The Crotchety Old Man

Picture Perfect

The “for sale” sign has been up in front of my house for ten days. My realtor assures me that interest among other realtors is high, and that information about my house is becoming available on more and more outlets. I’ve also seen several people stop and pick up one of the information sheets from the curbside box. But so far, I haven’t heard a peep from any potential buyers.

I hear it takes a few weeks for lookers to materialize. In the meantime, we’ve been sprucing things up around here and trying to keep everything picture perfect and ready to show at a moment’s notice. If I clean it, they will come.

Early on I spent my time outside. You know how it goes–first impressions are everything. So we put down forty bags of mulch, pruned shrubs, and cleared out the worst of the weeds. Lucky for us, the city came around right after we finished and picked up the resulting mountain of yard trash. They only come a few times a year so good timing.

Inside, kitchen and bathroom countertops are bare, with the normal occupants stashed in nearby drawers, cabinets, and closets. The storage space in our big ottoman has come in handy for all the living room clutter. I run through the house right before I leave for work every morning stashing anything in sight, wiping off the countertops, shining up the mirrors, and running over the floor with a vacuum cleaner.

Can you tell I really want to sell this house?

Okay. I’ll admit it. I love having my house this clean! And now that it’s done, keeping it that way doesn’t take much time at all. Just stay out of my drawers, cabinets, and closets.

Friday I had the exterior and deck pressure-washed. The deck looks like new again and I was glad to find out the trim doesn’t need to be painted. While the screens were off the windows, I cleaned them and washed all the windows inside and out. Damn I love a clean window.

If it ever quits raining–and I’m not complaining because we really need it–it’s time to mow the yard again. Because I like the way it looks after I’m done, I’ll mow on the diagonal and touch up the edging with my cordless electric string trimmer. Curb appeal, baby.

Athens being a college town, the housing market depends a lot on the ebb and flow of the university. Any positions for someone who’d need to relocate to Athens tend to have January or August starting dates. So it may well be mid- to late November before any serious buyers hit the area.

Sigh.

I’ll cope, knowing I’ve done absolutely everything I can to present the house in the best possible light. Things have a way of working out for the best, especially if that’s how you choose to look at them. And by now you know, that’s how I roll here in…

My Glass House

 

Michael Rupured

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4 responses to “Picture Perfect”

  1. I am SO with you on the clean house thing. I didn’t realize how much better it makes me feel to live in a clean, uncluttered environment. Living alone has its advantages! I’ve been back here since August 4, and I think I’ve ran the dishwasher maaaaybe three times (and once was just to clean up some of the crap Whitney left behind). My counter tops are clean, as well as my lovely new kitchen table. I do laundry once a week. I vacuum fairly often, just because I like the way it looks. The minimalist effect has been somewhat calming for me – nothing on the walls yet, no clutter anywhere. Well – unless you look in The Castle Room (the pink room with the castle I painted on the wall for Leyland – I just couldn’t bear to cover it up when I had everything repainted). All my unpacked boxes and hodgepodge of miscellaneous crap is stored in The Castle Room. I figure I’ll pull it out just a little bit at the time. I have no furniture for the room anyway, so it doesn’t matter if it’s full of boxes of my craft supplies and books.

    Enjoy the non-cluttered feel and the view from your clean windows – while you wait for the right person to come along to buy your house! I like it — “If I clean it – they will come.”