First home showing in Ohio

[graciegirl]

We listed the house last week and got the call and the follow up email that our house was to be shown between 11:30 and 1:00 today. We started Friday with a meticulous cleaning on top of all of the cleaning we had done. But we put a shine on everything again and ran the sweeper again on the close to 3500 square feet of carpeting. I washed and rewaxed all of the hardwood floors and we had put harnesses and leashes on the kitties. And anyone who had cats can tell you that the last thing you do if cats own you and you are having company is that you damp sponge and vacuum all upholstered surfaces ...which I did this morning. I shined the granite, lit all of the lights. Turned the air condition on full blast, we are having a 90 degree day here in Cincinnati. AND as a final staging touch, I left some iced tea in my favorite pitcher on the screen porch.

Helene had captured the kitties in a smaller room and I turned on the air in the car and carried the protesting kitties to the cage inside and we pulled into the next door neighbors drive.

And waited to see who would look at our house. The roses are blooming..check. The bare spaces in the grass had been seeded and are filling in nicely, check. The bushes are all trimmed, check, I oiled the wrought iron gazebo so it shined, check. We waited and waited some more. The cats are madder than ...cats should be, and one of them had an upset stomach in the closed car in the heat...........even with the air on. We have all four litter boxes in the van too. WHAT fun. We continue to wait.

Guess what? No one came.:lipsrsealed:

[pooh]

OMG, so much work and no one showed? Cripes!

The kitties are going to be on the lookout next time they have to be corralled and moved. I'm sure they're already plotting their revenge, Gracie...be aware... ;)
http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/funny-pictures-cat-has-evil-plans.jpg

[duffysmom]

Oh Gracie I felt as though I was in the car with you peering out the windows waiting. Selling a home is a full time job and the no shows are infuriating. On the up side I just took a tour of the Seabrook and WOW it's a beautiful spacious home; you are going to love it if you decide on that model. Another premier home's (I don't remember the model) open house was canceled; the home sold immediately. Hurry on down and enjoy the good life.:wave:

[ilovetv]

We listed the house last week and got the call and the follow up email that our house was to be shown between 11:30 and 1:00 today. We started Friday with a meticulous cleaning on top of all of the cleaning we had done. But we put a shine on everything again and ran the sweeper again on the close to 3500 square feet of carpeting. I washed and rewaxed all of the hardwood floors and we had put harnesses and leashes on the kitties. And anyone who had cats can tell you that the last thing you do if cats own you and you are having company is that you damp sponge and vacuum all upholstered surfaces ...which I did this morning. I shined the granite, lit all of the lights. Turned the air condition on full blast, we are having a 90 degree day here in Cincinnati. AND as a final staging touch, I left some iced tea in my favorite pitcher on the screen porch.

Helene had captured the kitties in a smaller room and I turned on the air in the car and carried the protesting kitties to the cage inside and we pulled into the next door neighbors drive.

And waited to see who would look at our house. The roses are blooming..check. The bare spaces in the grass had been seeded and are filling in nicely, check. The bushes are all trimmed, check, I oiled the wrought iron gazebo so it shined, check. We waited and waited some more. The cats are madder than ...cats should be, and one of them had an upset stomach in the closed car in the heat...........even with the air on. We have all four litter boxes in the van too. WHAT fun. We continue to wait.

Guess what? No one came.:lipsrsealed:

Having done this routine far too many times, I would recommend loading the kitties and family into the minivan and heading to TV now, while the place is spotless and sparkling!

[jebartle]

Miss you "round" here......Felt your pain and, as sooooo many TOTV'rs, "been there, done that".....Maybe you will luck out and after price increase (Yes, you read that right) a walk-in after listing runs out (Can you believe that), you will have the same luck that we did and SELL, making $50,000 more than original price!!!!!Yea!...Oh happy days, are here again!....I can remember hibernating in the car with our "weiner" dog, watching the prospective buyers troop thru, time after time! Keeping a home "sterile" and welcoming is a chore...And then after the "fresh baked cookies in the oven", many bottles of Febreze used, many many trips with the vacuum, cleaning the pool, scraping the front path, and then low and behold, we sell our home to a CEO who was just driving thru the neighborhood.....You never know when you win the lottery!....Of course our lottery ticket was The Villages.....Yea!

[ilovetv]

....You never know when you win the lottery!....Of course our lottery ticket was The Villages.....Yea!

Now THAT is a great definition of winning the lottery! The huge variety of interesting people here from so many different places truly is like hitting the lottery.

[KyWoman]

Oh the joys of selling a home! I feel your pain Grace and it seems like yesterday we were doing the exact same thing. I hope your agent gives the other agent an earful. Not coming is one thing, but no phone call to cancel?????

I also think you should pack up and come down here. Hire someone to keep the place clean and have your agent call you when it is sold!

[philnpat]

Gracie,
At least you have a full pitcher of ice tea waiting for you to enjoy. Sit back and put your feet up. After them not showing up, you wouldn't want those folks buying it anyway!
PS...I see a sold sign being put up in the near future.

[ssmith]

I feel your pain Gracie....wishing you a buyer soon.

[pzjay]

:rant-rave:Oh, Gracie, I'm so sorry to hear about your "no show". Ours has been on the market for just over two weeks and so far, everyone has come, but no offers yet. I guess this is all part of the "new market conditions" now. The buyer sure does have the upper hand. Our lot awaits in Sanibel and your new home awaits in ???? (not sure if you've decided yet). I know you're a positive thinker so keep that going!!! :icon_wink:

[graciegirl]

:rant-rave:Oh, Gracie, I'm so sorry to hear about your "no show". Ours has been on the market for just over two weeks and so far, everyone has come, but no offers yet. I guess this is all part of the "new market conditions" now. The buyer sure does have the upper hand. Our lot awaits in Sanibel and your new home awaits in ???? (not sure if you've decided yet). I know you're a positive thinker so keep that going!!! :icon_wink:

You may know that for three years we have had a home in Hadley but some persuasive folks read on this forum that our plan was to sell both houses, here and there and build a little different and slightly bigger one when we moved here full time. We kept saying we weren't quite ready to sell and they kept giving us reasons why we should and finally we said yes. We are coming down to TV and closing on June 23rd and have to turn in our I.D's.:cryin2: We are renting for a while to see what is available and hope our Cincy house sells.

This is an adventure, I keep telling myself.:loco:

[cherylncliff]

Our home here in Michigan has been on the market just 2 weeks - a couple of offers which we found to be insultingly low (come on - make a REASONABLE offer! :doh:). We, too, load up the kitties (all 4 of them) and their litter every time there is a showing and drive around town for the 1 1/2 hours or so. The kits are getting to be better about this but in the middle of summer I can't see this being a lot of fun...

We have learned two things, though, first, do NOT feed our Pippin just before taking him in the car and next, ALWAYS take the litter box with us, no matter how short a time we think we will be in the car! You can just guess what happened whe we broke those rules! barf

[Bill-n-Brillo]

Sorry to hear of the no-show, gracie. If it was someone through your realtor, go get a different agent. :rant-rave: Most irritating, eh?

Still keeping our fingers crossed for you.

Bill :wave:

[sunflower3630]

Oh, Gracie, good luck with selling your home. I'm sure it's absolutely beautiful and spotless. I hope an offer comes very soon so you can get on with your new home search in TV. :wave:

[Dirigo]

I feel your pain Gracie. I was up until 2am last Thursday night doing everything I could think of in the hosue to make the best impression for our first showing only to have the person cancel the next morning.

Our second first showing is Wednesdy at 5:30pm. Hope this one shows!

Good luck to you.

Dirigo and the lovely Diane.

[laryb]

With all the members of TOTV and the many friends you've made in TV, there's no doubt in my mind that it will sell. Give it time and it will go, and I would guess that the majority of homes sold these days don't sell the first showing. We're all pulling for you Gracie, but we'll all have to pull a little bit harder to counteract the people in Ohio that want you you stay. Hang in there, it's going to happen!!!!

[skyguy79]

Gracie, when we sold our last home about a year and a half ago it took about 6 weeks where the last two or three went without a single showing and we had a number of no shows prior to that. We were already out of the house when it went onto the market so we received email notices to keep us informed whenever the house was going to be shown and another if canceled or feedback from the showing. We were shocked when we got a call from our agent one day that we received an offer on the house, and we didn't even know it was being shown. So you never know when the phone is gonna rings and...
http://www.noveltytelephone.com/members/546119/graphics/products/characters2/mcmickeysmall.jpg
SURPRISE!!!

[Pturner]

Oh GG,
I'm bummed. I'd like to find those no-shows and beat the crap out of them! :rant-rave:

But just think, you had a dry run getting ready for a showing. You probably learned some things to make it easier next time. It's gonna sell soon. I feel it in my bones.

Here's something funny, GG. I was with Pooh this evening and she told me about your saga as I had not seen your post. My third reaction, after sympathy for you and wanting to beat the crap out of Mr. and Mrs. No Show, was, "Oh, those cats are gonna be hell to corral next time. There will be revenge!" Now I see that Pooh posted that same thought herself.

OK, it's not that funny. But laugh with me anyway, 'cause I sure wish I could put a smile on your face right now.

Love you,
Pturner

p.s., It's gonna sell soon. I can feel it in my bones.

[jojo]

Grace, Thinking good thoughts for your next showing. Have you rented a place down here yet?

[marybb]

Graciegirl,

I know your house will sell. Shame on Mr. And Mrs. No show, may they both get the flu. The silver lining to this is when the realtor does call you for a showing the work is all done.:angel:

[graciegirl]

You all make me smile. The reason for this effort is so that we have more time to hang out with all of you who are dear to my heart.

JoJo, many wonderful people offered us houses to rent and it was tough to choose. Larry and Linda offered their house on a month to month basis and we accepted. It is near your home P!!!

I fear that I will be pulling weeds wherever I walk in TV and maybe wiping off my friends counters. One of my good friends has already suggested that I may be up for cleanaholics anonymous. Using oil on the gazebo is making her mighty worried.

I think I will revert back to my sloppy self very soon...But NOT in your house Larry and Linda, I promise!!

[wendyquat]

That's why I gave up my career as a real estate agent! Probably left their agent waiting also!! You always wait to call the client as you feel sure your "looker" will show up any minute.

It's no fun and exasperating and I'm so sorry it happened to you. Maybe next time!!

Wendy

[Uptown Girl]

Just "paint" a picture in your mind of your house with a beautiful SOLD sign
on the lawn. Then picture yourself doing the Happy dance!
xoxodeb

[glgene]

Gracie,

Your house is a stand-out. The best of the best!

Be patient. When Mr. & Mrs. Right Buyer walk thru your front door and see your immaculately-kept home, it will SELL.

We enjoyed lunching with you, Henry and Helene last Saturday. You're fun to be with!

Save us a lot (or home) in TV.

Gene & Kathy
:wave:

[scottiee]

Would you like some of us to swear for you? GLAD to do it:loco::loco:

[graciegirl]

Gracie,

Your house is a stand-out. The best of the best!

Be patient. When Mr. & Mrs. Right Buyer walk thru your front door and see your immaculately-kept home, it will SELL.

We enjoyed lunching with you, Henry and Helene last Saturday. You're fun to be with!

Save us a lot (or home) in TV.

Gene & Kathy
:wave:

Thank you guys. From your mouth to God's ears. You are the expert...so we are trying to believe your kind words.

We enjoyed lunching with the CEO of the Cincinnati Board of Realtors last Saturday GENE! .........Who said that he thought our house would be sold in a month, (We loved to hear HIM say THAT) and who is chomping at the bit to be retired and join us in Paradise. Thankfully, Kathy is getting retired in two months.:wave:

[2BNTV]

Hi Gracie:

I feel your pain. I had someone cancel and reschedule their showing for Tuesday.They were suppose to come on Sunday.

It's a bummer when someone cancels a showing. :(

It's a pain to always keep the house immaculate. I'm sure your home is immaculate. I keep thinking if my place is perfect, it will sell.

I remember a post where the person said she stopped worrying about the house being perfect and immaculate and then it sold. I'm sure your beautiful home will sell in a short period of time.

Best wishes for the quick sale of your home and getting the price you want.

[graciegirl]

Hi Gracie:

I feel your pain. I had someone cancel and reschedule their showing for Tuesday.They were suppose to come on Sunday.

It's a bummer when someone cancels a showing. :(

It's a pain to always keep the house immaculate. I'm sure your home is immaculate. I keep thinking if my place is perfect, it will sell.

I remember a post where the person said she stopped worrying about the house being perfect and immaculate and then it sold. I'm sure your beautiful home will sell in a short period of time.

Best wishes for the quick sale of your home and getting the price you want.

Back atcha and hugs. We are going to get through this and we will all have dinner to celebrate at.........The Lighthouse???

[whartonjelly]

We feel your pain. We live in a small community and have had one person look so far. No negative remarks. But needs to sell their house first. No offer. but we have had over 200 lookers on the online website. It went like this. The first week, 56, then 74, then it dwindled down to only 6 , but then picked up to 26 and last week 56 ! hope this is a trend! The weather this week is supposed to be so much better. Good luck for Gracie and ourselves !

[2BNTV]

It sounds great to me. I have the "Lighthouse Lights" picture in my bedroom that I look at once in a while. I gladly trade it for the real view.

Hugs until we can meet in person. I am sooooooo looking forward to that day.

[glgene]

Gracie,

As Sgt. Friday used to say on the TV show 'Dragnet,' "Just the facts, mam."

I predict your Ohio house will sell in 6 weeks (not 4).

I think your Realtor walk-thru tomorrow will certainly open the eyes of those participating. If there are buyers in your price range, your beautiful house will SELL. Your perfect move-in condition will elicit response!

Gene & Kathy
Save us a spot in TV!

[PatandBob]

I don't even know you and I feel awful for you! So annoying ... what is so hard about making a phone call and cancelling. Gheesh! Best wishes for a sale ... SOON!

Hope we get to meet when we finally are able to start building ourselves. So not looking forward to the process of selling our NY home though.

[ladydoc]

Dear Gracie- I am also keeping my fingers crossed for you and keeping you in our prayers. We have lots of room for house selling prayers since we took ours off the market. Nothing is moving up here in the mountains and I found it physically impossible to keep it in showing condition and pack at the same time. Can not be done. We will rent it for awhile and maybe put it back on the market in a year or two. Hubby is even thinking about keeping it to come back to in the summer. But in any case, good luck...your place sounds amazing.

[swimdawg]

[QUOTE=graciegirl;358264]
I fear that I will be pulling weeds wherever I walk in TV and maybe wiping off my friends counters. One of my good friends has already suggested that I may be up for cleanaholics anonymous. Using oil on the gazebo is making her mighty worried.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
and Gracie......that friend that has you worried about being a cleanaholic....well, maybe she has some issues herself.
Is there such a thing as a swimaholic?:icon_wink:
Good luck with your house. It's gonna sell. I can feel it in my bones.:doggie:

[Another 65er]

Gracie: Our wish for you is that the first showee proves to be the one who becomes a buyer. We put our home on the market three weeks ago and had a number of lookers but the first couple who looked at it almost three weeks ago made an offer we accepted yesterday. The purchase price will be is slightly more than 96% of the listing price.

Now we sweat out the inspection and the contract. Assuming that all goes well, we close on August 31 and I retire on September 29, my 68th birthday. We expect to be here in TV in our Buttonwood home in mid-October.

[Pturner]

Larry and Linda offered their house on a month to month basis and we accepted. It is near your home P!!!

:a040::a040::a040::2excited:

[skip0358]

GG keep your fingers crossed. It'll happen, maybe not as quickly as you'd like. When it's done you've won and you know what the prize is like. Wishing for a quick sale and smooth closing. I had a picture of TV as my screen saver looked at the prize everyday. Good luck!

[2BNTV]

Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
Larry and Linda offered their house on a month to month basis and we accepted. It is near your home P!!!

WOW - Gracie and P in the same neighborhood.

Do I smell coffee brewing? :)

[mak44070]

Quote:
Originally Posted by graciegirl
Larry and Linda offered their house on a month to month basis and we accepted. It is near your home P!!!

WOW - Gracie and P in the same neighborhood.

Do I smell coffee brewing? :)

I'll bring the wine!:wine::wine::wine:

[Barefoot]

Selling a house can be such a frustrating experience and it takes so much work to make your house "perfect" for showings. And yes, a "perfect" house shows much better than a messy one. After 20 years as a real estate broker, I have seen it all. I've actually shown houses where you had to carefully wade through piles of dirty laundry. And people asleep on the floor. But that is another story.

By the way, someone suggested that you fire your agent if an appointment is cancelled. That is just wrong. Appointments are generally made by a selling broker for their client, through the listing agent's office. The selling broker gets a last minute call ... my car won't start ... my babysitter didn't show up ... I have a migrane. And the appointment gets cancelled. Certainly not the agent's fault. But very frustrating for the seller nevertheless.

We had our CYV in TV for sale and believe me, selling in TV is even more frustrating than selling in other areas of the country. Because 90% of the people, when they start out looking in TV, aren't even looking in your specific area, they're just getting familiar with the territory. They are "tire kickers", just in TV looking around, trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak. They're not sure yet what Village they want to live in or what model they want to purchase. So they're just browsing. Nothing wrong with browsing, we all did it. And eventually the tire kickers will decide what they want, and hopefully your home will be perfect for them. But most showings in TV aren't "serious showings" as they would be is someone was interested in your particular model in your village. Now second showings are extremely important, and worth a lot of preparation time!

Having daily showings isn't bad if your house is always in meticulous shape. I always wanted to have fresh flowers around, classical music playing, all the lights on, cinnamon simmering on the stove, counter tops shining, etc. When you have two dogs and a cat, it takes considerable work to spruce up the house and remove the animals. In the summer, of course, you can't leave animals in the car so I used to park down the block with the air conditioning going, and wait, and wait, and wait. Lots of no-shows. It takes patience.

Anyway, hang in their, it's all worth it!

[2BNTV]

Selling a house can be such a frustrating experience and it takes so much work to make your house "perfect" for showings. And yes, a "perfect" house shows much better than a messy one. After 20 years as a real estate broker, I have seen it all. I've actually shown houses where you had to carefully wade through piles of dirty laundry. And people asleep on the floor. But that is another story.

By the way, someone suggested that you fire your agent if an appointment is cancelled. That is just wrong. Appointments are generally made by a selling broker for their client, through the listing agent's office. The selling broker gets a last minute call ... my car won't start ... my babysitter didn't show up ... I have a migrane. And the appointment gets cancelled. Certainly not the agent's fault. But very frustrating for the seller nevertheless.

We had our CYV in TV for sale and believe me, selling in TV is even more frustrating than selling in other areas of the country. Because 90% of the people, when they start out looking in TV, aren't even looking in your specific area, they're just getting familiar with the territory. They are "tire kickers", just in TV looking around, trying to get the lay of the land, so to speak. They're not sure yet what Village they want to live in or what model they want to purchase. So they're just browsing. Nothing wrong with browsing, we all did it. And eventually the tire kickers will decide what they want, and hopefully your home will be perfect for them. But most showings in TV aren't "serious showings" as they would be is someone was interested in your particular model in your village. Now second showings are extremely important, and worth a lot of preparation time!

Having daily showings isn't bad if your house is always in meticulous shape. I always wanted to have fresh flowers around, classical music playing, all the lights on, cinnamon simmering on the stove, counter tops shining, etc. When you have two dogs and a cat, it takes considerable work to spruce up the house and remove the animals. In the summer, of course, you can't leave animals in the car so I used to park down the block with the air conditioning going, and wait, and wait, and wait. Lots of no-shows. It takes patience.

Anyway, hang in their, it's all worth it!

:agree: especially the part about the selling agent cancelling an appointment. I had a showing this Sunday from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. At 12:35 PM, I received a call from the realtor the showing was cancelled but a rescheduled for today at the same time.

I hope this a buyer that will make a fair offer.

How many buyers place an offer after the first showing?

If a potential buyer comes for a second showing, does it mean they will automartically place an offer?

[Barefoot]

:agree: especially the part about the selling agent cancelling an appointment. I had a showing this Sunday from 11:30 AM to 12:30 PM. At 12:35 PM, I received a call from the realtor the showing was cancelled but a rescheduled for today at the same time.

I hope this a buyer that will make a fair offer.

How many buyers place an offer after the first showing?

If a potential buyer comes for a second showing, does it mean they will automartically place an offer?

The first showing is usually for first impressions, and the second is to check out specific info like how much storage is in the kitchen, what type of appliances are included, is there hardwood under the purple bedroom carpet, does the neighbor's dog really bark continually, etc.

Usually a second showing means they've narrowed their search down to one or two homes in your neighborhood. If the buyers are experienced, they may make make an offer after a second showing. If the buyers are first timers, they'll usually want to bring their parents before they make an offer.

[graciegirl]

We have been getting this house ready for the market for a long time. We have removed all wall paper except for border in the laundry room. We have repainted in neutral all rooms except three and they are kind of a neutral soft green...(I hope) We have weeded and mulched and trimmed and watered and removed bird feeders and a couple of statues from the yard. We have removed a lot of furniture from the house such as bookcases and extra chairs and almost all pictures of family. We have had the carpet cleaned and the exterior painted. We have replaced any window panes that had cloudy thermoseals. We have had four garage sales and contributed a lot of STUFF we didn't need or use to Goodwill, Vietnam Vets and St.Vincent de Paul. We have made our daughter take a lot of her THINGS that were living here. We have made our closets a work of art and practically useless.

I have watched the shows on HGTV obsessively and tried to take their advice on staging. What have I forgotten?

[JenAjd]

Sounds like you're done all that you can as far as your end of the deal. I know the frustration of selling a house as we went through all that a year ago...and before. It takes just one interested party but it's the luck of the draw in this economy I think. Hopefully you have your house priced right too. Gone are the days where we can ask what "we" think it's worth. It's got to compare to what's out there in other places. Hopefully you won't have to wait long!!!

[jaspal]

Gracie,
I can feel the sparkle of your home all the way in Michigan. Also, I can see that right person walking thru your home & buying it.
Congratulations with your decision to make that final decision by selling your Ohio home. Wish my husband would agree on our Michigan home as well.

Best of luck.

Pat

[mak44070]

We have been getting this house ready for the market for a long time. .......I have watched the shows on HGTV obsessively and tried to take their advice on staging. What have I forgotten?

Don't forget the smell of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven.
And did you bury St Joseph yet??

P.S. Your home shows very well on the internet.