Relative Something

It was like a dream sequence right out of my current anxiety about showing our house, but it was hilariously real.

Yesterday, shortly after lunch, I received a call requesting a showing for the hour that lands right at my preferred dinner time, just after I would generally be arriving home from work. I’m flexible, and showing the house is my priority, so I didn’t hesitate to accept the appointment.

I considered taking in a movie, as an alternative to going home after work. Instead, enough tasks materialized at the end of the day to keep me stuck at my desk right past the showtimes of the movie options. It reached the nebulous point of being past the time I wanted to still be at the workplace, but a bit too early to arrive home. At that time of the day, my lack of decision-making prowess is as obvious as ever.

I just started the car and headed south, pondering options. I could stop someplace for dinner. I could drop in unannounced on a friend. I could go shopping. Ha! That was a funny one. Shopping. Yeah, I let that pass through my head… for a second. Nah.

Delay with the decisions long enough, and you will arrive right where you are aiming. There were only 15 minutes left of the hour appointment when I reached our house, and there were no cars around, so I pulled in. The last time I talked to my neighbor about visitors looking at our house, he reported they were there less than 5 minutes, so I figured I was probably in the clear this day.

Inside, there was no evidence of anyone having been there, but that has happened before. It is a courtesy for the realtor to leave their card on the counter to acknowledge their visit, but I am getting used to finding nothing, after a handful of such incidences thus far.

I was upstairs, checking things out when I discovered a car in our driveway. Time for me to go for a walk!

I met them at the door and announced I was just headed out. The realtor was gruff and seemed unusually focused on an obvious agenda. He brushed past me, walked straight to the back door and was out on the deck before I finished getting my shoes on to step out the front door. He called out something I didn’t quite hear, so I stepped toward him to respond to his query.

He wanted to know where the back yard ended. Really! This guy cut right to the jugular. I felt an urge that I was supposed to apologize.

Then he walked over to the side and asked where that ended. He said something to the effect of, “That’s all there is then.” Yep. That’s it. I went for my walk. Hope they liked the house. I know they went both upstairs and down by all the lights they left on.

No feedback has been submitted yet, but I’m not holding my breath on this one. However, that little optimist hiding deep within me points out the delicious irony possible if that couple turns out to be our interested buyers!

I am counting the days. This coming Friday, my wife is scheduled to return home. Best of all, she is doing it on a one-way ticket. Hoo. Ray!

Thus will end the grand experiment of living apart from each other while she worked in Boston, and I stayed in Minnesota. It wasn’t easy for me, but it was possible, and that possibility has been realized. I am pleased to be reaching the culmination of this effort, and am looking forward to re-combining our energies to breath new life into our dream of getting our house sold and fulfilling our vision to find the perfect property to have horses.

We received what I am claiming to be, a glimpse of progress on the home sale plan yesterday. For the first time, the feedback from a showing has offered a glimmer of hope with this message: “Client is keeping it on their list.”

Interior: Above Avg (4 of 5)

Exterior: Above Avg (4 of 5)

Floor Plan: Average (3 of 5)

Pricing: At Market Value

Future Possibility: Still Looking

Comments: Nicely staged and attractive home.

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Having Cyndie home again can only make our home gain appeal, as she will undoubtedly unleash her knack for doing the things she does so well. I have mostly put in effort to live minimally and always leave the home clean and prepared for a showing. She will add life energy that has be missing.

That’s an energy that I will cherish personally, well beyond the benefit it will bring to our house showings.

“It only takes one.” That is what our neighbor across the street from us told me the other day. We’ve had a pretty consistent amount of traffic in terms of showings of our house since it went on the market back in late May. But the large majority of the people looking have been unhappy with the fact that the back of our house has no yard space. Since we are on a corner, just beyond the back of our property is the side of our neighbor’s garage.

This most recent comment is a classic example of the feedback we have seen over and over:

The drawback on exterior appeal was the lack of backyard. Even though there’s a community play area, the buyers would like more of their own backyard space for their children. The house showed very well on the main level; kitchen is beautiful.

We are still waiting for that one buyer who doesn’t want to spend time mowing their lawn and who will value the natural landscape that surrounds our home.

Last night I had a moment of discovery while watching NBC’s prime time Olympics broadcast. For those blissfully ignorant of the evening Olympic coverage in the US, it is a mish-mash of each day’s events deemed worthy of replay, presented as if happening live, yet cunningly carved up to allow multiple repetitions of commercial advertisements to be shown throughout.

One complaint being levied toward NBC, by both critics and spectators alike, is about the heavy dosage of self-promotion the network is hoisting upon innocent sports fans, for programs scheduled to air following the games. It was the umpteenth repeat of one of the ads for some program being hyped, that sparked a new insight for me.

The program –some rather stupid looking premise that has a predictable storyline that I expect will fight to achieve weekly topics that fit into the framework– is not one I would watch. I have seen about a half-dozen promotions, multiple times now, and what I discovered was, the result of the repetition brings enough familiarity to make each comic tidbit more interesting. It was enough last night to make me feel some affection for the bit that I have come to know so well, even though my impression of the show is that it looks dumb.

If I saw that scene pass by a single time, at normal broadcast speed (which means, immediately preceded and then followed by some other doofy schtick) it wouldn’t do a thing for me. The way I see it, the repeated presentation of the bit, in the commercials, develops an impression of worthiness.

I don’t mean to belittle those who find such shows entertaining. If my interpretation resonates for anyone other then myself, let it provide some perspective of why one might feel drawn to want to watch these programs after seeing the ads. It may also explain why viewing the entire program when it runs (one time through), can turn out to be less fulfilling than one might have expected it to be.