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A few months ago, I told Kimberly, "I never realized how expensive it is to sell a house." Because this is something that we've never done before, so it's all new to us. But we've had a number of things fixed in the house. And we've done some minor remodeling at the request of our stager. And we had the whole exterior painted. And we're having the interior painted. And we just had a landscaper out.
Now obviously we're dumping a fair amount of money into this venture because we think it will quickly multiply. When we bought the house, it wasn't exactly a junker, but it was very poorly positioned to sell. The hardwood floors were heavily worn. I mean, aside from the burn marks where candles or whatever got knocked over and left. The roof was in need of replacement. The water heater was balanced on a rickety pedestal in the back yard. A few of the rooms were painted ugly colors and there were various holes and nails and hooks in walls and ceilings. And there were students lounging about everywhere (and as we'd later learn: selling drugs out of the house). But, the Bay Area housing market was heating up, and so we weren't being picky. We were just pleased that we could afford a house that met our requirements for space (as two people who need space from other people). And we fixed some of those problems, and we left others to this day.
I'm pretty sure the lack of care cost the previous owners quite a bit. Because they'd put the house on the market a year earlier for $100k more, and hadn't been able to sell it. They dropped the price and put it back on the market, and we got in before anyone else. Thus, there was no bidding. But the sellers probably could have gotten that $100k more if they'd actually worked on the house a bit.
So, we're not doing that. We're listening to the advice of our realtor and our stager and our landscaper and we're putting in, well probably more money than I'm comfortable with, but I'm trying to use their advice to offset my innate cheapness, and that will hopefully be to our benefit.
But, boy I didn't know how expensive it was to sell a house. And that's yet another example of how the rich get richer in our country and our world. Because we had the money to do some work to make this house look (hopefully) pretty nice. And as I said, that'll hopefully multiply. And if someone doesn't, then they get taken advantage of by the scumbags who mail or call us every couple of months, offering to buy our house with no cost to us (and presumably far below market).
All of this work is expensive in time as well as money, so that I feel that almost all of our extracurricular work in November was about preparing the house for sale, not preparing us to move. (But obviously, they're closely connected.)
I actually have a big checkmarked list that I printed out a month ago or so, when the number of requests from our realtor and our stager had exceeded the point where I thought I was likely to comfortably remember it all.
We got new overhead lights to replace three that our stager thought looked dated, worn, or bad. And I cleaned every other overhead light in the house and replaced all the bulbs with "soft light" LEDs. Our house now looks more yellow and less white than I like.
We "finished the remodel" of our bathroom by ordering a new vanity (to replace the one that my dad and his friend Bob P. installed in 2000 or 2001) and a new mirror. And that's not actually in yet, but we've got it scheduled for next week.
We had a landscaper out to quote fixing up the rest of the front strip and back yard to make it look nicer. Because it's all about curb appeal.
We had a heater guy out to make sure there were no problems with our floor heater after the house inspector raised some concerns.
I fixed the upstairs faucet, and I've mostly scheduled what needs to be done in January after we leave.
I've got 14 unchecked boxes on my master list, though a few are things where people have committed to them, and they're occurring after we leave, so they're really not my problem any more. Hopefully. And I've got 43 things I checked off in November, from a list almost entirely about preparing to sell our house.
We have been doing a little moving work.
In particular, Kimberly helped me cull through a few rooms where I hadn't been able to do that. Her office closet, the art room, and the kitchen. And the stuff we culled in mostly gone at this point, thanks to the students and/or homeless of Berkeley. (The main thing no one has been willing to take: spatulas. What's up with that!?) We're getting close to done here, as the shipping company will pack up everything we didn't and they're showing up in less than two weeks. (The big last push, probably the weekend before they arrive, is figuring out how to set aside the things they're not taking; I have some bright red postits that I hope will give us a start).
And I got the no-parking sign to reserve the parking space outside our house for the container when we move.
And, though I didn't do them, I have a few other things scheduled: drugs for the cats at the vet next week (and we'll need to take them in one more time after Christmas to get health certificate); driving lesson for me just before Christmas (and I would have liked to do maybe one more, but hopefully this will help get me comfortable in a car again).
And of course the other thing taking up time in November was dealing with Kimberly's health. Time has gotten so muddled since that (serious) problem came up that I can no longer entirely figure out what was when: everything feels like it was simultaneously just a few days ago and forever ago. But, November was when Kimberly had her first surgery, the less invasive one that sadly didn't resolve the problem, and December is when she has the second one. So in between was a bit of health limbo, when Kimberly spent way too much effort working to get results sent and tests scheduled.
And now we're most of the way there: tomorrow is D-Day, which is to say surgery day, the first of several momentous days in the next month: Kimberly has her surgery (tomorrow); Kimberly comes home (hopefully 3-4 days later); our stuff gets picked up to go to Hawaii (in a week and a half); and we move (in four weeks). Ayy.
When I visited Secret for gaming tonight, I realized that it might actually be my last visit. Probably not, but it will depend on Kimberly's health for the next few weeks. And then it's Christmas and New Year's, and we're in Hawaii. Hopefully.
Lots to do still, which is not how I hoped things would be going after a year of work.
Now obviously we're dumping a fair amount of money into this venture because we think it will quickly multiply. When we bought the house, it wasn't exactly a junker, but it was very poorly positioned to sell. The hardwood floors were heavily worn. I mean, aside from the burn marks where candles or whatever got knocked over and left. The roof was in need of replacement. The water heater was balanced on a rickety pedestal in the back yard. A few of the rooms were painted ugly colors and there were various holes and nails and hooks in walls and ceilings. And there were students lounging about everywhere (and as we'd later learn: selling drugs out of the house). But, the Bay Area housing market was heating up, and so we weren't being picky. We were just pleased that we could afford a house that met our requirements for space (as two people who need space from other people). And we fixed some of those problems, and we left others to this day.
I'm pretty sure the lack of care cost the previous owners quite a bit. Because they'd put the house on the market a year earlier for $100k more, and hadn't been able to sell it. They dropped the price and put it back on the market, and we got in before anyone else. Thus, there was no bidding. But the sellers probably could have gotten that $100k more if they'd actually worked on the house a bit.
So, we're not doing that. We're listening to the advice of our realtor and our stager and our landscaper and we're putting in, well probably more money than I'm comfortable with, but I'm trying to use their advice to offset my innate cheapness, and that will hopefully be to our benefit.
But, boy I didn't know how expensive it was to sell a house. And that's yet another example of how the rich get richer in our country and our world. Because we had the money to do some work to make this house look (hopefully) pretty nice. And as I said, that'll hopefully multiply. And if someone doesn't, then they get taken advantage of by the scumbags who mail or call us every couple of months, offering to buy our house with no cost to us (and presumably far below market).
All of this work is expensive in time as well as money, so that I feel that almost all of our extracurricular work in November was about preparing the house for sale, not preparing us to move. (But obviously, they're closely connected.)
I actually have a big checkmarked list that I printed out a month ago or so, when the number of requests from our realtor and our stager had exceeded the point where I thought I was likely to comfortably remember it all.
We got new overhead lights to replace three that our stager thought looked dated, worn, or bad. And I cleaned every other overhead light in the house and replaced all the bulbs with "soft light" LEDs. Our house now looks more yellow and less white than I like.
We "finished the remodel" of our bathroom by ordering a new vanity (to replace the one that my dad and his friend Bob P. installed in 2000 or 2001) and a new mirror. And that's not actually in yet, but we've got it scheduled for next week.
We had a landscaper out to quote fixing up the rest of the front strip and back yard to make it look nicer. Because it's all about curb appeal.
We had a heater guy out to make sure there were no problems with our floor heater after the house inspector raised some concerns.
I fixed the upstairs faucet, and I've mostly scheduled what needs to be done in January after we leave.
I've got 14 unchecked boxes on my master list, though a few are things where people have committed to them, and they're occurring after we leave, so they're really not my problem any more. Hopefully. And I've got 43 things I checked off in November, from a list almost entirely about preparing to sell our house.
We have been doing a little moving work.
In particular, Kimberly helped me cull through a few rooms where I hadn't been able to do that. Her office closet, the art room, and the kitchen. And the stuff we culled in mostly gone at this point, thanks to the students and/or homeless of Berkeley. (The main thing no one has been willing to take: spatulas. What's up with that!?) We're getting close to done here, as the shipping company will pack up everything we didn't and they're showing up in less than two weeks. (The big last push, probably the weekend before they arrive, is figuring out how to set aside the things they're not taking; I have some bright red postits that I hope will give us a start).
And I got the no-parking sign to reserve the parking space outside our house for the container when we move.
And, though I didn't do them, I have a few other things scheduled: drugs for the cats at the vet next week (and we'll need to take them in one more time after Christmas to get health certificate); driving lesson for me just before Christmas (and I would have liked to do maybe one more, but hopefully this will help get me comfortable in a car again).
And of course the other thing taking up time in November was dealing with Kimberly's health. Time has gotten so muddled since that (serious) problem came up that I can no longer entirely figure out what was when: everything feels like it was simultaneously just a few days ago and forever ago. But, November was when Kimberly had her first surgery, the less invasive one that sadly didn't resolve the problem, and December is when she has the second one. So in between was a bit of health limbo, when Kimberly spent way too much effort working to get results sent and tests scheduled.
And now we're most of the way there: tomorrow is D-Day, which is to say surgery day, the first of several momentous days in the next month: Kimberly has her surgery (tomorrow); Kimberly comes home (hopefully 3-4 days later); our stuff gets picked up to go to Hawaii (in a week and a half); and we move (in four weeks). Ayy.
When I visited Secret for gaming tonight, I realized that it might actually be my last visit. Probably not, but it will depend on Kimberly's health for the next few weeks. And then it's Christmas and New Year's, and we're in Hawaii. Hopefully.
Lots to do still, which is not how I hoped things would be going after a year of work.