What does a Garden Gnome do when she is not gardening, in the kitchen or doing genealogy? Well the answer might just surprise you so read the entries to find out more. This blog focuses on everything we do to make our house a home. There will be a strong emphasis on home energy efficiency and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. At the same time there will also be crafts, knitting and crocheting projects along with any other little tips we do to create that down to earth, I want to be here home. Please enjoy your visit :)
When we listed the house in the spring the listing agent did not do a dog & pony show. A real estate dog & pony show is where the listing agent invites other agents from their real estate firm as well as any interested MLS agents to view the home. A time frame is set up so the agents can show up during that time at their convenience. This is an excellent networking strategy when selling a home. The more agents looking at the possibility of selling your home the better! If another agent sells the home part of the commission is paid to the other agent so both agents make a commission and the home owner is happy because the house is sold.
Our listing agent set up two time slots for the dog & pony show. The first slot was Monday morning for just agents from their real estate firm. The second was this morning for any agents from their firm that couldn't make it Monday as well as any interested MLS agents. Seven agents went through on Monday and three this morning so that is 10 more agents working behind the scenes, doing a bit of networking to get our house sold. I'm quite pleased with this.
The house is pretty much in show condition all the time because we lifted the 24 hour notice before a viewing which means the house needs to be ready for viewing as soon as our agent calls. In many ways this is a lot easier than rushing around to get the house tidy and sparkling for a showing. I'm doing a daily spit & shine, running any necessary laundry and dishwasher in the late evening, and daily decluttering. Anything we can't use or don't need is out the door. I also took our listing agent's advice and am in the process of painting the stairs leading to the sunporch. I must say even though they aren't finished yet they are looking a lot better. It was an excellent suggestion!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
This past Friday night we decided to list the house again with a real estate agent. This time we moved away from the previous brokerage who seemed to have a rather negative attitude in that between March 17 and August 31 they brought us no offers. We firmly believe it was not the fault of the agent but more so the cocky attitude of the actual brokerage. In fairness and a bit of loyalty to our previous agent with whom we have dealt with in the past, she will do the purchase for our next place but not the sale of this house. We think this will reward her for her hard work yet send the brokerage the message we were not happy. So we listed with a fairly new brokerage that really seems to be getting results in our area.
Our new real estate agent is a real go getter! We met with her at 10 pm Friday night. The sign goes on the house today in house (brokerage agents only) dog and pony show is this also today. The second dog and pony show for MLS agents is on Wednesday. Tonight has been a spit and polish night. The nice thing is because the house had been previously listed for much of the year there was no massive cleaning to do AND we have been continuously decluttering so that should make a bit of a difference. I'm rather excited at the prospect this real estate agent may just get us the results we want.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
It is official! A couple of weeks ago we got a deal of a lifetime so decided to act on it. Then after talking about the new changes that deal would mean we decided to do a bit of house hunting with a couple of goals in mind. We found a lovely house we really like in a location that will eliminate a lot of driving. After a bit of haggling our offer was accepted so we set about getting the word out that our house was up for sale.
Our intentions are to try selling our house privately to save on realtor fees but within a 2 week time frame for a firm offer. If we don't have a firm offer after that period of time the house will be listed with a realtor. Last week we showed the house twice with one encouraging showing. Friday we placed an ad and yesterday the for sale by owner sign went on the house. Both have been encouraging by generating phone calls and emails.
So we are off on another exciting adventure! It's surprising in that we both are excited about the changes, talking about what we are going to do at the new house. The house is a bit larger than this house but has more personalization potential. It has electric baseboard heat so my husband has already arranged HEE furnace and AC. As soon as things are finalized we will arrange an energy audit as that will allow us to take advantage of a couple of government grants. I'm excited that my kitchen will have more counter space and will be laid out better so am already shopping for dual fuel ranges. Unlike our other houses we plan on going in with renovation guns blazing so this really is going to be one of the more interesting homes we've tackled!
The next few weeks worth of posts will focus on our selling experience including what we did, what worked and what didn't. At the same time other topics will come up as well so please stay tuned.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
