Realty Mania

I get myself into the most uncomfortable pickles...

For instance, there is a couple we go to church with who, as a team, appraise and list houses. When we fist realized that we'd have to sell the house, I approached her and asked some questions, one of them being, "Would you and your husband mind coming by our house and telling us what all we'll have to do to sell it?" Sure she said, we'll talk about it later, all will be well. A couple of weeks later, I was talking w/ another lady that I consider a mentor (also from church) about the move, selling the house, etc. When I told her who I'd semi-asked to list it I got this look like Daddy used to give me when he thought (or knew) I was fibbing / telling a whopper ~ one eyebrow cocked up and a look that says, "Well, if you think that's the best thing, but you may want to change your mind... NOW!" She said, "Can I give you some advice? I know people who have used them before and afterwards wished they hadn't, if I was to sell my home there'd only be one person in the county I'd ask." That person just happens to be the man who has built our neighborhood and sold every house in it (all 13 of them, plus 2 more that are being started as I type). So, I talk the situation over w/ Brandon and we decide that asking Mr. Neighborhood Builder would be in our best interest since he is obviously very familiar w/ things and b/c Mr. & Mrs. Couple from Church don't exactly have the best track record, four children under the age of 9, a farm, an Amish Toy / Nick Nack Store, and he's getting into industrial equipment sales, and the real topper was that she gave me a listing of houses similar to ours and what they had sold for and the papers weren't neat, orderly and they reeked of some ungodly smell (need I say anything about my insane sense of pregnant woman smell and my anal retentiveness towards things being neat and orderly?). She had called on Saturday to tell us that they could come and look at the house and give us their rundown of things and Brandon told her we'd also talked to Mr. Neighborhood Man and that we'd more than likely go w/ him b/c of the reasons above (his positive reasons, not their negative ones). Anyway, I feel bad about the whole situation w/ Mr. & Mrs. Church Couple, BUT I"m easing into the whole Mr. Neighborhood idea...

He came by this morning, looked around the house, complimented me on the decor and paint (and suggested that we have crown molding put up where I'd lovingly hit the ceiling w/ the rollers ~ which I wanted to do but Brandon didn't ~ SCORE!), and then told us he'd list it for almost $10,000 more than we paid for it 2 years ago to date and that he'd do it for 5%, as opposed to the usual 6% that realtors ask (although, if another realtor sells it he'll have to get 6% to split w/ them). It's the largest home in the neighborhood (not a mansion at only 1550 sq. ft. but still...), and has a better floor plan and nicer cabinets than the others, plus there is a spring on the property and it's one of the biggest lots (a whole acre, we're not talkin' Tara here folks). After a quick calculation in my head I realized that if we sell the house for that amount (or realistically a couple thousand less) that we'll actually make a few thousand dollars off of it when we were just hoping to come out even. Things are looking up. We're waiting for word from the Murray sell to decide if we'll put it on the market in a couple of weeks or wait until the end of February (Mr. Neighborhood has had several people asking about the houses being built and really thinks it will sell w/in 3 months ~ the longest any of the houses have been on the market). So, night Brandon and I are heading to Lowes and Home Depot (which just opened in Florence, it's about the most exciting news to come out of there lately) to pick out crown molding and buy some paint for the pretend nursery. I'm going to call a couple of home repair guys on Wednesday and get the ball rolling. Feels like it's going to be a pretty good experience.

Today is my sister's 31st birthday. We had a surprise get-together for her last night at Toot's in the 'Boro. She was really excited and thrilled that we'd thought to do that for her. Today for her actual present (I got her a monogramed bracelet yesterday) I asked her to be w/ B and me in the delivery room. She started gushing and crying (while at work in the front office of a pediatric center mind you) and said, "OHHH, I'd LOVE to. I was sure you'd ask me to, I was just waiting for you to think it over. You're the best sister ever!! This has made my whole week." Yep, I'm good. Happy Birthday Netty Nu!!!



OK, it's been an exhausting day and I'm heading to my incredibly neat, clean organized living room to nap on the couch for a couple of hours. After which I'll watch a class that I missed last week, take a quiz, get supper ready, finish a load of laundry, and go to two home improvement stores w/ my husband. All in a good day's work.

Tootles.