I've had second thoughts about the realtor we met with the other day. I was really impressed with her on-line bio. She had some raving testimonials - and for what it's worth, she looked very polished and professional in her photo.
First gaffe was she was 30 minutes late. She did call first, but it was definitely not a good start. When she did arrive, I was admittedly very disappointed in her appearance. I expected a polished professional to walk in our door. You know, the one in the picture? In her photo, she had beautifully-styled, shoulder-length, blonde hair; and she was wearing what looked to be a nice suit. Stylish, not too stuffy. Her hair showed signs of once being blonde - it was dark brown, still shoulder-length, with blonde tips. I couldn't hold back saying SOMETHING.
Me: nervous laugh I almost didn't recognize you with the darker hair. You were blonde in the picture, so I didn't think that was you walking up.
Realtor: laughing Oh, yes! I was blonde. I just had a baby in October, so I stopped coloring my hair while I was pregnant. I've gotten so many compliments with my hair being darker, I decided just to keep it.
No, they're just trying to be nice. And you're keeping the blonde tips becuuuuuuzzzz????
She recently had a baby? Okay. That explains the clothes as well. She was pretty casual. Not that she has to dress up for us, but seeing that it was our first meeting, I did expect her to look more...yes, I'm going to say it again...polished and professional. Maybe she can't fit into her pre-pregnancy clothes yet, but still...
So she's not the fashion maven I am...that's funny...no, really, it is...that doesn't mean she doesn't know her stuff. Talking to her, she did seem to know her stuff, so I ignored whatever red flags were wanting to pop up. I mentioned in an earlier post that we were thinking we should ask more than what she recommended. Turns out we're not alone. RD ran into our self-appointed "Block Captain" earlier this evening. Come to find out she is putting her house on the market May 1. Though her house is up on the "nice end of the street," it is basically the same house. When RD told her what we were planning on asking...I guess there's no harm in me sharing - $155,000...she about blew a gasket.
Let's see if I can make this long story short...
She's planning on asking $185,000(!!!!) for her house. The house up the street from her (also comparable to our's...aside from the better view) was listing for $163,000. They received FIVE offers the first day on the market, all over asking price. The highest bidder actually said they would go as high as $175,000 if they had to. WHOA! Now...the Block Captain (isn't that silly?) said she heard that the people nextdoor to us are planning on asking $149,900, so she asked RD if he would talk to them to talk them up in price. This is getting hairy. She also then urged him to up our price - a minimum of $165,000. Because of course, there's no way she's going to get that high a price for her's if we go as low as $155,000. Makes sense to me. Maybe we should reconsider.
Sooooo....yet ANOTHER long story short, we're meeting with a different, seemingly more experienced, realtor a week from Monday. Thanks to neighborhood gossip (only thing our Block Captain is good for...just HOW DOES she get her information?!), we might be able to make a more-informed decision. I'm really looking forward to hearing what this new realtor has to say.
As for home projects, RD finished rebuilding our deck today. The wood was rotting out and would in no way pass inspection. It looks WONDERFUL. I love having a handyman for a husband. He's the best!
