It's been a long day...a long week actually. We first met with our realtor last Thursday and it has been an intense couple of days. It started with the news that we had to sell our home for A LOT less than what we thought. Then that we needed to get the house on the market last weekend. Those two pieces of information were enough to send me over the edge. I have barely hung on this week, literally clinging to every bit of truth and wisdom I could get. And honestly, cause we just need to be real here, most of it came from others.
Today we finalized all the paper work and it will officially be on the market in 24 hours-ish. So all that said, I've learned a lot about real estate this week. So I thought I'd give you...Katie's List of Things to Know About Real Estate.
(And let me just preface this with I'm tired and there will be a whole lotta MacPherson cynicism and sarcasm.)
1. If only we let our houses look as good as they do when they are on the market.
2. Now is NOT the time to SELL. The bottom line is our house has depreciated and thankfully not under what we still owe. But we are not going make barely anything on this sale and we have put so much into it. It's really frustrating knowing your so-called investment was not really a worthy investment after all. Everything right now is about the buyer. You're just so at their mercy and its a horrible feeling.
3. The market is NOT getting better. Yes things are selling, but the prices are horrible. see #1 - It's a BUYERS market.
4. When staging a house, make it look as if no kids exist.
5. When staging a house, in addition to #3 make it look as if no one exists.
6. When people ask to help, let them help. You can't do it alone.
7. The only thing that would make it easier is if those kids mentioned in #3 didn't really exist. Let me clarify...I want them to exist, just not in the current home that is currently on the market. Following the terrors around picking up every single thing they displace is, well, tiring.
8. I hate comps. They killed us. That one blasted house that sold two months ago is going to hurt us. Gotta love the comps.
9. And speaking of comps...did you know the only thing that matters is your square footage, beds, and baths. That's it! Don't bother with the remodeling, redecorating, redesigning. Thanks HGTV! Everything you taught me, DOES. NOT. APPLY.
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Showing posts with label home. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Consumer Reports - Katie Edition
This week has been a frustrating week for us. The last couple of weeks we have noticed some things not going well with our 6 year refrigerator. It stopped making ice, which we decided we could live without. But then I noticed my stuff in the freezer starting to defrost. We figured it may not be good since we had work done on it a year ago. That man basically said, we'll try to replace this one thing but it may be the compressor. For those of you who are illiterate when it comes to refrigerators (like me!), when the compressor goes out that is about a $700-$1000 fix. So you might as well get a new fridge! At least we got a year out of it before we had problems again.
So Mr. Handyman came Monday to look at it, and can I just say that man was the largest man that I have ever seen! And I mean not obese, but like really tall and huge arms! Not who I was expecting to walk through my door! Anyway, he opened the freezer, unscrewed the back cover, and said, "I'm afraid its not good." He showed me the coils that should have been covered with ice/frost and it was bare! So there goes our fridge. $79 later, I now knew we needed to buy a BRAND. NEW. FRIDGE. Sweet! Exactly how we wanted to spend our money!
Important note: I was currently campaigning to get myself a macbook. I had made some progress with my husband who likes to make sure I know that we need no such thing. He finally admitted he was being hard on me. So I felt like I was closer than I had ever been to a little ole laptop for me! So you can see how I am SO VERY THANKFUL(sarcasm) to my Frigidaire side by side stainless steel 6 year old refrigerator that was purchased by the previous owners that decided to fail on me just in time to prevent me from enjoying a much wanted splurge on mommy! With all this whining, I do realize the difference between a want and a need, which is why we went to buy our first refrigerator.
Here's the consumer reports part: Don't buy Frigidaire! All our appliances in the kitchen are Frigidaire that were bought by previous owners when they redid our very nice and much appreciated kitchen. We just had to buy a new dishwasher, which was not a Frigidaire but was very old and ready to die. So we did our research and I asked Mr. Handyman and Lowe's man (who is now our best friend!) and they both said the same thing about Frigidaire. "I wouldn't recommend it." They both in turn recommended either the Whirlpool or Kitchen Aid which are the same company. Mr. Handyman also said he fixes GEs all the time, so that one was out too.
So in December we did buy a Kitchen Aid dishwasher and we did bargain and we did pay cash and we did win the battle (thanks Dave Ramsey!) and we did still end up with a "friend" named Jared (Lowe's man) that we bought our fridge from as well! And we have loved our Kitchen Aid! So when we knew we had to look for a fridge we knew probably a Whirlpool since K.A. is more expensive. My goodness, do you know how much refrigerators cost?! It's crazy!
Anyway, we get our new fridge tomorrow! We have lived without a fridge this week and it has been pretty miserable. Our fridge side is dying and so we can use it as a "cooler" but it won't keep foods very long. So this has been one week of very unhealthy foods, lots of eating out, and I'm just dying for a well-rounded nutritious diet. Which is perfect because I already think I know what I will be giving up for lent, and by I, I mean Ed and I!
P.S. Speaking of lent, if you haven't heard, my friend Tasha Via's book is out! And we are SO excited to use it this year for the season of lent. Its a little book with 7 weeks of little activities and lessons to do with your family in preparation for Easter. Buy it! It's great and the money goes to support their adoption!
So Mr. Handyman came Monday to look at it, and can I just say that man was the largest man that I have ever seen! And I mean not obese, but like really tall and huge arms! Not who I was expecting to walk through my door! Anyway, he opened the freezer, unscrewed the back cover, and said, "I'm afraid its not good." He showed me the coils that should have been covered with ice/frost and it was bare! So there goes our fridge. $79 later, I now knew we needed to buy a BRAND. NEW. FRIDGE. Sweet! Exactly how we wanted to spend our money!
Important note: I was currently campaigning to get myself a macbook. I had made some progress with my husband who likes to make sure I know that we need no such thing. He finally admitted he was being hard on me. So I felt like I was closer than I had ever been to a little ole laptop for me! So you can see how I am SO VERY THANKFUL(sarcasm) to my Frigidaire side by side stainless steel 6 year old refrigerator that was purchased by the previous owners that decided to fail on me just in time to prevent me from enjoying a much wanted splurge on mommy! With all this whining, I do realize the difference between a want and a need, which is why we went to buy our first refrigerator.
Here's the consumer reports part: Don't buy Frigidaire! All our appliances in the kitchen are Frigidaire that were bought by previous owners when they redid our very nice and much appreciated kitchen. We just had to buy a new dishwasher, which was not a Frigidaire but was very old and ready to die. So we did our research and I asked Mr. Handyman and Lowe's man (who is now our best friend!) and they both said the same thing about Frigidaire. "I wouldn't recommend it." They both in turn recommended either the Whirlpool or Kitchen Aid which are the same company. Mr. Handyman also said he fixes GEs all the time, so that one was out too.
So in December we did buy a Kitchen Aid dishwasher and we did bargain and we did pay cash and we did win the battle (thanks Dave Ramsey!) and we did still end up with a "friend" named Jared (Lowe's man) that we bought our fridge from as well! And we have loved our Kitchen Aid! So when we knew we had to look for a fridge we knew probably a Whirlpool since K.A. is more expensive. My goodness, do you know how much refrigerators cost?! It's crazy!
Anyway, we get our new fridge tomorrow! We have lived without a fridge this week and it has been pretty miserable. Our fridge side is dying and so we can use it as a "cooler" but it won't keep foods very long. So this has been one week of very unhealthy foods, lots of eating out, and I'm just dying for a well-rounded nutritious diet. Which is perfect because I already think I know what I will be giving up for lent, and by I, I mean Ed and I!
P.S. Speaking of lent, if you haven't heard, my friend Tasha Via's book is out! And we are SO excited to use it this year for the season of lent. Its a little book with 7 weeks of little activities and lessons to do with your family in preparation for Easter. Buy it! It's great and the money goes to support their adoption!
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