photographer, and a "curb appeal" guy. And, of course, we made countless trips to Lowe's and Home Depot.

We had accumulated a bunch of really useful kitchen gadgets that were out on the counters in both houses. The real estate agent told us they'd look like clutter during a walk-through, so they had to go. We had to pack 6 bins full of kids' toys for storage to eliminate that clutter and hide all the riding toys in the back yard. And then there was the bathroom closet in the main house. We took the door off months ago and put it at the curb, planning to rip off the trim and sheet rock the opening, creating open shelves, but it never got done till now. (And by now I mean still having a fan blowing on the wet paint 5 minutes before the first person came to view the house.)

In the end, though, we got it all done, and it looked good. So good, in fact, that the first real estate agent who saw it couldn't believe we wanted to sell. More space, we told her. Clearly she hasn't seen our rambunctious 4- and 5-year-olds who need more room to play.

Here are a few photos from the listing. (There are some issues with color on the real estate site, but my toned-down versions here accurately reflect what wall color looks like in the living room and kitchen. We're hoping our agent will have the problem corrected soon.) The shots of the main house will be new to most of you, although many of you will recognize my Modernist Nest, aka secondary suite/guest house/mother-in-law suite.

Keep your fingers crossed for us that the house will sell quickly...before the seller of the other house gets a better offer.

Main house



























Guest house



















24 comments:

  1. Great news Dana, and best of luck. I know what it is like! just starting the whole process of getting my place ready for sale.....SOOO much to do...so much clutter to get rid of !

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    1. It's amazing how many tiny details need attending to, isn't it?

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  2. Your (fingers crossed!) old house is lovely Dana (and I can't believe the price! All that AND the Modernist Pad for $235 000! Bargain people, BARGAIN! You would die if you saw what you'd get for that kind of money in Australia!)
    Can't wait to see some snaps of the new one!
    Good-luck Dana x

    p.s. "curb appeal guy"??? that cracks me up!

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    1. He cracked us up too. He wanted $450 to spread some mulch and trim the shrubs. We decided to do it ourselves and save about $350. Amazing to think that anyone would pay that much. I guess if you're really in a time crunch, you'll do crazy things.

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  3. Good Luck! Your current house is a MCM dream.

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    1. Thanks! I hope someone local thinks that same thing...very soon. :)

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  4. Could you please pack your house up and move it to Florida Dana? Beautiful house. I'd love to be able to buy it, but I do not live where you do. I do wish you all the best in a quick sale.

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    1. Thanks, Bill. We're having a lot of showings, and our agent says interest is high.

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  5. I don't live far from you, over in Ridglea Hills. Hope your new home is in the same area, great part of town !

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    1. Yes, the house we're looking at is in Ridglea Hills. We love this part of town too. We'd love to be your neighbor. :)

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  6. This is awesome news, I hoe you sell and buy quick!

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  7. Fingers are crossed for you, but I have NO doubt it will sell quickly and that you'll get the other house! =)

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    1. We're counting on our ancestry to bring a little luck o' the Irish. :)

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  8. Dana, your soon-to-be-old place looks beautiful and should sell very soon. Like everyone else, can't wait to see pics of the new place. BTW, love the stools in the guest house! Miss the daily posts but glad to know things are going well for you and your family.
    -Kevin

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    1. I promise tons of photos of the new house once we get it. The real estate photos don't do it justice. It looks like the owners took them with an old cell phone.

      By the way, the stools are made by Gus*Modern. I bought them from my SIL's store.

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  9. Looks move-in ready, Dana! Beautiful. Don't think it will be on the market long. :)

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    1. We're really hoping for a quick sale! Thanks for the positive vibes.

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  10. I'm sure your house will be gone before the weekend. It looks great! I'm very excited to see the new house and more importantly, how you customize it! Also, I just thought I'd thank you for continuing to write your blog. I always enjoyed the daily posts, but now that you only post once in a while, I find myself thrilled when I see a new post in my reader! Please keep posting as the spirit moves you and time allows. :)

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    1. Tisha, I'm already missing posting. Maybe when we get the house sold, and we're all settled in, I'll post more often. These days, it seems that as soon as I sit down to write, another realtor shows up to show the house and I have to leave.

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  11. Wish you all the best for your sale! Good luck!

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