Monday, March 11, 2019

And So It Begins

Before

This was our non-relaxing Sunday.  The jobs to get done before the house goes on the market have begun in earnest.  This is the main wall in our living/dining area right next to the kitchen.  It takes the most traffic and the corner had taken a bit of a beating since we moved in 7 years ago.  When we bought the house we just touched up paint.  Now, the 15 year old paint job is showing it's age.  Our realtor suggested if possible to only paint this one wall to freshen it up as the others are in good shape.  We already had a can of paint (hubby had one made up for touch ups), plastic, rollers, mud - everything needed for this job.  


After, not much different but so much better in person
We also made a couple of ceiling paint touch ups.  As the ceiling is 15 years old we had new paint tinted slightly to match.  Our ceiling doesn't look yellowed but is slightly just due to age.  Total cost was $24 which included some new small paint brushes - no picture there.  Before we talked about buying a different house it was our intention this year to have the main living area including ceilings painted. 

I also managed to convince our sprinkler guy to come and finish changing out our sprinkler heads, a job he started in November but then said he would finish in Spring.  We had to raise some of the heads as they had sunk into the ground over time and some had cracked with age.  Funny, for a guy who just shows up whenever he wants (usually weeks different from what he told you) when  I said we were moving and would like to have the job completed so I could pay him - he showed up the next day to complete the job.  Not a cheap job but part of regular maintenance and an expected bill - $300. 

Our bedroom paint is quite fresh - only 7 years old as the bedrooms were all pink when we moved here so we painted those right away.  We still have that paint and it is in good condition so can do touch-ups there as needed.  My next task is washing walls and baseboards on the rest of the house.  We also need to have our carpet stretched in one bedroom as have a couple of wrinkles then have carpets cleaned right before we put the house on the market.  We are lucky to be in a position where we don't have to sell this home before we buy another one as there are not many homes of the kind we want (2000 plus sq foot, less than 15 years on a decent flat quiet lot with 3 plus den or 4 bedrooms).

It is supposed to rain today which should take the rest of our snow away - it has been chilly and not warm enough to melt it but rain is magic that way. 

Another job in the next week or two is to power wash our outside patio and begin staging it.  I intend to buy lots of flowers this year - they make your house look so nice and if in pots you can take them with you when you move.  It is way too early to plant annuals but by the end of April those will go into the ground.

As stated before, this house hunt may take a while, there aren't a lot of homes with most of the features we want out there.  We have already had a look at what is on the market and only ended up looking at 2 homes.  Both good on paper.  The first had some weird structural issues, strange in a home that was on 9 years old.  The second would have been a good fit but backed onto development land and I want to know exactly what is behind our lot.  I have bat-like hearing so need a quiet home environment and living through homes being built over your back fence and possibly losing privacy is not something I am willing to do.

On the "stupid" front, the second home we looked at was extremely clean inside, one of the easiest things you can do when selling a home.  But when we went to look at the back yard there was at least a weeks worth of dog poop.  Seriously a no no when trying to sell your home. 

We are in no rush, really want to make sure our next home is the right fit for us as will be the last home we buy before maybe condo or senior residence living.  I am 49 so this likely will be a 20-25 year home. 

You'd think I would be in purge mode but we usually purge as we go so don't have much to get rid of although I am sure as time goes on we will pare down things before we move.  We intend to move almost everything except furniture ourselves with our truck as we can save so much money that way and unpack as we take things - I've already packed the house in my head a few times since we decided to start looking for a new home.  Does anyone else do mental packing?


20 comments:

  1. Mental packing, you bet! I've been doing that as I've cleared out the various rooms. My goal is to reduce the number of boxes I take out - hopefully not more than 50-75 but my mental math might be off. The kitchen always takes more than I expect.

    Good luck with the few items left to be done before you list. Based on your description I'm sure it will sell quickly. I can't imagine people not cleaning up the dog poo...an oversight or plain foolishness?

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    1. I think foolishness...I clean up dog crap every day and feel weird when I let it go for 2

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  2. I'm just catching up on my reading since I got back last night - and wow, you're moving. How lovely (and terrifying). I need to start work on decluttering here now that things will calm down a little. The thought of leaving all this to my kids to do if anything happened to me is awful. And trying to sell a house with dog poop all over the garden is just nuts! What were they thinking?

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    1. The dog poop thing got to me but that isn't the reason we didn't buy the house. I am sure it turned off more than just us though

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  3. We saw to a lot of those fiddly little jobs over the Xmas period, not that we've got any intention of selling, but they were starting to niggle. Doesn't getting them done feel satisfying.
    One question? What does a sprinkler guy do? the only sprinklers I'm aware of are attachments some people fit to their garden hose to water the lawn in summer. x

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    1. We have an underground sprinkler system here which was installed under the original landscaping (same guy installed that when the home was built 13 years ago). Over time they sink into the ground so they had to be raised to work properly. Alot of homes have them here, especially when built in the last 15 years. Our summers get hot and dry and it is great to be able to water at 5am when we are allowed without getting up to do so

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  4. Oh my gosh! I had to go back and read your previous post to see what was going on. Somehow I missed that one. I totally didn't expect that you'd be moving again. Getting a house ready for market is a lot of work...mostly deep cleaning and de-cluttering. I'm sure your beautiful home will sell quickly. I hope you can find one that meets your needs. Good luck!

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    1. I didn't expect to be moving again either but hubby really really wants a bigger home. Either we find one that is almost perfect with some minor changes or we won't be moving at all as this home in my opinion is just fine, I will only move to something that is definitely a huge amount of better.

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  5. I'm feeling unmotivated, but need to start using spare time on purging, cleaning, and repairing-all for our daughters grad party this summer. With so much snow, I'm just not feeling it yet. You are a smart lady to tackle and clean, and mentally pack as you go. I'm sure your house will show wonderfully .

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    1. Thanks - I absolutely hate preparing the house for viewings, like living under a microscope but our realtor thinks it will sell well.

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  6. What if you sell your current house before you find your new home? What if you can't find the ideal home that your hubby wants? Is there anyway that you can build an addition to your current home?

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    1. We aren't putting ours up for sale until we've made an offer, it's been accepted and the conditions are off so basically a done deal. I am unwilling to sell this house until we've found the perfect one. Thankfully our assets/line of credit are permitting us to do so. That may mean we carry the new home for a short period of time 2-3 months on a line of credit but not the end of the world. The realtor expects ours to sell quickly as in high demand. We can't expand due to our lot size unfortunately, and we can't live with an upward addition either. Really our best option is waiting until we've found the perfect one.

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  7. I understand. I think that you are doing it the only way you can and good luck with finding the perfect new home.

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  8. I can’t imagine a 20-25 year home. We’re on 6 and it’s a record! It such a shame how we finally spruce up our homes only to move somewhere else.

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  9. It seems like you moved into your current place only yesterday! It is amazing how quickly paint jobs get banged up. You are lucky to only have to paint one wall. I think your home will sell quickly as you have not deferred maintenance. It's amazing how many people try to sell a home that so obviously needs attention... least of all being poop patrol!

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    1. I know - I used to be a property underwriter so know more than the average joe about property issues. I immediately look at things like moss on the roof and think exactly that - people didn't maintain it!

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  10. I've never lived in a 20-25 year home, not even my childhood home, but our float cabin and Powell River condo are approaching 18 years now. That's a record for me. We decided when we retired to downsize to condos (and our float cabin) to make travel easier. The condos are apartment style so we can lock and leave, and not worry about fire insurance getting cancelled and gardens dying. - Margy

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    1. The condos are a good idea, likely we will end up one down the road at some point

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