Photos can be so deceiving...........

As you may or may not know we are "trying" to sell our home.  No luck as yet and we have said all along if we sell, we sell, if we don't no problem we will put it back on the market next year.

One thing we don't want to do is buy another home before we sell this one; makes sense right?

We have viewed some homes however that were having open houses; so no appointment needed and no need to go in with a real estate agent.

On Saturday one house that looked "really good" on paper and in photos was having an open house, so we thought we would take a look.  As soon as we walked in our first reaction was the photos make this house look so, so much better.  On looking around, the place needed a good clean.  The kitchen cabinets had been painted; quite poorly.  The window tracks had NOT been cleaned in years.  The floors were "bouncy," so not installed properly.  The a/c wasn't on, she said the owners didn't like a/c?  And on and on it went.  $50,000 and you could fix the majority of the issues, but it was already at the top of our budget.

Another house we looked at, in the main bathroom they had put the FULL bathroom garbage bin behind the shower curtain in the bath tub?  I am quite sure I am not the only one who pulls back the shower curtain to see if there is mold on the tiles or the grout needs redoing?  That was just laziness on the owners part.  

I am not sure if we are just picky, or what but I am beginning to despair that it is going to be an uphill battle to find another house if we do end up selling ours.

Have you viewed a house for sale and seen strange things?

Answering a couple of questions......

Why don't I just burn the paper I am shredding?

Well it clogs up the fire I find.  As per the waste people I can put the shredded paper in our organics bin:

So it may take a few weeks to get rid of all the bags but it's as good a place to get rid of it I think?

Got a lot more shredded on Saturday and got a couple of drawers cleaned out as well.

Have we been house hunting?

Yes and no.  We know what subdivision (estate) we want to live in.  We have been to many open houses so we have figured out what model home we like.  However until we have a firm offer on our house we won't go house hunting in earnest.  Now as this subdivision is for "Active Adults," I can safely say that there is always some houses up for sale due to people dying, going into retirement homes, just moving because, moving down south to the warmth or moving up north to their cottages.  

At the moment there are a couple of houses on the market that we like, so we know we will find something.  Within the next month the housing market will pick up, so we are expecting more houses to come on the market.

How does the decluttering challenge work?

All I am doing is trying to remove 25 things per week from the house.  So that at the end of the year you will have 1300 less things in the house, whether it be clothing, books, Christmas Decorations and just stuff you don't use anymore.

I need to be more consistent in removing things that I don't use and one of my big things is magazines I have a habit of hoarding.  Need to find a home for over 100 Prima Magazines; any ideas?

As it's freezing cold still it was a good day for a stew on Saturday.  So I made Lentil Stew with garlic bread for supper.  Click on this link for the recipe. Both Vegetarian and Vegan friendly.

I also managed to visit a few blogs on Saturday, hoping to visit many more today!!