Selling your house means that people will need to come look at it in order for them to decide to buy it. (Duh) Knowing that people could come by the house at any time means that it needs to always be sparkling clean.*
*Note to self: This would have been much easier without 2 dogs and a toddler.
Since we never know when somebody may call us and/or pop by, we have to leave the house in pristine condition every day when we go to work. That means adding stuff to my morning routine that I didn't do before like making the bed (sorry, Mom), emptying/refilling the dishwasher (or hiding dirty dishes under the sink.....), turning on lights in the basement, opening doors, etc. etc. We also have to lock up the dogs so they don't go making friends with everybody, or, you know, scaring them away. :-/
Having people coming and going all day also means dealing with their aftermath- they turn off the lights (leaving the dogs in the pitch dark), leave the doors unlocked or open, use our bathroom and leave the toilet seat up (sooo grooosssss), sit on our furniture (I can see your butt marks!), etc.
It is also creepy coming home after a long day of multiple showings. Checking every closet and behind every shower curtain is a MUST.
But the worst part, IMO, is the agents that can be rude and unprofessional. I absolutely loathe the last minute calls, waking Abby from her nap, throwing the dogs in the car, and driving around for an hour just to find out they never even showed up.
But there have been some positives to this experience as well. For example, I never thought I could live in a sparkling clean house. Side story - I have a girlfriend from high school who lives in a gorgeous, huge house. She also has 3 boys. I have always been jealous of the fact that there is never a thing out of place at her house. It's like magic. Like even with a cleaning lady I thought my house could never look like that. But having to put EVERYTHING back where it came from every single day, and keep things put away out of view has taught me that yes, with a little bit of effort, my house can stay that clean and surfaces that empty! Maybe this was just common sense but..... it has been so nice to come home to a clean house, crawl into a made bed at night, and have to do minimal work to keep it that way. (Am I finally becoming an adult?)
SO Anyhoo... if you live around the DC area you know that Mother Nature has been less than kind this Spring. It has pretty much been raining nonstop since we went on the market, which is super great because pretty much nobody wants to go house hunting when it's raining. I'm not freaking out (yet) (ok maybe I am a little), but this is just part of the process and we're going to have to ride it out!
Ohhh and if you made it this far, I guess I should reward you by telling you we totally went against your fan vote and picked cherry cabinets for the new house. :)
Happy Friday everyone!!
~SG
