Designed to sell......

With the 5 year anniversary of buying our house approaching, we have decided we are going to put it up for sale. Now understand this, we dont regret buying this house... although it has been a lot of damn work, and caused a lot of stress over the years...but we have definately learned what is good for us.

Main lesson learned??

We are not fixer-upper kind of people!!

We (especially me) like to spend our weekends traveling, and when we are in Atlanta, we want to have free time, not "projects" hanging over our heads. This house was a great investment. We are in a very HOT neighborhood where the houses are selling, even in a supposedly slow real estate market AND we bought this house under appraisal value...it was a forclosure. Thanks Fannie Mae!!

In the last year we have been really fixing up, not just decorating ...which is really all I wanted to do to a house in the first place. New roof, new windows, new heating/air, gorgeous deck, refinished wood floors, wainscotting in living room and kitchen, beadboard in the bathroom and laundry rooms.....it looks amazing!! ...."and then you sell? you ask.....YES....we want to be FREEEE!

Do you ever watch the show on HGTV Designed to Sell?? The homeowners are having trouble selling, and a realestate "stager" from the show comes looks at the house and tells them what needs to be changed. (why no one is buying) Homeowners then have a budget of 2-3k and they help "fix" the house with a crew from the show. Nice!! I have learned a lot about preparing our home to sell, so when Beverly, a certified "home stager" did a walk through our house last week telling us what needs to be done before listing....we listened.

Meet Beverly, our real estate agent (and friend,retired Delta)

Beverly Hanson Real Estate Consultant Keller Williams Realty Atlanta 200 Glenridge Point Parkway, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30342 678.480.3773 (cell/text) 404.531-5708 (fax) Beverly@BHansonHomes.com

Our goal is to put in on the market August 6. This is agressive, especially with the long "punch out" list we were given.....but we have gotten sooooooo much done this week. This is the first time in my 9 years with Delta that I have ever taken time off work and actually stayed home. It felt so weird! I do have cabin fever I must say.....I am actually ready to go back to work tomorrow for a break!

I was busy painting 3 of our rooms to neutral colors. Bye bye to my beautiful turquoise living room. Beverly said that 75% of buyers cannot look past the paint colors????? I guess there are many unimaginitive people out there.

I have also decluttered the shit out of the house. Nice write off for Goodwill!! We have to take away any personal pictures /nicknacks etc. for showing the house too, so we will probably get a storage unit. We even went to see a few houses with Beverly that are up for sale in our neighborhood for comparison in setup and pricing. It was very encouraging.....geez they are selling for A LOT!! Woo-hoo!!

The TO DO list was a long and only 5 weeks to complete........We did soooooo much painting! We enlisted the help of many....Dad power washed the screen porch and repainted it. 100% better!!A lot of work needed to be done outside with landscaping......CURB APPEAL is very important!!I did some container plantings......this one turned out so beautiful!My mom is the expert gardener, so she helped me pick out the azaleas in front, and transplant all the liriope in front of the newly finished planter box that Neto designed and built. We debated what to do around the big tree in front, it had been quite an eye sore.

And now look! It turned out beautiful! Neto did a grrrrreat job!!
He did a great job at making me laugh too!!