Rosebury Club of Barrie

What a beautiful day today.  It is 10 degrees and the sun is out!  Any other year I would love it on all levels, but this year with my house on the market and a golden retriever it’s a bit challenging.  With snow melting, all that’s left on the roads is sand and my backyard is quickly becoming a swimming pool. If you know anything about retrievers they LOVE water so just try to visualize my situation and take sympathy on me.  The house is looking like a sandbox and everywhere you walk you hear the sound of sand against ceramic.  The vacuum (and the vacuum’s owner) will be working overtime !

I love it.  Sunlight shining in making the whole house bright and cheery !  It’s  alsothe worlds biggest flashlight pointing right at all your dust (and dirty windows.)  My house looks spotless on a cloudy day or at night.  We can’t say no to a showing because it is sunny out, so we really have to keep up with the dusting.  I am looking at my coffee table right now and I see a layer of dust on it and I just dusted it yesterday.  This is another good reason for de-cluttering.  If you don’t have too much on shelves it is easier to to keep clean !

I am almost to the point of putting gloves on everyone that enters my house.  Finger prints seem to appear out of no-where and as for the mirrors well my solution for that is easy,  men should just brush their teeth in the closet ! !  Then I have the animals ! !  Both my cat and dog like to look out the windows therefore leaving animal nose prints on my front window and my back sliding doors.  Windex, paper towels and myself have become very close.  I am currently (at this very moment) looking at my glass doors in my office (i have a home office) and there is a finger print close to the top.  I am puzzled as I have just cleaned each and every square in that door the other week.  I am to the point of getting the CSI team in.  While the CSI guys are investigating the finger print on my door they can investigate the splatters on my mirrors too!  I keep saying if it isn’t me – then its you!  Only my husband and I live here so it will not be rocket science testing the DNA.  Not much I can do about the animals (except maybe put a little nose scarf on them.)  When your house is listed the windows need to be clean, inside and out.  Right now in the winter the outside can be a challenge.  I have cleaned a couple on the ground floor, but will need to wait for better weather to do the others.  Anyway, I have to clean that finger print on my door right now as the light is shining in, in such a way that it is sticking out like a sore thumb !  LOL

The smell of your home is very important when it’s on the market.  I do laundry on a daily basis right now and make sure the garbage is emptied much more than we normally do,  and especially if there is a showing scheduled for that day.   I have a couple of candles here and there but not many.  People want to smell clean ! !    Do not overpower your home with too much scents as this can turn off a buyer just the same as it smelling badly.  I have taken clients to homes, where they walk in the front door and are taken back by the multiple glade plug ins or some kind of heavy duty air freshener (using one or two is ok, but in every plug? then you have a problem)  People tend to go through the house quickly because they can’t breath! ( they are also wondering what real smell you trying to cover up.)   If you are a smoker and smoke in your home you have a whole other problem.  Even smokers don’t like walking into a home that smells like smoke (so they tell me.) Painting, cleaning the carpet etc. are all good, but do not remove the problem completely.  There are companies out there that specialize in getting the smell out (about $600.00, well worth it and you would get this money back in the selling price, guaranteed!)  Even if you have smoked in your home for 10 years, while it is listed please smoke outside!  Realtors and home staggers use to tell people to bake  some cookies for a pleasant smell but these days the fresh clean smell of white linen and other more suttle fragrances are in.

I wasn’t going to say anything, but after losing another pound I thought it may be helpful to any of us of a plus size.  The weekend before I listed my house I was a certain weight and now a week and a half later I am a certain weight minus a few (or maybe I should say minus a few times two!)  Keeping my house looking as no-one lives here (quoted from a fellow at my open house last Saturday) seems to burn off some calories ! !  I haven’t been eating any healthier than I normally do, in fact I have been eating worse grabbing a bite here and there mainly because I do not want to mess up my kitchen or have cooking smells.  Anyway, my new real estate slogan is going to be “Call Bernice and she will get you moving !”  and when I say moving, I mean with the vacuum etc.  oh, and moving to your new house too minus a few ! ! !

I am just like my clients at this point.  Keeping my house clean and waiting for a showing.  I understand the price point that I am in and less than 10% of buyers are looking at my home, but still you would like a showing (not that I haven’t had any, two last weekend) to justify all the cleaning.  Even though it can be discouraging, you MUST stay positive (my house has only been listed for a week.)  Keep the house looking great at all times as you never know when the phone will ring with an agent wanting to show your home.

My family rooms flooring was looking dull to me, so I bought something called rejuvenate your floors at Canadian Tire.   I must say it wasn’t the easiest thing ever, but I am happy with the results. You need sunglasses now because the floor is so shinny !  Well worth the $20 bucks and 2 hours (most of which was drying time.)  When your house is on the market you need to do everything you can to have it showing its best.

Yesterday was the first time people had come through the house.  2 agents brought clients and I had the busiest open house ever.  I was happy to hear the comments, one gentleman said the house was so clean he wondered if anyone lived here! another man (strange that the men were commenting) ask who was my home stager, and I replied simply “me” and told him that I owned the house.  It made the weeks of getting the house ready worth it.  Everyone loves to hear nice comments on their home.  My kitchen had the biggest impact, then the basement being finished and people loved the large master bedroom!  Anyway, must go and clean again I have another open hosue today !

Now to keep it clean.  No small feat with a golden retriever and a black cat, oh and a husband!  I’ve read my husband the listing rules the other day, but he is having a hard time comprehending what I had said.  Is it really that difficult to put the toilet seat and lid down or put dishes in the dishwasher?  Its hard to say, but I am almost certain he deals with more difficult issues at work and manages to get them done.   This morning he said I was going overboard and I returned the comment with a look of “oh my god help me!”  and then said that he better listen to his REALTOR or else.

I have my house to almost where I want it to be (if that’s possible.)  The cleaning will now be an ongoing thing.  I have given the rules to my husband, but still the toilet seat was up today.  I had the Sutton Group agents come through this morning and they said it looked great, which is making me feel better.  I have kept the listing off of the mls system for one more day, so that I can relax and enjoy my clean house and have a glass of wine.  Tomorrow, once the sign goes up I will have some questions to answer from my neighbours.