Rhonda Bracey: At Random

Update on the sale of our home:

• Week 1: 5 groups through on the “home open” day (well, 45 minutes, actually!)
• Week 2: 10 groups through + 2 groups outside normal “home open” hours
• Week 3: not sure yet -not open for another 30 minutes or so… 5 groups through + 1 couple returning from last week
  

No offers yet… but the “expressions of interest” time frame is until 5:00pm December 12, so I’m trying not to be concerned about it.

We had our first “home open” on Saturday. I was a bit disappointed as the agent said only 5 groups came through. But on the other side, only ONE family will buy this house… maybe they just haven’t seen it yet. Even if 200 came through (unlikely, even at the height of the boom!), only one could buy. So I’m vacilating between being ambivalent and disappointed.

There was a lot of work done to put things in cupboards etc. for the “home open”. It’s quite stressful, yet exciting and scary too.

Our house is now on the market and the professional photographers come in tomorrow, then the first “home open” is next Saturday (18th November). Today we had a landscaping company come in and “do” the garden – clean up the straggly stuff, trim, mulch, plant new plants and basically give the front garden – especially – a make-over, including a proper step at the gate.

They arrived at 8:30am and finished around 3:00pm. There were only three of them, but boy! have they made a difference! They weren’t cheap by a long shot, but they were quick and did a great job. I took some “before” photos this morning, but haven’t taken any “after” ones yet as the server was being reinstalled (more in next post) and it was raining this afternoon.

As I’ve always said, you only have one chance to make a first impression – and our front garden is that chance. Hope it’s all worth it…

Before and after photos…

Front garden – before

Front garden – after

Side – before

Side – after

Full set of photos (including some taken by professional photographer of the inside)

We signed a listing with a real estate agent last night to sell our house in Perth! So things are moving… The intention is to sell, move down south, start a new phase of our lives there, build on the block, live in the new house, etc. My two major clients are OK with me working remotely with the occasional foray back to Perth for face-to-face contact, so we’ll see how practical that is once we move.

Now to clear the excess “stuff” out of the house before the photographers come in and it is officially on the market… and sort through and pack up 16 years of stuff!

Exciting – and scary!