The House - #6

If you are going to do something, do it right!

The process of preparing our house for sale was an awesome task.  I had a big "to do" list and 5 months before I wanted to put it on the market in October. I knew I just couldn't go through another winter in that house.

The minute (literally) our tenants vacated the premises, I was upstairs cleaning and clearing.  I had been chomping at the bit!  My daughters and my husband will tell you, I am not easy to live with. I am a little OCD about my home and that can drive everyone a little crazy. I get it.

First, I had the window company come to measure up all the windows to be replaced. I had the upstairs of the house professionally painted (I did the downstairs myself), we had the hardwood floors refinished, I painted all the trim inside the house white, we replaced light fixtures, had the tub reglazed white, replaced flooring in the office, had the carpet cleaned downstairs, repaired the exterior bricks on the chimney and had it waterproofed, repaired exterior stairs to the basement, cut trees, power washed the cedar shingles, had the heating system and electrical inspected and tons of little things more... the house was clean and looked good. I had been willing to invest some money to make this house right. It was not perfect, but ready. I had gotten rid of most of our furniture and staged the house very sparingly. We had even put our cats up in a "luxury cat B&B" for several months so they were out of the way for most of this process.

Our realtor who had seen the house early on was so pleased with how it now presented! I knew this would make her job easier, but even more importantly, it was a feeling of pride in myself. We decided on a selling price (me pushing for more and our realtor relented) and were ready for an open house. Happily, we never even made it to the open house as anxious buyers came to see it beforehand and we received two solid good offers within a day or two of putting it on the market.  We settled on the offer even more than the asking! We were thrilled to know the hard work had paid off!