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Hi, it's me, Claudia. . .the gal who always posts inappropriate topics in the parenting forum because I am blocked out of the other forums. Ha ha. (Kris - it allows me to log in to the entire site but when I attempt to create a new post in another forum, it asks me to log in again. . .and then denies my password)
Anyway, I need some advice on the most stressful endeavor to date: selling a house. OMG. I never imagined that selling a house would be this stressful. Our house has been on the market for 3.5 weeks now and we've had quite a number of walk-throughs but no offers. This has me sort of worried because people are obviously interested enough to come and see the place but something is preventing them from going further - which brings me to the dilemma. My husband, dear hard-working man that he is, does not have the time/energy/brain power to devote to the house projects. This stresses me out to no end because I see obvious things that should be done to the house to improve the appearance (he tells me that we will do them "soon" - well, what is the fricking point of doing them in a couple of weeks when either (a) no one is even looking at the house anymore and we have to drop the price or (b) someone has already bought the house. Here is a small list and please tell me what you think about these "repairs" - am I being overly anal-retentive (which is definitely a possibility)
*the trim. Hubby is not a "neat" painter and some brightly colored paint travelled over to the white trim every here and there. I think we should, at minimum, paint over the blemishes and/or repaint the entire trim. They are not glaring blemishes but someone would definitely notice it if they were paying careful attention to the paint job. Well, hubby bought some white paint to repaint the bottom trim where he did some moulding work. . .it's not the same white. Yes. The previous color is an off-white and this is a stark white. He seems to think that this is OK until "later".
*the side of the house. We have white brick so one side of the house has turned a mossy green over time. I think a nice wash would brighten this up and he agrees. Again, though, it can wait until "later".
*cleanliness. I have kept the place as clean as possibly what with a 9.5 month old crawler. This is an area where I *am* admittedly overly OCD. But hubby seems to think that it's OK to leave a moving box full of grand rounds papers and books in the middle of the den. . .it's OK to leave mail and articles scattered all over the desk. . .it's OK to just haphazardly throw the bed quilt over the sheets. . .and OK to just toss the bath towels over the shower curtain. Not a big deal because I am here to fix the trail but my daughter and I are going on a trip in 2 weeks. I'm terrified to think of what the house will look like while we are gone. I *know* how tired he is when he comes home at 10pm and I know it's the last thing on his mind but. . .
So what to do? Am I worrying for nothing? Or are these big issues that need to be dealt with? I've never sold a house before so I am admittedly ignorant. My husband has sold a condo but he sold it after he had moved out for several months. My parents who have sold many houses keep telling me that this stuff is very important. It is such an incredible source of stress for me because when I mention these issues to him, I receive the "it's fine. stop worrying. we'll do it later" and he acts like I'm overly anal. Yet I'm the one who is home having to leave the house when we have showings and feeling really bummed when we get no interest beyond that.
Please help.
Anyway, I need some advice on the most stressful endeavor to date: selling a house. OMG. I never imagined that selling a house would be this stressful. Our house has been on the market for 3.5 weeks now and we've had quite a number of walk-throughs but no offers. This has me sort of worried because people are obviously interested enough to come and see the place but something is preventing them from going further - which brings me to the dilemma. My husband, dear hard-working man that he is, does not have the time/energy/brain power to devote to the house projects. This stresses me out to no end because I see obvious things that should be done to the house to improve the appearance (he tells me that we will do them "soon" - well, what is the fricking point of doing them in a couple of weeks when either (a) no one is even looking at the house anymore and we have to drop the price or (b) someone has already bought the house. Here is a small list and please tell me what you think about these "repairs" - am I being overly anal-retentive (which is definitely a possibility)
*the trim. Hubby is not a "neat" painter and some brightly colored paint travelled over to the white trim every here and there. I think we should, at minimum, paint over the blemishes and/or repaint the entire trim. They are not glaring blemishes but someone would definitely notice it if they were paying careful attention to the paint job. Well, hubby bought some white paint to repaint the bottom trim where he did some moulding work. . .it's not the same white. Yes. The previous color is an off-white and this is a stark white. He seems to think that this is OK until "later".
*the side of the house. We have white brick so one side of the house has turned a mossy green over time. I think a nice wash would brighten this up and he agrees. Again, though, it can wait until "later".
*cleanliness. I have kept the place as clean as possibly what with a 9.5 month old crawler. This is an area where I *am* admittedly overly OCD. But hubby seems to think that it's OK to leave a moving box full of grand rounds papers and books in the middle of the den. . .it's OK to leave mail and articles scattered all over the desk. . .it's OK to just haphazardly throw the bed quilt over the sheets. . .and OK to just toss the bath towels over the shower curtain. Not a big deal because I am here to fix the trail but my daughter and I are going on a trip in 2 weeks. I'm terrified to think of what the house will look like while we are gone. I *know* how tired he is when he comes home at 10pm and I know it's the last thing on his mind but. . .
So what to do? Am I worrying for nothing? Or are these big issues that need to be dealt with? I've never sold a house before so I am admittedly ignorant. My husband has sold a condo but he sold it after he had moved out for several months. My parents who have sold many houses keep telling me that this stuff is very important. It is such an incredible source of stress for me because when I mention these issues to him, I receive the "it's fine. stop worrying. we'll do it later" and he acts like I'm overly anal. Yet I'm the one who is home having to leave the house when we have showings and feeling really bummed when we get no interest beyond that.
Please help.
) if he hears from someone else that it is an issue.....we have been dealing with selective deafness around here lately, too!
) a plane ticket for one of our best friends from Indiana to come down and fix a bunch of little stuff that needed done -- he owns a hardware store and can fix anything, unlike my husband, and I just went to Home Depot with him and paid for whatever he thought he needed. The cost of the plane ticket was probably less than what it would have cost in labor to have hired someone do all of that stuff. I also spent quite a bit on a cleaning service to come fairly regularly while our house was on the market......I was not up to doing deep cleaning as often as it needed to be done, especially because we had three long-haired indoor cats at the time 8O ! So if you feel like your husband is not going to get things done for whatever reason, give him a heads up and then take matters into your own hands.
What else can I do? He thinks our house is perfect and it is perfect. . .for us. NOT for potential buyers. I'm going to need to practice deep-breathing for the next few months. In all seriousness, I really don't know what to do. I either ignore the obvious flaws and pray that some blind chap will buy our house or I go absolutely hormonal/ape@*(& on my hubby and get the balls rolling for people to come and fix the place. ?????
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