So, the past few months our house has been on the market. This November will be 6 months and we’ve had more viewings than I can account for, with only one of those visits evolving into an actual offer which was ruined by the carelessness of their realtor. I am at work today thinking about all this and thought to write it down, not to alleviate any sort of stress, just to kind of flush out the pipes.
Luckily we’re not up against a wall and have to sell; we really don’t “have” to sell until spring of next year, we just want to sell. But the hardest thing about selling isn’t immaculately cleaning the house every time, taking the pets somewhere, waiting, or even the lack of offers in spite of 15+ viewings; it’s the constant small talk you have to make about it with friends and family.
I feel bad for couples who are unsuccessfully trying to have a child and constantly get asked by people “So, how’s the baby-making coming along???” Obviously, if they have a kid, you’ll know. Otherwise it’s just adding insult to injury. In the same line, I constantly get asked how the house selling is going. “Oh, it’s going great, it hasn’t sold yet!” is not an option. It’s not the same as asking someone how unlocking all the achievements in Call of Duty is going, we’re talking about something I have that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars that I don’t necessarily want anymore and can’t unload. It’s actually kind of embarrassing. Every time someone makes an inquiry to the status of the house I have to be reminded, and remind them, that it is, and I am, still ultimately a (potentially costly) failure. That sounds a little harsh but it seems to be the reality.
I’m very confident in my home. So far, the vast majority of people who come for a viewing love it. I can hear people oohing and ahhing while I stand outside near the open window. The only person who didn’t like it was a girl who, for some reason, expected a place that looked like a condo. I have to imagine that she saw the interior photos of the house and decided to waste my time anyway. This past weekend I had a couple come for a viewing and they loved the house, but expressed that they had to take care of his decrepit mother who “has a real hard time with stairs.” Excuse me? Stairs? You told me a day earlier that you loved the look of the house; did you fail to notice that it’s TWO STORIES? How do you think I get up there? I didn’t install a fucking escalator if that’s what you thought. Good luck finding a rancher in Baltimore City.
It really hasn’t been that bad overall. We’re saving a lot of money by avoiding a realtor, doing the extra leg work ourselves and getting a bit of an education in the process. In the end, it’s just a waiting game.
4 comments:
Maybe you can institute an interview process for prospective home viewers so as to weed out time wasters with ailing MILs who can't take stairs...That would be cool, you know to tell people sorry, you're not qualified to waste my time. Or, "Hey! Congratulations! We'll let you take a look at the badassness that is our humble abode."
crazy, I was just going through my bookmarks, saw your blog and decided to check it out and see this.
DUDE.
I can empathize with all of this. The cleaning, the idiots who apparently can't comprehend that two-three story houses have stairs, having to talk with people about "how it's going"...good comparison with babies, I think if we try to sell again we won't tell anyone until it actually happens - kind of like how expectant parents should wait until a few months in to make sure everything is gonna roll smooth.
Right now we're just sitting on it, waiting for things to maybe turn around. You'll have to tell me about doing a personal sale....send me some info or something, the biggest issue is we couldn't get the price of our house down where it needed to be with realtor fees.
I think you should install an escalator
I did...after the renters moved in.
Post a Comment