Monday, April 28, 2008

AHHHHH!!

OK, this was crazy! I had just finished cutting Logan's hair and there was hair all over the bathroom. He was just getting in the bath tub. I was doing laundry and there were clothes all over the couch, I hadn't made the beds this morning since we had no showings scheduled for today, and there were Legos everywhere. Of course, this is when I get a call that someone wants to see the house in 5 minutes. You don't want to turn a showing away so I said ok. I then ran around like a crazy person for 5 minutes. I made the beds, opened the blinds, turned on lights because it is raining today and the house is a little dreary. I threw the clothes in the basket and put them in the basement. And they showed up.

I let them in, told them my son was in the bath, apologized for the Legos on the couch and ran upstairs to clean the bathroom Logan was in, which of course was the master bath which is a main selling point of a house. While they looked around downstairs, I got Logan dressed, used a towel to clean up all the hair in the tub and on the counter (Logan has really thick hair and it gets everywhere after a haircut), and threw a rug over the hair on the floor. No time to vacuum!

Overall, the house didn't look bad, but there were some things out that usually wouldn't be and we were there for the whole showing. They only stayed about 5 minutes, I'm not sure how long a showing usually lasts, I hope they didn't rush out on our account.

My adrenaline is rushing! I can't seem to calm down. Wow, I guess there is always an incident like this when showing a house. So far we've had at least 3 hours notice for a showing, usually we have 24 hours notice.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

You did some fast work there. I've been through some showings too and I know it can be nerve racking.
I am sure everything looked fine.
Good luck with it.

Deanne said...

Five minutes?!!!! That might as well have been, "We're here!" ;P It sounds like you did well in the little time you had. I think showings are naturally shorter if the owner is there. No one really feels comfortable poking around in someone else's house when they're home, right? :O
I'm so excited for you, Christy. Your dream is coming true. :D

Danni said...

Ok, here are my thoughts on this. I totally did this same routine ONCE while our house was on the market. Then, I realized, it is MORE than ok to ask that they give you an hour or so to get ready. And, fyi, that is an etiquete no-no for an agent to provide only 5 minutes warning to a home seller. Bad form! My experience with the last minute, must-see-it-now viewers was that they were only wanting to see my home for "comparison purposes"...also not worth the stress i put myself through to be ready in 5 min.

Just my $.02 from me to you. :-)

Danni said...

p.s. etiquette is spelled with two "t"s. :-)

Christy said...

Farmgirl - I do believe you are right. I think they were in the neighborhood looking at other houses and their agent said let's just go look at this other one. I don't think they were really interested in it. I just hate to turn down a showing, we are so eager to sell and get out of here! I did ask for more time but they showed up anyway. No showings today at all, I think the rush has slowed down. Now the waiting game begins.

Danni said...

Well, having just gone through *exactly* what you're going through just 4 months ago, I think you are doing all the right stuff. Keep your spirits up and remember, just because you may not get showings for a few days, this is not indicative of anything. It's hard not to take things personally or think something's "wrong" with the house, but most of the time, the issues are all on the other end. What you may find yourself dealing with is a contingency offer, where whoever wants to buy your house, needs to sell their house first...that one SUCKS! But...I promise you, it will all work out. It did for us and it will for you.
Hugs - danni

Christy said...

Danni - Thanks for the support. It is hard to not take it personally. Today was the first day since we put the house on the market that we didn't have any showings and I'm actually feeling ok with it. I feel like we've gotten all the people who are looking at everything out of the way and can now start getting the people serious about buying in. A friend of mine sold her house in November on a contingency offer so I know that is a possibility. I'd prefer not to have to wait on someone else's house to have to sell but if that is what we get, that is what we get.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Hang in there, Christy.
I'd ahve to agree with Danni on this particular situation.

When we sold our home we had realtors try to get away with that last minute baloney, too.
But we stood our ground and told them we needed a minimum of 30 mins, with one hour preferred, to prepare the house.

With 3 homeschooled kids who at home most days, we just could not do it any faster.

We found that if the agent explained our situation, that the people who were seriously interested in our house, didn't mind waiting.

And the ones who didn't want to wait, just didn't matter.

Hang in there!

Don't forget to 'plant' St. Joseph in the ground. I've read it really works.....an it can't hurt!

hehe

Anonymous said...

Yeah, it can get pretty hectic, especially with those last minute showings. We haven't had any offers yet, but the lookers are still coming, though it has slowed down from the first week. I'm so tired of keeping up with the house! I never have it this picked up and clean EVERYDAY! Well I'm crossing my fingers for us both!!

frugalmom said...

Yeah, we had a few of those last minute ones a few months ago ourselves. It is stressful and hectic....dont let it get ya down tho. All your hard work will pay off.

Christy said...

St. Joseph was planted about a week ago. We have a showing tomorrow. I took a mini-vacation today and am feeling much better about things.

Paige - I agree! I don't usually keep the house clean and it is wearing.

farm mama said...

If you get a contingency offer that you are interested in accepting, make sure your agent inserts a "kick-out" clause in the contract. This stipulates that you will continue to market the house, and if you get another offer that you want to accept, the contingency buyer has a certain period of time (typically 48 hours) to remove the contingency or the contract is null and void. Be sure that you stipulate that they have to prove that they can complete the purchase without the contingency (i.e. can get financing without selling their house, or whatever the contingency might be).