The house is officially on the market. Sigh. It seems so simple to see that in print, but my God, what a road is has been to get here. We put the sign on the lawn on Wednesday and had an open house on Sunday. We decided to try totally on our own at first. When no one called to see the house, I was sure it was because the open house was only a few days away, so why would anyone bother when they could just come by on Sunday?

I baked mini chocolate chip cookies and got a nice bright tablecloth for the table – the one piece of furniture in the entire house, how’s that for “staging?” I got to the house early, so I could crank on the air and be sure everything was “just so.”  It was. And then the waiting started. First a mom and her 7 year old daughter came by. The mom looked around for about a minute and declared the house too small. OK, then, thanks for coming.

There were a few more visitors here and there, and surprisingly, only one neighbor gawking. And it really wasn’t even a neighbor – it was the adult son of a neighbor with his wife/girlfriend/SO who claimed to be searching for a house to buy. Rrrrrrrrrrright. Just look around and run to Mommy and Daddy to let them know everything we’ve done. Which, by the way, if pretty freakin’ substantial, thank you very much.

There were three parties who seemed genuinely interested – a 60ish woman who came with her daughter and grandson, a young married couple and a 60ish widow who came with her 3rd shift-working son. The first woman’s husband had driven by earlier in the week and liked the look of the house. He picked up the flyer that I had made (info sheet, pretty detailed actually) and liked the sound of the house. The wife and daughter made some noises like the husband would probable want to come look, and I invited them to call me any time for a showing. The young couple seemed interested enough to take an offer sheet. The widow seemed impressed with the amount of work done, and that the info sheet was accurate.

Surprisingly, no brokers came. I had gotten a call from a realtor on Saturday asking a ton of questions, and basically telling me I was crazy to try to sell the house myself, what with all the paperwork and disclosures and more paperwork involved.  And why was I possibly asking so much for a house in *that* neighborhood. Um, how about because it is very different from the houses in the ‘hood, with the basement, central air, half bath, etc. Thought she might show up, but never did.

And now I wait. Impatiently, of course.  Wish me luck.

More soon, lots of new Ricky-isms to tell you.

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