The thought of getting the  house ready to go and put on the market overwhelms me.  As a realtor, you would think it would be it would be simple since  I routinely go into the homes of others and tell them what to do, hand out the check list and bring in the stager to complete the job.  By the time I come back in a week the house is decluttered, the yard is spruced up and the interior is photo ready. I have had the courage to tell clients to clean the closets, pack up the collections, hire contractors and basically put their jobs and their life on hold for a week while they focus on this most important task.

My list was long, but the phone numbers were all in my blackberry so the plan was to get the house on the market by the end of the week.  Unfortunately, the contractor wasn’t available until the next week and the house keeper comes on the alternate Friday.  Damm……I will just do it myself.

Just when I think I have 80% of the list completed, my dear friend, “The Uber Stager” comes in for 2 hours and creates another day of work for me.  We manage to fill up the third bay of the garage with all of the stuff she doesn’t like.  This uncovers areas that haven’t been dusted since we moved in over 2 years ago.

Despite the half finished list, the house is going on the market today.  The photographer does his thing, the data is entered into the MLS and the information is released into cyberspace.  We pack up the kids and the dog and head to Grandma’s house to decompress and get out of the house.  I hope someone comes to take a look.

Check out the virtual tour:  http://www.Obeo.com/537401

But now I have found it. (This isn’t it……  just dreamin’)

Upon our return from a week in Hawaii, Kent and I had a new plan.  For the past three years, we had been living year to year and renegotiating along the way, discussing a future that we didn’t agree on.  Somehow we settled on a 10 year plan.  This feels so good to a girl that had a retirement plan by age 25.

So I launched into a mission to find the perfect place to live.  This home wasn’t going to be about resale or upside potential but rather a sense of “place” for the Lewis Family.  It didn’t take long to view every available option ( I do own a lockbox key), eliminate the overpriced inventory, the dogs and just fall in love with our future home that I like to call…..”The Money Pit”.  If you have seen the movie, you know which one I am talking about: large yard, large house, big view and a BIG mess.  The house of my dreams is scheduled to go into foreclosure next week and of course, someone already has already made an offer that the lender is considering.

After showing the house to Kent and the kids, two realtor friends and my favorite interior decorator, we decided to go for it and make an offer.  In 48 hours, we gathered tax returns and all of the required documentation to get a pre-approval letter to buy the money pit without having our current home sold.  Scary thought but it could happen.  We were ready to commit to a long term relationship with this home. The offer is written and the process of buying a distressed property begins…

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