Summer Flowers

Well, let's see, we've been back home for ten days now and I still haven't caught up!  I'm working, essentially, double shifts at work to try to catch up on all of the work that did not get completed, or even touched, in my absence, while at the same time fulfilling the daily onslaught of work they all dream up for me.  On the other hand, I have a job and I, honestly, am thankful for that! 

Yesterday, after completing shift number one for the paycheck, Joe and I went over to the pond house to take the potted plants inside to winter over, before the first frost could kill them.  It was dark by this time, of course, but we decided we needed to get this chore done, regardless of whether we could see what we were doing.  We worked under the artificial lights and filled the beater van with the still blooming summer beauties.  In the dark, we cut back the lovely poke weed that we have taken to nurturing as part of our summer garden (it grows 10 feet tall and taller), we moved the heavy potted plants inside the house, to give a little warmth to the foyer, and we swept off the front porch and walkway before locking up and leaving.

Poke Weed Looks Like Tree
at the Porch Steps

Judy, Under the "shade" 
of the poke weed!

 
As we worked on this task, one that we would naturally do as part of our fall to winter prep work, I thought about the comments offered by my Realtor when she held an open house for other Realtors last week.  She reported that when she solicited constructive suggestions about improving the saleability of the house, the others gave her these:

• Curb Appeal - very nice (could clean up some of the flowers from Summer) but loved the landscaping, wished the back yard was opened up more (park like) to view the water from the house

View From the Back of House
Looking Down Path to Pond

• Overall Exterior- excellent, great,

• Overall Interior-  perfect, excellent, very, very nice, loved room sizes, floors, trim (all excellent), nice, good

• What would you recommend to sell this house-price too high, too high price for this market, lower the price

• Additional Comments- just the general economy market, some had problems getting appraisal on recent sale another, much more congested neighborhood, appraisal was $20,000 under sales contract, house is wonderful as well as property - just current market conditions.  Some had no idea that was as private as it was back at your property,liked the extended garage, already dehumidifier in crawl space, loved the idea of "income producing property with Hickory nuts",   thought you had done a great job with the home - showed "like new" except the screened porch could use some more quality updates- when sitting you couldn't see out and maybe paint the wood (these were suggestions).

I had to laugh when I read the comments.  I thought how silly these people must be to believe I would run out and spend THOUSANDS of dollars to make a beautiful home on a gorgeous property even better... and then lower the price to sell it.  I dunno, this just defies logic in my pea brain.  But the thing that really irked me about these fabulous suggestions was that NOBODY has brought a SINGLE potential BUYER to even LOOK at the property, and it has been on the market since July.

Now, I suppose it makes sense that people are not interested in paying what I am asking for the house, for ANY house.  The economy IS tough and no, it does NOT appear to be getting better.  But if I wanted to reduce the price on the house, I doubt I would also be considering pouring money into it to cut down a bunch of beautiful trees so that a Realtor can see the pond from the back porch...750 feet away.  Nor do I believe I would be hiring contractors to rework the screened porch so that the bottom half matches the top half, with only screen for walls, turning it into an elevated covered deck with only screen protecting the potential new owners from falling down to the ground.  


My theory -- if the Realtors want to sell the property, bring on the potential BUYERS.  If the potential BUYERS make a contractual request to make modifications to the structures or the property, or to reduce the price, well, we can negotiate.... but without the potential BUYERS, I think I will just continue to use it as my "hotel space" for visiting family and friends.

So, now, the "summer flowers" have been tidied up and are now sitting in the beater van here at the old farmhouse, awaiting a new home... in a yet-unbuilt greenhouse... but, that's about the best I can do to satisfy the Realtors, I'm afraid. No, I don't want to continue to pay for a house in which I never intend to again live, but I don't see the benefit in giving it away... especially when there is nobody standing in line to look, much less, making offers.

Flowers in Beater Van

And after taking care of that little chore, I was ready to return for "shift two" in front of my computer.... it was nearly 5 AM before I crawled into bed for the "night" that lasted until 9:47 AM when I awoke LATE for my first meeting.  ARGGHHHH....


Well, enough of that, I have just taken my fun break for the day today, and am determined to finish today's second shift BEFORE midnight... no, REALLY!!!


House Listing as it appears on Realtor.com