Tag: new home

Staying Present: Opossum Invasion

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We’ve been invaded. The double edged sword of living in such close proximity to nature. We love the beautiful trees, the expansive vistas and looking out our windows at nothing but green leaves and sky. But this also means we are right in nature’s lap. The first things our neighbors warned us to watch out for was the wildlife. Our yard is apparently a parade route for foxes, coyotes, and a family of albino opossums – just to name a few. 

This afternoon I took the dog out and walked into the garage when I decided to check on my son’s toys. The door from the house to the garage was not closed tightly and I wondered if he had perhaps left a mess that might inadvertently result in one of his toys being run over or someone tripping. While looking on the far side of the garage I noticed that our blinds had fallen. Then I noticed a face looking back at me. 

A distinctly rodent face that looked too large to be a mouse but was shaped like one. It looked lighter in coloration so either an albino opossum child or a rat. The doleful and kindly eyes lead me to believe it was an opossum but I promptly moved to open the garage to let whatever it was escape – as it was clearly attempting to do through the window.

The garage door is open and I am now reflecting on what items will need to be brought in from the garage – which items I hope and pray have not been nibbled or burrowed in or soiled. Shoes, toys, golf clubs, my hope is that the little invader was only in there for the night and is just hungry and trying to find their way home to their family. Still the idea of some animal in and among my things uninvited makes me squirm. I do not like rodents and least of all rodents in my space and unexpectedly wreaking havoc in my home. Oh, yuck, yuck, yuck. 

I know it is we who are at fault as it must have wandered in while we were outside in the yard. I hope it did not make its own way into the garage as that opens up a whole new crop of items to address. Still if it has, we will deal with it and I am grateful to have learned this lesson so early and in the spring months. I am grateful that it was me who found the intruder and not one of my children who could have been scared or worse yet bitten just because they didn’t know the animal was there and scared it. I’m grateful that we have the ability to send the little beast on its way without harm. I’m grateful that we live in this area and delighted that nature always finds a way. 

I have been searching my lawn night and day these last few weeks hoping to catch a glimpse of a fox, coyote, deer, or opossum and the sweet little darlings brought the show to me. God has a sense of humor. These are the unexpected moments that truly make us feel alive and bring us into the present. There’s nowhere else to be when confronted with a furry faced friend in the dark of a garage. I hope it finds its way home safely. I hope I did not scare it too much with the noise of the garage door and yelling for my partner. I’m grateful for the lesson and will be glad to take it with me as we forge into spring – oh the gifts are many. I’m so glad we’re learning them now. 

What lessons has nature taught you recently? 

Seven Steps to Showing Your House

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Preparing to move and show your home in pictures or in person can be an overwhelming process. You may want to share your personality and decor with the world but you also want to give potential buyers the impression that they would be at home in the space. Looking at houses and explored multiple properties over the years I’ve pulled together a short list of what stands out and makes a difference to buyers. These are the very same rules we applied when placing our home on the market and selling it within a weekend – full disclosure, this happened during 2021’s incredible market, but the rules remain relevant nonetheless.

  1. Cleanliness – I know I’ve been posting a lot about this over the past few weeks but it really makes a difference. When a home is clean it makes buyers more comfortable. Someone who cleans the stovetop and takes the time to vacuum the floors is also likely to switch their air filters regularly and see to it that minor repairs are completed before they become a major issue. This appeals greatly to home buyers as it means they will have fewer expenses repairing projects the previous owners ignored or worse yet, didn’t even notice.
  1. Declutter your surfaces – Making a space look loved and seeing your mail stacked on the counter are two different things. Buyers want to see themselves relaxing and enjoying the space. If they walk in the door and are immediately confronted with piles of paperwork, unfinished laundry, and knick-knacks to dust they are not envisioning Christmas morning, they are envisioning the daily grind and that does not appeal. Clearing the sorting bins from the laundry room may not seem like a big priority but when it makes the room look twice as big and makes laundry seem like a breeze, buyers are more apt to want to wash their stuff at your house instead.
  1. Let in the Light – Any space feels larger when the drapes are pulled back and natural light is able to pour through the windows. Even if all you have is an unobstructed view of the neighbors play set, the natural light makes a room feel airy and spacious and buyers are always drawn in by spaces that feel large and expansive.
  1. Define your spaces – If you have any awkward drop zones or oversized lofts – even if you don’t use them in real life, place a chair, small area rug, or table with a lamp to suggest how the space might be used. We have walked away from houses as buyers because we could not see how to utilize the awkward extra space. Take some guess work out of the equation and give buyers a suggestion – this could be a great place for a reading nook!
  1. Remove all evidence of pets – Buyers may have allergies and even if they don’t mind furry friends walking into a home where the smell of animals is the first sensory experience is going to cost sales. Animals can be hard on a home – potty training, muddy paws, and the telltale scratches on hardwoods or furniture. Buyers want to see the house and imagine their pets, not yours. The house we ended up buying had cats, but we didn’t know it until we got to basement storage area towards the end of our tour and found the cat tree. This is huge, we went through the entire property having no idea and were completely surprised, by the time we got to the basement we were already in love. See tip 1. 
  1. Finish work – We have seen a fair number of flips in this market and while it’s wonderful that people are finding ways to re-finish and re-furbish well loved properties there are some basic final steps that really get in the way of getting the higher offer. Finish work is a big one, caulking, door locks that are mis-matched, poor paint jobs, and in one house absolutely no transitions between different flooring types. When you don’t do the finish work well it makes buyers wonder what other steps you skipped or went cheap on. It’s a basic buyer beware, if a flipper didn’t take the time to do the easy finish work they may also have forgotten to ground your outlets or obtain proper permits or inspections for their work and that can leave buyers in a lurch or worse yet, legal proceedings.
  1. Bonus – Remove your pets! – We were looking at a home once and found a cat in the master closet. No mention was made by the sellers that the cat would be at home. Instead while surveying the storage options our relator asked, “Is that a live cat?” I looked up to see it move and no Halloween scare is as terrifying as thinking you are alone and coming face to face with an unfamiliar animal. The cat was fine, she didn’t hiss, and really I’m pretty sure we woke her from an otherwise cozy nap. Still that house went to the bottom of this list fast!

What tips do you have for making your home show worthy? Are there any staging ideas you swear by?

An Unexpected Exercise in Letting Go

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Today the house photographer came to take pictures of our home, he did a lovely job. Since we moved into this house it has not been this clean. We scoured every surface, emptied every bin, drawer, puzzle, and verified contents. We donated clothing and shoes. We purged and polished, organized and eliminated. We have been up late every night this week preparing for this moment. To be honest, clean houses are totally overrated. Yes, it’s lovely to feel like I live in a hotel, to walk into the bathroom and see nothing but soap on the counter. But this space no longer feels like my home and really, isn’t that a deeper meaning?

We’re preparing to share this space with the world, to sell it to the next family in need of a home. People who are not us but will fill the same cupboards and shelves with their belongings. People who will love this home and make it their own. That is what this exercise is designed to do, to remove the personal and create a blank slate where another family can see themselves living, laughing, and coming together. 

It feels good to be done but this is the beginning of the cleansing, not just the surfaces and floors but the beginning of this home no longer being ours. We are moving toward our new home and towards what is to come, shedding our skin and stepping away from this home and the lives we have built together here. 

When this ritual is all done and this space is ready for a new family to love, learn, and grow we will gone. We get to take the friendships we have made with our neighbors. We get to build something new and different. All of these are bittersweet gifts as the ease of, “I made too much dinner, please eat with us,” and unscheduled playdates that last until bedtime will no longer be part of our routine.

This home was a cozy cocoon that held us safe all through new parenthood, grief, resurrection, and the pandemic. It has given us more than we knew we needed. It taught us how to be good neighbors, the value of a good play structure, walking trails, and the beauty of a garden. It has given us everything we needed to thrive and we have been nourished and nurtured within its walls, climbing them like ivy until we found there were no more walls to cover, no more updates to make, and we are ready for wilder wider spaces.

I am so grateful for this home and its gifts. I am grateful for the people we have known, the first steps and parties, the blowout fights and crying fits, all of those moments have brought us to where we are right now and I am truly grateful that this space has been so patient and generous with us. We could not imagine where we are now when we began our journey of homeownership so I won’t project where we will be in the next ten years. I will only say that I am grateful, fortunate, and so humbled by all we have been given so far.