My Personal Mission Statement

Over the weekend I was reading a recent "O Magazine" and it was on her "What I know for sure" entries, and although there is very little I can say I know for sure, it reminded me of my Personal Mission Statement.

About 5 years ago I was asked to write a Personal Mission Statement for one of Bryan Rodney's Sales Classes, and since that time I have looked back on it over and over again! When I wrote this Personal Mission Statement I was in an entirely different place in my life - No Ty, No House, No Car, No Job, No Lulu, Hardly any bills, NO CARES IN THE WORLD - and the great thing about a really good personal mission statement is that no matter what changes in your life, your personal mission statement should still be relevant to YOU. So as I dug mine out once again today, as I have many days in the past, and I read over it, it still fits me, it still makes sense to me and most importantly it makes sense FOR me, and I have decided, that although it has NOTHING to do with House stuff (because I wrote it before I had a house), I would share it here with you regardless.

The Personal Mission Statement of Samantha Arnott;

I will strive to reach my highest potential. I will set goals that I wish to achieve, which will not always be the goals that others want me to achieve. I will treat people equally, because I have learned that it doesn't matter what you are - but who you are that matters. I will use my knowledge to teach others the things I have been lucky to have learned. I will not use money as a way of keeping score - because everyone is rich in different ways. I will push myself to do more, dream bigger, live better, achieve more and reach the stars. I will thank those in my life that have helped me become the person I am. I will acknowledge that I may not always like what others say about me - but I must listen to it, because it will help me improve the person that I am. I will share my good fortune with those that need it. I will learn something new everyday.

I will be accountable for my words, actions and ideas. I will treat those around me with respect and honesty, because I know that is how I would like to be treated. I will encourage those around me to be a part of my life, because I believe the best way to improve ourselves is to surround ourselves by intelligence. I will tell my family how much I love them - more. I will wish on stars - because kids possess the greatest faith and hope in miracles and I think I can learn something from them. I will enjoy walks in the country. I will appreciate my family history and home. I will cherish my childhood. I will treasure the stories people tell me about their past - because I know they are sharing their life with me. I will cherish my friends and the people that mysteriously enter my life. I will offer help to those I can. I will smile when I am happy and I will cry when I'm sad.

I will tell my story to others.

I will cherish everyday a little more then the last.

This is my mission.

.... the funny thing is - this mission statement some how suits me better now then the day I wrote it, funny how that happens. Every line I wrote refers to someone or something that has affected my life and it is interesting remembering why I wrote each line. Over the past 5 years I have changed and grown and failed and succeeded .... many times, but my mission has never changed, and I can look at this and fully realize that.

I would encourage everyone to write their own Personal Mission Statement, it may be a wonderful experience for you, and if you don't have time, feel free to borrow mine for a little while if it suits you; I have loaned it out before and hopefully it has always helped those that needed a mission to follow and something to believe in.

xo,

S

Why I love new homes!

Ok, so maybe I get more excited then most people (including those moving) when people get a new home. In fact, according to one friend I may be the only person that sends out a congratulations email, however, I have pondered why that is and have come to the following conclusions;

1) All of the possibilities; a new home is a blank slate, and to me, that is super exciting! You get to make it your mark on it!

2) It's new!; Ok, so maybe not new new, unless you bought it new, BUT it is new-to-you, which is fantastic, anything new is exciting to me, especially if it sparkles (please note: when it is something that sparkles it should be new new, not just new to you new!)

3) It's a HOME; And it wasn't a home until you had it, which is warm and fluffy......

4) Your FIRST HOME; At our age and stages in life, for many of my friends these are our first homes, meaning we have never had one of our very own before, and now having one, that is HUGE, I mean, really, biggest money you will ever spend! And when you go to your lawyers office and see that cheque with your name on it you - you expect that it would be one of those HUGE cheques, like super sized ones, but it isn't, it is so small and normal I was surprised all those zero's fit on the little line......

5) Memories; The best part of having a home is that you can sit down and look around it and smile at all of the things that have taken place within those four walls and smile...... I mean, we have had our house for less then 2 years but ever since the day we moved in we have memories in that house..... and it is our home now because of those memories.

Anyhow, I am feeling extremely happy right now cause D & C get to move into their new home this weekend and I just feel so excited about it for some reason I thought I would write a little something about why moving (although the action physical move sucks) totally makes me smile!

Have a great weekend!
xoxox,
S

So there!

Ok, so to conduct a small experiment I decided that I would (with consultation with Ty) post our Open House from the weekend on Craigslist Ottawa and Kijiji Ottawa and even though you don't get a summary of viewings on Craigslist you do on Kijiji, so this is the summary of my postings;

On Kijiji I posted the Open House notice around 7p.m. on Friday night, by Saturday morning around 10:00 we had 59 viewings, by Monday morning when I took it down we had 144 (I would assume approximately the same amount on Criagslist).

So because the Open House is over I went in, deleted those ads and put up general ones - I posted them on Monday around 9a.m. and now at 9:00a.m. on Tuesday the kijiji ads alone have received exactly 101 viewings on Ottawa and Kingston Kijiji, add to that that they are also posted on both Ottawa and Kingston Craigslist and on usedOttawa and I would be willing to bet that they have received over 200 hits ONE day......

BETCHA my house on realtor.ca did not receive that many hits yesterday, and I also beat you that a bunch of the hits it did receive where because I posted on my ad to see more go to realtor.ca and gave my MLS number!

I am in the midst of proving a point, and winning!

xo,
S

If you want something done right...

...You have got to do it yourself!

So, come December 16th we will be taking our house off the "realtor" real-estate market and just giving ourselves a little break from the craziness that is having your house listed, however, we are also thinking of having it up for private sale during that time. Here is the conclusion I have come to - if you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself!

As I did go through for marketing and had to take many Brian Rodney sales classes, and a few advertising courses and whatnot, I figure, this may not be so bad, in fact, it is likely the very reason I have been so involved and finding so many problems in the current work being done..... because they are realtors, they are marketers or advertisers or anything..... here are a few idea's I have that should get the word out there just a little.

1) As we are in a central location we will put a for sale by owner sign up of course, which will frequently be covered in snow, if possible we will have a listing information box attached to the sign.

2) I have already created a fact sheet and picture sheet for potential buyers (this was for the potential private sales that came through prior to the listing).

3) We will post ads on any free "classifieds" websites between Kingston and Ottawa (if you have the name of any outside your standard craigslist and kajiji let me know - does Kingston have anything like this?)

4) There is always the option of printing up a flyer for the Perth circulation of the local paper, did you know (at least in our local paper) that you can actually include flyer's for free, you are just responsible for the copies! Which is cool cause I get a discount on that!

Anyhow, I am throwing out ideas but I know I have a bunch of really smart old classmates that could have killer ideas and of course all of the people that have sold a house before me I am sure will also have ideas, so post a comment or send me an email..... any advice is helpful!

xo,
S

My Advice to a First Time Seller

Although my house has not sold, in the process of having my house for sale I have learned a few things I wish I could tell my pre-sale self or that someone had told me, so now I pass on these little tidbits of information on.

1) Real Estate is one of the few industries in the world where you are paying someone alot of money to provide you with a service where you have very little say in what they are doing. My advice now; When you meet with your agent, before you sign the papers to list with them you have a marketing/service plan that they need to agree to, for example - we would like our house advertised in x-paper bi-weekly, we expect our ad in your sales window within the next 3 days, we would like you to use the following photo's, if we find an error in your work we expect it to be corrected within 24 hours where possible, we expect that as our agent you will be hosting a monthly open house, etc.... Many new sellers just sign the papers without really asking for many things.

2) Consider hiring the newbie real estate agent, the one that hasn't necessarily built up millions in sales, but instead the one that has a mortgage that has to be paid and if she (or he) does not sell your house, they may be homeless..... those are the ones with drive, because honestly, the agent that has all of the experience will do what they have always done, and I am sure your house will sell - BUT, if your house doesn't sell it won't hurt them any.....

3) Be prepared that viewings will disappoint you, and that people will harp on things you cannot change; i.e. - you don't have a garage, but your lot is not large enough to build one! or that your neighbour is too close, but you can't convince them to move out, buy their house and bulldoze it just so they aren't close......these are the most frustrating comments because there is nothing you can do, so be prepared to not make catty comments back....

These are a few of the ones that I wish we had thought of or where told, the first two points especially.

XO,
S

I'm not Crazy

Everyone knows I am selling my house, it is something I talk about ALL of the time, and maybe, just maybe, I am a controlling and frequently harassing seller to my agent, however, I will now share with the group some of my crazy comments. Then the public can come to their own opinion - crazy or not!

QUOTE#1; "I just got the email notice and there is NO PHOTO!!! What happened? It says there is an Open House but who wants to go to an Open House of a house they don't see..... I am sad."

QUOTE #2; "Everything looks great, and we’re ready for visitors….. but haven’t had any :( "

QUOTE #3; "You locked me out of my house :( I had to go to Tim's for lunch.... "

QUOTE #4; "Could you tell other agents that if they do go down to the basement can they please make sure to shut the door behind them when they come up, it was left open all day yesterday (with the light left on) and Lulu got down there, got into something and was sick last night….. we try and keep her out of down there because she can get into places that we don’t even know exist."

QUOTE #5; "I just opened the EMC and the ad for the Open House is in there but the house is listed as a 3 bedroom!? It is a 4 bedroom house, almost 4+1 if the River Room is listed as “other” rather than Family Room, I know it is a small difference, but in the grand scheme of things for us, there is a big difference between a three bedroom and a four bedroom for a family with 3 kids. Plus our price for a 3 bedroom seems steep, and we’re not, we’re a competitively priced 4 bedroom."

QUOTE #6; "I know we have only been on the market for 3 weeks and I know that on average it takes 90-120 days, but we’re only listing for 90 days"

QUOTE #7; "We want our house to be publicized accurately as well, which is not too much to ask."

QUOTE #8; From a list of "concerns" - "1) We chose you to sell our house because we wanted you to represent us in the selling process, and now we’re being told it is a colleague of yours representing us at the Open House on the weekend, a person we did not chose to represent us. If you did know you had an appointment with other clients already scheduled we should have at least been given the option of “either you guys can have me do the Open House Saturday at 3:30 because I have an earlier appointment, or you can have my colleague do it at an earlier time” … and we would have chosen that you be there representing us.

OK, these were all in the first three weeks - I don't want this to be my longest blog entry so I will save my other crazy messages for later..... let's just say they continue, and maybe I'll put more crazy-sam notes up later.

xo,
S

Selling Envy

So I started to believe the lies - my house isn't selling because the market sucks and it is getting into a slower market, I started, but I have now decided no, there is something else. I have changed my mind because it seems like a week has not passed since the "market down turn" that a house has not sold in the immediate area.

Today, I am driving to work and there is a house on the way, only one house on my way to work, that was for sale, and apparently, over the weekend it sold!

Last week I was going for groceries, on my normal route, and there was a house that sold there - and it is like feet from the railroad tracks - it sold!

The week before that - the absolutely hideous house that we wanted to buy next because it was so terrible, with carpet in the dining room and poker wallpaper in the loft - it sold!

The only thing that is keeping me slightly upbeat and cheerful is that the other two houses on my street have not sold, because quite honestly mine is better, and it is the overly competitive, bitchy side of me that does not want to see their houses sell before mine. Yes, apparently others failures make me upbeat and cheerful, I am a bad person.

Keeping it short today. Just my jealous thought.

xo,
Sam

Dear Buyer

So, our house has been on the market for like 7 weeks now to the day actually, we have had 4 Open Houses, over 10 showings and umpteen emails to my realtor or client care specialist, and we have had one second visit, no conditional offers, no offers period. Being half way through I am beginning to get discouraged, so I thought I would post suggestions to future buyers (maybe not of my house, but of any house).

1) If you want a garage and will not buy a house without a garage - look at the listing! It says whether there is a garage or not, our house does not have one....

2) If you are looking for a mansion, look on the listing, my listing for example says 4 bedrooms, which means, if you require more then 4 bedrooms, do not visit..... and you will not find a mansion in Perth, totally renovated, for $244,900 - news flash!

3) If you have small children and will not buy a house with a pool because you are worried about them drowning then you likely will not buy a house directly on WATERFRONT! Just a guess!

4) A basement is a basement, it is gross, cold, dirt, cobwebs, it is 4 feet high, we have put a dehumidifier down there to keep it from being damp, but it is still a basement in an old house, there is nothing wrong with that, it has held the house up for over 100 years, I am sure now that it has been dug up and insulation pumped on it, it will stay up for a few more - if you don't want an old basement, don't buy an old house!

5) We still live in our house, although we did put a sign on the front lawn inviting you in, it is still our house, so you should us the same manners you would if you were a guest in my house, and stop looking in my fridge..... the house is not staged, there is food in there, it is perishable, in fact it often does perish before I get around to eating it..... mystery solved!

6) There has not yet been a viewing when I waked into our house after and did not know someone else had been there - a closet door open, a basement door open, a light left on or turned off, my shower curtain moved, something, a kitten hiding under the bed because clearly you brought kids, which is fine ..... but if you have small children accompany you, and they have been eating messy food, please keep their hands off my furniture and walls..... it leaves the house in the same perfect, fish-bowl condition it was in before you came.

I promise to remember these points when I am looking to buy, promise! This sounds like I am complaining, which I am trying not too, it is meant to sound light-hearted and funny..... I'll write again soon so this one isn't up long! It will be funnier!

xo,
S

Baby with Sale

So, I have a baby, her name is Lulu, she is a two-year old kitten that Ty gave me for Christmas and we have systematically turned her into a princess. Apparently, princesses don't like their castle being for sale.

Here is what I believe she is thinking behind her crazy actions.

Cat thought #1) If I poop in my litter while a buyer is here and Mom and Dad are out then the buyer will think the house smell like cat shit and by the time my parents (because we are not owners, she would be offended by that term) get home it will be too late.

HUMAN SOLUTION; Take the princess with us during viewings

Cat thought #2) Since I can no longer poop before buyers get in my castle, I will make Dad and Mom regret catching me to take me for a nice drive out to the cottage, I will pee on Mom in the car, which will ruin one of her favorite new white shirts, which will make them leave me at home during these darn things, I promise not to purposely poop when buyers are coming.

HUMAN SOLUTION; Deal; you don't stink up the house, we will not confine you in a car.

Cat thought #3) Hmmm, there are an awful lot of people coming into my house today (realtor Open House) and no one seems to be paying any attention to what little-old-me seems to be doing, and it appears that, in their hurry, they have left a door open that has never been left open for cat exploration before, I should seize this opportunity and see what is there. 5 minutes later; seems that door just leads to a dirt floor with tons of cob-webs, but I did seem to find some interesting smells as I cannot seem to clean my whiskers off from all of the cobwebs I got into... hopefully Dad and Mom don't find out.

HUMAN SOLUTION; Email my realtor and remind her that our little princess is NEVER to be let into the basement and to please remind agents showing the house of the same - she likely has ate something I don't even want to think about and I am sure because of this little fiasco will be puking later tonight, luckily I have warranty on my new furniture to cover pet messes.

Cat thought #4) I have tried to shed more on the staircase, seems the other places in the house don't seem to upset Mom quite as much as shedding on the staircase, so while my castle is for sale, I will make her pay by shedding as much hair as possible on the staircase, which is the hardest to clean and the first thing buyers see when they walk in the door.

HUMAN SOLUTION; Swiffer the stairs weekly, which is a disgusting task because of said hair.

Cat thought #5) While making all of these little hurdles for my parents I will also act more loving and purr more when I do see them so that they can not get mad at me.

HUMAN SOLUTION; Take the love when you can get it, this princess has more mood swings then most humans I know, and she is adorable.

This is what I think Ms. Lulu Delovely Arnott-Atkinson thinks are her largest trials during house selling; man, I don't know how people with real babies can even attempt to sell their house. Must go - said princess has just squeezed her furry head into my glass of milk. There goes that!

xo,
S

Beg, Borrow & Sales

The family & friends you choose to spend your time with should never be based on what they have or what they can give you, but when flipping a house, if your family or friends DO have things or CAN help, it makes a difference. Ty and I have seriously counted on anyone we know to get this house finished, here are just a few items you may see in our house that we did not necessary purchase ourselves and a few tips on how to make extra money when you actually do have to buy things yourself.

1) Borrow: When Pauline (our Realtor) came over to list our house it is typically standard that window coverings are included, but not with us, no, we have wood blinds in our master that CANNOT be sold with the house because they belong to Mom and the bamboo blind in the kitchen was free because it was a miss-measure at Mom's store.

2) Beg: The Dining Room chandelier was free; Mom had found it in the clearance bin at Home Depot and never used it, so we did.

3) Sale: We were really good at finding deals, for example, Rona was closing in Perth so we went in (BEFORE WORK) and bought our patio door, bathroom window and front full-glass door, what we didn't know at the time was that the only thing we would actually use was the patio door, the front door we didn't measure and the bathroom window we never replaced.

4) Borrow: There is a gorgeous, huge painting in our River Room that really fills a wall perfectly and makes it warm, that we actually took from the Boat House at the Cottage..... we promised Jan we would return it once the house sold.

5) Beg: Thankfully Ty's Dad, Gord, is a wiz at anything home repair, he has done everything from build us a counter top to frame in our bathroom wall to squaring up our walls, and likely should have charged Ty by the minute for phone advice! We also enjoyed that Blair, his Carpenter and "partner" of "Bypass Construction" would come over often too.

6) Sale: Something not a lot of people know - Home Depot Online has a daily item that they put on sale, one day only, under "Hammer Drop" and then they also have one item each day that they put a few of up under "Auction" - and let me tell you, you can get awesome deals, the massive tv stand in our living room was purchased at 40% off on HD online so we thought we were getting a good deal getting it for $600 +tax & delivery, but a few weeks later it went on the auction and sold for LESS THEN $300! I almost died!

7) Beg: So not everyone has a Mom that owns a paint and decorating store, but I do, so we used 50 gallons (approximately, we lost count) on the interior and 15 gallons on the exterior and got a great deal on it - I love "family discounts" - my Mom is awesome, she also painted the majority of a two-storey, four bedroom home (I'm talking ceilings and all walls) in 4 days, she is a MACHINE! And she sews, although she seems to have caught on that I can sew as well......

8) Sale: When you buy things or have things you no longer need or want (like a bathroom window that you didn't use, a front door that you didn't measure or a tv stand that you have replaced but can still lie and say it is less then a year old) you can sell all of these wonderful things for free on websites like usedottawa.ca or craigslist or kijiji - all of these websites allow you to post for free and find buyers for your used stuff, and it totally works - we actually sold the door for more then we bought it for - because we got such a good deal on it originally!

9) Beg: Uncle Scott is his own company (shout out to Athabasca Home Solutions) and does awesome work as a general contractor, and because he loves his niece so, on several occasions he came over and helped us! And although they are not professionals I still believe they deserve an honourable mention - Uncle Rob for helping with the flooring (when we almost killed him with no AC), Brad & Megan for telling (because if they asked we would have said no) us they were coming to help cause Ty threw out his back and they wanted to help, D & Claire for, once again, telling us they were coming to help us move and allowing us to us their SUV to pile 4 mattress on top and Ty carrying over our dining room table from the apartment and Claire getting covered in Melamine paint so she had to almost bathe in paint thinner, Jon Jon and Brian for destroying our little one car driveway and making it a spacious two with his skidsteerer, and the array of friends and family that came that first week to do whatever they could to help.

10) Sale: If you are in the market for windows, and you do NOT require specific sizes (usually because you are making the cut out) just go to a window store and ask if they have mis-measures or windows that were returned because the customer didn't want them, our local one had trailers full that they auction once a year, but throughout the year they will sell them to you, usually at cost (cause the purchaser has already had to pay 25% to return them) and it works PERFECT!

11) Beg; Again, not everyone has a Dad that lives in the country with 100's of acres of bush, but I do, and so we have a house that has a wood stove and a Dad that cuts wood for us, and we love him for it, he works too hard and he will not take money from us for anything..... he is the best.

12) Sale: When having work done on/around your house consider hiring students, luckily for us I work at a trades school and know which students are top of their class and when students learn certain things and so, for example, in the week after the Masonry students had learned how to build dry-lay stone walls, we hired two of them to build ours on the water, and it looks beautiful, it gave them money and it cost us so much less for a wall that could not look any better, we also have Carpenters at this Campus, I am still waiting for a job for them.

So the moral of this entry is that, if you are patient, and if you can look to those you love or what is available in your area, you can find great deals, learn alot and complete a house for atleast half the price it would cost to have paid professionals do it!

However, I am not sure everyone will be so willing to help on the second house... the first house has an excitement about it that you lose in the second house, especially the parents, they all did ALOT!

xo,
S

Lotus Touts from the Anthony Robbins organization

This has nothing to do with home ownership, but I have always loved it and the first time I received it, I wrote it down in my poem book and read it often, it makes perfect sense!

ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE. Don't be! lieve al l you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR. When you say, 'I love you,' mean it.

FIVE. When you say, 'I'm sorry,' look the person in the eye.

SIX. Be engaged at least six months before y ou get married.

SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE.. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN! .. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile and ask, 'Why do you want to know?'

FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

FIFTEEN. Say 'bless you' when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose ! the less on.

SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute20injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice

TWENTY- ONE. Spend some time alone.

Masquerading as Martha

Since my house to to stay in "viewing condition" and I am not a person that typically lives in a sanitized bubble I have found (or stumbled upon) several ways to make my abode look and smell extra perfect, without spending my life cleaning, these tips I share now with you.

1) Store your extra boxes of Kleenex beside your laundry supplies, apparently it makes them smell "delicious" (this was not intention, I am not that clever, and Claire is the first person I have met that smells a Kleenex before snotting in it!)

2) CLR Kitchen & Bath is the most amazing cleaner in the world for everything kitchen and bath, I mean we had planned on getting a whole new pedestal sink until I used this stuff (I was kinda looking forward to the new sink though - do not use if, in your heart, you want a new sink; boyfriend will think old sink now looks just as good)

3) Swiffer is the best invention in the WORLD; it works better then a broom, it is faster (and possibly also more thorough) then a mop, and much lighter then a broom, if you do not have one, buy one, you will not regret it and you will be discussed how much crap is on your floors.

4) When you go out and buy the swiffer, buy swiffer dry, not swiffer wet; I made this mistake, I thought since we have hardwood, swiffer wet would be better, but it is not, go with dry.

5) After using water on or around any sink, counter top, or table wipe it down with a dry towel - you will notice it looks a lot better, trust me, do it! It polishes it perfectly, especially stainless steel, no streaks or water marks.

6) Get a diffuser (scent thing that you burn a candle in the bottom of) and buy the wax cubes, the cubes spread the scent throughout the house better then the little glass jars of liquid! Plus the smells tend to be more natural and less purfumey, if you are selling your house, if it does not smell natural, it smells like you are trying to cover something up.

7) To give anything a new look, spray paint it! Seriously, knobs, hinges, curtain rods, closet door handles..... anything you want, it is the cheapest way to give some rusty, busted up piece of metal a face lift!

8) PAINT! And I mean paint anything, you would be shocked how much of a difference painting out old white trim, doors and baseboard fresh white..... after a few years and much traffic, it does dull. Or an old dresser (I painted out white AND spray painted the knobs silver), coffee tables, whatever.... I seriously have a gallon of fresh start in the basement and just when I find something I think would be great but looks dated because of colour or style, I try painting it, it is so easy!

9) Put your off-season clothing in a storage bin and out of your closet, when buyers see an overstuffed closet they think there is not enough room, not even noticing that you have three times the amount of clothes they do.... and it is actually nicer for you too, I can see my clothes now!

The more I write, the more I realize how much this little house has taught me, about everything, it was a great first home, I'll miss it, but onto something even more terrible!!! Looking forward to it!

xo xo,
S

Keeping Up Appearances

When you put your house up for sale you hope that the hardest thing you will have to do is juggle all of those over-asking offers and pick which one you want to take, that is so not true, the hardest thing you have to do is keep your house in "showing" condition. The quest to do this has resulted in me developing slight OCD. These are the lessons that I have learned and the lengths that I go to;

1) Ty is not able to close his closet door, ever, apparently it takes a women's touch.

2) Wanting to make your bed in the morning is MUCH more enjoyable then having to make your bed, like when you are running late for work, you still need to make your bed, with throw pillows, which Ty hates

3) If you have one dish in the sink, in your mind you are the filthiest person in the world, that dish must be cleaned because god forbid someone come for a viewing and there is a dish.

4) The daily desk calendar you were given for Christmas has become a nuisance because suddenly I MUST keep the date accurate or else someone may think we don't live there and it is all staged.

5) My weekly routine has went from a workout routine to a cleaning routine - including EVERY Friday I swiffer the entire house top to bottom and mop the hardwood, and, as we are clean people, you would be SHOCKED at the amount of hair that Lulu and I lose in one week around that house

6) My morning routine has changed from a get-ready routine to a furry of adjusting things - make the bed (complete with throw pillows), get ready and make myself breakfast, clean any dish or counter surface in the kitchen (counters, island cart, stove, table), dry out the sink (because it does look better), fold the cozy blanket at the foot of the couch back up, fluff the pillows on the couch, put any loose shoes back on the holder, push the office chair back in, fluff the comforter in the guest room (because Lulu and Ty have played on it), close Ty's closet door, after everyone is done in the shower I move the curtain to the left hand side and open the wall window to let in the light, I clean the sink from any tooth paste/make up mess, close the toilet seat, and leave for work, usually 5 minutes late. (Ty is in charge of cleaning out Lulu's litter in the morning and getting himself out the door)

7) I know keep anything small and expensive locked away, camera, external, etc.... because I have also become paranoid of these people going through my house

8) Laundry is no longer my easy chore, it is a marathon, because you cannot be mid-laundry during a viewing, why? because a) the washer makes this knocking noise that just doesn't sound good, b) if something cannot go in the laundry and must hang to dry it does so in the river room, which makes it seem like we have no where to do laundry, c) if it does not get put away immediately you once again become the filthiest person in the world, as if you left a dish in the sink....

There are many other examples of the shear torture that this is and there is a whole other entry yet to be done about how crazy I am with my realtor now that my house is for sale, but for now, you can simply chuckle to yourself about my antics to date.

Know this: my house is clean, you can eat off the floor.

xo xo,
S

When looking for a house....

In August 2006 Ty and I started looking for a house, we had a wonderful real estate agent helping us and after seeing about 8 houses we found the one we currently live in, this is what I learned from house hunting;

1) I think I can solve any problem a house has, I believe that I can make any house beautiful; forget that little roof issue or what appears to be a foundation built on randomly placed logs, I could make this place SHINE! Thank GOD for sane, level headed Ty! Seriously, I only said no to two houses, one had a bat and a toilet that appeared to be clogged with really old feminine hygiene products and the other one had this smell like someone had died there.

2) You need to find a realtor that is honest with you, that will really tell you (and this did happen) that "you cannot buy this house, I will not sell you this house because it is JUST THAT BAD" and someone that has a sense of humour about things.

3) You can always use more space then you think. When we first saw our house in all of its 4 bedroom glory Ty said we didn't need all that space, our realtor told him to close the door and leave them empty, which we never did, no. Now we're spoiled and REFUSE to have anything smaller then a 3 bedroom with den. Once we have children, we will need a mansion to fit them because we have learned - the two of us and Lulu (the cat) require 4 bedrooms.

4) Although you are not a realtor or home inspector or mortgage consultant or lawyer, you will start to get an attitude that you know EXACTLY what they should be doing, you will be the expert and you will not understand WHY no one is listening to you (this gets worse when buying house #2). You will email your team of professionals CONSTANTLY to check and make sure that they did this or that because you just want to make sure, not because you doubt them, but just because you want to make sure (not!).

5) The bank will give you WAY more then you can afford (as evident in the news currently). Basically, we sat down and figured out what we could afford per month on housing, then deducted the portion that would be bills, taxes, utilities, etc from that and came up with what we could afford for a mortgage payment, we went to the bank and were pre-approved for double, that is right, double. It may be tempting to buy that home at the top of your allowable loan, don't! So many people say "the bank wouldn't give me the money if they knew I couldn't afford it", to which I agree, but by afford it they would expect you do not eat, drink, talk, pay insurance, or travel anymore then a mile.

At this point in time I am not sure if you get better or worse when looking for your second, I know I am better at not wanting every house, I am worse when it comes to thinking I know more then the professionals, and I definitely expect more from my realtor. I think I am better now.

xo xo,
S

Why?

I am not a writer and I will not pretend to be, I am creating this blog because after a year and a half of renovating our first house to flip I feel that I have gained some knowledge that may help regular women, like me, believe that they can actually do home reno's.

To set the record straight, I am not a tomboy, I dream of the largest walk in closet with the most shoes and purses any girl can want, power tools scare the crap out of me, I don't like dirt under my finger nails and I was terrified the first credit card bill I got that had more hardware store purchases then retail stores. However, I have grown since that initial freak out. After a weekend with a few girlfriends I realized, this whole decorating, real estate, "it doesn't match, it goes" business is more difficult then it seemed when I was submerged in it and maybe I have learned more about finding a deal and decorating tips then I thought, so now, I will share.

What do I plan to write about? silly things, like how to make your Kleenex (and home) smell "delicious", the minor differences between room filler and dust collectors, my neurotic and stalking behaviour towards my real estate agent, how to redo a bathroom floor and keep up your boyfriend because he is not helping, our search for our next nest, and anything else I can think of. Some days I may wander on rants about shopping or weddings or finances or relationships, but for the most part I plan on humorously imparting wisdom about house renos from a female point of view because I truly believe, if you can't be a good example, be a terrible warning.

This could suck, and it may be deleted in a week, but please read and make comments, I love swapping ideas or advice.

xo,
S