Crazy busy, I mean crazy, crazy busy!!

This week has been super busy with one thing and another.  

As with most things in life everything happens at once.  When I booked our trip to Britain, I said it'll be "sod's law" and we'll end up selling the house and having to buy another one all at the same time.

Well; we have an offer on the house.  We went back and forward with that at the beginning of the week.  We ended up accepting the offer, BUT the buyers still have theirs to sell.  Where it is at it shouldn't be a problem, but who knows?

Meanwhile we have no where to go and are going on vacation in a week or so's time.  Fast forward until today and I have narrowed down my selection of houses to ONE; BUT and there always is a but they want way more for it than it's worth and there is a bit of work to do on it.  So we are going for another look today (Friday) and we'll go from there.

The closing date for our house is October 31st, so only 60 days which isn't long when you go away on vacation in between hands!!

I also committed to send 10 knitting kits up North for a women's/girl's group, so have been busy putting them together.  Finally got that done, as they will be starting the Fall session soon, will do a post tomorrow on those.

Then we to get ready to go on vacation, plus I want to see all the grand children, they are heading up on Sunday with parents for a get together, so that will be 10 adults, 5 kids and a baby.

The home inspection is being done on Monday, so need to get the house tidied up for that.  Small children are like little tornado's and it's amazing where their sticky hand prints end up!

I still have photos to sort through and print out to take with us.  Still have a few things to buy to take with us.  Did get all paperwork sorted to take with us and got cash converted over. 

I know there are a hundred and one other things to do; I need to make a list😉

Sharing some more news......

So after spending the last few months going through open houses and even having Sarah show us some houses one afternoon we have decided to buy a brand spanking new home directly from the builder.  Sarah took the news very well, as we were very worried about telling her, as she doesn't earn any commission when we buy direct from the builder ourselves.

The reason we are going down the new home route is that we couldn't find anything we were totally happy with.  Each one had an issue, some were minor, some weren't.  So we bit the bullet and despite the fact that we swore we were never going through the new build saga again, we are.

This builder is different in the way he does things and is totally hands on.  The finishes are very high quality and are to our liking.  We haven't gone firm on it yet, as we can't until we have a firm offer on our house, but we have an appointment next week to go through what we do want and any extras we want to add.

When we finalized the price on Friday night, we even got to pick out the brick of the house, as it is all framed and windows are in etc.  I will admit it is all going way faster than we anticipated and today (Saturday) we are having to go out and figure out what appliances I want to put in the kitchen as they need the specifications so they will fit in the kitchen.

It is my 50th birthday next month and dh keeps bugging me about what I would like.  I don't want anything, but that's not good enough.  So I told him I want top of the line appliances in this house and this will do for my birthday.  I am very happy with that.  I am looking at the Frigidaire Professional Series of appliances in stainless steel in the kitchen and the Maytag Maxima series in white for the washer and dryer.  If anyone has any experience with either of these brands please share.

I will talk more and more about this as the months go on, but so far it's early days.  I will share pictures and house plans etc, in the following weeks.  Please say a few prayers that the folk who have the offer on our house sell theirs soon.

Sold......well sort of...........

We accepted an offer on the house on Thursday night.  BUT and there is always a but, they have their own house to sell.  So the offer is conditional on the sale of their home.  They have until March 21st to sell their house and then firm up.  Their house should (in theory) be an easy sell but as with anything who knows?

Meanwhile we will still go ahead with an open house on Sunday as planned, as it is technically still for sale.  If someone comes in with a better offer the couple have 48 hours to either firm up on their offer or back away.

Are we pleased with all of this, yes and no.  The reality of the situation is that it does put people off when there is a conditional offer on a house.  However it's an offer and it's looking positive that they will sell their house, but as yet they don't have it on the market?  Both their agent and ours feel that this isn't a problem but that remains to be seen.  We are optimistic things will all work out.

The closing date on this transaction will/should be June 16th, 2014 which suits us just fine.  Why, because we are in the middle of negotiating on our new home.  I will fill you in more of that down the line.  Suffice the say I have a headache that fills my head from top to bottom {SIGH}

Finally Miss Nora wants to wish you all a Happy Valentines Day:

Just a couple of things........

Due to the fact that you can't see anything outside due to all the snow we have, I printed out a number of photos of the property in the Spring, Summer and Fall, and they are now laid out on the kitchen table for people to look at.  I may get one of those photo frames which holds multiple photos when we move and hang some of those in it.

Things are progressing well with the house sale.......can't say much more yet!!!

I also tackled the closet in our room and filled up two garbage bags to donate.  Both dh and I have been hanging onto clothes that we hope to fit into "one day."  Now as you know as well as I do, that will never happen, with me being "allergic" to exercise.  Again that could change in the future who knows!!!

So pleased to say I have exceeded my weekly getting 25 things out of the house for this week again.

More decluttering

I am still on the decluttering kick and yesterday took two bags of doggy supplies to the pet store to donate to the shelter.  I had bought things like a bed, toys and dishes etc. when we got Millie.  Do you remember Millie?  I wonder how she is doing?  My heart is not into getting a new dog any time soon, so some other animals may as well get the use of those things, plus it's two more garbage bags of things removed from our basement.  

We also sold another item on Kijiji which was a bonus and means another box removed from the basement. I would love to say that this means the basement is quite empty, of course it isn't but it is tidier than it was.  I still need to go through all the Christmas decorations yet.  I will definitely be doing that before we move that's for sure.

Our little Princess is 13 months old today and is walking now.  Took her a couple of weeks to figure out she can get around faster walking than crawling, but she got there in the end.

If you want to see more of our house, Sarah has published a post on her site here.  Look under the English Country Stone House section.

A question that will make you think.

As you know I am a member of Swagbucks and every day they have a Daily Poll which you get a Swagbuck for if you answer it.  Saturday's question was a very thought provoking question that I thought was a really good one.

If upon your death, you had to choose between re-experiencing your life with greater understanding or experiencing a completely different life...

I chose re-experiencing my life as that way I already had knowledge of my life but I could correct my mistakes as I go along.  If I chose a different life, although I would experience different adventures I may not meet my dh again or have my children again and I wouldn't want to miss that for the world.

Got a second viewing on the house this morning, so fingers crossed it goes well.

Meanwhile you can click here to see a virtual tour of our house.

One viewing down...

and it went well.  The only negative is the location, the couple would prefer to be further south/closer to the city (Toronto).  However the closer to the city the more expensive the property gets.  Only the lady came today but her partner is coming to have a look over the next few days, so all is not lost.

Of course the wind blew a gale so I had blow out the driveway twice.  One of the perks of putting the house up for sale is that there isn't as much to dust as all the knick knacks have been put away.  Not sure though I could live such a pared down life?

Dh is ready to throw out all the fancy cushions/pillows we have on the bed now.  It is a bit of a pain hauling everything the bed before we get in it.  Sarah says that we will have the house on MLS by the end of the weekend, so that is good.

Hopefully we will see this sooner than later:

This is a very boring blog post, but at the moment this house selling is consuming all our waking moments, and I am sure even my sleeping moments as well. 

Photo's done, first people viewing today.........

After a busy Thursday morning, the photographer came in along with Sarah and her assistant and they did their magic.  I did not hang about as I was stressed.  You wonder if you have done enough?  Is it clean enough?  Will it show well?  Sarah said we would be very pleased with the pictures.  I will share them with you all when I get them.  Sarah has clients viewing the property today, so that's a good start.

I went into town and sat in MacDonald's and had a coffee and a muffin and posted a couple of book reviews.  I also sat and people watched for a while.  It's always interesting to watch what other people do and say I think.  They have an employee working there who is mentally disabled, but what a good worker she is.  I was a bit thrown at first as I wondered who she was talking to.  She talks to herself all the time.  However that didn't matter as she worked so hard while I was there.

I also got talking to the lady at the next table and ended up giving her this book.  It turned out she had visited both Alaska and the Yukon and had very fond memories from there.  So the book was perfect.  Also turned out she lived in the subdivision that we are hoping to move into.  The community centre there has a library and so she was going to donate the book there when she had read it.

While I was in town I called in at the hairdressers for a trim.  While the hairdresser was cutting my hair I had a coughing attack.  I have them a few times a day.  She was saying this cough that is going around is being "named" the 100 day cough {{{SIGH}}}  I really don't want this cough hanging around for 100 days.

$50 oranges and a couple of other photos.......

Here they are and yes they cost me $50.85:

They are actually the size of grapefruit and they are ceramic.  You will see them better in photos to come.  As I have no idea how long the house will be up for sale I figured it was easier buying these than constantly buying fresh fruit.  I also couldn't find any plastic fruit.  I am going to change out the table runner as well I think.  Will use them in the next house.

Got this cute sign/picture out of the dreaded Wal-Mart (I find Wal-Mart a nightmare to shop in as I can never find anything) for $11.30 works perfectly in the laundry room.

Here is our strapping 12 lbs 11.25 oz Miss Nora.  She is going through the red hair phase like her mother did.  She will turn to blonde and you can already see some of the blonde underneath coming in.

I also got a photo of Our Little Princess on Wednesday, I haven't seen her in a month, so a visit is LONG overdue.  She still isn't walking but can stand on her own and can take the odd step, so it will be anytime.

Right busy morning ahead of me getting the house looking tip-top before everyone arrives.  I am going out when they are here as I will just get in the way; plus I am already stressed enough with it all without participating in this!!!

Such a softie.........

Sitting here writing this on Tuesday night in tears.  Why?  Watching Coronation Street and it's Haley's last day.  It's funny I know what is going to happen but it doesn't make it any easier.  Feel so sorry for Roy; all this sadness and crying for a flipping soap opera that's not even real.

Had Sarah around today (Tuesday) to make sure we are ready to have the photos taken to put the house up for sale.  Due to another winter storm coming in Tuesday night through Wednesday (that's nice!!) the photos won't be taken until Thursday but it will be on the market late Friday/Saturday.

As I said to Sarah on Tuesday I have ran out of steam.  Enough of all this cleaning and trying to make the house perfect.  We have done as much as we can now and it is what it is.

Sarah has a couple of websites that may be of interest to you www.homeinstyle.ca and www.sarahlunn.com  Sarah is going to do a blog post of the "photo shoot" so that should be interesting also as it will highlight some of the things we did. 

Oh and finally our Miss Nora got her two month shots (better later than never) and would you believe she is up to 12 lbs 11.25 oz.  That girl enjoys her food!!!

I don't think so............

The white bits on the photo is snow..........that's nice!!!  Went to town to run a couple of errands and saw this on the Alliston Home Hardware sign.  Didn't know whether to laugh or cry truth be told???

We were super busy on Saturday getting things tidied up around the house.  I have finished the varnishing on the new baseboard thank goodness, as the whole house stinks of varnish.  My mam suggested putting some cut lemons in the room to see if that would tone down the smell; that does not work.  

Posted some more stuff on Kijiji.  I don't know why I bother as there are some strange and unusual people on there.  I have put up a Bose surround sound for $100.  One of the replies was "Would you take $50?"  My reply, "NO!!"  Haven't heard back from them!  
Oh well it could be worse I guess?

All I really need to do is give the place a good clean through and I think we are ready for the photos.  Waiting for Sarah to get back from her vacation and then she can tell me what we still need to do.

Got the kids coming for a turkey dinner today, as I had a small turkey in the freezer.  Granddad will get plenty of cuddles with his favourite little girl that's for sure!!

Big weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

We had our real estate agent over yesterday, her name is Sarah.  She wanted to pop by and see our progress.  She seemed pleased with what we have done; as we are.  During the course of the conversation the home stager situation came up.  As I explained at the beginning she charges $125 an hour and I wasn't in love with the woman.  Anyway, Sarah said there was no need to bring her in as between us we could do the rest to get ready for the photos.

Immediately I felt so much lighter and happier. I must have been worrying deep down about having to deal with her again.  Its not that her suggestions weren't right, believe me they were very, very helpful, but she was just a very overpowering person to deal with.

So we have decided to put the house up for sale around the middle of February, but it could be earlier or later depending on the weather.  Also our driveway is an ice skating rink and very dangerous, and there is no salt to be found anywhere at the moment.  I got a lead there should be some coming in the beginning of next week at our local Home Hardware so will call them.  We are putting ashes down at the beginning of the driveway as dh put his brakes on the other morning and went straight out into the main road.  Luckily it was just after 4:30 am so there wasn't much in the way off traffic.  We just don't want anyone falling on our driveway and suing us!!

We are not finished all the jobs, should be done 90% of them in the next week or so.  The mud room will be done by the end of next week.  I will then be able to take photos for you.  We will then be waiting for the trim to come back from Hope Acres and our kitchen table also from there.  Hopefully they will be back by the end of the month.

The house just then needs to be primped and polished and the final staging and decluttering done.  I do feel as though I can see the light at the end of the tunnel finally.

So that is where we are at the moment with the house.  I also got rid of another bag of clothing for another 25 things to leave the house this week.

Very, very overwhelmed....

We had a home stager come through the house yesterday, and she was a whirlwind of a woman.  She did write things down but not everything and by the time she got to the family room, she had gone through the rest of the main floor, my poor head was pounding.  So I said I will not be able to remember all of this, how much do you cost per hour to come in when we get the photos done.  She costs $125 an hour and would probably be here all morning {SIGH}

HOWEVER, she is one of the best around and when she stages houses they sell.  I had to laugh though I am re-painting the bloody kitchen again as she didn't like the colour I have painted it, just like dh; it makes the kitchen too cold looking she says?  I will also be painting the mud room and the living room the same colour; Benjamin Moore Fogmist OC31

So I need to go shopping for odds and ends that she wants either changed out, replaced or added.  I will say she recommended Wal-Mart, Homesense and Giant Tiger for everything.  Her vision was great and what she has in mind was good, but how on earth we are supposed to live here is beyond me while we sell the place.  Also we have a lot of work to do in such a short time as we hope to have it on the market by mid-February, depending on the weather.

I will write another post about putting a house up for sale and especially a country property like ours, as it is a totally different kettle of fish from selling a house in the city.  Dh and I need to sit down and go over everything and decide a plan of action as neither of us could even be bothered to talk after she had left last night.

Should say the real estate agent paid for yesterday's appointment, not sure if she will pay for her to come in before the photos are taken?

Enough of selling the house, lets here a bit of Christmas music.  I hadn't heard this Celine Dian version of this song before, enjoy:

Buying a house.........

Don't panic its not me, no one in their right mind would buy this place in the state it is in............mind you we bought it, so I guess there are fools out there!!!  Actually I love our house and when we do get it all renovated it will be even more gorgeous.

Dd and son-in-law are house hunting at the moment, as they are getting kicked out of their condo in August.  They hadn't planned on buying a house until next Spring but as they say "things happen!!"

Now the only reason I am even mentioning this is they are running into one bidding war after another and it's proving to be a very eye opening experience. 

What the houses look like on MLS and what they are actually like in person is night and day it seems.  We went with them to look at a couple of houses last Saturday.  The first one was a lovely older home (1979) detached and was on sale for $379,900.  It was perfect for them, although it did need new windows upstairs and a couple of other things.  It went on the market on Friday night, by Saturday night it had four offers in, including one from dd and son-in-law and sold for $390,000 with no conditions.  YOU DO NOT BUY A 1979 WITHOUT A HOME INSPECTION!!!!!    Dd offer was not the one that won that one.

The second house we visited was a semi on for $349,900 and around 15 years old.  It was a house that the real estate agent was selling.  It too had just gone on the market and had been staged/cleaned up.  It was still filthy to my mind.  It needed new carpets right the way through, the layout was all wrong and basically it was horrible, and son-in-law agreed with me.  However it was in THE location the kids wanted to be in.  The real estate agent wasn't taking offers until the Tuesday, and she got SIX offers and it sold for $380,000!!!

They have made appointments to see various other houses only for them to sell before they get to see them.  As I said before a lot of houses look good on paper but are a nightmare in person.  They saw two houses the other night that looked really good on paper.  The first one stunk of smoke (no offence to any smokers out there, but don't smoke in your house if you want to sell it.) As dd pointed out, all the carpets would have had to be replaced and the whole thing decorated and aired out as it smelled that bad.  The place was cluttered and the back yard was all deck, plus there were other things wrong with it.  However on paper it looked good?

The other one's owners had done bits of renovations here and there and had not finished things which made for more work, all what you couldn't see on paper, so again not for them.

They are looking at another three today, so fingers crossed they see something that will work for them.

I have never had the "pleasure" of participating in a bidding war on a house, but it's becoming quite common and someone was telling dd that in certain parts of Toronto that the listing house on a is nothing to go by.  They currently live in the Yonge and 401 area of Toronto and a bungalow came up for sale for $400,000 it was sold for over 1 million dollars and the buyers are tearing it down and building a mansion on the lot!!!!  It boggles the mind how people can afford to do that.

Buying and selling houses have changed so much over the years and people expect to see more and more staging, multi media presentations.  My boss just sold his house and the "bound book," that was used to sell his house was stunning.  It wasn't a colour leaflet it was an actual book with stunning photos and information about the area the house was located. 

Gone are the days when you take a few photos, and hoover and dust the house and hope it will sell.  The houses that sell look like model homes, all the clutter removed, decorated neutrally and ready just to move into.  Because at the end of the day when a potential buyer walks into a house, it's those first few seconds that count the most, as unless they fall in love with it right away you've lost them.

I'm glad it's not me selling a house that's for sure!! I only pray and hope dd and son-in-law find something soon.  As long as they find something by the middle of June they will be fine, so plenty of time yet.