Friday, September 11, 2015

My Love/Hate Relationship With HGTV by a Realtor!

So I have a blog for my Office but I don't generally blog....... I have People that blog....and they do a much better job than I think I can..... But as I prepare to put my house up on the market this weekend- a blog has formulated in my head (over and over for the past few weeks......) Should I entitle it- Why every Realtor should put their house on the market every few years? OR  My Love/Hate Relationship with HGTV..... I decided on the love/hate thing. The content and message are pretty much the same- but I think maybe the Love/Hate thing might get a bit more attention. People generally love HGTV..... not so much Realtors! (weewoo- sorry staff and fellow Realtors- but you know this to be true.....)
So my husband and I decided it was time to put our house on the market. We love our house! There are so many wonderful things about it.....from the outside porch overlooking Manatuck Lake (lots of Heron sightings and ice skating Norman Rockwell type moments- to all the wonderful nooks and crannies inside.  We feel it is time..... But now- we have to PREPARE to put our house on the market. I have to do all the things I casually say to my clients that they should do to make their houses more marketable.....things like "you need to declutter.... bathrooms should be spotless, personal photos to a minimum, landscaping spruced up...... things like that! In fact- I have a fabulous list of suggestions written in bullet points I hand to my clients when we meet for the first time! I can rattle these things off like nobody's business! As I rattle these things off to my husband and prepare new lists each day - the sideways looks he first gave me are turning to arched eyebrows to a low whistle to a resounding "are you crazy?" How did this come to be- you might wonder? ahhhhhhhhh here comes the tie in: My Love/Hate relationship with HGTV (and Realtor Internet sites too!) Before the Internet and HGTV (yes I have been a REALTOR that long!) people relied on their Realtor to take them to houses they thought were good houses.  The houses looked like people lived in them. They didn't have perfectly straightened closets with their clothes in color order! Personal photos were all over the place- and houses with kids actually had toys strewn about!!!!! Stagers didn't need to be hired- because people actually let people see what it was like to live in these houses!!! Ahhhhhhh I miss the good old days! As I work to make my house look like we are an Episode to be featured on HGTV- I encourage you to come see my work of art this Sunday 9/13/2015 from 12-2 pm at 9 Lawrence Lane, Bay Shore, N.Y. 11706. You won't be disappointed- my closets are not only in size order- they have bins labeled inside!