Yesterday in the midst of the usual chaos here at the Arganbright home, there was a knock at the door. Like a pack of yapping dogs, the kids instantly clamored around the door to see who our lucky visitor might be.
It was a lady, who said she was a realtor who had been at one of our showings. She had been there the other day with a couple that were considering on giving us an offer for our home. They were hoping to have a second look at the house before making their offer. What?! The door opened wide.
Actually, at first I was skeptical. First of all, she didn't look like a realtor. I had become accustomed to the well dressed and business type look that most realtors have. She wasn't dressed frumpy, but she didn't look more dressed up than I was, and you guys know I hardly ever dress up. Second, she had an accent and the couple who were interested in the house had the same accent. They were all conversing in their own language, which,--with the little experience with foreign languages that I have-- sounded like French. How did I know they weren't all related and just wanted to "scope" out the house? Third, she never presented a card. And I didn't think to ask for one. I did have the presence of mind to ask her what agency she was from though it didn't matter anyway, because I never heard of it before.
And so with all those reasons to turn her away, plus the fact that I had just changed a poopy diaper giving the house a nice aroma, plus the fact that I had not cleaned AT ALL, I agreed to let them in.
It went against my better judgement, but what can I say? I've been running on fumes lately and I'm tired of giving showings to people who end up hating the house. This was the first time since the previous couple that backed out of the deal that I had ever heard anyone use the words "interested" and "your house" in the same sentence.
So they came in, and I had warned the kids to stay away, not ask questions so that they could look without feeling inhibited. Of course, Luke--who is my non-listener--asked right away, "Who are you and why are you here?" Thankfully the couple didn't seem to understand his question.
I went about my business and the realtor began to ask me questions. I had been warned before by my own realtor to not let anyone in that did not present a Realtor card, and to not answer any questions or talk about the house with other clients. I had already broken one rule, and before I could stop myself, I went and broke the other one.
So I answered all her questions and tried hard to stick with just facts, no emotion, no desperation. I did mention to her that the house was a good house and although it wasn't as updated as it should be, that we had done a lot of improvements. She stunned me stupid for a moment when she agreed with me and said, "Yes, this is a very nice house!" I caught myself before I said, "this house???"
They didn't stay long; the couple seemed very nice, even though they didn't talk directly to me or seem to know any English. I only heard them speaking in their own language. Good thing, since I wasn't allowed to talk to them anyway!
After they left, my conscious got the better of me and I left a very nervous and long-winded message on my poor realtor (who's recovering from surgery) voicemail. Then I remembered that our realtor had another realtor taking over for her while she was gone, so I called her up and left her a very nervous and long-winded voicemail for her too.
Thankfully, she called back and reassured me that I did nothing wrong. She also let me know that the "realtor" was legit, and that she had already called to communicate the interest in the house. I also did nothing wrong in talking to her because she was the realtor, not the client, and it's okay to answer questions of the realtor.
So the couple are going to wait until we learn more about the foundation issues with this house, when the foundation expert comes on Tuesday. From there, they may make an offer. I am hopeful, but this time, I won't get my hopes up and will remember that they might still back out. It does feel good to have hope again and to know that our house really isn't so bad. It's tough to sell a house in this price range and to keep up with what is expected in this price range. That wasn't something that me and Dennis really thought about before. In fact, we purposely held off on any expensive updates because it seemed pointless with the kids and the wear and tear.
Speaking of updates, I found a plaque the other day at the Home Goods store. It caught my eye because of what it said: Home--what a great place.
Throughout this ordeal with our forclosed home and all the work that it entails, I have been saying to myself and Dennis, "This home needs work now, but one day it will be great!" "Great" is my word for the month, it's what I say to myself everytime I need to ramp myself up again. Seeing this plaque only reminded me of this and so of course I had to buy it. It will be the first thing I hang on the wall, right next to all those silly holes.
It's going to be great. :-)
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