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Big week. We’re meeting with the designer tomorrow, so we’ll know pretty soon if our idea of a dream home can be drawn up for a reasonable cost. Whether it can be built for a reasonable cost is another matter entirely. But first things first.
In the meantime, Mrs. Groovy and I spent the weekend going through Groovy House and noting what has to be done in order to get it ready for sale this spring. And, happily, the list wasn’t exhaustive. Here it is.
Groovy House Punch List
Den
- Touch up paint under the desk and on the wall by the sofa.
- Caulking between the toe molding and the baseboard by the desk.
Mr. Groovy’s Bedroom
- Caulking on the right side of the closet system.
- Touch up paint in the closet.
Mr. Groovy’s Bathroom
- Fix leaky fitting in the vanity under sink.
- Re-caulk the shower stall.
Mrs. Groovy’s Bathroom
- Put back lower shelf in the linen closet (it was removed to accommodate a litter box for Groovy Cat).
- Re-caulk the garden tub.
- Paint.
- Add shelving above the toilet.
- Replace the toilet paper holder.
- Replace the faucets.
- Replace the cabinet hardware.
Front Entrance
- Re-caulk by the start of the stairs.
Kitchen
- Paint.
Living Room
- Paint.
Exterior
- Power wash.
- Re-caulk some of the joints between the cement fiber boards.
- Paint.
Garage
- Declutter.
- Finish workbench (trim and drawers).
All in all, Groovy House is in excellent shape. Everything works, and the big three—plumbing, electrical, and HVAC—are as right as rain. [Mrs. Groovy here. Maybe you’ve glossed over this in a post but perhaps this would be a swell time to remind our readers that we don’t sleep in the same room? That all the men in the Groovy family snore like bears?]
Over the next few months, I’ll be taking care of everything on the punch list save the exterior stuff (I’ll leave painting a two-story house to the pros). Mrs. Groovy’s job will be choosing a realtor. And regardless of how often I tell Mrs. G not to obsess over this decision—our house is beautiful and our neighborhood is hot, so any competent realtor will be fine—she’ll ignore my pleas. [Mrs. Groovy here. Yes I will totally ignore you. Someone is going to earn thousands of dollars on an easy sale. We’re a realtor’s dream. We do whatever they tell us to make the home show great. I’m meeting three realtors and asking them a few choice questions. Then we’ll pick one. Yes we. You get a vote, too, honey, even if I do all the work. Isn’t that what marriage is all about?] And she’ll drive me crazy. [Mrs. Groovy here. That’s my job.] But that’s okay. We now have a Groovy Fight-O-Meter to help sort things out. [Mrs. Groovy here. This was SO totally my idea.]
And speaking of the Groovy Fight-O-Meter…
The Groovy Fight-O-Meter
We only had one fight last week. As we were making our Groovy House punch list, I thought it would be nice for aesthetic reasons to add a storm door to the front entrance. Mrs. Groovy didn’t think the added aesthetics would be worth the cost. Some choice words were exchanged and I made a hasty retreat. Mrs. Groovy total dehumanized me. And to make my abject surrender on this particular fight even worse, we now have a spectacular Fight-O-Meter* to highlight my humiliation. Check it out.
Final Thoughts
Okay, groovy freedomists, that’s all I got. Any tips on how to ready a house for sale will be greatly appreciate. Peace.
* Haha! Just so you know, the illustrator of the Groovy Fight-O-Meter is the same person who has done the artwork for my ebook. The identity of this mystery person will be revealed this spring.
Great post! It’s inspiring to see you and Mrs. Groovy working together to prepare Groovy House for sale. Your punch list and attention to detail are commendable. The Groovy Fight-O-Meter adds a humorous touch, and I’m excited to find out the mystery illustrator. Best of luck with choosing a realtor and completing the exterior work. Looking forward to more updates on your journey!
You guys are awesome! Thanks for hashing it out for all of our eyes to see, did I miss what the winner gets? And BTW, I love the illustrations.
Yes, I get to share my abject humiliation on a weekly basis. You would think that that spectacle alone would suffice. But not for Mrs. G. I’m sure she’ll come up with some material bounty to christen her ultimate victory on the Fight-O-Meter. Hope all is well in Phnom Penh. Give my regards to Mr. WoW. Cheers.
Hey Mr. Groovy!
From my experience buying and remodeling a house:
Definitely hire a realtor – “a jack of all trades is a master of none”; an expert will probably get you the most value and save you time and headaches.
Hire a hardworking realtor – some just put a lockbox on the house and let it sell itself.
A good realtor will know the typical buyer for your area, and will leverage relationships with other realtors to find the most promising buyers. Some buyers want (and can pay for) a “turnkey” home. Others want a bargain fixer-upper. Others don’t know what they want.
Some realtors will try to entice you with an unrealistic proposed list price, knowing you’ll have to drop the price later. As Tom mentioned, doing your comp homework beforehand helps.
Lots of buyers will have your home professionally inspected during the “due diligence” period. The inspector works for them and wants to protect himself, and will therefore err on the side of finding flaws with the property. The buyers will then use such perceived flaws to try to lower the price.
Cheers,
Miguel
Thank you, Miguel. I know I get a little flippant when I consider the value of a realtor. But that’s because I know that Mrs. G is big on realtors and takes choosing one very seriously. Our neighbor just sold his house for $220K. And our house is slightly bigger and has better features. So we’re hoping to get in the $240K range. We’ll see. Have a great weekend, my friend.
Everyone in my husband’s line snores like crazy – even our almost three year old son. Weirdest experience ever was sleeping in a one room cottage on vacation and realizing it was my MIL snoring and not my husband because he had stepped out for a minute. They have the EXACT same snore. I didn’t even realize that was a thing.
Oh, Angela, that’s too funny. Here’s one for you. My friend’s daughter graduated from college a few years ago and when his family went for the graduation, my friend shared a hotel room with his son and his mother. Anyway, unbeknownst to my friend, his mom snores like a truck driver. It was so bad, he and his son, who was around 13 at the time, left the room and slept in my friend’s car. The next day he told his mom that he and her grandson woke up early and went to the gym for a workout. He didn’t have the heart to tell her about the snoring. And here’s the really weird thing. My friend doesn’t snore at all. So not only can a mother pass a snoring trait onto a son, the snoring trait from mom can skip a generation. Thanks for sharing, Angela. Why oh why did God invent snoring?
Don’t worry Mr. G you can still swing the Fight-O-Meter back in the other way! My wife tells me that it shouldn’t be a competition, but when you’ve got an audience like you guys do here, it absolutely should be!! Hahahah
Good luck on that punch list. Lots to do, but plenty of time to do it and nothing seems overly tough! 🙂
Dave @ Married with Money recently posted…Two Weeks In: An Honest Look At My 2018 Goals
Your wife is very wise. And I’m going to hold on to her sage advice. That’s all I got!
I’m going to restrain from caulk jokes. Just this once. Anyways, we sold our home two years ago. It was stressful, so I can relate. It sold after only being listed for one week! Our buyers were first time home owners so that added to the list of things to be done. Nothing major thankfully.
Best of luck!
Oh, man, do I hate caulking. I am getting better at, though. But thank you for going gently on my frayed nerves and hurling caulking jokes my way. I owe you, sir.
Why do we always fix up everything just before selling?:)
Have you considered selling your house on your own instead of using a realtor?
Caroline recently posted…Being 21 With $30,000, Who Wants To Play?
I can’t speak for everyone else, but we let a lot of stuff fester because 1) they’re fairly minor and didn’t impact our quality of life, and 2) I’m a lazy sh**t. I’m trying to get better. That’s why my main goal for 2018 was to cut out television/YouTube. And so far, besides our first Tuesday of the month matinee of a Walking Dead episode, I’ve stayed clear of the dreaded screen. As far as selling on our own, we haven’t considered. We don’t know anyone in our neighborhood who has done so successfully. The few that tried years ago eventually gave up and went with a realtor. Although it’s tempting. Our neighborhood is hot and going realtor-less may not be a total dumpster fire.
Great update! Looks like things are really moving along.
Good luck with choosing your realtor. Now that the cat is out of the bag regarding being an attorney, I can say how well it worked out being my own realtor last time we bought a house. Attorneys in my state don’t need any type of additional license or anything to act as their own realtor. I was able to take my portion of the commission off of the sale price of the house. So glad I found out about being able to do that!
I love it. That is one nice perk being an esquire. I’m curious, is your legal work mainly in the real estate sector? Or is real estate something you had to brush up on?
It was completely of my wheelhouse – but pretty easy to figure out (lots of standard forms). And even though I acted as my own realtor, I had another attorney help with the closing.
Harmony@CreatingMyKaleidoscope recently posted…Make A Resolution To Track And Improve Your Credit Score This Year
I really enjoyed the “1.Put back lower shelf in the linen closet (it was removed to accommodate a litter box for Groovy Cat).”
Mrs. Frugal Money Man has always had a cat as long as we have been together, and we have definitely come up with some interesting engineering ways to maneuver a litter box into small spaces!
I can’t wait to see the update Fight-O-Meter in the future posts!
Haha! We even put an air purifier on the shelf above the litter box. Cats are awesome, but indoor cats need to poop and pee in the house and accommodating that requires a little thought and ingenuity.
Is there a Groovy Fight-O-Meter widget or app in the works? I’d like to have access to live updates. 🙂
I painted the exterior of our house (single story ranch) about two years ago. Damn it was a lot of work. I’ll leave it to the pros next time. Glad to hear you’re doing the same.
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Oh, man, a Groovy Fight-O-Meter widget or app would be nice. Let me mull the widget over. I’m sure with a little tinkering, I may be able to come up with one.
Haha you guys are great! You’ll do fine on the sale don’t get to crazy with a lot of painting and improvements.
And stay just out of Mrs. Groovy’s reach.
Yes, Mrs. Groovy hasn’t been de-clawed. I can’t always stay out of her reach. But I try.
Love the inter-post dialogue and the awesome graphic!
We were relieved when our realtor told us to skip most of the interior painting on our list. Maybe you will have similar luck in a hot market?
Our only hurdle to close the sale was some un-permitted work we had done to re-route the water heater vent. Whoopsidaisies!
We had 19 offers in 5 days, 3 of them cash!
19 offers in 5 days! 3 of them cash! Talk about an avalanche of riches. I love it. If only our sale goes half as well as yours. Got my fingers crossed. And, yes, we’re holding off on the painting until we consult with a realtor.
Having a good vs a mediocre Realtor can definitely make a big difference. We had a Realtor once who knew all of the tricks and benefited us throughout the selling/buying process. He just knew what he was doing and acted with knowledgeable authority without being deceptive. In another location (where we couldn’t hire the same guy), we had a Realtor who was nice but didn’t really go to bat for us. Kinda wishy-washy and didn’t have that “command” and ability to lead. We actually had to stand up for ourselves a few times when he would have said, Ahh, just leave it.
Good luck on the sale, and especially on the Fight-O-Meter! The threat of having a public meter should help prevent fights rather than evening the score! 🙂
Thank you, Rybo. Upon further reflection, and Mrs. G’s well-argued points, I now see the wisdom of taking the choice of realtor seriously. It sucks going with your gut reaction when your gut reactions are so often wrong.
Ooh I was going to ask who has been doing your illustrations. You already know how to make a calculator, if you have artistic talent too then I’m floored!
Sounds like a lot of painting. Did you guys fight over the paint color choices? That’s what Jared and I fought about once. I won!
Haha! I do have artistic talent. But I haven’t the time to rekindle my artistic eye, so we outsourced the illustrations. His/her identity will be divulged this spring. And actually, at the behest of Mrs. G, we decided to hold off on the painting until we get input from our realtor. If he or she says paint, we’ll paint. And we’ll paint whatever color he or she feels is appropriate.
Nice to do list. Doesn’t look like anything too crazy, just tedious sort of tasks. I found that repainting the floor board trim on our house made it pop and look “fresh” as well. Beyond that, we depersonalized and removed about 80% of our family photos. We also cleared out our closets and put that stuff in the attic. This made them not seem jam packed and full so the buyer doesn’t think, “Oh, there won’t be enough room for my stuff in here”. Instead they see an empty’ish closet and think, “Wow, loads of storage space” lol.
Our house lasted 4 days before we had an offer and contract. Good luck with your prepping!
Mr. SSC recently posted…Our 2017 Spending: What a Dumpster Fire!
Nice tip on painting the floorboards. Didn’t think of that. And we’re way ahead of you on the personalized front. Everything save two pictures of Mrs. G and I have already been boxed and stored. No goofy family pictures to distort a buyer’s vision!
The Fight-O-Meter is hilarious. It sounds like you have a great plan. Thankfully, we’ve never sold a house (I half joke about dying here after all the work we did. OK, I’m dead serious.). I’m loving following along and huzzah on only one fight.
And hey, Mrs. G! Loving all of your interjections 😉 I can just picture the two of you going back and forth over this. #marriedgoals
#marriedgoals indeed. You know, after 15 years of marriage I really enjoy our “discussions.” We no longer say things to injure or hurt, although cuss words are bandied about from time to time. No, we say things to bring Team Groovy to a better place. Our “discussions” are part of the process. And that process has rarely lead us down an unfortunate path.
I’m glad the punch list won’t hit your wallet too much.
Perhaps Mrs. G can negotiate a lower commission rate if all the realtors know they’ve got competition.
That graphic is the BEST! Mrs. Groovy cats eyes say it all. 🙂 Love it!
OK – the eyes are definitely the BEST!
Yes, Vicki, this mystery illustrator nails it!
He or she is the best!
They’re kind of sinister. And eerily familiar.
Yeah, we kind of lucked out on the punch list. And we’re going to hold off on the most expensive item–painting the exterior–to see what the realtor says. The exterior still looks fine. Painting may be overkill.
Prepping our house to sell was a huge undertaking – but it made all the difference in a really quick sale. We addressed all the maintenance issues – rather than trying to cover anything up. The home inspector (hired by the buyer) just smiled as he went around the house. Good luck hiring a realtor. We just stuck a sign in the yard and didn’t end up using one. But we knew what the property would sell for – and used that as a tool to make a fast sale. And we’d had way more fights than you up to this point – so good for you!
Vicki@MakeSmarterDecisions recently posted…Putting Health Before Wealth in 2018
“We addressed all the maintenance issues – rather than trying to cover anything up.”
Exactly. We want to hand off a solid product to the next homeowners. And Mrs. G prides herself on being a realtor’s dream. We have no egos when it comes to selling. We do whatever the realtor says.
Reading your punch list reminds me of all the things that need doing in my home…so stop that! 😛 I’m glad things are moving along, and I hope you find a suitable realtor and designer.
Just have to say though, for anyone who snores like a bear, you should get checked out for OSA (obstructive sleep apnea) if you haven’t already. It can lead to some serious consequences if left untreated(my heart disease is a prime example).
On a lighter note, I’m loving the fight-o-meter and the “editorial notes” from Mrs. G!
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Hey, Gary. I’ve had my snoring checked out when we first got married. No sleep apnea. And at no time during the night did I stop breathing and suffer diminished oxygen levels. The weird thing is that I’ve always been a snoring since high school. And that’s when I weighed a lot less than my current weight of 185. I just got a deformed neck or something. Maybe a new test is in order. I’m at a loss.
Oooh, building a house sounds super exciting – hope the costs are what you expected. The fiancee and I are looking for our first house right now so that’s a bit stressful and exciting at the same time as well!
timeinthemarket recently posted…The Time in the Market expense and savings report – December 2017 – the uncle Dave told me to save edition
We’re preparing for the worst. And in our neck of America, the worst is $150 per sq ft. As long as we come in at or below that number, we’re golden.
I am so excited for you both!! Oh, and now I realize why you have such a happy successful marriage – it isn’t the bedrooms (though that helps because everyone hates a shitty nights rest) it is the separate bathrooms!! As for the Fight-o-meter, if Mrs Groovy stays in the lead everyone wins. 😉 Good luck on the Realtor choosing. Maybe you should invite them all at the same time and fire questions at them like speed dating…
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I have no doubt that Mrs. G will thrash me once the final fight-o-meter tally is totaled. But I’m not complaining. I learned early on in our marriage that her instincts, especially when it comes to real estate, are almost always spot on. So I’m just rolling with it.
You guys are on the right track as far as getting the house ready – doing everything you need to do!! I hear Mrs. G on finding the right realtor. Integrity and competence are key. Go with your gut, Mrs. G. Interview at least three. I have a feeling your place will go really fast. Woohoo for the Groovy Ranch!!
Ah, from your keyboard to the ears of the realty gods. Love the way your mind works, Laurie.
Your fight o meter is hilarious 🙂 I’ve gotta say, I’m on the Mrs side on this one re: cost v aesthetics. Sounds like a whole lotta painting goin on, hope most walls are the same color.
It’s so annoying when you have a spouse that is smarter than you. But it does come in handy. Saves you from a lot of mistakes.
Can you write a post on how to choose realtor?
I’m planning to sell our condo at some point and move into our duplex.
External paint? That sounds like a ton of work. How long will that take?
Good luck!
I would be interested if you followed the same sort of plan as we did for realtor choosing (http://www.budgetepicurean.com/finances/living-the-american-dream-our-journey-home/) and definitely want to know what were those “few choice questions”?!
the budget epicurean recently posted…Weekly Eating – Jan 8
For selling our home we need a realtor with a lot of experience representing sellers, preferably in our subdivision.
My choice questions revolve around their strategies — How would you describe our home in a listing? What price would you list it at? What comps (comparable sales) would you use? And what do you think we need to do to get our home ready?
We’re going to have a much more thorough post about this from a guest expert — thanks to Joe’s request!
I think there’s a lot of crossover between what makes a good realtor whether you’re buying or selling. Although, this is Mrs. G’s department. I’ll gladly take a supporting role on this one.
Excellent suggestion, my friend. Mrs. G has already lined up such a post from a recognized expert.
Oh man, I SOOOO remember the insane deadline driven “Get The House Ready To SELL!!” chaos we faced when we changed our plans and had to sell the house earlier than planned. It was hell, but it was incredibly successful. Start now. Do SOMETHING every day! BTW, based on the HILARIOUS exchange in your post, I think you missed a fight on your Fight-O-Meter or two! (for the record, I LOVE the he said/she said exchange in your most recent posts). Beyond Groovy!!
“It was hell, but it was incredibly successful. Start now.”
That’s the game plan, my friend. Everyday I hit something on our punch list. And we’ll be contacting realtors starting next month. Oh, the joys of homeownership.
I love how you guys have a conversation with each other on this blog! 🙂 I’ve never owned a home so I can’t provide any tips. 🙁 Sounds like everything is in a good place!
We are in a good place–even though we had a doozy of a battle yesterday. No lasting damage to either combatant’s limbs or ego, but our best one to date. Mrs. Groovy will be writing about it on our next update. Stay tuned.
Sorry Mr. G, but agree with Mrs. G. We sold our house last year. We interviewed and got list price ranges from 4 agents before choosing 1. There was a 15%+ variance in recommended list prices. Based on my homework, we chose the agent with the highest recommended list. He had a good marketing plan too. I am glad we did. The right choice definitely maxed out our ultimate sell price and minimized time on the market. Tom
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No worries. I learned long ago that Mrs. G is usually right. Damn it! No one told me this marriage thing was going to be so humbling.
Why are you bothering to create a nice visual scoreboard for something that you know you will lose at? It’s premeditated failure on display.
The list of things that need to be done in my house is about 4x longer than yours. I’m a master procrastinator. But I’m not selling anytime soon so I’ll keep letting small things drift. But thanks for the reminder on caulking, I’ve got quite a lot of caulking to do.
No choice! Mrs. Groovy demands it. She wants to flaunt her merciless rule.