The Mommies, Esquire are BOTH trying to sell our homes. Julie is trying to sell her house due to her husband being relocated. Kim is selling her home in hopes of fulfilling her country dreams of buying a farm and settling down in rural America. Both women are having troubles. In today’s real estate market, has the Home & Garden Channel made homebuyers unrealistic when it comes to buying a house? The Mommies, Esquire say, “YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
A homebuyer's dream. Super Neutral Palate. Who lives in this? It looks like a hotel room at a Residence Inn. No child lives in this home. I'm just sayin'........
Says Kim:
WANTED: One old farmhouse, built anywhere from 1840 to 1910. Large enough to accommodate three wild little boys and two exhausted adults. Must have at least five or more acres of surrounding farmland for wife’s desire to try her hand at organic farming and husband’s desire to buy some cattle. Boys want a horse or two, therefore, the family needs a barn on the land. Real estate MUST NOT be in a planned subdivision of any kind and must have plenty of trees and native plant life. However, said lot must be within a reasonable distance to husband’s law office so that he can continue to leave home everyday for work, thereby maintaining his sanity.
Am I asking too much? I don’t think so. First, I must sell my house. This has become harder to do…….and it’s not because of the economy/real estate market. I think it’s all due to these “house shows” on channels like HGTV, Fine Living, and DIY. I’m convinced that people who are in the market to buy a house must watch endless hours of shows like, “Sell This House” and “House Hunters.” Why do I say this? Let me walk you through it….
We had our home on the market last year for a brief stint. We thought of it as an “experiment.” If the house sold, great. If not, no biggie. Nevertheless, our real estate agent at the time, Betty* (not her real name) had an open house for the other realtors in her real estate firm. Apparently, the real estate firm does this for agents to get feedback on the marketability of a house. Betty called us at the end of the open house and gave us our “suggestions” which was more like a firm command to do what they tell you or you’ll be sitting on your house for a solid five years and twiddlng your thumbs. We were told that our house was great for our area since everything in our suburb is priced very low (because it is a shack) or outrageously high (because it is a newly built “McMansion”). Our house is an average 4 bedroom – 2.5 bath home with a big backyard and wooden playset. Perfect for a family. We were told to “neutralize” our house to appeal to the masses….among other various things.
Translation: Paint everything that doesn’t move cream or white.
What was wrong with the color in my house? What was wrong with my house….period? I “De-cluttered.” There was no kiddie artwork on the fridge or alphabet magnets scattered about. So what if my kitchen is painted an “apple green” and my bathroom a “teal”? Can’t someone paint for Pete’s sake? Must I do it? And then there was a comment about a light bulb blowing out when someone turned on the light in my son’s bathroom. That’s not anything I can avoid, people. I’d pop in and change the darn thing, but I had to be out of my house for two solid hours (with a screaming two year old)……remember? I’ll put a new light bulb in when I get home. Another comment was about someone finding a Superman action figure in the downstairs light fixture. I never knew it was there. Another comment was about whether or not we should replace all of our black (new) appliances to stainless ones. Have they lost their minds? I want to make money….not spend it right now. I won’t even go into what I should do with some of my antiques. Apparently, most people out there don’t like anything that’s more than five minutes old. Sheesh.
We took the home off the market. It just wasn’t good timing and I wasn’t in the mood.
Now, we are willing to eat nails to move this house. My sweet husband bought me the farmhouse table of my dreams and I decided to homeschool. I’m almost living my Little House On The Prairie fantasy. Now, I just need that dang farm. So, what did I do?
Ahhh, yes....I can see it now....sitting on the porch swing and drinking lemonade.
I painted every wall of my home……(drum roll, please)………….VANILLA.
I took almost every knick-knack off of every surface. (It’s not like I have a bobblehead collection, mind you) I have taken down 75% of the pictures I cherish of my children because the Lord knows that I have so many pictures that my house is beginning to look like a shrine to my kids, Give this Momma a break, please. I like pictures. I have placed all of my sons’ artwork in a plastic bin, so that I can scrapbook it later or find more frames. I took my Grandmother’s quilt off the guest bed and replaced it with a solid white comforter. My walls aren’t the only thing “vanilla”….so is my whole house. There’s not much “personality” going on anywhere.
Is this good? Well, supposedly it helps people visualize their stuff in your space. I think this is a bunch of crap.
What happened to looking beyond wall color? Don’t people have imaginations? Have you seen the current pictures of houses for sell on these real estate websites? Some times I think that real estate agents take pictures of a homeseller’s furniture and not the actual rooms. It’s ridiculous. Plus, every time I turn on one of those shows on HGTV, I think every room looks the same. Everyone has the same light khaki on the wall….the same Pottery Barn furniture….the same wooden balls in a bowl on a coffee table….the same stainless steel appliances (which kind of makes you wonder when this fad will be over, too)…..the same tile on the floors of bathrooms and kitchens…..the same psuedo-modern art….the same beige bedding with the down comforter folded at the end of the bed. Blah, blah, blah.
What must I do to sell my house? Make it look like a Pottery Barn showroom? Well, not with three little boys, thank you.
Here’s what I want to happen…..
Let’s all cut each other some slack. In the era before HGTV, people did not expect perfection. If you wanted to buy a house, you made appointments and hoped for the best. You realized that you could paint or wallpaper. Heck, if you didn’t want to do it, you just used this as leverage for a lower price or a “decorator’s allowance” at closing. Want fancy closets? You just added that in to the budget of the house. Want an ice maker? Go buy one.
I think we are expecting too much. My husband says that I can envision a mansion where none exists. It’s my own little gift. I’ve lived in old houses my whole life and I like thinking about a home’s potential. I can look beyond someone’s plastic flower arrangement or burnt orange carpet, circa 1972. I realize that other people cannot, but when did selling a house get so complicated?
I say if some real estate agent can ask me to snatch up all three of my little boys during their naptime so some “Looky Loo” can breeze through my house during a two hour timespan, then this potential home buyer can cut me some slack if I’ve left cereal bowls in the sink or my son’s latest fingerpaint masterpiece is proudly displayed on the refrigerator. Gimme a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As our RE agent a couple of years told us, it just takes one person to walk in and fall in love. Obviously, none of those folks were the ‘right’ person. We successful sold 2 homes that did NOT have white walls, but then again, those were different times in the housing market.
But on another note, I’m a bit jealous about the attempt to move to the country. We sold our 5 acre “farmette” complete with an adorable barn and horse to follow my husband’s job (which took us 16 hours away from ‘home’). We made the decision to buy in a house in a development (even though we hate HOAs) since we would need to make friends/playmates. So now instead of spending all weekend catching up on grass-cutting, we have more time to ‘play’, but would we trade our ‘play’ for life on the farm? You bet, in second we would! Hopefully we’ll be doing the same as you in a year or two.
Best of luck on the home sales!
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