Preparing for Showings and Open Houses!

After we listed, we decided to hold a Broker's Open House for any area agents who were interested in seeing the property. We also were notified of a showing within the first couple days of the house being listed. After the house had been on the market for a month or so, we decided to hold a public open house as well. Since we had the photos for the listing, I had kept the house show-ready (not an easy feat!). The day before any open houses or showings, I would go pick up a few bouquets of fresh flowers to set out. For the open houses, I would pick up food for refreshments as well.

Here are some photos I took before the open houses:








































We left about 15 minutes before each showing and/or open house and returned after the scheduled time for each. According to our agent, the Broker Open House went well-we had a few agents show up and they had nothing but positive things to say. They thought it was priced right and that it would sell quickly.

The showing also went well...the couple loved everything about it except the fact that it had stairs-they were looking for a single story. There was obviously not much we could do about that.

The public open house went well-everyone who attended told our agent that they loved it-all positive feedback.

After the public open house, we decided to drop the price by $20,000 since we had been on the market for a while.

We had two more showings (all positive feedback). One couple, yet again, decided they wanted a single story.

So we wait...


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Choosing a Realtor

When deciding to list, we talked a lot of who to list with. For us, it was important to have someone with integrity who we could trust. Also, someone we "clicked" with-after all, this is a relationship.

We met with a couple of agents from different agencies. One came in with one comparison that had sold six months prior and gave us a number to list at with a few repairs we should make before listing. The next one came with comprehensive research. He presented several comps (current listings, sold within past year, and sold within the past 90 days), our current market value, and he talked to us for a couple of hours.

We chose to list with the second agent. We then spent the next couple of weeks preparing the house for listing.


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Why We Decided To Move

We have been talking about moving for four years for a couple of reasons. The biggest reason is that the job situation in Maine is not great. My husband has been traveling for work for the past four years. In the past year, he has been away from home for 270 days. That is crazy! He is exhausted from the travel, and we are exhausted from not having him home. He has tried finding jobs near home, but there just isn't much in his field. it would be nice to have more options nearby rather than the constant worry of there being othing out there.

The second reason is climate. Winter is L.O.N.G. in Maine-really long. It starts getting cold in October and doesn't start warming up until April, and then you get mud season. Summer months are beautiful, but we spend them cleaning up from the previous winter and preparing for the next. It's hard living, and only seems to get harder the older you get. We want more sun and less winter.


Charlotte, North Carolina is a huge financial hub with many major companies. The North Carolina climate is much more appealing-you still have four seasons, but the winters are much less brutal. Summers are hot (and I will definitely complain about it), but I can always go inside to air conditioning. Schools are great in the areas we have researched. The girls will have a lot of opportunity and more diversity exposure-that is really important to us.

So, those are some reasons we have decided to move. I will update soon with our "scouting trip"!


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Rear Deck

When we bought our house, the rear deck was already not in the best shape-it was built from scrap pine boards. We knew we would have to replace it eventually. We were hoping to be able to simply repair it, but once my husband started pulling it apart, it became clear that we had to tear it down and have a new one built. I don't have any good before photos, but I have some from after the front was torn off and the rest of the process. My husband started the tear down process, but then we hired contractors to finish & rebuild. They did a fantastic job and we would definitely hire them again!

This shows the stairs before:




Here is the front of the deck after my husband tore the railings off:



Here is the view with the deck removed:





Here is the freshly-delivered wood for the new deck:



And here are some afters:

I love how the stairs are closed-in! We also had hose storage built in-we did this on the front deck and it's so nice! We also squared the deck off-it was angled before, so squaring it off gave more space.






























This was another one of those "why didn't we do this sooner" moments. We love it!

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