by Kelli Bowen
Selling a house is always an experience. I haven’t enough time to really get into our real horror stories but I will tell you about our latest heart-racer.
We have had a couple of very interested parties in our house. It’s going fairly well. We hope to see the real estate gods shine down upon them and turn our potential buyers into real-life buyers, but it isn’t all roses and rainbows.
After a few weeks on the market and a couple offers, the first exciting blast of showings died down and we simmered into the “talking contracts” side of things, so we weren’t as diligent about keeping the house “show ready.”
The kids had gotten home from school, Miss A had a friend over, so Miss E was helping me by boxing up belongings and deciding what to keep and what to throw. We had the whole office closet strewn across the room and boxes lining the walls with different destinations: garbage, new house, or storage.
Ding!
Our realtor at 4:23: “Can we have a showing at 5?” I sent her the poo emoji and looked around the house. I had been working all day, the kitchen, which I was working on packing the night before, was in shambles. The office, a mess. When had we last vacuumed??? I said, “Don’t tell them no!” and hollered for Miss E. We flew around the house picking up, tidying up, and wiping down.
I banished Miss A and her friend to the park and told them I’d pick them up when we were done. Hubby came screeching into the driveway and got to work on the kitchen as I vacuumed at a frantic pace.
We pulled out of the driveway at 4:57. I texted our realtor “Clear!”
We drove across town to another park and decided we are going out for dinner. Then a nice strong drink.
In case you’re wondering: Hubby and I, with the help of Miss E, can make our house show-ready in 34 minutes.
Kelli makes her home in Billings County with her husband, two daughters (11 and 8) and a dog. She works for North Dakota's #1 tourist destination by day and tries to be an alright mom, wife, friend, and writer by night.
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