Sam and Rose - Hired

They picked me!!

Sharon called a few days later to tell me that Rose had liked what I had said about finding someone that would love her home and take good care of it. You never know what you say that is going to make a difference.

After setting up a time to finalize the paperwork and such, the discussion moved to the logistics of the move. You have to understand – this was a house full of stuff……every report the girls had ever written, every doll they had ever owned, photos from first grade on up hanging on all the walls – you get the picture. Now we needed a game plan on how to turn this from being a home that is well lived in - into a home that is on the market – two very different things. Additionally, we needed to handle this process with gentle hands so as not to upset the two people that had lived in this home so long and that thought it was just wonderful the way it was.

In order to sell a home - a Realtor most go through a delicate process of getting the sellers to detach from it and to see their home through the eyes of the buyer. We do not want the buyer walking into the sellers home – but want them to walk into a home that they can see THEMSELVES in. If the home is too full of the seller’s personal memories - the buyer doesn’t connect with it. They feel almost as if they are invading private space. The sellers photo’s, nic-nacs and cute things the kids made them need to be packed away and stored. The clutter one accumulates needs to be reduced to a bare minimum so the house will feel open and inviting to the person that walks in that front door. We want them to notice the house – not the stuff in the house.

This is always a challenge – but with an older couple – it can be an even greater task. Sam and Rose were moving into a home that was half the size of the one they had. They needed to get rid of A LOT of their possessions. After choosing what they loved and wanted to keep – they invited the kids, grand-kids, nieces, nephews, neighbors and friends to come take what they wanted. Then the garage sale - followed by - donate the rest. Even though they knew this was necessary – it broke their hearts and at my next visit – I was greeted at the front door by Rose with red rimmed eyes filling with tears that were on the edge of spilling over. She was a saying goodbye to 40 years spent in a home – her history, her past.

We had tea – and talked. I listened to her share as she described to me how she felt about the transition she was going through . I tried to counsel her that although this was really difficult – in the end – she will be so glad that she did it. She will feel lighter as all my other clients have shared with me they did. It was going to be OK.

As I was leaving – she pointed out to me 3 oil paintings of her daughters hanging on the living room wall. They were from the 1970’s and were quite large. She asked me if she could leave them up or did they need to come down too. These were the last personal items to come down. “Oh Rose, you can leave those up if you want to – it’s OK”. She hugged me as if I had given her the best gift ever –and I left with a tender feeling towards Sam and Rose who were doing all they could to make this go smoothly - even though it was so tough on their hearts.

Tender moments - gently leading, Another day in the life of a Realtor.