Rosebury Club of Barrie

I haven’t touched a vacuum all week and there is pots and pans in the sink from yesterday!  The house is looking like normal people live here again and not some clean freak alien.  I am also busy putting out my pictures and other personal items.  Its gone back to a home instead of a house.

The champagne has been drunk, the calls and emails sent to friends and family, now what?  Well I can honestly say I am not going to vacuum today !  Besides having to look for a place to live the task of sorting (even more so than when sorting for listing purposes) is a must.  We are downsizing, so we need to take a closer look at what we really need.  I will start thinking of a garage sale and posting larger items on kijiji.

My house is SOLD !  All my hard word paid off and I sold my home relatively quickly for the price range it was in.  I had a really good agent.  Call Bernice Lydan for all your real estate needs.

I bought this plant a month ago when I listed my home.  It was so full and green.  I have cut so many shoots off and the ones left don’t look good either.  What did I do???  I better sell my home soon as I do not want to torture another plant.

I can raise two children and have countless pets, but one plant forget it !

First of all HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

We have been enjoying some fabulous weather and with the snow all gone I am going to concentrate on doing a bit of yard work.  I own a dog, so need I say more.  I will take off the protective covering on some of my shrubs and rake the few leaves that were left over from the fall.  You have to remember that your front yard is the first impression people get when coming to look at your home.  Make sure the front walkway is swept clean and that there is no more salt or sand.  If you still have your Christmas lights and other decorations up -YOU MUST TAKE THEM DOWN !  Even if you normally leave your lights up year round, when you are selling you should get them down and pack them away for your next house.

Since I have been keeping the house spotless on a continual basis there is not much for me to do.  Every morning I put in a load of laundry, vacuum, run the dishwasher and clean our ensuite after our showers.  It is taking me less than an hour – it helps that my husband has been on board with the chores.  Therefore, I am sitting and enjoying a cup of tea even though there is a showing in a couple of hours.  The best advice is to get into a routine, your house should be ready to show at a moments notice.

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.