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