Wow, we have been busy lately. Last weekend was the third full weekend we spent working on getting Kirk’s house ready to (try to) sell. Our goal was to get it on the market the first week of November. And we did it. I wasn’t so sure a week ago, there were so many messes, tools, cleaning stuff, paint stuff, boxes. And Kirk still has SO many things he wishes to improve or fix on this house.
We painted a bedroom, the bathroom, hall/staircase and the back porch area. We cleaned the carpets and replaced the algae-growing kitchen faucet. We weeded the backyard, re-seeded the lawn, mowed, cleaned up a firewood pile, put down bark, new rock on the pathways, and a brick border. We took down the ugly front storm door. We carried off a lot of stuff (which is now cluttering up the farmhouse instead!). And then we photographed, with my dad’s wide-angle lens, every angle of every room.
So, it’s ready, I faxed the final listing paperwork today to the flat listing agent we’re using. Now, here’s hoping we have three good weeks before people flake off the housing market for the holidays and the rest of the year. Now is, arguably, a terrible time to sell. But, it’s also a terrible time to hold– we’re betting this house won’t gain in value in the next five years if there is a serious recession, so why keep dumping money into it? It’s an historic home, so not a great rental investment choice, we’d probably spend more money maintaining it than it would bring in. And we’d rather spend that money on a barn/shop building at the farm.
So, we’re just going to hope there are still a few people out there needing or wanting to buy a different house; people who aren’t worried about a recession or falling housing prices and are going about business as usual. If just one of them likes this house, and can find a bank to lend them money, it’ll be out of our hair! Here’s to incredible good luck, we’ll need it! đ