Preparing to sell

Posted on October 23, 2012

Even thought it was painful, both Viv and I wanted Raybelle to sell fast. It was more like, “let’s just get this over and done with P-E-L-E-A-S-E!!”

We had absolutely now idea what to do or how to sell a house.

So, after we got the house re-evaluated by two estate agents, (both valued her at same price) we had to start prepping her.

There were a couple of things outside that we had to get done before she went on the market.

1) Put an awning over the front door. It is a DIY awning from Builders Warehouse. It took us about 15 min to get it up. Easy Peasy.

2) Tile the front steps.  (lola loves to photobomb)

3) Pave the area at the garage.

As you can see we spent some money to make money out of Raybelle, but we just knew that these little expensive tweeks will make her look more appealing.

Then came the showings. Ah man, the showings!!! I hated it. I hated having strangers in my house. The worst part was keeping the house clean (like in super duper clean. How my mother’s house looks like 24/7 clean) at all times. Especially when you have a puppy who drags everything into the house.

At first we had only certain times that we allowed the agents to show the house. Which worked perfectly at the beginning. But then it just got out of hand and we had to work around the clients’ times. Which was terrible, because some people could only view the house at ridiculous times during the day.

Which meant that before every showing the following routine played out (while thinking I am Speedy Gonzales)

• vacuum like crazy
• wash the white kitchen floor
• pick up all loose items that was lying around the house
• fold the blanket neatly on the couch
• put all dishes in the dishwasher
• pack away any loose items on kitchen counter, that way the Ceaserstone is more on display
• made sure that all sinks are clean and dry
• made sure oven is shiny
• turn on all the lights
• made sure bathrooms are clean and toilet seats are down
• tidied our walk-in-closet
• tidied all the beds
• spray air freshner in all rooms
• open all doors and windows for nice fresh air
• pick up all Lola Bear’s toys around the house
• pick up dog poop all around the house

Then all that had to be done was to lock Lola away or Viv took her for a walk while the people viewed the house. Why? Reason #1: when Miss Lola Bear sees strangers she pees. Yes, you read correctly, she urinates. She pees all over the shiny, clean floors.  Luckily she is over it now, but we had this one guy, really smart looking young chap, came to look at the house and when he wanted to pet Lola she peed all over his really fancy shoes (he didn’t buy the house )

Reason #2: When she hears a knock on the gate she goes insane! Like in someone is trying to catch her and sell her to Cruella de Ville.

Reason #3: When she eventually calms down, she follows the people around the house like a FBI agent.

Now imagine trying to view a house with these three listed factors above. Lets just say that I am so glad that animal welfare never pitched.

So, in summary, it is hard to sell a house. Viv and I never did it before, so we didn’t know what we were in for.  It definitely challenges your patience.

To all of you reading this who is trying to sell your house, good luck and just be patient. It will happen at the right time.

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