Delicious Autumn
"Delicious autumn, my very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird, I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns" -George Eliot (aka Mary Anne Evans) Last night as I was walking home from a friend's house, the neighborhood was quiet, the air crisp and cool and the leaves were crunching beneath my feet, as I passed the 1,257th political sign my mind began to wonder and I realized just how blessed I am. I have an amazing family whom I love, and they love me, we are all healthy, able to keep food on the table and even a little wine now and then and we live in an amazing society where you are free to speak your mind and vote for our leaders. Each of us comes from very different experiences which help to form our views and every November we get to wade through all the propaganda, go to the polls (without fear of being killed for the privilege) and cast our vote for our leaders. And if we screw it up, just a wait a few years, then we can vote that S.O.B. out! God Bless America!
Somebody stop me...
I can't help myself. In my previous post I warned you of the dangers of too much HGTV and then I got the bright idea to turn a storage closet into a playroom for my daughter. It's a playroom, it can't be beige, right? Of course not, it started off innocent enough
But then I woke up at 3am with this bright idea
- And I am not finished yet
And just in case this isn't tacky enough
- I added gold trim.
As I stepped back to survey my work, Sam walked in and said, "Mommy, I love my new room, thank you". My heart melted and I would do it all over again just to hear those words.
HGTV, my nemesis
In many ways HGTV has changed the world of real estate, some good, some not so good. They have opened sellers eyes and minds to the idea of "staging" which is fantastic. In this regard they have made my job much easier. After someone has decided to list with me, but before we put it on the market, I tell them now it's time to get your house ready to "sell". We are going to walk through their house room by room and I am going to tell them what needs to be done. I preface this walk with,"Put on your thick skin, because how you live in a house and how we sell your house, are two very different things". Invariably they pop up from the chair at the kitchen table and say, "I'm ready"! Oh, no, no, no, grab a notebook, a thick notebook, we've got some work to do. We walk through the house, room by room, we don't skip any and I tell them EVERYTHING that needs to be done to get this home in ready to go to market. Remember, your home is a commodity, the value goes up and down with the market so we need it to shine. As we are going through the house, there is always one room, one wall, some telltale sign that little miss homeowner has been watching too much HGTV. Sponge Painting. Now, I am not saying that all sponge painting is bad, in fact I have seen some that is quite good, subtle and lovely. It's the Purple, Green and Orange sponge painters that take your breath away, and not in the good way. I don't happen to believe in "Real Estate Beige', I prefer a little color on the wall but not all people can see shades and those who can, can spot those who can't a mile away. If you suspect you are in the later group, get some help! Ask someone who can, to help you pick the shade. The problem here is, most people don't know they are a can't, and proceed to paint purple, green and orange. This is what I mean by,"put on your thick skin", I'm about to tell you, "you're a can't". Here is the good news, if you can somehow not be offended, and take my advice. I'll get your house sold quickly and for more money. After we walk through your house, I tell you what needs to be done, and you do it...it's not unusual for me to hear, "now we don't want to move" I first walked through this house with these seller's 6-8 months ago. We went through this house room by room and while there was no sponge painting, there were some changes that needed to take place, including a new bathroom! Asking a homeowner to add a new bathroom takes guts, but it paid off. They listened, added this gorgeous bathroom, and we were able to raise their asking price from $275,000 to $315,000. I don't know how much this bathroom cost, but it was not $35,000.
My advice, find yourself a great agent, preferably me, and then LISTEN to what they have to say.