It’s 8:30 pm and I can’t wait for the phone to ring.You see, my husband I just put our house up for sale here in Saint Louis. It was listed in the MLS on Friday and we allowed no showings until the Sunday open house. Now, for those of you that know me you know that pulling off an open house is no small feat. We’ve literally spent the last week cleaning like wild people and the house looks amazing…the garage on the other hand looks like HOARDERS! The Realtors said to “minimize” aka get rid of almost EVERYTHING in the house. Well, what can I say…we have a lot of STUFF and that stuff now all lives in the garage. I’m not quite sure how we’ll get it out of the garage when we move, but we’ll save that for another day.But a few days before the open house a lady came to the door to inquire. She said she had a friend that was “very interested” in homes in the area. I knew something was off during the conversation, but still I asked for her name and phone number and said I’d have the realtor contact her. So on a scrap of paper she wrote “Valerie Smithe” and included her number for our realtor to reach out to her. A couple of days before the open house our realtor put up signs all throughout the housing division with pathways to our house for the open house. Low and behold though a day later someone else had signs up for their own open house with a path leading to one street over from ours. We took a drive by the house to see the competition. Who did we see in the front yard???? Valerie aka Dana the county auditor website said with her “For Sale By Owner” house sign and the intruder signs. What a piggybacking sneak!So after days of cleaning, a broken glass shard in my foot (minor flesh wound!) and hiring every friend’s child to wash walls and pulls weeks the house is on the market. But being on the market means we have to evacuate the house for each showing and pretend no person and no animal lives here. So with each showing we have a 10 point checklist that includes things like: Pack 4 dogs in car, hide two cats in crate under steps, put cinnamon rolls in the oven, rid house of pet hair (SHELTIE!!!), clean nose prints again from windows, turn dog room into baby play room (dog room is not kosher in home sales), turn off cinnamon rolls in oven (burned rolls would not be good!) and drive away all before the next realtor comes. Oh wait, and pack up Isaac into his car seat next to the dog crates. And then repeat process a few hours later for next showing.
But after Sunday’s open house with 12 people going through (3 of which were Dana/Valerie and family!), and two showings, WE HAVE AN OFFER! Let the games begin!
Have a home buying or selling story you’d like to share?
