Monday, August 24, 2009

Confused

Daniel and I have had our house For Sale By Owner since March. All we've ever had was curious nibbles, nothing ever serious, only one person came to look at it, though many people were "interested" in looking.

All summer it's been "hurry up and wait". A couple weeks (or several) go by and no one calls, then somebody calls, they ask about looking at it, I hurry up and clean the house really well, then they never call back... the house gets back into normal shape... repeat. No one has called for the last month, if not longer. We were (are?) really getting to the point of pulling up the FSBO sign and making a decision about "are we moving or not?"

Until today. Last Monday a realtor called for her client, interested in looking at it. We didn't hear a peep from her until yesterday and she wanted to look at the house last evening. Well, it didn't suit us (really) plus the house is still a mess as leftovers from dealing with morning sickness, lots of naps, and the garden. We decided that we are "busy" all this week (cleaning) and it doesn't suit us to show the house until this weekend.

She called back this morning to see if she could come on Saturday. So, we are back to the hurry up and wait. Mom is coming today and I'm going to have her do serious packing. Pretty much all the do-dads are packed, so she'll be packing up the pantry, the hall closet, the extra things under the sinks, maybe even boxing up things in the cupboards that we don't need/use on a daily basis. I don't know where everything will go yet, but I figure if we're gonna show this house, we better give it our best shot this last time. I think if these people aren't interested, we WILL pull the sign, at least until we know what we're doing.

That means the garden is likely going to be put on hold. I think I'll try and get the peppers yet, but I don't have time to deal with tomatoes, at least right now.

I don't know what to think. I've not talked to this realtor personally, and I told Daniel to try and find out if she's really serious about this, or if she's just being nosey. I would think that if she had clients that are interested in looking, she'd have been alot more pushy about looking before now. But maybe they were on vacation, or she was, who knows. I shouldn't jump to conclusions, but I'm getting tired of drop-outs and not knowing if we're cleaning and packing for real, or just for the sake of doing it.

At least I can pack up most of my clothes and know I won't have to dig them out for a long time :P I'll just have to replenish them with maternity clothes :P I already started a stack last night of jeans and shirts that can be packed up since I know I won't be able to wear them until next summer/fall anyway (HOPEFULLY I'll be able to fit into my jeans by next fall! I sure hope so!!).

For now, I'd best be over'n'out. If by chance you see the sign we've been looking for written in the sky over your area, please let me know. You know, just in case it got windy up there and the sign blew from our sky to yours. It would be nice to know what we're supposed to do.

4 comments:

mint said... [Reply to comment]

Good Luck!!

Elizabeth said... [Reply to comment]

Sounds like a really exhausting situation!! I'm praying for the best outcome for your family.

I don't know anything about the market where you're at but here, the FSBO properties will stay on the market for years while the ones being sold by an agent have a turnaround of 2-4 months. It's hard for people to do anything without paying enormous fees nowadays :(

Jenn said... [Reply to comment]

I must say, our house has been on the market with a realtor since March. We are getting ready to take it off the market simply because of flakes. People want to see it then don't show up. I no longer do last minute showings or appointment times spread out more than an hour. If they aren't on time, they don't see the house. It sometimes, comes down to a little thing like respect. We don't have to sell our house, it is just that things are changing and we are deciding if this is what we really want.

Congrats on the baby! What an exciting adventure you are about to embark on!

Anonymous said... [Reply to comment]

We've sold several of our homes the FSBO way. Each time the main comment that we got was how immaculate the houses were. I'd suggest having some close friends or a realtor, do a walk-through and tell you anything that would turn off prospective buyers. Potential buyers need to be able to picture themselves living there. It's a lot of trouble, but well worth the effort when it does sale.