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Rakin! I have a small box of chocolate that my son gave me for my birthday..I think there are three or four left in that nightstand....hmm...ok I am outta here, CHOCOLATE!!!!!
How many of you miss the good old days, when you called the name on the sign in front of a house you liked the looks of?
And THAT agent met you there, and gave you the grand tour, and knew all the nooks and crannies, and what the light switches operated.
Because THEY took the time to find out as much as possible about the house, beyond checking off a bunch of little squares on a MLS form. And they really 'worked it', to try and make the sale?? Because it was their job, that was what they were getting paid to do!
There were no seller's agents,no buyer's agents. No sue- happies, no cover their a&&e&. What you saw was what you got. A man's word was a man's word.
You pretty much inspected the house by looking in every corner, attic,etc. Turned all the lights off and on, all the faucets, plumbing, opened all the cabinets...or you might call your Dad to come check it out, or your buddies from Tuesday nite bowling....
You bought it and thanked God you had a roof over your head. And when something went south, you took it like a man and took care of it.
I don't recall all these horror stories with inspections, closings, etc, Back Then...
what changed....
What changed is that people got 'sue happy'. Same thing with everything. I used to work for doctors, OB doctors in fact, many years ago. We had to cover our you know whats with charting, phone calls, etc...everything had to be documented. I imagine it's much worse even now. all because some folks decided to go for the gold.
What about when we were kids, we were at someone's house and fell down or something. did our parents think about suing those folks, he** no, we got a swat because we were doing something stupid.
Basically it's just cover your you know what..that's why there are disclosures. We bought our first house in 1978. I still have the paperwork. I think there were like 3 pages...escrow was like 3 pages. No disclosures. What you saw is what you got. If you didn't like what you got, you fixed it, you didn't go asking someone else to do it.
How many of you miss the good old days, when you called the name on the sign in front of a house you liked the looks of?
And THAT agent met you there, and gave you the grand tour, and knew all the nooks and crannies, and what the light switches operated.
Because THEY took the time to find out as much as possible about the house, beyond checking off a bunch of little squares on a MLS form. And they really 'worked it', to try and make the sale?? Because it was their job, that was what they were getting paid to do!
There were no seller's agents,no buyer's agents. No sue- happies, no cover their a&&e&. What you saw was what you got. A man's word was a man's word.
You pretty much inspected the house by looking in every corner, attic,etc. Turned all the lights off and on, all the faucets, plumbing, opened all the cabinets...or you might call your Dad to come check it out, or your buddies from Tuesday nite bowling....
You bought it and thanked God you had a roof over your head. And when something went south, you took it like a man and took care of it.
I don't recall all these horror stories with inspections, closings, etc, Back Then...
what changed....
It certainly was a lot easier. We had to have certified papers though...saying the electric, plumbing and roof were ok.........and then hubby would go put on a new roof......if his friend said he just couldn't sign it without that done.
We took our curtains with us, our shelves..........no one expected or asked for them......and they were not on the contract.
Now people want your dining set ( we got charged because my moms was gone to a family member)......They want your curtains ( blinds / shutters I can understand) Someone wanted those too......
We had a salesman that loved our first little home so much he'd show up ever two hours with someone else........it was a hoot.
He'd just blink at us.......and be off again. Darn if he wasn't the one to sell it.....he did. So glad, because his hard work paid off!!
Yes, and I did say someone every two hours.........now we wait weeks for the potential buyer......Whats up with that! ? ( I know, I know, but everyone likes to buy houses.......change.......expand.......downsize... ...its the American way)
We bought a home several years ago that had both the seller and her dog present. She was a wonderful lady, in a wheelchair, unable to walk and no friends or relatives to get her out of the house so it could be shown. People would not even go in the house and realtors discouraged showing the house because the lady couldn't leave.
When we walked in the door for our showing, this beautiful, tiny, perfectly coiffed white haired lady sat in her wheelchair with her welsh corgi in his crate at her side. She was the most gracious lady I've ever met, she even apologized in case she made us feel uncomfortable.
Her bright, intelligent eyes followed us as we moved from room to room, there was nothing else she could do but she didn't offer any information about the house until we specifically asked her questions.
The point of this little story is that people who don't give a home a chance because the owners/dogs/children/parents, whatever are still in the house are doing a great diservice both to themselves and the sellers.
Not everybody can leave so you can go through their house and make comments about it. Not everyone is mobile.
I remember this gracious lady and someday when I sell my house (in about 2 years) I shall hope to emulate her manners and decorum and hope that I don't have potential buyers that want to control me by demanding I get out of my own home.
Corgis, your posting made me cry.........so glad you bought her home.
What a sweet and enduring tale.......
Hey folks, I am still here...waiting...waiting...waiting..I am tired of jumping through hoops but we need to sell. So I guess we will keep jumping, just maybe not so high.
The story about the little lady with the corgi made me tear up. Not everyone can leave, she was probably very uncomfortable having to stay. And maybe she was not so mobile as to even being able to go out for coffee or whatever if someone was to take her. What about her dog? Cant take a dog for coffee...Maybe she was a widow selling her family home, and that dog was all she had. Geez, now I am going to cry.
Her house is the kind of house I would want, where there were happy memories and well loved.
I still think I am going to lose my mind. Later...
Cheer up - it ended OK! Wonderful Corgis bought the home, after all I'm sure that having a lovely buyer made everything much easier and happier for the lady owner.
People in general need to stop and think about how they are treating each other. Remember the old adage about treating others as we'd like to be treated? Yeah, we all get annoyed sometimes but none of us should be a perpetual P.I.T.A., never thinking about anyone else's feelings or needs.
Dogmom, my advice to you would be to stop trying to keep your house in perfect order all the time. Today I heard someone on the radio say that "perfection is the enemy of good"; meaning, striving to be perfect means you will never be satisfied with good, and therefore never achieve anything to your satisfaction. Better to work on being happy with "good".
I sold my house on the day I had my whole downstairs turned upside down. I'd been chasing perfect showing conditions for a long, long, time and this one day I said sorry, I can't leave, I have to do this today, but the buyers are welcome to come if they don't mind me being here.
It's all destiny. Make your best decisions, drop the price if you must, get a better agent if you feel it's necessary, whatever it takes, but FIRST take care of yourselves!!!!!!! There's only one you Life is short. Extend it by working at relaxing rather than housekeeping
How many of you miss the good old days, when you called the name on the sign in front of a house you liked the looks of?
And THAT agent met you there, and gave you the grand tour, and knew all the nooks and crannies, and what the light switches operated.
Because THEY took the time to find out as much as possible about the house, beyond checking off a bunch of little squares on a MLS form. And they really 'worked it', to try and make the sale?? Because it was their job, that was what they were getting paid to do!
There were no seller's agents,no buyer's agents. No sue- happies, no cover their a&&e&. What you saw was what you got. A man's word was a man's word.
You pretty much inspected the house by looking in every corner, attic,etc. Turned all the lights off and on, all the faucets, plumbing, opened all the cabinets...or you might call your Dad to come check it out, or your buddies from Tuesday nite bowling....
You bought it and thanked God you had a roof over your head. And when something went south, you took it like a man and took care of it.
I don't recall all these horror stories with inspections, closings, etc, Back Then...what changed....
When I bought my first house, the owner took me on a several-hours tour of the entire property, telling me every story associated with it and showing me where all the flora and fauna appeared every season of the year. The owners also threw a welcome-to-the-neighborhood party for us and invited us to join their local clubs in town. They told us all the pros and cons of the home and buildings.
That was the way things were done in the old days between civilized people.....people nowadays don't know what they're missing out on, but I agree, all the new ways of pushing and shoving buyers and sellers into pigeon holes and onto an assembly line of who does what when is not progress for our society as a whole. There's a lack of humanity that can be truly appalling at times.
Last edited by Boomerang; 06-30-2008 at 06:09 PM..
Reason: clarity :-)
Dogmom, my advice to you would be to stop trying to keep your house in perfect order all the time. Today I heard someone on the radio say that "perfection is the enemy of good"; meaning, striving to be perfect means you will never be satisfied with good, and therefore never achieve anything to your satisfaction. Better to work on being happy with "good".
I sold my house on the day I had my whole downstairs turned upside down. I'd been chasing perfect showing conditions for a long, long, time and this one day I said sorry, I can't leave, I have to do this today, but the buyers are welcome to come if they don't mind me being here.
I agree with this. As long as buyers are prepped for things. I have shown homes while the sellers were packing and my buyers really wanted to see it. I told the buyers that house would be totally messy and to not get distracted by that. Totally messy, made the offer.
Buyer's don't freak out about a cobweb here or there, or a cup and cereal bowl left in the sink. I've had teenagers rooms be horrible, and I just told the stressed out mom to stick a note on the room door that said "Teenager's Room, No Guarantees of Cleanliness." I've even put that in the private remarks. Buyer's thought it was funny. Houses sold.
There is a happy medium in there. Clean yes, perfect no. Don't stress about it.
You may feel differently about this, if you were still trying to sell your home after a year.
No.........I really don't think so. I've been through this many times......
I've liked it more the times I "did" stay around the house to meet and give greeting to a potential buyer.
Just yesterday we were looking from our car at a home we thought was nice.....the neighbor across the street picking her flowers in her nice front yard........smiled and greeted us.
She proceeded to say......."Oh yes, look".......and "I hope we get to see you again" Now that friendly person.......made me want to live on that street........I enjoyed her friendlyness. If she wasn't around I might of just said........"yeah, the house is ok" It was nice to know a neighbor already.
I think realtors are just so afraid an owner will bring up something........but........owners are smart now-a-days. They know to leave it to the inspector to announce or put to paper.
I think its fine just to meander out the back door, pooch in tow.........
Children on their play sets.
It is too much to go out, with babies, dogs, kids, and even adults......to get home to a no show. A late show, .........and gosh who knows when they do leave. As we are out trying to waste time.........
If my home doesn't sell ...........fine. It is staged, and comforting.....
I am going to light the candles, and take a nice walk........but, I will stay around. Its never hurt a sale before, I'll just stick with it.
( decision was made after too many no shows, or late shows on previous home)
Life is too short for this garbage. Hubby just made a margarita and I am on my 2nd glass of wine. House smells like teriyaki and a little dog chow mixed in.
Whatever happened to the days when you could leave your precious family pictures up, not worry if a cup or bowl left in the sink, or had dinner on the stove.
What have we become, robots? I don't get it and I am SICK of it. I am tired of buyers playing their stupid games and sniffing my grass. I'd like to tell them to sniff my you know what instead.
Feeling angry tonight...We just want to enjoy our retirement..we aren't rich, that's why we have to sell, we are sinking. Hubby will be 63 on Wednesday, I just turned 55. How many years do we have left...Hubby has history of blood clots and strokes on the male end of his family...You never know.
We just need to move on and I am getting ticked..
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