Real Estate | BulgingButtons

May 8, 2014
by BulgingButtons 3 Comments

My Home, My Showcase

My house went on the market on February 21. Today is May 8. It feels like eternity. It isn’t of course, but the amount of extra stuff that we have to do to make it look like a showroom is getting to be a drag. Actually it was a drag from the beginning, since I really don’t like housework.

Maybe it stems back to my first regular paying job outside of babysitting. I cleaned house for a neighbor around the corner, whose son happened to be in my class. I went over every Monday after school for the duration of my junior and senior years and cleaned. Each week I thoroughly cleaned the bathrooms, then alternated between cleaning the upstairs and downstairs. Every once in a while my neighbor would have me work in the basement rec room instead.

It may have been the easiest cleaning job ever, since I’m positive the woman I worked for cleaned before I got there. Still, I did everything I was supposed to do. After she was gracious about me ruining her bath mat on my very first day (needless to say I learned how to properly handle bleach after that), I knew that I owed her nothing less than my best effort.That house was immaculate. Mine is not.

When you clean a house thoroughly you get to know it intimately. You know where the tile is uneven, where the paint is scuffed, and where the chrome on the edge of the medicine cabinet is discolored. In the two years I’ve lived here, I’ve gotten to know this house pretty well, mostly over the past two months.

In an effort to combat the construction across the street, I’ve done my best to “stage” my house and yard. I want people to imagine themselves living here. I want them to picture themselves sitting by the pool enjoying a margarita, or baking a pie in the kitchen. I want it to feel like home.

I’m not sure I’ve accomplished my goal or not, but I do like my little touches. I just wish I didn’t feel like I need them anymore.

April 20, 2014
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

Spring Renewal

Today being Easter I can’t help but think of renewal. I’m not a Christian, but I do understand the significance of this day, and of the concept of resurrection. I find the idea that people can get another chance, even after death, uplifting- as do countless believers. While I’m not in the running for an eternal heavenly placement, I would like yet another chance here on earth.

I’m taking this opportunity to do some spring cleaning of various sorts. First there’s the bodily spring cleaning that needs to be done. Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with my doctor to review some lab reports. They were standard, nothing too worrisome, yet once again they pointed out that I’m stressing my body in ways that it doesn’t like.

Fewer calories, more exercise. Fewer sweets, more fruits and vegetables. Fewer stressors and more physical activities. I know all of this, and yet, here I am again, back where I began. Don’t believe me? Check out the 47 for 47 page that appeared last July. My progress has been poor, but I’m going to print out another check sheet and see if I can’t turn things around. I know my cheerleaders are here to help me, as always.

Another clean up project involves the blog. Not cleaning up, exactly, but straightening up. I almost deleted the projects page, until I realized that I still have projects to share, they’re just different than I originally anticipated. I’ve also included a Best of BB page so you can quickly find posts that others have found noteworthy. I do appreciate shares and reblogs, as long as you link back here, so by all means have at it.

Finally there’s the house. The blasted, blessed house. I’ve been working on cleaning and staging it so I can sell it at last. Today we did some landscaping touch ups, and it looks quite lovely, if I do say so myself. Yesterday we took another walk though one that I quite like, even if it does need some TLC. C’mon house, SELL!

So, in the spirit of new life, new growth, and renewal in general, I wish you a happy spring, and a season of joy and love.

April 18, 2014
by BulgingButtons 16 Comments

Fighting Discouragement

If you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

We’ve all heard this bit of advice at one time or another, and in general it seems to work out pretty well most of the time. In fact it’s the general principle I’ve been following lately in terms of blog writing.

It isn’t that I don’t have anything nice to say. There are nice things that happen every day and I could spend a few minutes sharing them with you and spreading good feelings across the internet, but I don’t. I’m far too distracted right now.

I want to be positive. I like to think I’m generally a positive person. My outlook on life isn’t grim. I see the silver lining inside most clouds, and I try not to let the bastards get me down. My dad taught me that one. It’s just that I’ve been fighting discouragement lately.

I try to shut out the negative messages that creep into my brain, and for the most part, I’m pretty good at it. So good, in fact, that I manage to sabotage my efforts at self care on a pretty regular basis. Those conversations can go something like this:

“Jeez, you’re really lazy and blowing up like a balloon.”

“Shut up and pass the Cadbury mini-eggs.”

“Okay.”

Not too productive, right? Lately though, the inner critic is being pretty persistent, and, in my opinion, quite reasonable. Damn her. Now she’s saying things like this:

“The house has been on the market a little too long. There’s a construction site across the street. Maybe you’re priced a little too high.”

She’s right, of course.

This is not my actual display. I don’t have leaves or fake food in mine.

I tried shutting her up by telling her that if I just put some nice hand towels in the bathrooms the house would sell right away. It didn’t. Then I told her that the bright new pillows on the couch would work. They didn’t. After that it was the artful display consisting of a Williams Sonoma cookbook strategically placed on the counter along with a few pie making supplies (I swear, it looks better than it sounds). Nope.

It’s not the house. It’s not the staging. It’s the damn construction. I can’t do a thing about it, and it’s making me discouraged. There, I said it.

I could take the house off the market, wait until the building is done, and start all over again after the weather cools off a bit (I don’t want to move in 100 degree plus heat if I can avoid it). Or I could wait until the building is done, then decide if I really want to move at all. I honestly don’t want to do either of these options.

I want to sell this house. I have loved it, but now I’m ready for a change. I’ve found a house in the neighborhood I like, and I’m ready to go. All I need to do is sell this one. It’s clean, it’s ready to go, but nobody can see past that construction. There’s only one thing left to do. Tonight I did it. The price is coming down again.

Somebody with a little foresight is going to get a great deal on a great house. It will not face a construction zone forever. It will face a gated community of single story dwellings. It won’t be awful. It will be brand new, and nicely landscaped. Somebody will enjoy it very much. Until then, I have to remain positive. Positive that this week that somebody will make me an offer I can’t refuse.