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Selling a house sucks

8 July 2008 3 views 5 Comments

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Yesterday, I spent two hours furiously cleaning for a showing that lasted approximately 3 minutes. Keeping the house clean wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have kids. It wouldn’t even be so bad if I had kids that went to school (so I could clean up while they were there), or that cleaned up after themselves (Have I mentioned that we don’t generally “make” our kids clean up in our house?). But as it stands, this f*cking sucks.

Arp went into the city early for a lunch/business meeting yesterday while I was doing all that cleaning. Now, in my brain I know and appreciate that both Arp and I were each doing our part to get our Costa Rica plan that much closer to fruition. But let’s face it – my part sucks. My part also contains hefty amounts of guilt. Guilt over spending such an incredible amount of time cleaning, de-cluttering, and organizing rather than playing with the kids. I realize that this is a temporary sacrifice, but I’m not sure the kids understand.

Here are the positives:

I’ve learned some new skills in the process: how to lay both ceramic tile and peel-and-stick tile. How to repair wall tiles.
I’ve learned when I need to come to terms with my do-it-yourself energy level and just call the plumber. Some tasks are just not worth spending the effort and time that a beginner will take to do the job.
When we succeed, the kids will no longer have to put up with having a father who has two jobs. They will have a work-at-home father who has much more time and energy for playing.
I’ve learned that I don’t much want to have to sell another house. Hopefully that will make us much more cautious about buying again. (Although I wonder…do the memories of selling a house fade as quickly as the memories of pain that you remember from childbirth? If so, I hope someone reminds me about this!)

5 Comments »

Julie said:

I soooo know the feeling! At least part of it. We had out house on the market for a month – open house every weekend. And we didn’t have kids; had both of us home and working on the house. I don’t know how you are doing it.
We had checklists for keeping the house ready, and for getting it “staged” quickly – they helped a *lot* – I could get it staged within half an hour, while Rick went around putting up the signs. But that was only if we didn’t have chaos to start with .
Good Luck! Get that house sold! (we decided to just rent ours out) Get to Costa Rica! This is cheerleading, not guilt-tripping…

Julie’s last blog post..Soy Tico – YouTube

# 8 July 2008 at 2:28 pm

JenC said:

Any way you can box up some of the childrens’ stuff if you haven’t done so already? My children don’t want to cull toys yet so we have lots of toys stacked in clear boxes. Having less out on the floor means less chaos altogether.

I still can’t imagine showing the house though…so much mess happens each day with children. Best of luck!

# 9 July 2008 at 7:33 am

Sally O'Boyle said:

I just put up a blog post on my real estate blog, an article from a newspaper called “Selling isn’t for sissies”… you might relate!

Sally O’Boyle’s last blog post..Selling Isn’t For Sissies

# 9 July 2008 at 7:40 am

Debbie Glade said:

Reading this brings back memories of when we were trying to sell out townhouse 16 years ago. I was 8 months pregnant with my daughter and working many hours freelance writing for cruise lines. We had an agreement that if the Realtor wanted to show the house, he’d give me at least a 30 minute notice. I was sitting in the living room, where my computer was located, working feverishly on a deadline. I was dressed in my husband’s boxer shorts (resting under the belly) and a torn t-shirt with no bra. I got up to stretch and scratch my huge stomach, when the front door flew opened with potential buyers staring at my stretch marks and sloppy clothes. (If I remember correctly, I also burped kind of loudly because I had just taken a sip of a carbonated drink.) The house was a mess with papers everywhere and laundry spread out. The bed wasn’t made either. When the buyers left, I went upstairs and realized my husband’s dirty undees were laying on the floor just as you walked into the room. I was totally horrified imaginig what those people and the Realtor thought of me. Of course, I never heard from the potential buyers again. After that embarrassing experience, I stopped wearing boxer shorts and kept the house imaculate at all times. Let me tell you, it is not an eay task to ALWAYS put everything away!

# 10 July 2008 at 7:00 pm

Trish (author) said:

Julie – Believe me, we are working hard to do it. I can’t wait to get back there!

Jen – Culling is hard here too. We’ve started packing barrels for the trip, and M is telling us which toys he is willing to put away for several months. So yes, it is beginning. But now, what do we do with the barrels? They are huge! We are thinking of renting a small storage space for a month or two (better not be more!)

Sally – Thanks! Keep the advice coming. I’m sure not a Sissy yet, but if this goes on for much longer, who knows.

Debbie – That’s the thing – even we adults don’t normally put everything away everytime. This process takes real discipline, something I’m not normally not that great with.

# 12 July 2008 at 7:50 am