I feel like I should RECALL my
last post. My ridiculing/disgust of a house we looked at has brought me BAD KARMA!
Not even 12 hours after publishing that post, I was sitting in the hair salon chair with foils in 1/3 of my hair.
My cell phone rings. It is my listing Realtor. He says someone wants to come look at our home between 11:00-12:00 TODAY. It is 9:50 a.m. My hair appointment will go until 11:00 at which time I need to go check Ryan out of school to take him to his orthodontist
appt., followed by taking him out to lunch & to get a smoothie - it is his 15
th Birthday! I'm not going to be home for the next 3 HOURS!
He tells me that, typically, if you ask an Agent to come later, THEY WON'T. They'll just cross you off their list due to inconvenience.
I'm torn. The house is not ready. I'm not going to cancel my plans with the Birthday Boy to return home and get it ready. If a potential buyer sees it in it's current state - they won't want to buy it (most likely). But, if they don't even come to see it at all, they most definitely won't buy it. I finally decide that letting them come to the unacceptable-for-a-showing home increases my chances of a sale SLIGHTLY over refusing a showing. The
slightest chance. Very
Faint chance. Almost
next to nothing chance. But
SOMETHING all the same. Oh Crap! My Realtor told me he would just
disclose that no one was home, and we wouldn't be all morning, and to "look past" the mess. (It didn't work for us - we were
incapable of "looking past." See previous post.)
The hairdresser was ears to this whole conversation, so she hurried it up a bit and I was able to get out of there at 10:45 a.m. I zoom up to my home, hoping I can haul out the "STUFF" before they came....but there were
already 2 cars parked in front of my home when I came upon it. What?!? Only 1 hr and 10 minutes notice to begin with AND then they come EARLY, too?!!?
THE NERVE! Such is the life of selling a home.
I drove on by and tried to recollect just HOW things looked when I left it this morning. (I was pretty certain
it wasn't good.)
I didn't get the full picture until I came back 3 hours later and did a "walk through" myself. (It wasn't good. No. No. No.)
Here are the "HIGHLIGHTS"
In addition to not being able to do the USUAL last minute things of
vacuuming, sweeping, spraying air fragrance, turning on the lights, and opening the shutters.....
- First of all, it is Ryan's Birthday, so they were greeted with our traditional Birthday signage on the garage.
Also, on the driveway....it appears that the kids got a hold of all those rotten apples I'd thrown away and had a "Apple fight" with them, causing them to splatter on the driveway. It very much resembled vomit. - We had opened all of Ryan's Birthday presents this morning before school, so that aftermath (presents and wrapping/boxes) hadn't been cleared out of the front room, yet.
- Laundry in the baskets on the Laundry Room floor
- "To-be-washed" stack on top of the dryer'
- a bag of "Squeaky Cheese" left out on the Kitchen counter
- dishes in the sink (since the dishwasher was CLEAN and the child on dishwasher duty had failed to empty it before leaving for school!)
- cups, plates, knife, toothpicks on Kitchen table/counter
- coloring paper, pencil, crayon box out on the table
- FULL garbage cans in just about every room, including in full view in the Kitchen
- Kitchen table not wiped off - complete with crumbs, spills, & smudges
- Blanket on Living Room chair
- scriptures left on the floor from this morning's reading
- Miss B's clothes that she'd had an "accident" in were soaking in the bathroom sink
- Bath towel on the floor
- The toilet seat was UP -- and there was PEE in the toilet!
- NO beds were made - including mine that Miss B had made a "nest" on with 8+ pillows this morning while I was getting ready
- I had pulled all the contents out that didn't belong on Katelyn's closet floor this morning since she couldn't find her shoes, and then told her to "take care of it" - Did she? NOPE.
- PJ's, shoes and socks, & backpacks on the bedroom floors
- wilty plants that needed watering
- Towels sloppily flung on the racks
- a Piggy Bank in the middle of the Family Room floor (random)
- clothes bulging out of the dresser drawers in the Boys' room
- the Hamster smell in the Playroom
- bathroom counters cluttered with toothbrushes
- Toys not organized in Playroom
(Just to name a "few")
I was laughing for most of this "tour" - I was. I had Matt on the phone and I was commentating to him the "State of The Brenchley Home." Because WHAT COULD I DO at that point? If I didn't LAUGH, I would CRY, so I laughed (and cringed!)
But, there was ONE THING that made me SCREAM. When I went into MY room, I saw my underwear out IN PLAIN SIGHT. And what's worse is that they weren't exactly clean. I had partially hand-washed them last night after a certain monthly "incident" had taken me by surprise....ya know....and then hung them out to dry to avoid putting wet items in the hamper....I am officially horrified! Yep, I just CAN'T lose that Murphy! ;)
I just can't wait to hear the feedback from these people!! :)
After I cleared off the counter a little bit, I did find the Realtor's business card. I'm glad she found somewhere to put it! :)
So, is this a case of What-Goes-Around-Comes-Around? I ripped on someone else's house, and NOW those people get to do the same about me! But the house I looked at had at least 36 hours notice....I had none.
I went right to work cleaning the kitchen (and taking care of that "article of clothing") when I got home to help relax my CRINGING muscles!
GOOD THING, too, because I got another phone call from the Realtor. Someone else is coming to see our home at 6:00 p.m.
We'll be ready this time!!
