Category: Family adventures

Adventures I’ve had with family members

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter L)

Shirleyjdietz10 Comments
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I confess, I ate this.

Had an “angst day” today. While researching moving and storage options online, I ate a whole pint of Brookie Dough ice cream (which I found when I cleaned out the renter’s freezer). It was good.

“Lower the Price” starts with L

I’m getting so tired of the suggestion to lower the price for my things I want to get rid of, when the price is going higher for everything I need to get. How does that happen?

Today I posted some furniture for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I really like that option for selling things – it’s like having a garage sale without a lot of uninterested people involved. I often start getting responses in minutes.

But, just like at yard sales, online swap shops are full of bargain hunters that will usually offer half or less than my advertised price. (sad face) Sometimes I go with whatever is being offered because the objective is only to get the item out the door. Anything I get is a bonus. To be honest, some of the things I’ve sold were free to me and I had no idea what they would cost if I’d bought them. I list them as free items and they go pretty fast. The frustrating times happen when I have something nice to sell, something which I had to wait to afford, and paid for dearly.

As soon as I list it, Facebook Marketplace has an option for me to lower the price! It also gives me the prices of similar listed items for comparison, which is helpful, I guess. However, it gives me the same feeling as when I trade in a vehicle and the salesman starts telling me how little my car is really worth.

The really scary price lowering is probably going to happen when we start bargaining with a prospective house buyer. Deciding what to ask in the first place has to take in account that someone will offer a lower amount, almost assuredly. It also has to take into account that we are spending somewhere around $15K just to make the houses nicer for someone else. It is a bit of a numbers game and depends so much on the market, and the individual buyer’s love for a particular place.

I want to come away from this experience with the feeling that we have been fairly rewarded for the care and attention to this beautiful property. I also want to feel that we have passed on the blessing to the next owner and been fair to them. I am praying for this to happen and am confident that it will, even if we have to lower the price.

 

 

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter K)

Shirleyjdietz2 Comments

Kilz Is Not A Scary Word  ( a poem of a different kind )

 

Kilz is a homeowner’s friend.

It is an amazing paint product, not an evil act.

Actually I think it is a play on words, being similar to Kills,

Which is an evil act most of the time. Kilz was probably fashioned after Kills

Because it does “do away with” some undesirables, like stains, like mold.

It covers and traps resins and penetrating colors and hides them, so

You could say, Kilz kills them.

 

Kilz can make your walls lovable again.

The handprints, the crayon pictures, the pet stains,

When you want them gone, are all hard to cover.

Ordinary paint may allow these stains to bleed through, and then

There they are again, resurrected. Kilz will fix it,

Although I don’t know how.

 

It’s a primer, and that word means it comes first.

Sealing the porous surfaces, creating a base for color.

Hiding the surface underneath, Kilz makes paint colors

Truer, brighter, and helps them stick to

Most any surface, which is very handy.

 

Have you heard of mildewcide?

It’s in Kilz, and mildew can’t abide

The surface primed with this special stuff.

Good to know. Use it where mold might grow.

 

It looks like paint, it comes in a can.

Put it on with a brush.

I’m a big fan.

 

Another handy feature,

It cleans up with soap and water.

 

Kilz is a homeowner’s friend.

 

This is an awful poem, if a poem at all, but it does have decreasing number of lines in each stanza. There may be a name for this form, or I may have made it up. It does give it some distinction, I think.  

 

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A sign featuring the letter K in a prominent spot, but having nothing to do with the poem above.

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter J)

Shirleyjdietz13 Comments

Tomorrow will be another busy day, scrubbing grout in between grocery shopping and a trip to the airport to pick up my cousin. I’m posting early so I won’t forget and be late. 

Junk is a J word

As I consider PAYING to store things during our move, I look at my possessions with a different perspective. I cannot afford to box up and store anything that I consider junk. But the definition of junk is very subjective – kind of like beauty being in the eye of the beholder.  You’ve heard it before, one person’s junk is another person’s treasure. There is a reason almost every house has a junk drawer – true?

I may not be in my next home, one that I will be required to furnish, for months. When that time comes will I have a place for the collections, knick knacks, throw pillows, books, etc… that I have now? I can’t count on that. It might be much better to wait and see, and furnish a new place with things that fit in its spaces. So having adopted this sane way of looking at paring down, why does it all fall apart when I go up in the attic and find this…

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Look at those precious little pig faces, and the rooster and hen. I love the little clear glass pitcher too. I love it all.
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That white vase is so unusual, and the blue and brass Delft vases could be valuable, couldn’t they?
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This vase has always made me happy. I have to keep it. It won’t take up much space in storage (rationalize much? yes).

I just can’t help hanging on to precious, unique things, even if all I ever do is look at them. Like my chickens (or maybe they are roosters), whose heads are salt and pepper shakers and bodies are cream and sugar servers. Or my funny little vases that have a Delft label. They are either things I’ve had passed down from family or things I’ve miraculously come across in a garage sale for almost nothing! Definitely meant to have a forever home with me, I’m thinking.

Then there is my blue glass collection. I love blue. And my John Deere collection which bears witness to my farm girl soul – it’s all boxed up, ready for transport. It’s not junk when I see it and think about giving it away. So then, how is it that some of these things have been put away in the attic for years and I didn’t even remember I had them? Would that be the definition of “junk”, stuff you don’t miss enough to know that you miss it? Maybe.

I have found things that I hope will be someone else’s treasure. In fact, I make such frequent trips to the donation center that I drive to one farther away where they won’t recognize me. But I’m hoping that someday I’ll enjoy unpacking the things I’ve kept and finding just the right place for them.

This moving process is useful in that it has helped me limit those collections to a reasonable number. Best of all, I think I’m really going to avoid that last-minute frustration of throwing all those left over things in a box because I don’t have time to thoughtfully sort through them.

Do you have precious junk? Would you put it in a box and pay to store it?

 

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter I)

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I for Inspection

There is often a misconception that homeowners know all about their houses and that buyers will be told everything they need to know to decide on the purchase. What often happens is that a buyer who is applying for a loan will be required to have the house inspected by a certified professional. The lending agency wants to make sure it’s a good purchase. The careful buyer can request an inspection on their own as well, and it’s a good idea especially if the house is aged.

Lastly, the seller can decide to ask for an inspection if they want to ensure a quick sale that won’t be held up by needed repairs. Since it is optional in many cases, and is an extra expense, many sellers sell their homes “as is” and wait for a buyer who doesn’t mind finding things out on their own. I’ve heard sad stories of people buying houses and finding out the foundation is cracked, or the roof leaks, or the plumbing or electric is outdated and dangerous. A certified inspector should be able to discover these faults and give the buyer a chance to address them in the contract – if they still like the house enough to buy it.

Because we want this sale to go as seamlessly as possible, our realtor thought it would be a good idea to get an inspection. Mr. Owens was the recommended specialist. He gave me a prompt proposal for the two houses and came out the same week. He is a building contractor himself and has years of experience. His son, also experienced, took one of our houses and he took the other. A few days later I was emailed a report with the findings. The report has detailed pictures of their findings and a written summary of their recommendations. It’s very helpful.

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Yes, olive green tile from the 70’s. Today the plumber replaced the sink stopper. Cross that one off. See how easy this report is to follow?

Of course, we are living in our house right now without much notice of the faults that were called out. Most of them were not serious. The rental house is a little more problematic, but now we know and can fix it up. Having that list gives us direction and a way to measure our progress. At the end there will be a few things that we have chosen not to fix, which is always our prerogative. Since we do know our house much better after the report we can be sure we are making the sale with full disclosure. That feels like peace of mind to me.

I’m glad we had the inspection.

How would an inspection of  your house, right now, make you feel? Nervous? Confident?

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter H)

Shirleyjdietz3 Comments

This was written ahead, but yesterday was way too full to even sit down and post it. The painter is coming and I only had a partial day to clean before him. We  don’t want to paint over dirt (anymore). 

H for Handyman

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The handyman list was the longest.

There are very few houses that would not benefit from the services of a handyman. The name is so apt. Any smart homeowner should know at least two of them. Over the years we have not always fixed things that were not crucial to daily operations. Now that we are getting ready to sell, we have a lot of catching up to do.

After the home inspection, I ended up with several to-do lists. One of them was for the handyman. The realtor gave me the name of one that he trusted, but this man was booked up for weeks. That’s why I’m saying that you need to know of more than one.

I, fortunately, have a realtor who has done time as a contractor/handyman. And because he like to gets houses on the market as soon as possible, he sometimes steps down and grabs his tools again. I also know a multi-talented Hispanic friend, Joe, who does work for me when he’s not doing cement contracting. On day one of tackling the list,  Joe was working with the caulk gun when Tory, the realtor, showed up. To my surprise, a few seconds later they were chattering away in Spanish and had several list items all figured out. Teamwork is sweet.

Joe often stores his ladders and ropes at our house, probably because our house always needs pressure washing and those are necessary tools. Joe is very good at yard work too. I can ask him to make it look nice, and he figures out how. After seeing “the list” he got busy and worked on places where the siding was loose and where caulking was needed. He cleaned all the gutters and downspouts. A week later Tory spent a whole day doing finishing carpentry and replacing small areas of bad wood. He removed the barrier fence around the second story patio that was going to be re-roofed. These guys have tools and know how to use them. It’s a beautiful thing to see.

What I appreciate about Joe is that if something is broken, he will always try to fix it. He has an optimism and a curiosity about how things work and he is sure he can make that broken thing work fine again. I take advantage of that and give him my broken appliances just for the relief of having them off the premises. Today he took a washer and a stove. Made a nice big empty spot in our garage.

I am a handy woman, and although I’m not quite as handy as a handyman, I got a lot done yesterday. My favorite tool is a drill. My favorite thing to do with it is remove screws. All of our kitchen cabinet fronts are getting painted white so all the doors, had to be removed and the hardware completely taken off – several hundred screws I would say. And then I had to scrub them all. The whir of the drill and the aroma of bleach… handywoman ambiance.

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This is not the first time I’ve been photographed with a drill in my hand.

Do you have a handyman? You should. Get one before you have a crisis. Just sayin’…

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter F)

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Yesterday I breathed a lot of bleach fumes (an F word), scrubbing tile grout in the rental house, so today I mowed and did yard work in the fresh air and sunshine. The renters moved some more things out after work but are now exhausted. They asked if they could come back to clean in the morning. “Well, of course you can,” said I. 

F for Floors

Deciding to sell our house awoke a whole set of fears I didn’t know I had. One of them was the fear of people walking into our house with a critical eye and saying “what on earth were these people trying to do with their floors?” Floor fear.

Although I love things to be visually beautiful and pleasing, I’m not really a fussy person. If you combine that with my other fear of spending too much money, you get a house full of floors that resemble a quilt, with surfaces changing as you pass from room to room.

I pretty much hate carpet, at least for my family’s lifestyle, so we have done away with it. About ten years ago I put cork flooring in the kitchen and dining room. About the same time I went for interlocking bamboo in the living room and hall. The money ran out so I decided to paint the cement in my bedroom and lived with it for years.  I finally put cork down there too, because I love the way it feels, but it wasn’t the same cork as the kitchen floor.

Vinyl sticky back tiles went down in the guest bath and laundry room – that was probably a mistake. The daughter living at  home at the time tried to stop me, but again, the money… I learned my lesson so when we upgraded the master bath we splurged on ceramic tile. The holdouts have been the guest bedroom, which has the original, dark, shiny, sheet vinyl and the lanai which has the original green indoor-outdoor fake turf. Original means 30+ years.

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My flooring “quilt”. At least they are all soothing, woodsy colors – like the forest floor.

I’ve watched those shows on HG TV. Those renovators snobbishly rip out perfectly good floors just so they can have their seamless beauty running consistently throughout. I might do that too if I had a house no one was living in, and $50K to spiff things up a bit. But no, as I said, I’m not fussy. In fact, I’m fairly happy walking on any surface that isn’t slippery, sticky or covered with dangerous objects.

Our rental house has even more ancient flooring, and it’s there that I’m most tempted to put down something new. But suppose I put down something I liked but the new owner did not. What a waste of time and resources! How to make it appealing and contemporary without wasting time and money… that is the question.

My sign for F was taken in Hayward, Wisconsin. The Feed Mill really is a feed mill and has sold animal food  and field/garden seed since I was a small child. 

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A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter G)

Shirleyjdietz5 Comments
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A sign for the letter G

But as for my theme, G is for Garage

Once upon a time, in Florida, we did not have a garage. We had a carport only. It never really was enough room even for our car, truck and trailers. When we moved to the oneacrewoods, we were overjoyed to have a large two car, attached garage with an automatic door opener! My parents in the adjoining house also had a large two car garage. Both of these garages had pull down ladders leading to large attic storage space. I don’t know how many readers will recognize the potential for catastrophe here, but I will just tell you – it is real and present danger, unless you are a very disciplined, organization freak.

We are savers. At one time our garage was so full that I stored my precious lumber (yes, I had lumber) on the floor in piles just high enough that I could park the car over them. Every spare part for sprinklers, various engines, draperies and blinds, lawn equipment, along with nuts, bolts, nails and hardware from every project we ever attempted was all put in the garage. At one time, effort was made to corral like items in boxes, jars and little cases with tiny plastic drawers but it never worked very well. At least 50% of this stuff was/is unusable and should be thrown away, but that is a job in itself and we are always tired when we get done with our projects.

When the hurricane came last year, I got both of our vehicles in the garage but I don’t know how I did it and it hasn’t happened since.

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And because I’ve just carried everything down from the attic, it won’t be happening this week either. BUT SOON.

Now, garage clean up has to happen in order to sell the house. And it includes the attics above the garages! I understand, the buyer is not going to want my stuff. I don’t even want my stuff. I feel embarrassed at the 10 years worth of National Geographics that I saved and was going to use for…? And  how is it that there are more seashells to be found in my attic than at the seashore? And do you know that it’s probably 120 degrees up there?

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These magazines weigh a ton! I hope they weren’t valuable, nah….

The truck and men that I wrote about a few days ago took the big furniture out for me but I have been working on the boxes of saved toys and glassware, books and canning jars all afternoon. The renters are still working on their side too but I think this might be their last truckload.

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Today I read about something called dostadning, or “death cleaning”, which is a Scandinavian term for getting rid of your stuff so your children don’t have to do it after you’re dead. But really, it would be good for us to do a little of this for our own well-being and sanity. Keep this in mind, the only thing worse than having to clean the garage is having a garage sale, because then you have wasted a whole half day (at least) and still have to re-store the leftovers in your garage or haul them to a donation place. Just give it all away in the first place. My thoughts.

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter E)

Shirleyjdietz3 Comments
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Today’s letter E sign was encouraging.

More excitement (another E word!) today, if you want to call it that. The plumber came! He cleaned drains, replaced corroded valves, and fixed the shower that always gave us cold water when we turned it to hot, and hot water when we turned it to cold. All these things and a few more were called out in the home inspection (more about that when we get to letter I). And if that wasn’t enough fun, the termite inspector came too. South of the Mason-Dixon line, every frame house has dry wood termites about every 12 years and needs to be tented. I got a tutorial on the critters as we went through every room of the two houses, including attics. The good news – we don’t have any.

E is for Escrow

It’s a little boring, so I’ll be quick. Escrow just means that some third party has come in and is helping two others complete a transaction by keeping money or a deed in their possession until all parts of the contract have been fulfilled. When we get our buyer, escrow will be handled by a title company. When everything stipulated in the contract is complete, we will go to the title company, sign all the appropriate papers, pay all our fees, and the money for the sale will be released. It has been held in escrow until this time.

Another escrow moment, which I understand more and appreciate, is the quasi “savings account” collected by the bank to pay the taxes and insurance on property. Those yearly costs never bother us anymore because they are collected a little at a time, added to the mortgage payment. The bank is the third party helping us and the insurance company, or the tax collector, complete our transactions on time. It’s a good thing.

E is also for Escape, because I have found that selling the house feels a little like I’m RUNNING AWAY from something. I’m tired of being a landlord and dealing with the problems that tenants present. I’m weary of raking leaves and picking up branches, trying to keep an acre of lawn looking good and maintaining a large, older building. I’m tired of so much traffic and being in the city. Most of all, I’m tired of being so far away from so many people that I want to be with. I don’t expect the next place to be perfect and trouble free but I’m ready for some new problems, in a new place.

With all the challenges that this sale and move present, the whole experience is a lot like the Great Escape. That is what I shall call it.

My apology to all my family and good friends locally. I’m not trying to run away from you and will miss you terribly!

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter D)

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20180403_1401265598703050559873283.jpgToday I could have danced! (Another D word) Three men and a large truck from a thrift shop pulled into the drive and took most of the renter’s furniture away. It is gone, and I don’t have to get rid of it. That is an answer to our prayers of the last week. They had so much stuff!

Designer starts with D.

I have a designer! How special is that?!! Lindsey is a young professional, a student at Ringling School of Art & Design. She is part of the package with my realtor, who I will introduce when we get to R. She is also a young mother and wife, so scheduling with her took a little persistence, but we finally did a walk through at my house. This is all for the purpose of staging, which I’ll say more about when we get to S. The A to Z doesn’t actually care if I present the sale of the house in a logical, chronological order.

Lindsey walked from room to room with me, writing on her notepad and pointing out areas she thought were of most concern. I anticipated much of what she said. Most of her comments were the working out of a couple basic principles:

Less is best. The less stuff you have in the way, the bigger your room will appear. This includes taking things off the floor, and removing unnecessary furniture. The furniture that is left should be somewhat generic and of a size compatible with the room size. That gives the prospective buyer an idea of the room size and the kind of furniture that will fit in it. Makes sense. An example is my living room. I sold my big couch with recliners on both ends and the matching love seat, so I will probably rent an average size couch for the room, something that most everyone agrees should be standard living room furniture. I also tend to put lots of things on the floor – file boxes, rugs, decorative items. I will pack these things away.

Impersonal is best. The prospective buyers are trying to imagine their personal things in my spaces, so it helps if my personal things are not distracting them. This includes my collections, family pictures, and projects the husband and I are working on. This one is a little hard because, well, we ARE working on things and need to keep working on things. The husband’s music paraphernalia is an example of this. Music stands, instrument cases, folders – all over the lanai.

Lindsey was also helpful in suggesting paint upgrades. She called out specific colors for spaces she thought would be improved with a fresh coat and you will read more about that when we get to P.

Lastly, she has offered to come back again before the inside pictures are taken and see if there is anything additional that I should change. After our appointment, I got “the list” by email and have been working on it ever since. I love a list, just sayin’…

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And I love, love, love when I can stand and watch while men move all the big, heavy stuff!
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Such an appropriate sign…

A to Z: Selling Our House (Letter C)

Shirleyjdietz11 Comments

Today as I finally got to start cleaning one room in the rental part of our property, I ran across another C word, Closet. The person who designed closet doors like these had to be someone who had never had to clean or paint them. What were they thinking?!

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Louvered doors – the ideal way to collect dust and dirt and protect it from being washed away.

C is for Contracts and Closings

There are all kinds of contracts I have learned about while getting ready to sell our house. There was the contract with the pest control company before they tented our two houses. Yes, there are tents that big in the south where termites are constantly looking for wood and water – houses are perfect for both.

Then there was the contract with the company that put new windows in our rental house. Windows are a special item in hurricane country. One small one in the laundry room cost over $700. It seems that all really expensive things require contracts, probably because there is a lot to put in writing about the guarantees, warranties, and disclaimers designed to protect everyone involved.

But the contract that we really care about is the one that comes at the end of the sale – that sweet agreement between buyer and seller that seals the deal. There is always a tentative sigh of relief when the house is “under contract”. I say tentative because until the final papers are signed at closing, the deal can fall apart and the process has to start all over again with the next prospective buyer. This last year we sold another property that was under contract twice before we found a buyer who could meet the financial stipulations of the contract.

The closing is always a mysterious thing to me. The husband and I sit at a table with the title company lawyer with our pens in hand. He hands us one paper at a time to initial or sign, and it goes on forever until the tall stack of papers is finished. I could not begin to tell you what all those papers are about, even though they are quickly explained to us as they go whisking by. I kind of glaze over, all the time pretending to be an astute seller, nodding and putting on my “knowing” look.  I’m not recommending this method, just saying it happens.

Okay, I need to be silly (it’s a mental health tactic). I started noticing signs this winter and collecting pictures of them thinking that “Signs of the Times” would be an interesting theme for the A to Z. So as  not to waste them, even though my theme has changed, I’m putting them in when I have them. They’re fun.