Prairie Dog Blog

The new blogs by Chelsea, Charlene and Gary were fun to read. Thanks to all for posting.

There is not much news here. I had three realtors in to look at the house. They all said that I don't need to do any more major renovations. My little three-bedroom bungalow is move-in liveable. They also all told me that not having a garage is not much of a liability. New owners could have one added for not too much money.

It's funny to realize that I chose a realtor using the same skills that allowed me to evaluate student projects when I was teaching. The first realtor was Alan whose company is called the Judy Lindsay Team. He was young, smart, enthusiastic with a sense of humour. He was the only one who empathized with my emotional attachment to the house. It was obvious he had put in more than a minimum of effort to get my business.

The second realtor had outdated information on sales in this area and evaluated my house $40 000 lower than the other two! I was underwhelmed.

The third realtor was very negative. He stated that "I don't do agents' open houses any more and if you really want an open house we can have one, but I don't recommend it. At open houses you usually get all the neighbours nosing around to see what your house looks like inside." Then he told me that, " I might have to tell you something you don't want to hear about your house." I asked myself: "Do I really want such a Negative Nellie trying to sell my house?" And the answer was a resounding NO.

So, Alan is coming tomorrow night to plan for when and how to put my house on the market. He has a plan that will sell the house in a week. The whole marketing strategy is already set out with specific days of the week for each step. He uses new thinking that sets the asking price at the low end of the range and attracts people to the open house, rather than asking high and negotiating for a lower price. By setting the asking price lower, he expects to have many interested people bidding up to get the house. Also, his company includes a free, professional cleaning and a handyman for 2-3 hours. I also like the team concept and he gave me many testamonials from happy clients.

Tomorrow I have someone coming to paint the back hallway. It is badly in need of fixing. There are many gouges and scratches around the back door. The kitchen cupboards will be fixed up as well, nothing major, all cosmetic. But I have to get someone in to cart away the rest of the junk in the basement before I can clean and de-clutter.

The house may be on the market as early as February. We will see. And there is no predicting what possession date will be requested. It could be as early as April, or as late as July. I am somewhat flexible on that. A later date gives me more time to get ready to move and more time to substitute and make a little extra money. An earlier date might make it easier to find a place to live in Vancouver as April/May is when many university students are finished and may be likely to be moving. And I get to be living near my daughter sooner.

I have been subbing this past week and enjoying it. I had lunch twice with friends. I took a few more baby steps to Vancouver in that I cleaned out the bedroom downstairs and the shelves in the family room. The next step and one of the hardest will be to prepare the rest of Dennis' clothes for giving to Canadian Diabetes.

Must go. Lots of work to do. Keep on blogging!

Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule. ~Frederick W. Robertson
More Baby Steps, More Than A Minimum of Effort