Weatherboards Go On

Well they finally got the right boards, and with the light fading and the rain sprinkling, they started the marathon of getting them on the house before it got too wet and dark.

Sure feels good when the first one is on and fits, gives you encouragement for getting the rest done.

Must be doing something right, now they have 2 boards in place!
Finally, although dark is falling, the back of the house is finished, now all that is left to do there is for Steve to paint it sometime this week.

Although when they got round to the side of the house, darkness had fallen, and so there they were, replacing boards on the house in the dark with a camping light.

At least they were determined to get it finished today.

Well done guys, considering at 10am we didn't think we were going to get it done at all due to the weather, it is nice to know it is done and all Steve has to do is paint them. Must make Steve feel happier, because I am sure they were one of the main jobs that had to be done to sell the house, that was going to bug him.

Oh well just painting left now! Not sure how the week is going to go for Steve while he is on holiday, as the weather forcast is not the greatest. But hey, the joys of selling a house in winter!

Weather Boards

One of the things we need to do before we sell is to paint the side of the house, as there is quite a bit of paint flaked off, due to the fact this side of the house gets the worst weather.If the rain comes from anywhere, it comes from the west and hits this wall straight on 80% of the time.

Unfortunately Steve discovered, when he was sanding and undercoating the boards, that several of the weatherboards also needed replacing, not that we are picky, just that you really can't sell a house with weatherboards that have holes in them where you have stuck your finger through. Really is polite to change them rather than just fill them and paint them!

Anyway, Pete (Steve's Brother) has come down for the day to assist Steve in changing the boards over, due to the fact he has this van full of wonderful gadgets and gismo's that any boy would fall in love with. Steve had everything planned, got all the boards ready for when he arrived, knew they may have to shop for a few minor items but other than that no problems.....

Well, no one counted on the torential rain we have had today till lunch time, so now the garden is like a mud bog! and even though it has stopped and the drive is now dry, the edges in the grass are not, so everytime you drive over the edge of the grass, it looks worse than before. (lets hope all the rain has gone before the 1st open home, as the garden looks a mess with all the soggy grass)Or for the fact that we would need more board than we had already brought, or for the fact that different walls on the house had different size boards on them and also the fact that Steve had brought bevelled boards, as he thought thats what shape they were, only to find when they are removed that they are in fact straight boards.

So the time is now 4pm on Sunday afternoon, they are making a mad dash, as I type, to Bunnings about 20 kms away to get the correct board, in the correct size and the correct amount, before the rain returns and the daylight disappears.

I just hope they tidy everything up when they have finished.

Oh the joy of fixing up the house, I wish now we had been rude and cheap and just filled and painted it and hope none of the potential buyers ever noticed it!!

Work to be Done

So what needs doing on the house before we can sell it......

Well several months ago Ben managed to slam the front door against my head and smash one of the panels of patterned glass that makes up the front door! Generally, I turned to move at the same time as he grabbed the door handle and pulled it closed and bang! Head met door.

Would have been ok if we didn't happen to have very old patterned glass in the door panels.

So late on a Sunday evening, just as we are sitting down to a nice roast dinner with relatives, Steve had to tape over the window to stop the glass falling Then after dinner he had to find some ply wood to cover the glass with. Luckily we have an alarm on the house so no worries about going out with the window broken.

After several weeks of getting in touch with demolition places and a very nice glass shop up the road, we finally got our hands on a sufficient size piece of "Mauve Daisy" to fill the gap.
As you can see from the picture, now all we have to do is repaint the front door and it will be as good as new, but definitely one of those things to be done before the Open Home.

New House Anyone?

Today we had our meeting with one of the Real Estate Agents, and by the time she left we had listed our house!
Not that we weren't going to list it, just didn't expect to do it straight away, although the photographer is not coming to take pictures until Tuesday 7th Aug because Steve had some painting that we want to get done before hand.

Steve is on holiday now for a week and it is his job to get all the maintanance done before the pictures. Then we will get the sign made up, advertise it in the local Property Press and then on Saturday 18th August we will hopefully have our first Open Home.

Will list the link to their website when it is available so you can all see our house, or at least the house that hopefully won't be our's for much longer!

Real Estate Meetings

We have a meeting on Saturday morning with a Real Estate lady from The Joneses. She is going to come over and explain what they can do for us and why we should use their company.

Yesterday we received a package from them with the usual gumph in it, brochure, statements from past clients etc and also a list of questions they would like us to answer before the meeting.

The questions are all about our house, because they say that no one knows our house like we do, so by answering these questions it will assist them in assisting us in selling the house.
So the next time you are thinking of selling your house, try asking yourself the following questions.......

• How long have you lived in your home?
• What are the main reasons you brought it?
• What renovations have you done since you brought it?
• Tell us what you most love about living in this home. Think about the things that really matter - eg: the location, the neighbours, the indoor/outdoor living...
• What about the garden - are there special plants that flower at particular times of the year, or trees that fruit?
• Do you use the house differently in the summer than winter?
• What rooms get the sun? What time of day?
• What else? Think about every room and what (if anything) makes it special?
• Where do you see future potential in the home that could be developed?
• What are some of the local amenities? eg: nearset bus stop, supermarket, dairy, cafe, post office, bank etc?
• What would yu like to ensure prospective buyers are made aware of?
• Do you have any deadlines that you are working to?
• What would you like us to say to purchasers as to why you are selling you house?

It definitely made us stop and think for 5 minutes.

Only 66 days until Steve starts at Hamilton

Real Estate Agents

Oh what fun it is to sell a house.
There are so many options when it comes to listing, who to go with, how you want to sell it? Fixed price, aution or tender.
Do you want to do the open homes or do you want an agent to do them?
How much do you want to pay to sell your home? $3000 all up and you do the open home?
$8000 and they do the open home or even $19,000 and let the agent do everything and take a huge cut at the end.

We have just hit this happy band wagon of decisions.

We have checked out Green Door who assist you while you sell your house. They help with marketing but you do the rest.
We have a new company coming to see us this weekend called The Joneses. They are a team who sell your house for a fixed price and no commission. They do the marketing and they do the open homes.
Then we have our friendly agent from Remax, who we originally brought the house from 5 years ago. He is great, would have no trouble giving him the house to sell, only downside is that when he sells it for the price we want he will take $19,000 with him when he goes.

OR the newest option to hit the property selling market is to do it all yourself on Trade Me. You list it yourself on the website, put up as many pictures as you would like, write what ever you want about your house and then sit back and see if anyone gets in touch.
Apparently a lot of houses are selling this way. No agents fees, no marketing fees (apart from the listing fee of about $149) no commission taken at the end. You can even list that you are holding an open home and post the time it will take place.
A lot of people are placing it here even when they have an agent, just another means of getting your house out there for all to see, you list the agent as the contact and then if anyone is interested they contact your agent.

I think this is a great way to go. So even thought we will probably end up with the assistance of a company of some kind, we will be listing on Trade Me very soon. I will put a link up when we do and you can all see our house.

What Have We Done !

About 18 months ago, Steve gave a presentation to Waikato Hospital about the computer programme he is currently working with - Pims (or iPIMs as it is now known as by Isoft.)
They were well impressed and kept dropping hints about whether he would like work for them.
For about a year following this he had several conversations via email concerning this job they had spoken of, but as Steve knew they were now in project faze, he knew it would take a while.
Finally at the beginning of this year, someone called him to see if he was still interested.
They also said that the job had now gone to the next level and that they were looking at where the job would sit, who would look after it, money wise, and generally hash out the finer details.

In April this year they sent through some details to Steve and said this is what they were taking to the General Manager next week, will hopefully get the green light and then they would be in touch again.

In June they got in touch and Steve suggested that they have a meet and greet, so on Thursday 28th June we drove to Hamilton for the day. The boys and I had a drive round and a lovely time in the Hamilton Gardens, whilst Steve had a 2 hour meeting with the people at the hospital.
We came away with even more questions and again the thought that we were about to put our lives on hold until we knew the next outcome.

This came 2 weeks later when they called Steve for a interview, so on Wednesday 18th July, he drove down to Hamilton and had a lovely interview with the people.
He says they asked all the right questions that he was expecting and he was impressed with the answers they gave to the questions that he asked. They said they would be in touch soon.

So the wait began again, although by 4pm the next day, they had rung and offered him the job.
Pending discussion about money and conditions etc he said YES.

So we are off to sunny foggy cold Hamilton.

We have a house to sort and sell here, we have a place to rent down there. I have a 3 month contract to finish, which finishes 3 weeks after Steve will start!!?
So much to do, and so little time.