jaded
adjective
- tired; worn-out; wearied
- dulled or satiated, as from overindulgence
I can tell you where I was sitting when I first learned it. Well, it popped into my head…and I completely understood what it meant to see things with jaded eyes.
My kitchen table…
Yesterday.
After some healthy debate between T.H. and myself—we decided to just call a realtor.
I had an idea what was going to be said—I knew that when it comes down to inspection time, there was going to be a picking apart. At inspection time… with an inspector. Now, don’t get me wrong. This realtor was very kind; and I am not so disillusioned that I don’t know what’s what.
Deep down inside—my willingness to have them come now was more or less a “let’s settle this argument” type of conceding on my part. There are so many projects undone. I’ve tried on more than one occasion to make the point without nagging. So, “let’s call the realtor”.
She gave us the low-down on financing. She told us there is still work that she sees.
Honestly, I have two rooms right now, full of boxes and handed down furniture—neither room is “staged” as anything, other than STORAGE. So embarrassment was my biggest hump to get over.
Whew! so glad that is behind us.
Why the jaded eyes? Because I have in the past poured over Country Living Magazine, Romantic Homes, etc. I cruise Pinterest. I look closely at the pages and at the rooms…
I see, the imperfection, the chippy paint,
the cracked plaster, the SALVAGED fireplaces…
the lace curtains hung with twine
and the imperfect-OUT-OF-SQUARE- screen doors.
I see the DIY rustic make overs…
But when it comes down to it, I love all that; and most of you do too. But it doesn’t translate well, in Real Estate. It doesn’t bring the money—IS THIS TRUE?
Have I become blind to the imperfections in my home;
and embraced them so much that I’ve NEGLECTED IT?
Stress fractures over the doors and windows—CAN’T BE FINANCED.
Rustic and worn WOOD floors—painted paneling and shabby chic cupboards—TRANSLATES: FIXER UPPER!
I wanted T.H. to ‘get it’. He still doesn’t.
I on the other hand-- I CRIED.
Our humble little home isn’t worth much. Finding a buyer is going to be hard. Taking the money and running… isn’t going to happen. We’ve got work to do—and rolling up our sleeves and getting it done is going to be painstakingly difficult. Especially with no ‘nest egg’--
::dulled::
::satiated::
::over-indulged::
What say YOU? Do you look at things with jaded eyes? Do you see the imperfections in your home and embrace them; or just live with them? Do you long for something better? (for the record, better is not what we’re after, debt free is the direction we’re looking)
I also want to know what your thoughts are on this COUNTRY LIVING style of remodeling… how does it translate when selling your home? Have you had experience selling an older home? Was the value what you thought it was worth, fair, or less?
‘Til next time, Be Blessed!
Patricia
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"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go." ~Joshua 1:9
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I'm participating in Nester's annual -31 Days of writing
All these pictures were taken from Pinterest on my :: Living Country:: board
5 comments:
Listing your house is so stressful. We have had our house listed since the first of July. We Had our house listed 4 years ago for four months and then the economy tanked. We worked ourselves crazy getting ready for the listing four years ago. We threw away, donated, trashed tons of things. I look back and we could have made money on so many things. I would say that we downsized probably 50%. We also replaced floors and did some surface repairs. Just a year ago we put down wood floors in the mail part of our house. That made all but a family room downstairs with new flooring. Our home is almost 3,000 square feet and built in 1964. This time we decided on a spur of the moment to list. The market was great in May and June. We had several people come in and fix little things and do painting. Once again we maxed out our equity line of credit.
It was hard the first time when the realtors came and critiqued everything. This time it was easier. We listed at a lower price so we could sell quickly. Well, that hasn't happened. I know that it depends on the market where you live. Yours might be just fine. Ours did another nose dive. We recently reduced the price quite a bit. Before we did that we offered the buyer $10,000 at closing. We get so tired of hearing that there is still too much work left and it's not updated enough. We thought with the cash at closing they could do what they wanted with that money. Since the last reduction we have only had two showings. The last on October 10. Nothing since. We have told the realtor that we will pull the listing in two weeks.....one month earlier that our contract. The realtor has never shown the house to anyone. They have all be outside realtors. We are thinking about taking our house off the market til spring.
Our goal is also to be debt free and mortgage free as my husband needs to retire. He will be 65 and his job is the pits. He worked for Enron years ago and has no pension and we will be on social security for almost all our expenses. Our home will be paid for in one year. The taxes alone will be $500 a month, and that;s a lot.
We would not be as determined to sell but we have a friend holding his condo (1,100 sq. ft.) in the neighborhood that we want to live in. He redid much of the inside and it has all the things we want. It's pretty basic, small, but perfect. We don't know how long he will be able to wait for us. This has made it even more stressful.
If you can wait to list your house, I would. If you live in warmer climates you should go ahead. You were right to have the appraiser first. We should have, as an inspection scares me. Things like the roof (although it is fine it's old) and the well and septic scare me.
As far as staging this is what we have done....for all that its worth............
Total clutter free, (my closets are buldging and shouldn't be)
We totally clean everything before each showing
I take all the bedding from our bed (quilt sheets, everything) bag them or wash them. I put fresh new bedding on for each showing. I have a new quilt and pillow for the bed that we only use for showings.
Since we have dogs (reason for changing bedding) and take them away when they are showing the house. We hide all dishes and etc.
They asked not to have a lot of candles burning as people think you are covering up something.
As far as style......as neutral as possible. I know I like shabbiness as well but not everyone does.
remove all pictures. I have issues with this. I have one tiny wall with pictures on it. There is probably a family pictures here and there other places. I put so many away.
I know I am probably forgetting a lot of information. And remember our house hasn't sold so I'm not the best to advise. I know that today's buyer wants everything new for any price. They are way too picky and demanding.
I hope I didn't scare you. I just anted you to know what we have done. Maybe you should give me some tips, hah. Fingers crossed for both of us.
I have not sold a house, hopefully never will. I *will* say, from the perspective of a buyer, our house was on the market for a loooong time. For selling purposes, the seller did a poor job. Someone had clearly *started* peeling wallpaper, gave up and painted over it. Badly. On top of chunks of ripped paper, lol (we ended up peeling SEVEN layers of wallpaper off!!). The ceiling had been painted with barely enough paint to almost cover. The owner's girlfriend had done the worst version of 80's stenciling I'd ever seen (this was 2002). Kid's rooms upstairs had the worst sponge painting I'd ever seen - and I had done the 90's sponge painting, though in the 90's. She'd done the weirdest paint job on the feet of the claw foot bathtub. Getting to my point, when we were in the process of moving back "home", I found the picture of a farmhouse in our local paper, in our price range (which was not a lot!). David called, and they told him the street it was on, and was he familiar with it? Umm, only that he had be born and raised on it, but didn't remember that particular house! As soon as we walked in, we knew this was our home. We knew God would be working out the details, no doubts to be had - which was weird, as we hadn't had much experience in just "knowing" something was going to happen. We've been here going on 12 years, we've made a lot of cosmetic improvements, and have many more to go. My point, though, is that your house is already in better condition than ours was, and yes, you'll see the "flaws", have to fix what you can, but God may well have some people who will love your home or your property already in mind! So, do what you can, the neutral decorating, fixing, etc. We'll be praying that you're able to rest easy, and that a kindred spirit falls in love with your home (and that they're pre-approved, lol!). As far as ever selling our home, ugh. One of my sisters-in-law is a realtor, and I do cringe at her coming over, though she's never had anything bad to say. That's because we're not selling, though!
Everyone feels this way. My old house was never "fixed" until we moved and sold it. I might have stayed if it looked that way when we lived there! Ha, ha. I think the rule is that we feel our houses are worth more than they are and if you have anything that isn't in the same shape as a display house, others may not be interested. Most people around here don't want to fix up a house, they are too busy or don't have the skills. Are you sure you want to leave? It sounds like you like your home a lot. If you are trying to be debt free and have a mortgage (I don't know that you do) maybe you could refinance with the HARP program that can take down payments by hundreds of dollars a month if you have been living there for several years.
I was also going to ask if you have looked into the HARP program. We are really lucky in that we paid off our mortgage about 9 years ago, but several friends have looked into the program and the reduction in their monthly payments was quite a bit. We live in an old house, too. My husband's parents built it from logs in 1938. It is now sided over, but just last week we put a new window in and we had to saw through 2 old logs to do it. So many things in here are likely NOT to code. It is hard. Hope you find your answers.
I spent a good 3 months getting my house and yard ready for sale. When we had our inspection they still found a ton of things wrong. When you live in a house you just get used to its quirks and after a while you don't really see the things that other's see.
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