What a Week that Was!!

Five deals in 9 days, three of which have already firmed up. I am on a roll!! It has been such a crazy week in the city where I live and work. For some reason there are not many properties on the market and with the mild threat of a rise in interest rates in the coming months and the unknown quantity of harmonised tax in 2010, buyers are suddenly feeling a sense of urgency. So many times this week, I have tried to book an appointment only to be told that it is already conditional, or I book the appointment only to hear that there are offers on it before we get to see it, very frustrating for my buyers, some of whom have to purchase now due to their circumstances. I have other buyers who are getting caught up in this craziness when they don't need to panic, they are not in a rush, and if they get carried away might end up overpaying for something. It is all a very heady mix.

My daughter and son-in-law's house finally hit the market last Wednesday, looking fantastic I might add, and yesterday, after a whirlwind open house, we negotiated an offer. Keep your fingers crossed, we just now have to wait out the inspection and financing conditions, AND find a rental for my family to move into. It could all be done and dusted by Christmas! When I say done and dusted, of course they are celebrating more because it means a lot less dusting and escaping with a 11 week old baby every day!! But all their hard work over the last 6 weeks or so really paid off, with many comments on how great the place showed, what a lovely big kitchen, cosy basement etc. They are looking forward to moving to our house and just being for a while rather than have to be doing all the time.

Sorry to be boring!!

What, no comments at all? LOL I should have said I was doing a triathlon and I haven't reached the finish line yet. Two offers over the weekend and another one coming in tonight. Let's hope this one is successful as well. I could certainly get used to this. My what a busy lady the agent I am helping out is. It is an eye opener.

I'm doing a Marathon this weekend!

A real estate marathon!! This morning was supposed to be wall to wall viewings but that now has to be cancelled because those clients bought last night! One down, we now just have to organize a home inspection before Tuesday evening. Then I am off to deliver a deposit cheque in the next city. Then off to daughter and son-in-law's to get their listing up and running - before the snow hits the ground, believe it or not we have had lows of zero C this week and talk of the "f" word - yep - flurries - yuk!! In there somewhere I have to arrange a quick call in to preview another potential listing when it suits the current tenant!!

Tomorrow, I have a building inspection in the morning and an open house in the afternoon, and that it just what I happen to know about right this minute - i.e. 8 o'clock in the morning, before the phones start ringing. Just to be clear - I am definitely not complaining, after weeks, no months, of laying the ground work things are finally starting to happen. There is a sense of urgency in the local market as there is not much property on the market and interest rates are starting to rise.

Somewhere in there this weekend, I hope to find time to deliver son to girlfriends, hug my granddaughter and call my husband, wish me luck - hopefully I will reach the finish line still upright :) What does your weekend hold? Not relaxing surely!

Where Have I Been?

The short answer is nowhere!! What have I achieved? That feels like....zip! I cannot believe how long it is since I posted. Just trying to do too much as usual, be all things to all men. Wife, mother, nana, real estate agent, office worker, painter and decorator, friend etc. There are just not enough hours in the day and something will give at some point but not sure which at the moment.

GWE was home for the weekend from the UK last weekend and we had an invite to a 60th birthday party. Typically, for someone who never goes anywhere, life collided and I ended up chasing an offer for clients which didn't fly in the end, just late enough on Saturday evening that it wasn't worth heading out to the festivities.

It was cool and rainy weekend, so although we did manage to address some outside work, getting the leaves out of the pool and pulling out the tomato plants not a lot else was achieved and before you know it, he was back on the plane to the UK.

I have been busy helping daughter and husband whipping their place into shape and it is looking pretty good. We painted all the kitchen units and walls, including a fake brick wall, and it looks great. I think any prospective buyer will now just think "nice big kitchen" rather than "OMG we have to rip out the kitchen!" plus we added a wall in the basement to create a third bedroom and laid a good quality laminate floor throughout the basement to cover the tiled floor, never a good idea in a basement, as it makes it feel cold down there. The new floor has really warmed up the space.

Just a case of whipping the outside into shape now with some weeding and trimming. A bit more tweaking inside with tidying closets (buyers will open them you know) and it should be ready to go on the market. However they are away at the cottage with the in-laws this Thanksgiving weekend, so I will go over and have a tidy round and do some weeding on Monday.

My favourite role at the moment, of course, is that of Nana to the gorgeous but troublesome Annika. I know from the picture above it is hard to believe, but she is proving to be quite a handful in the evenings leaving daughter exhausted and tearful so I gave them an evening off on Thursday while they went out for an evening and I walked the floor with the screaming little madam. It is crazy to see, one minute all smiles - she loves the bath! and her floor mat - gooing and chatting at the smiley face above - hysterical - the next minute screaming as if we are sticking pins in her. However, I did manage to get her off to bed at 9.45 and she slept through to 6.30 apparently so not too bad. But when the screaming fits are happening you do feel helpless.

France seems a long way away at the moment and I was looking back at the old photos trying to my inspiration back. The next step is to restore the end wall on the ruin end, we have had quotes to get the ruin "tidied up" and made safe and the end wall rendered but leaving some large stones exposed. This will really help to restore the look and structure of the wall. But then we should be able to get back to the fun stuff inside, sand blasting beams and getting a staircase installed, etc. etc. While I was looking at the photos I came across these two below which certainly help to keep me motivated when I see the transformation that is possible.

Which do you prefer? Cold and scary .......or warm and inviting