Chismville

No I have not gotten a green thumb. I was just told something funny about planting flowers that I had to jot it down. Isn’t that what BLOGS are for: just a journal of what is going on in my little head?

Joli and I have not been enjoying having our home on the market. It is very draining being on call knowing that at any moment, we could get a call that someone wants to stop by in 30 minutes to look at our home. Having 2 little kids that like to redecorate ever 30 minutes doesn’t help either.

Our realtor, bless her heart, seems to be thinking that in order to sell our home it has to be perfect: new paint, clean yard, new fixtures, carpets, a vase of flowers and so on! Our little home is well cared for and is in very good shape, but it seems that it is not quite good enough. As a painting estimator, I have been in hundreds of homes in a good and bad market, and I feel I know a little about what will help sell a place and what will not. I have talked people out of painting their homes a plain & boring white just to sell. As long as you don’t have pink polka dots as your main decoration, people don’t mind seeing a home with decent accent colors and real home decor.

I received an email today from the Realtor after I asked her about lowering my cost to get more volume. Her response is to keep it where it is (even higher). The second thing is that she wants us to plan flowers in our garden to make it pop! Ok! That is where I said, “NO WAY!” Planting flowers in a competitive market might help a little, but in a DEAD market when the cost of homes is dropping my the $1k each week, flowers just ain’t going to cut it. People have walked through the home and commented how they love the place. They probably spend 10 seconds or less outside, because it is a condo. Plus it is still winter in San Diego. I know that things do grow in San Diego in January, but in most parts of the country, things do not. So people are not going to expect a perfect little garden when it is NOT spring. Besides, it is currently an herb garden, and if our home does not sell, I want herbs in the spring, not flowers!

I’m not sure why I wrote this all up. It was just in my little brain and had to vent! Bottom line, we are selling our condo AS IS! We like it, and I think the right person will too.