In today’s episode of The Great House Adventure, our heroine is drunk on sleep deprivation from lying awake nights listening to rampaging thunderstorms and wondering if she’s not leading the family off a cliff with her home-buying impulses.
Despite the sleep deprivation, I’m determined to stay relatively zen about this whole experience. It *will* all work out in the end. If it’s meant to be it will happen. Breathe. Those of you who know me well are either rolling your eyes or rolling on the floor laughing, I know, I know, but dammit, I don’t have to be crazy obsessive woman about everything, do I?
Yesterday was a long day, and today promises to be longer. So far, I’ve got inspections set up for the well ($450), the septic system ($400) and the building inspection ($450) on Thursday. I made an appointment with the bank for today. I gave the offer information to our real estate agent — another $1800. I called the guy who washes our windows every couple of years and was delighted to only have to fork out $130 to him. Sheesh, that’s chump change! Beloved spent the day cleaning and in the evening I pruned the front yard and, erm, took down the Christmas lights.
I called and e-mailed quite a few real estate agents, and made an appointment with the one who impressed me the most. He’s coming today to check out our place and give us some advice on what will get us our best ROI on selling the place. I think we’ll paint the boys’ bedrooms, and our dining room, and the hallway up the stairs. Note to self — gotta call painter today. And we’ll meet with the bank and hope they don’t fall off their chairs laughing when we ask for their money, and I need a strong education in bridge financing.
Also on today’s list: rent a mini-storage place and start decluttering the place. I spent two hours decluttering the kitchen on Sunday afternoon, and if I’d remembered what it looked like before the infestation of 300 cubic tonnes of daily drawings, artwork, receipts, scrawled notes, toys, bits of hardware and the zillion other things that congregate in the kitchen because they have no real home elsewhere and I have a pathological inability to throw things out in case we might need them some day — we might not have thought to move in the first place!
I swear, I will NOT move those boxes in the basement that are still carefully packed from our move in 2003. The packrat in me keens that there might be something wonderful in there, but really? If we haven’t needed it in seven years, it’s probably good to go.
Speaking of packrat, it does occasionally come in handy. I went poking through my files and found the full folder of paperwork associated with the purchase of this house, including the offers and the sale papers, and even the original Grapevine.ca listing. When I looked at the pictures, I swear to god I couldn’t recognize the place. The towering lilac, now nearly 10 feet tall, tops out at eye level. The shrubs that have climbed the fence are knee-height. And the tree that towers over the front yard is but a sapling. Apparently things grow a lot in seven years!!
And with a simple phrase, my throat is suddenly locked up. Because things *do* grow a lot in seven years. Two of my babies came home to this house from the hospital, and Tristan was all of 16 months old when we moved in.
The going is always exciting, but the leaving? That’s still tough…
I feel your pain, but if the new place is indeed meant to be, you’ll find the joy will, in the end, outweigh the moving pain.
Hang in there and enjoy the process!!!
One suggestion a friend had for me when moving – a POD. Apparently, they will deliver it to your house, let you fill it, then move it to the new place. Could be cheaper than a mini-storage (and easier since the moving is done for you).
My 8 yr old was choked up about leaving the only place she knew, but both kids are thrilled with the new place and quickly adapted. I’m guessing your new place has lots of space to MOVE for three rambunctious boys. 🙂
http://bit.ly/4EQ38v The great house adventure phase two – preparations: In today’s episode of… http://bit.ly/dBjqAM http://bit.ly/5bAgvn
Sounds like a roller-coaster ride. Good luck with it all!
I’m particularly impressed that you are finding time to blog this 🙂
Somehow, I do not see you doing zen! I also like the POD and I see them in my neighbourhood all the time.
Hi Dani!
Very exciting indeed! Wishing you the best of luck on an adventure that I am not brave enough to wade into! (but fairly obsessed with as well!)
If you are still looking for agent referrals, I can vouch for Phil Cote. He represents buyers and his business partner, Jillian Jarvis, represents sellers. Here is the link: http://www.royallepage.ca/AgentSearch/AgentResults.aspx?Location=725
One of my neighbours was a home stager and she had a POD in her driveway. They are super handy it seems.
Keep us posted …. Julie
Just thought I’d add our own experiences with PODS vs. storage, in case it helps . . .
PODS is actually more expensive than a traditional storage company, but we chose it in the end while we staged our home for sale last November because when we weighed the pro’s and con’s they came out ahead.
The biggest considerations were that the storage companies typically offered a truck and driver, but only for a few hours and you had to load and unload the truck yourself. With PODS they’ll drop the container on a date of your choosing, then pick it up again on a date of your choosing to store it for you. No unpacking needed until the very end.
The storage companies we checked also didn’t offer a truck and driver when the time came to move the stuff to the new house. That was an additional fee, or you had to get your movers (if you hired them) to swing by the storage facility and load up the truck with that stuff too – which of course, is another added expense since they charge by the hour.
PODS was also willing, free of charge, to allow us access to the POD any time the storage facility was open, as long as we pre-arranged a time. If you set and date and time, they would get your POD done from the stack for you to add to it or remove stuff. A storage facility obviously offers the same, but knowing we could do all the above with PODS sold us on them.
Now if only PODS would reimburse me for my glowing recommendation. :o)
I’m a packrat too. Except every seventy-eighth full moon, when I get in the mood to toss stuff, and then god help anything or anyone that isn’t nailed down. It doesn’t last long, though. Good on you finding the house paperwork — at least you’re an organized pack rat. I probably have the paperwork on this house too, but chances are it’s filed with some dried fruit bars, some spiderman darts and a picture of a princess who’s naked except for her rubber boots.