Dum de dum

Somehow I thought things would move faster. After I recovered from the initial insult + injury of being told my clutter would repel buyers (not in so many words, but still...) I tried to tell myself that the realtor knows her stuff and that I can only do so much. But I still feel like I'm not doing enough.

I emailed her Monday asking when it would be listed... no answer (other than a dream that she was deliberately blowing me off). I emailed again Wednesday and she wrote back apologetically, saying my agreement had just been signed by their VP (I signed it and sent it to the realtor almost a month ago!). She also asked when a good time for showings is... but that's it (other than a dream that we found a house I loved and hubby hated).

As of today I still don't see the listing. Maybe over the weekend?

Oh - and I've still not done anything new about the clutter and "busy" aspect. I've been wiped out (and, yes, lazy).

Now what?

I am at work, but also near tears. My apartment is right now neater than it's looked in months, and yet... the realtor tells me that her photographer says it still "shows too busy." In other words, he doesn't think he can take pictures to market it to its best effect until we put a ton of stuff in storage. My super still has not come through with the storage unit, but the realtor suggests that even the available unit might not be big enough and I should go with a public storage type place. She offered to take photos with her camera (ie, not the fancy photog) just to get them out there, but she still recommends decluttering (DUH).

--
While I was typing she called me back. She thinks it might be best to get it out there WITHOUT photos (or photo of the building/park only) and let people be drawn in by the price & description. Then when she brings them by, she can explain the situation. Makes sense, but still really, really demoralizing. She also did suggest it still might not be a bad idea to start packing stuff up and storing it (after all, we'll be packing to move anyway, right?)...

We shall see.

When's the Day? Wednesday!

That's the day the realtor is coming to take photos for the listing. YIKES. Given that I will spend a good portion of the upcoming long weekend cleaning and neatening, I'm still worried. My fear is that my toddler will undo everything I've done in the space of time between me leaving for work at 8am and the realtor's arrival at 11am. He's fast like that.

Remember that scene in Poltergeist where the mom pushes all the kitchen chairs neatly under the table, turns away for 2 seconds, and turns back to find THIS?

Yeah. That's what I call Brandon-style.

The beginning-

Hi everyone (anyone?)

Well, I've done it. I've finally taken the big step and started the process of putting 409 on the market. It's a little sad to me. I loved the apartment so much when we moved in, in early 2002. Back then it was just me, the husband, and our son, who had just turned 2. We were living in a 1-bedroom rental and we bought an apartment in the same complex, just across the street. We had moved a bunch of stuff over a little at a time, before the "big moving day" and when we took J over to see his new room, he ran around, happily exclaiming, "All my Toys are 'eere!!!" Of course, now it's seven years later, and we have THREE kids (and two turtles, and a crawfish, and a frog) and all the stuff that goes with them, plus my husband and my own's packrat tendencies. But that is all about to change.

I was stalling and stalling about calling a broker. I felt like I needed our place to be in tiptop shape before I would let a stranger in to assess, analyze and judge it. It slowly dawned on me that the place would never be in tiptop shape. (If it were, there would be no need for this blog, not that I've really kept up with the blog, but you know what I mean.) I also realized that telling my kids (and, let's face it, my husband... and really, ok, me too) that "we need to clean up so that when we put it on the market, it looks nice" really meant nothing to them (us) because it was somewhere in the future... Until it is really on the line, it is just not real. (Yes, I admit to being a procrastinator... was there really a doubt?)

Even after realizing this, I dragged my feet. How do I pick a broker? How do I know if it's the right broker? Can I get a storage unit to temporarily store some of my mess? What do I do first?

Finally I broke down (HEH. I first typed "broker down") and called JN at my building's management company. She is the dedicated broker for my building so I figured I'd start with her. I had Friday off and spent a lot of time straightening up... we were out all day Saturday, and the plan was for her to come Sunday at 1:45 after my girl's tee-ball game. She actually pushed it to 4:30 which gave me more time to straighten and (gasp!) mop the floors and (swoon!) clear the dining room table (again).

Her visit was nothing like I imagined. As I said, she is the dedicated broker for the building, so she already knew the apartment and the line very well. She took mostly a cursory look around. Her assessment: hey, it is what it is. It hasn't been updated, it's not in great condition. Someone is going to buy it looking for a bargain and knowing they have to put some money into fixing it up. The price point she suggested was lower than I'd hoped, but in line with what I expected. It will still give us enough money to pay off the mortgage, pay off the credit cards, and have a down payment for the next place.

My biggest surprises? Two:

• I asked when we start looking for OUR new place, and she said, "When you have a signed contract for someone to buy this one." I figured we would be looking as soon as our place is on the market.
  
• I asked what I should do to get it ready, and was surprised to find that there's not much I can do. Cleaning up the clutter in the entryway might make for a faster sale, but not necessarily get us more money. Painting? Would be nice, but not necessary. "You have three kids, are you really going to be able to paint?"

JN was honest about everything, which is why I liked her. She showed us the scuffed up floors in the entryway that may need to be replaced... mentioned the lack of dishwasher... but she also reminded us of the great selling points - large size, great view, lots of light, utilities included... she thinks it will go fast if we use her price point.

She didn't ask us to sign anything... she said we could get some pictures taken and get it up on the market ASAP. I guess I will get back in touch with her in the next few days... I think we are going to go for it...

Another Day - er, 4 months - Another Post

Well. Here we are. More than 4 months since my last post. And my apartment is still looking fabulous and pristine.

NOT.

Yeahhhh. Although Stacy was awesome, it didn't last. She was more than willing to come back, but I couldn't stomach the thought of paying her again when I couldn't keep up with her great work. Instead of being happy with what she had done, I was doubly frustrated by not being able to keep up with her progress.

So here we are again. More than half the year gone, and still the same mess.

I try - or at least I feel like I try. But obviously I'm not trying hard enough.


Signed up with Flylady yet again. Mostly it results in a cluttered email inbox (as if my email inbox weren't cluttered enough), but it gives me a little more motivation. As does the idea that we are indeed going to have to move soon, since the little man is growing by leaps and bounds, and the big kids are needing their own personal space. My heart wants a house. My brain knows I barely have the strength to keep up with an apartment. My heart says a house will have lots of room. My brain says it will become just as cluttered as the apartment, so why add the extra expen$es.

I do want to keep up with this blog - but I think the decluttering aspect is just frustrating (ie, if I have no progress, I have nothing to post). So I'm going to use this to post about both my clutter and my "real life" - yes, I do have a life OUTSIDE 409 - and to keep you updated on the clutter as well.

CLUTTER UPDATE:
Last night we cleaned out the refrigerator (DH's idea). We tossed, among other things:

• Farina that expired in 2006
  
• Scary looking old salad dressing and jellies
  
• Very old big cookies from a bakery (in shrink wrap, but still, very old)
  
• Bag of stale shredded coconut (which I used to feed to the hermit crabs, which have been dead for several years now)
  
• Bag of stale marshmallows
  
• Packets of duck sauce, chinese mustard & McD's bbq sauce

I still need to really CLEAN the fridge - which logically should have been done at the same time - but whatever. I did sponge up some of the more obvious yuck, but I need to get in there with the elbow grease, preferably when the baby is not trying to get in there and whack me on the head with a very old bakery cookie he pulled back out of the garbage.

I also cleaned out under the kitchen sink, which I have been dreading. There is water accumulating there and I need to call the super. The leak is coming from behind or under the cabinet, which is now starting to rot (and attract insects). Lovely. We have been in the place 6+ years (we own it) and have never redone the kitchen, but this part will at least have to be repaired before we sell the place. I just pray the leak is from inside the wall, which would make it a building expense, rather than inside our apartment, which would make it OUR expense.

From under the sink, there wasn't really much to toss, but I did organize it a little better, and make it neat for when the super comes to take a look. And I put down some Combat gel. I also got rid of

• Wet grocery bags (which I usually keep around to use for garbage bags, tossing out diapers, etc)
  
• Stencil pattern bought 6+ years ago and never used

More tomorrow. For reals!

Picking up speed

Last night was a hassle. Without getting into details, let me say that we rushed to an appointment, cramming down McD's as we went, and the appointment was canceled. The good news was, we got home earlier than planned. Time to watch American Gladiators with J, and help him put together his Steel Cage Wrestling Ring (birthday gift from Grandma). I also forced myself to work in the kitchen for 15 minutes. I didn't get much done but I started in the front corner where random things tend to pile up.

• There were a few toys over there that somehow didn't get into the donation pile last week... they will have to go out, and the sooner the better. (Is it wrong that I reclaimed two of them for Baby B?)
• I found a Peak Flow Meter that the insurance company had sent me for free, for the kids' asthma. We never used it. I listed it on Freecycle instead.
• Threw away my old drill set that refuses to charge.
• Put away my other drill that was laying around (power tool + small children, not a good combo).
• Threw away the excess paperwork from the kids' school candy sale, moved the last few "deliveries" (for Aunt/Cousin) onto hallway shelf ("staging area" for things that need to be returned).
• Gathered up serving utensils to return to PTA, bagged them and moved to "staging area."
• Ditto for earrings hubby bought me that broke and need to be returned/exchanged.
• Opened set of LED bulb stick-on mini-lights and tested them out. Cool, they work! Now I just need to figure out where to put them.

So, not too much but it already looks a little better/brighter.

Still, sometimes I see my apartment as others see it and I just want to crawl into a hole (or a pile of dirty laundry) and hide.