Sell This House | BulgingButtons

June 1, 2014
by BulgingButtons 7 Comments

Happy June

I don’t have a cute alliteration for this month as it relates to selling my house. I guess “Just Buy It, Already!” is the closest I’ve got. People keep coming to look, but nobody wants to buy. Oh, someone did, but they cancelled their contract. Ugh. I know it’s a great house. I know it will sell eventually. Maybe even today.

On to other things for the month of June. Tomorrow I start teaching a writing workshop for students entering grades 4 to 8. I have three boys and six girls. I have been preparing lessons for them, hunting down YouTube videos of spoken word poets, gathering picture books to use as mentor texts, and generally stressing about how the whole thing will come together. Yesterday my family took a ride out to the site and we walked the campus, mapping out the relationships between the drop off site, the bathrooms, and the classroom. This is all important information. I’m really excited to start working with these young writers. I know we’re going to learn a lot from each other.

In other news, I’ve finally started exercising again! My pool has finally warmed up and with daily temperatures over 100 degrees I’m glad to get in it and get moving. Since I started Weight Watchers a month ago I’ve lost 15 pounds. This addition of exercise can only help that loss along. I’ve done Weight Watchers before, but this time they have something called “Smart Start” where you don’t start tracking and counting points right away. You start by eating certain foods that they refer to as power foods. It’s all common sense really. Eat fruits, vegetables, lean protein, non-fat dairy, whole grains, etc. It’s not that difficult, and there’s room for “indulgences,” the foods and beverages that make life worth living. This is what I’ve been doing, and it’s working for me, so I’m not switching over the all the crazy point counting as long as it keeps working.

I’m not down on the point counting, but for me it makes me focus way more on food and eating than I normally would. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about how many points this or that food is, and how many points will I have left for the day after I eat something, and will I end up hungry? This way works better for me. At least so far.

The move into June has also brought into sharp focus the many items on the 47 for 47 challenge that I have yet to accomplish. The year is up on July 3, so I have just over a month to get in gear and see if I can knock a few more items off the list. I know it’s too late for some of them, but maybe I could sneak in a Zumba class in the next month? I have to revisit that list and see what I can get done.

What are your goals for June? In a nutshell mine are 1. Sell this house 2. Run a successful Writing Camp 3. Continue to eat well 4. Continue to exercise 5. Write! 6. Revisit my 47 for 47 Challenge and complete a few more items.

In the meantime, please enjoy Sarah Kay, a remarkable Spoken Word poet. The video is about 18 minutes, as it’s a Ted Talk, but the poem is just the first three and a half minutes. I believe it is worth your time.

May 25, 2014
by BulgingButtons 6 Comments

Back To Square One

I thought my house was sold. After all, I accepted their offer, and they were paying cash, so I didn’t have to worry about them qualifying for a loan. It was a slam dunk. Sure, the offer was less than I expected, but I could still make it work. I was going to make it work. In fact I found not one but two potential new homes that would work for my family. I was ready to go.

Then, yesterday, I got the news. The buyers cancelled. They cited the inspection as the reason, but I don’t believe that’s really the case for a couple of reasons. First, they said the air conditioning didn’t function below 78 degrees. I actually laughed when I heard that, because just the night before we were freezing and it was set to 76. Secondly, they didn’t ask us to repair anything. Usually when something shows up on an inspection you ask for it to be fixed or for an allowance. They didn’t ask for either. I believe they found a house they liked better and used the inspection as an out. That’s okay. Disappointing, but okay.

I took a deep breath, examined my motives for wanting to sell in the first place, and decided to make the listing active again. Yes, we are on the market again. We spent yesterday giving the house a good deep cleaning, and we went to Home Depot for some new flowers (the others died… oops). By mid-afternoon the place looked great and we had two showings scheduled. Here we go again.

I’m told this is prime time for sales, with school out for the summer. I can do this. The right buyer will come. I just need to shake it off, put on a big smile, and stay positive. So, on that note, I’m off to touch up the bathroom. There are still two days left in this weekend.

May 22, 2014
by BulgingButtons 13 Comments

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Complacency

I was all set to “love it” since I already tried to “list it” and didn’t have any takers. I’m talking about my house, of course, and the premise of the HGTV series “Love It or List It.”

The idea is to challenge homeowners who are fed up with their homes and are ready for change. The show is filmed with couples, one who wants to stay and make changes, the other who wants to cut bait and move on. One host does a home remodel to try to fix the home’s issues while the other host takes the couple house hunting. After the reveal they have to decide whether they’ll “love it” and stay, or “list it” and move. I’ve seen it turn out both ways.

As I said, I was set to love it. I was ready to settle in and start picking out new tile to replace the original tile, which is starting to crack in places. I was set to decide on new carpet for the bedrooms, and I was ready to research granite counter top options. Moving just didn’t seem to be in the cards.

Then, out of the blue, it happened. I got an offer. A real offer. One that would allow me to make the move into the type of home I was after. One that was a little bigger. One that was a little closer to work. One that wouldn’t be across the street from a multi-family dwelling community. I accepted. Woo Hoo!

The house wasn’t even on the market anymore. I had taken it off three days prior. The couple buying it had seen in but just weren’t sure. By the time they made up their minds, I was already feeling like it wasn’t meant to be. Apparently I was wrong. Although I don’t want to jinx it. Let’s just wait until the ink is dry on all the mountains of paperwork before we celebrate too much. Still, I’m out of complacency mode and on to moving mode.

This should be an entirely new chapter of the seemingly endless saga of “sell this house.” I hope it’s a good one. Stay tuned to find out.