Milestone

Our house has been on the market two weeks, as of tomorrow. Today we're having our 11th (ELEVENTH!) showing.

When I was selling real estate, I encouraged my clients to reduce their price every 11 showings, or 21 days--whichever came first-- if we didn't have an offer. And though I used to think I was brilliant, we're not heeding that advice. We did have an offer in that time frame. However, we don't have enough funds in our savings account and retirements accounts combined to come up with the shortage that sales price would have gotten us.

Anyway, our home is gleaming. I'm talking sparkling. I try and do something before each showing to freshen the overall scent (i.e. Lysol toilets, Pine-Sol floors, Windex glass, etc.) The problem is, I'm quickly running out of scents stunts. I think for our next showing (don't worry, it's already scheduled for Monday) I'm going to throw caution to the wind and "go Lexus" on 'em. That's right, I'm going to just climb on the roof and tie a bright red bow. What bigger sign could the potential buyer need than that?

"Honey, look! It even has a big red bow! It's perfect."

But seriously, having a sparkling clean house is not all that it's cracked up to be. Let me tell you, I've become a raving lunatic. My kids can attest-- well, the kid that can talk-- to this! And, it's all so fleeting. You get it sparkling, you leave, and 10 seconds after you come back it's a wreck. Not. Worth. It.

However, I keep reminding myself that one of these days the next owner of this home is going to walk through its front door. And though, like high school choir concerts in which you've sung the song 10,000 times, it's the first time for someone to hear it (or see it in this case), so the cleaning must go on!

My other gripe (as long as you're still reading I'll go on...) is the times of showings. Ohhhhhh myyyy worrrddd. The first-thing-in-the-morning request make me jump for joy. Kids go to bed. We clean. They wake up. And we have Martin's doughnuts on location for breakfast. The showing requests for 5-7 pm are just brutal. There's no other word. It's just enough after nap time that the house is wrecked... Hubby isn't home from work to aid in the last minute prep... and the Boy and Girl are usually starved for dinner.

But, the alternative is no showings, and that would be even more miserable.

Anyway, I'm off to find a ladder. Gotta get that bow up!