There were many houses that built me. As I was growing up, my sisters and I lived in many homes that our parents found for us. Each house was different but the furniture that was moved from state to state remained the same..the living room arranged around the same old room rug that was handed down from Grandma. We always had a cat and lost many cats over the years to neighborhood dogs or neighborhood streets. When one cat would die, and the body buried in the back yard of whatever house we lived in at that time, we would get another similar looking cat and give it the same name. Tinkerbell will always have to be a calico cat to me.
I remember the smell of the laundry room, the smell of a hot iron and a watering bottle as we sisters had to iron our dresses every Saturday, no matter which house we were in at that time.
I remember the practical jokes we would play on each other and unsuspecting guests at our home. Laughing, and crying, and being angry at some unjust decision.
I never thought much about the vessel that served as home, the frame that held the thriving family organism, until I became a first time homeowner wannabe with my husband. The past homes in my life influenced everything we looked at. It was exciting looking for a kitchen that would hold a table that sat 8, a bathroom large enough for five girls and parents; a backyard with a flower garden, tomato garden and a rose trellis like I always had.
Now years later, I love drawing floor plans for the perfect "family" home, and have the occupation of selling homes for a living. I recognize the emotional drive that causes first time homeowners to crave a place of their own so they can mark growth lines on the closet doorframe of their future children, recreating in their dreams a house just like the house that built them. No matter what the economy is doing or what wisdom there is in making a real estate "investment", there will always be a hunger for a place to call their own. Whether it is a mobile home, a mansion, or a grass roofed shack, most people want something that they can settle in and make memories that last. All children will remember fondly the house or apartment they grew up in if it was a secure and happy place.
My love for homes, families, laughing babies and flower gardens has shaped my attitude towards selling houses in this market. Yes, it is a tough market right now, but that old house that has been on the market for months, with short sale on the lawn sign, is worth rescuing for another generation of happy memories.
I am not sure whether it was this video by Miranda Lambert or my thoughts about home memories that came first. Doesn't matter really. Enjoy the video.
I have seen, many times, that look in the eyes of home buyers as they tour a house that they know they must have. It isn't usually a practical reason why they feel so strongly for the house. It is usually an emotional response to a memory of a similar house or room from a happy or nostalgic time in their past. There is a home for everyone who really wants one of their own. I believe that. It is worth every effort that needs to be made to find it. Could this be your time to find a house that will build your family?
Ruth Parker, Realtor, Keller Williams Realty Midway
Http://Ruth-Parker.net
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Newsletter from the Home garden
Click here for Real Estate news you can use
Is that moving contactor a scam artist? Should homebuyers be nervous? What are the top 5 mistakes Sellers make? Design Tips for Homeowners on a tight budget.
PLUS: Ask the Coach!! Any Real estate related question you have, you can ask the Coach! Someone will respond with an answer with-in 24 hours of your submission.
Have a great day! Ruth Parker, " Home Gardener"
http://Ruth-Parker.net SEARCH THE MLS !!! Rentals, Sales, Commercial, New Construction
Is that moving contactor a scam artist? Should homebuyers be nervous? What are the top 5 mistakes Sellers make? Design Tips for Homeowners on a tight budget.
PLUS: Ask the Coach!! Any Real estate related question you have, you can ask the Coach! Someone will respond with an answer with-in 24 hours of your submission.
Have a great day! Ruth Parker, " Home Gardener"
http://Ruth-Parker.net SEARCH THE MLS !!! Rentals, Sales, Commercial, New Construction
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Ideas for selling a home that has been on the market a loooong time
In an attempt to decipher why many of the usual rules of home marketing and selling aren't working in this market, many of the top agents in the Midway office met. As they brainstormed ways they could do things differently, a list of new and some not so new ideas came forth.
First of all, some agents who have been in the business for five years or more, may have fallen into a marketing rutt that still relies totally on the ways homes sold in a good market. Some don't utilize the newer marketing venues: newer cameras, social media, virtual tours and virtual staging. And now, in all Keller Williams offices, the revolutionary eEdge program that combines CRM/Marketing/Lead conversions/and Transactions all under one cyber roof, available for only KW agents, makes marketing that much easier. Here is the list of ideas these top agents thought of.
1. Forget the price the seller wants and you originally thought it would sell for. If no buyers are looking or there are showings but no offers coming in, lower the price.
2. Take top quality photos - if you can't take really good ones, hire a professional who has the best equipment and the skill to know how to show the homes features in the best light. One of our VIVs has offered, for two months, to give any agent in our office a huge discount on the shooting of any house for only $125. You will get two sets of all the pictures, one full size and one sized for web, delivered to you within 24 hours. The pictures alone can sell a house. They can persuade a buyer to pick up the phone and make an appointment.
3. Of course a professional photographer can't help what furniture and debris lie in the wide angles of his camera. If staging a home isn't your skill, ask someone who is skilled in this area, to "set up" a home for maximum show-worthiness. If the home isn't staged (reorganized, decluttered, painted, cleaned, decorated) for showing the best it can, consider hiring a stager. Often the homeowners are concerned that a stager will remove their personality from the home that they still have to live in for who knows how long in this kind of market. But a kind and sensitive stager can select homeowner's best decorative pieces and put them on display in a light that thrills the homeowner and ultimately a buyer. We also have a stager who will give a special deal to our agents and their sellers.
4.Have a pre-home inspection. Often it can make the sellers feel more confident that the house isn't going to hold costly secret repairs by the buyer's inspection later. In fact, some times the seller will feel better about lowering the price when he knows there won't be a problem with the furnace or roof or plumbing.
5. Refresh comments and pictures on the MLS. Nothing kills a buyer's desire to look at a home with pictures of snow on the lawn when it is 99 degrees in the shade in July. When refreshing details on the MLS, don't forget to also change the pictures on Realtor.com and add their Highlights to remarks and all.
6. Sometimes a listing just needs to be given a rest from the market for 30+ days and relisted at a new price with new pictures.
7. Make an attractive flyer with many good pictures of the house and distribute to places where buyers might be...student lounges, game room at the apartment complex, cafeteria lounge at local company, you get the idea. Wherever buyers are found.
8. Take sellers on a tour of the competing listings. They may decide to lower the price or quickly paint some rooms or remove that wallpaper all on their own.
9. Do cross marketing in the office. Tell the other agents about your listings, maybe they have a new buyer that will be interested in buying. Also, when taking buyers out on tour, try to show any listing that fits the criteria listed by another agent in the office.
10. Post ads for your old and newer listings on Craigslist and Facebook. Make sure it is changed out often, with different titles and pictures.
11. Once you have nice pictures, well worded remarks, and a properly adjusted price, do a virtual tour. Post it on Facebook, emails to your database, Craigs list, YouTube, in your signature as a link.
12. Hold a seventh level Open House. Personally invite the neighbors, put out many signs early in the week, use many balloons, have everything in the house perfectly staged, serve wine and cheese, invite realtors, and advertise on Realtor.com, Trendmls, Trulia, Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook.
13. Educate your sellers right from the start about the market, what to expect, what not to expect regarding pricing and buyer behaviors.
14. Use unusual bonuses and / or financing options. For instance, the sellers with the house that is hard to sell because of the steep backyard that buyers dread mowing, a years contract for the buyers with the lawn mowing company used. Or the house with really high taxes, offer to help the sellers with a tax assessment appeal or have the sellers pay one year taxes at settlement... Use creativity.
15. Don't hesitate to ask a SWAT team from the office to go out to see the house and help you tell the seller what needs to be done to get the home sold.
Doing Anything may work, Doing nothing doesn't. We want our sellers to know that we are the only agent for them. Don't let them contemplate expiring with you and trying another agent. You are the best ! Hope these ideas help!
First of all, some agents who have been in the business for five years or more, may have fallen into a marketing rutt that still relies totally on the ways homes sold in a good market. Some don't utilize the newer marketing venues: newer cameras, social media, virtual tours and virtual staging. And now, in all Keller Williams offices, the revolutionary eEdge program that combines CRM/Marketing/Lead conversions/and Transactions all under one cyber roof, available for only KW agents, makes marketing that much easier. Here is the list of ideas these top agents thought of.
1. Forget the price the seller wants and you originally thought it would sell for. If no buyers are looking or there are showings but no offers coming in, lower the price.
2. Take top quality photos - if you can't take really good ones, hire a professional who has the best equipment and the skill to know how to show the homes features in the best light. One of our VIVs has offered, for two months, to give any agent in our office a huge discount on the shooting of any house for only $125. You will get two sets of all the pictures, one full size and one sized for web, delivered to you within 24 hours. The pictures alone can sell a house. They can persuade a buyer to pick up the phone and make an appointment.
3. Of course a professional photographer can't help what furniture and debris lie in the wide angles of his camera. If staging a home isn't your skill, ask someone who is skilled in this area, to "set up" a home for maximum show-worthiness. If the home isn't staged (reorganized, decluttered, painted, cleaned, decorated) for showing the best it can, consider hiring a stager. Often the homeowners are concerned that a stager will remove their personality from the home that they still have to live in for who knows how long in this kind of market. But a kind and sensitive stager can select homeowner's best decorative pieces and put them on display in a light that thrills the homeowner and ultimately a buyer. We also have a stager who will give a special deal to our agents and their sellers.
4.Have a pre-home inspection. Often it can make the sellers feel more confident that the house isn't going to hold costly secret repairs by the buyer's inspection later. In fact, some times the seller will feel better about lowering the price when he knows there won't be a problem with the furnace or roof or plumbing.
5. Refresh comments and pictures on the MLS. Nothing kills a buyer's desire to look at a home with pictures of snow on the lawn when it is 99 degrees in the shade in July. When refreshing details on the MLS, don't forget to also change the pictures on Realtor.com and add their Highlights to remarks and all.
6. Sometimes a listing just needs to be given a rest from the market for 30+ days and relisted at a new price with new pictures.
7. Make an attractive flyer with many good pictures of the house and distribute to places where buyers might be...student lounges, game room at the apartment complex, cafeteria lounge at local company, you get the idea. Wherever buyers are found.
8. Take sellers on a tour of the competing listings. They may decide to lower the price or quickly paint some rooms or remove that wallpaper all on their own.
9. Do cross marketing in the office. Tell the other agents about your listings, maybe they have a new buyer that will be interested in buying. Also, when taking buyers out on tour, try to show any listing that fits the criteria listed by another agent in the office.
10. Post ads for your old and newer listings on Craigslist and Facebook. Make sure it is changed out often, with different titles and pictures.
11. Once you have nice pictures, well worded remarks, and a properly adjusted price, do a virtual tour. Post it on Facebook, emails to your database, Craigs list, YouTube, in your signature as a link.
12. Hold a seventh level Open House. Personally invite the neighbors, put out many signs early in the week, use many balloons, have everything in the house perfectly staged, serve wine and cheese, invite realtors, and advertise on Realtor.com, Trendmls, Trulia, Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook.
13. Educate your sellers right from the start about the market, what to expect, what not to expect regarding pricing and buyer behaviors.
14. Use unusual bonuses and / or financing options. For instance, the sellers with the house that is hard to sell because of the steep backyard that buyers dread mowing, a years contract for the buyers with the lawn mowing company used. Or the house with really high taxes, offer to help the sellers with a tax assessment appeal or have the sellers pay one year taxes at settlement... Use creativity.
15. Don't hesitate to ask a SWAT team from the office to go out to see the house and help you tell the seller what needs to be done to get the home sold.
Doing Anything may work, Doing nothing doesn't. We want our sellers to know that we are the only agent for them. Don't let them contemplate expiring with you and trying another agent. You are the best ! Hope these ideas help!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Jane
It is a humbling experience to go to a settlement that wasn't supposed to happen this way and see the tears in the eyes of the grateful buyers. I wore a purple suit that I bought just for this closing. It wasn't my usual color, but it was the favorite color of the little eight year old girl who, only two month's earlier had eyes that danced with excitement as she picked out her room in the house mommy and daddy were buying. Jane had lived in one foster home after another since she was born. No one really wanted to keep her, even her birth mother apparantly. As an infant, through no fault of her own, she screamed and cried through nights as the crack in her newborn system wreaked havoc with her developing nervous system. One foster mother after another would stay up nights rocking her until her own health broke down and a request would be made to place Jane somewhere else. Before she was five and started kindergarten, Jane had lived in over ten different homes or institutions. She had big blue eyes and very curly hair and a million dollar smile... a smile that captured the hearts of my buyers who were finally buying a personal bedroom and the house to go with it for the little girl who was now their own adopted daughter.
The home was modest, a short sale, with a small fenced-in back yard, an old rusty swing set that Jane's father said he would paint and get new chains for. Jane's new parents really stuggled financially after deciding to adopt her. So it felt like a miracle the day they got mortgage approval and then bank approval and the settlement date was scheduled! It was really going to happen! I drove by the now vacant house one day and saw their pick up truck in the driveway and the gate to the back yard open. I smiled when I noticed the little girl's legs pumping, curly blond hair blowing in the breeze, and saw her purple sneakers swinging back and forth. I approached, planning on telling them that they shouldn't be on the premises until they owned it, but when I heard her giggles while crying " higher, Daddy, higher!" I just couldn't. I said "Hello" and gave Jane a kiss and a hug, told the family that they only had three more weeks and it would all be theirs!! They decided to take my hint and walked me out to their truck. I saw Jane jump in the middle between her parents, turn around in the cab window and wave at me. That was the last time I saw little Jane laugh.
The doctor said it wasn't unusual for such things to happen to crack babies. Smiling and healthy one day, waking up the next with a high fever, spasms, an epileptic seisure, a frantic ambulance ride to the emergency room and suddenly a silence that was black. I was called by my buyers on their way to the hospital - I had become much more than a Realtor to them. They knew I would be there for them. It was all I could do to pray though my tears as the doctor covered her little face, nurses scurrying around, and suddenly silence laying on our hearts like her little purple sweater laying next to the bed on the metal chair.
I wore purple to settlement today. The earth hasn't grown grass yet over the spot where little Jane lay. But the bank said the sale was final, must still go on. So there will still be a house, a little girl's bedroom with a "Jane" placque on the door. I handed my sweet buyers the keys to their new home and presented them with many housewarming gifts among which were a packet of purple forget-me-not seeds,some potting soil, a can of purple paint and a brand new shiny chain for that rusty swingset that made Jane laugh.
I cringe when I hear people say "real estate" is just a job, a business transaction, a lead conversion, a "seal the deal" thing. For me, it is not just what you do to get paid. Most of my clients become personal friends who have entrusted me with their personal life decisions. Real Estate is not a job to get good at. It is a privilege and honor that involves your heart commitment as much as your head knowledge. In fact, sometimes, as Jane taught me, heart commitment makes the difference.
The home was modest, a short sale, with a small fenced-in back yard, an old rusty swing set that Jane's father said he would paint and get new chains for. Jane's new parents really stuggled financially after deciding to adopt her. So it felt like a miracle the day they got mortgage approval and then bank approval and the settlement date was scheduled! It was really going to happen! I drove by the now vacant house one day and saw their pick up truck in the driveway and the gate to the back yard open. I smiled when I noticed the little girl's legs pumping, curly blond hair blowing in the breeze, and saw her purple sneakers swinging back and forth. I approached, planning on telling them that they shouldn't be on the premises until they owned it, but when I heard her giggles while crying " higher, Daddy, higher!" I just couldn't. I said "Hello" and gave Jane a kiss and a hug, told the family that they only had three more weeks and it would all be theirs!! They decided to take my hint and walked me out to their truck. I saw Jane jump in the middle between her parents, turn around in the cab window and wave at me. That was the last time I saw little Jane laugh.
The doctor said it wasn't unusual for such things to happen to crack babies. Smiling and healthy one day, waking up the next with a high fever, spasms, an epileptic seisure, a frantic ambulance ride to the emergency room and suddenly a silence that was black. I was called by my buyers on their way to the hospital - I had become much more than a Realtor to them. They knew I would be there for them. It was all I could do to pray though my tears as the doctor covered her little face, nurses scurrying around, and suddenly silence laying on our hearts like her little purple sweater laying next to the bed on the metal chair.
I wore purple to settlement today. The earth hasn't grown grass yet over the spot where little Jane lay. But the bank said the sale was final, must still go on. So there will still be a house, a little girl's bedroom with a "Jane" placque on the door. I handed my sweet buyers the keys to their new home and presented them with many housewarming gifts among which were a packet of purple forget-me-not seeds,some potting soil, a can of purple paint and a brand new shiny chain for that rusty swingset that made Jane laugh.
I cringe when I hear people say "real estate" is just a job, a business transaction, a lead conversion, a "seal the deal" thing. For me, it is not just what you do to get paid. Most of my clients become personal friends who have entrusted me with their personal life decisions. Real Estate is not a job to get good at. It is a privilege and honor that involves your heart commitment as much as your head knowledge. In fact, sometimes, as Jane taught me, heart commitment makes the difference.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Desparation Breeds Defeat. Hope, well watered, leads to victory.
Being hungry prompts a search for food. You look for the best snack or meal for you at that moment. Being starved because you missed your breakfast and here it is 3 in the afternoon and you still haven't eaten anything all day..leads to desparate measures. The skinny mini girl at the front desk offers you her health bar, another person exclaims that you may eat the rest of his salad in the frige because he just couldn't eat the whole thing. The craving in your body can only be filled with a big mac or a giant sized meal deal even though you vowed on January 1st in your New Years resolution that you would lose weight and only eat healthy from now on. Desparation breeds defeat.
When the real estate market was bountiful, a desire for a deal just took some slight planning and inspiration to work another one out. Agents were proud of their business planning, meticulous working of the fertile soil and planting plenty lead-seeds, watering them with 33 touches and 8x8 fertilizers which always brought a bountiful harvest. Like the sharing of an unneeded half a salad, happy Realtors were willing to share leads because they just couldn't handle them all.
When the market changed, Realtors needed to change. They needed to change their eating habits, their spending habits, their marketing habits and their planning habits. Business didn't jump into their laps anymore. Buyers were more skeptical about whether they should just wait for another tax credit or at least for the market to hit bottom. No longer did each Realtor have his own fertile field and leads. Many fields dried up in the economic drought. Realtors tried to plan ahead for next year's crop or hoped there would be a sudden change in the weather so this season wouldn't be a total loss. Realtors started buying leads from a national chain store but many of these leads were unedible. Realtors cut down on their cultivating, on their planting, on their harvesting because, as their hunger turned to starving, they lost ambition and energy. It became easier to blame the economic drought and go stand in line at the soup kitchen. Desparation breeds defeat.
What is the solution? How can you make sure you don't get desparate? First of all, have a plan. When a country knows there is a drought coming, they build warehouses and store food for years in advance.
1.Don't let the crops' failure surprise you. There have been signs broadcasted for years in advance.
2. Slim down your needs and thus your cravings. Go on a diet. Learn to live on less; learn to run your business on less; find deals on your supplies; don't hire help you can't afford to pay; and learn to do the crop watering on your own. Later on, you will know how to train new field hands.
3. Save a portion of the crops you receive rather than consuming all of them.
4. Be mindful of how far a word of encouragement or sharing of low risk ideas and collaboration can go with your fellow Realtors. Take care of your family first but be looking for ways to see your friends through too.
5. Read, take some coaching or mentoring, take online classes that are free, fill up your mind with knowledge of new and better ways to get leads and then plan. Next spring, when the ground thaws and the price for fertilizer comes down, try again. Plant only healthy seeds in fertile soil that has been worked hard by the sweat of your brow, and expect a crop that will be sufficient for your needs.
Desparation leads to defeat. Desparate people quit. No one will succeed who quits. Taking positive steps to avoid desparation leads to hope. Hope, well watered, leads to victory.
Ruth Parker, Productivity Coach, Keller Williams Midway, Thorndale, PA Homes@RuthParker.net Http://kwprocoach.blogspot.com
When the real estate market was bountiful, a desire for a deal just took some slight planning and inspiration to work another one out. Agents were proud of their business planning, meticulous working of the fertile soil and planting plenty lead-seeds, watering them with 33 touches and 8x8 fertilizers which always brought a bountiful harvest. Like the sharing of an unneeded half a salad, happy Realtors were willing to share leads because they just couldn't handle them all.
When the market changed, Realtors needed to change. They needed to change their eating habits, their spending habits, their marketing habits and their planning habits. Business didn't jump into their laps anymore. Buyers were more skeptical about whether they should just wait for another tax credit or at least for the market to hit bottom. No longer did each Realtor have his own fertile field and leads. Many fields dried up in the economic drought. Realtors tried to plan ahead for next year's crop or hoped there would be a sudden change in the weather so this season wouldn't be a total loss. Realtors started buying leads from a national chain store but many of these leads were unedible. Realtors cut down on their cultivating, on their planting, on their harvesting because, as their hunger turned to starving, they lost ambition and energy. It became easier to blame the economic drought and go stand in line at the soup kitchen. Desparation breeds defeat.
What is the solution? How can you make sure you don't get desparate? First of all, have a plan. When a country knows there is a drought coming, they build warehouses and store food for years in advance.
1.Don't let the crops' failure surprise you. There have been signs broadcasted for years in advance.
2. Slim down your needs and thus your cravings. Go on a diet. Learn to live on less; learn to run your business on less; find deals on your supplies; don't hire help you can't afford to pay; and learn to do the crop watering on your own. Later on, you will know how to train new field hands.
3. Save a portion of the crops you receive rather than consuming all of them.
4. Be mindful of how far a word of encouragement or sharing of low risk ideas and collaboration can go with your fellow Realtors. Take care of your family first but be looking for ways to see your friends through too.
5. Read, take some coaching or mentoring, take online classes that are free, fill up your mind with knowledge of new and better ways to get leads and then plan. Next spring, when the ground thaws and the price for fertilizer comes down, try again. Plant only healthy seeds in fertile soil that has been worked hard by the sweat of your brow, and expect a crop that will be sufficient for your needs.
Desparation leads to defeat. Desparate people quit. No one will succeed who quits. Taking positive steps to avoid desparation leads to hope. Hope, well watered, leads to victory.
Ruth Parker, Productivity Coach, Keller Williams Midway, Thorndale, PA Homes@RuthParker.net Http://kwprocoach.blogspot.com
Monday, January 10, 2011
OPEN HOUSE DREAMING
OPEN HOUSE DREAMING
By Ruth Parker
I sit very comfortably on the oversized leather sofa of my listing. The owner has put jazz on the radio (or is it a cd?) and lit the little flickering candles all over the house. I don’t take my boots off because, any minute now, some eager buyers are going to come to the door and ask to come in to see this house they have had their eye on since the beginning. It is important that I don’t show the vegetative state of relaxation I am sliding into just one second before they come.
In my imagination, the doorbell does ring and a young couple, probably newlyweds, come in with a look of awe on their faces. No sooner had this couple come in but another knock came on the door from another man who can’t wait to see this home… I smile as I see the imaginary couple go up the turned staircase and find the spectacular bedroom at the top of the stairs that would be perfect for a nursery. While they are ooing and ahhing up there, the other buyer is exclaiming about the woodwork shop in the basement and how it is so much more spacious than he expected from the outside. Both are giving me all their contact information and asking me if I will help them make an offer. “Tomorrow afternoon” the man says. “ Today, now!” the young couple says enthusiastically. I sweetly excuse myself from their combat to let another looker in the door…ahhhh, a recent graduate from the local swanky college. This young man will probably pay cash, I think. Not sure whether it is the Benz parked in the driveway or the bills hanging out of his pockets that give me that idea. He does a quick sweep of the house while the couple in the kitchen yells out things to dissuade him from liking their new house. They say, “Oh my, I think the roof leaks!!” and other untrue things like that. I feel like a canary with the silly smile of bliss on my face. Wait, have I ever seen a canary smile?
I sit down on the soft leather sofa in my ruminating state and contemplate how I am going to solve the issue of all three buyers making offers with me being their dual agent, because of course, in my relaxed fantasy, none of them have a buyer’s agent to represent them. All three are willing to pay whatever it takes, one outbidding the other noisily like at a cattle auction. As I lean forward to peek into the kitchen to see if things are getting out of hand, I lean a bit too far forward and my laptop, which has been hibernating on my lap, falls with a crash onto the floor. The crash wakes me and my laptop up and I realize sadly that only one hour has gone by in the three hour open house. The only noise coming from the kitchen is the ice cube maker in the refrigerator. The little candle still flickers on the shelf next to the pile of fresh flyers I printed out for all the lookers, just last night. The jazz still plays lightly on the stereo in its very un-syncopated way and I realize….. I am dreaming.
I pick up my laptop, and begin writing a fantasy about an Open House Dream. Will it be a waste of time? Only if no one comes!!
By Ruth Parker
I sit very comfortably on the oversized leather sofa of my listing. The owner has put jazz on the radio (or is it a cd?) and lit the little flickering candles all over the house. I don’t take my boots off because, any minute now, some eager buyers are going to come to the door and ask to come in to see this house they have had their eye on since the beginning. It is important that I don’t show the vegetative state of relaxation I am sliding into just one second before they come.
In my imagination, the doorbell does ring and a young couple, probably newlyweds, come in with a look of awe on their faces. No sooner had this couple come in but another knock came on the door from another man who can’t wait to see this home… I smile as I see the imaginary couple go up the turned staircase and find the spectacular bedroom at the top of the stairs that would be perfect for a nursery. While they are ooing and ahhing up there, the other buyer is exclaiming about the woodwork shop in the basement and how it is so much more spacious than he expected from the outside. Both are giving me all their contact information and asking me if I will help them make an offer. “Tomorrow afternoon” the man says. “ Today, now!” the young couple says enthusiastically. I sweetly excuse myself from their combat to let another looker in the door…ahhhh, a recent graduate from the local swanky college. This young man will probably pay cash, I think. Not sure whether it is the Benz parked in the driveway or the bills hanging out of his pockets that give me that idea. He does a quick sweep of the house while the couple in the kitchen yells out things to dissuade him from liking their new house. They say, “Oh my, I think the roof leaks!!” and other untrue things like that. I feel like a canary with the silly smile of bliss on my face. Wait, have I ever seen a canary smile?
I sit down on the soft leather sofa in my ruminating state and contemplate how I am going to solve the issue of all three buyers making offers with me being their dual agent, because of course, in my relaxed fantasy, none of them have a buyer’s agent to represent them. All three are willing to pay whatever it takes, one outbidding the other noisily like at a cattle auction. As I lean forward to peek into the kitchen to see if things are getting out of hand, I lean a bit too far forward and my laptop, which has been hibernating on my lap, falls with a crash onto the floor. The crash wakes me and my laptop up and I realize sadly that only one hour has gone by in the three hour open house. The only noise coming from the kitchen is the ice cube maker in the refrigerator. The little candle still flickers on the shelf next to the pile of fresh flyers I printed out for all the lookers, just last night. The jazz still plays lightly on the stereo in its very un-syncopated way and I realize….. I am dreaming.
I pick up my laptop, and begin writing a fantasy about an Open House Dream. Will it be a waste of time? Only if no one comes!!
Friday, January 7, 2011
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