I've had at least one request, and I can finally say yes it's done! I'll get up a post with more details over the weekend, but here is the finished product (for now).

I haven't posted updates on the painting, because there have been no updates. It's been raining, mostly, since the end of May. Not big rain, just enough to make it not a great idea to paint the house. It's been warm the last few days, though, so there has been much with the activity.

Here's a hint of REAL COLOR, finally!

Fresh and new today, this little house is bigger than it looks! Two bedrooms, two bonus rooms, two fireplaces, tons of storage, and a big back yard all add up to great space for entertaining. Listed at $274,900. Call me at 503.913.1103 for more information or a showing! MLS 8054859.

Well, here we are at the beginning of the third week - the one where we were hoping we'd be done by Friday? Even though I knew better, I didn't factor in weather or less than stellar subs. I've really got to hand it to Ron English and Green Earth, though - once he realized that the progress wasn't progressing, he jumped right in there!

Unfortunately, after a few days of glorious heat, the National Weather Service says: Tuesday: Mostly cloudy. Rain likely in the morning...then a chance of showers in the afternoon. Highs around 60. Unlike the neighbors painters, our guys know better than to paint in the rain. Ask me about the guys next door sometime though - it's like a "What Not to Do" of housepainting.

We're at the primer stage where the house looks terrible. We felt much better this evening, though, when a neighbor canvassing to Get Out the Vote (note: have you turned your ballot in yet??) stopped to tell us that the house looked 100x better already just because the air conditioners were gone.

So, here's where we are and here's where we'll stay until Thursday, probably. Oh well - better to be done right and slower! And really, with as much prep as this house needed, three or four weeks isn't unreasonable. This bright color? Still just primer.  *grin*

I know a lot of colorful people; people who aren't afraid of color in their homes. When I consult to list a home, I'm not going to tell you you have to paint the deep red bedroom white again. I may recommend something to lighten the look in a room, like painting the trim, as an interim step. I do it not because I don't like color, but because I want to sell your home, and get you the best possible price for it. In a potential buyer's head, the home price goes down as the paint and time add up.

That said, I believe that real estate is an investment in your life. Don't let "what will this do for the resale value" be the first thing you think of when you decide on a remodel; think about how you live in the home and what you want to do there.  Color can add a huge amount of character to a home!

Here we are, just about a week in. The yard, as you saw the other day, looks horrible, but it will all me worth it soon. You know how it goes, sometimes you have to make a big mess to clean things up.

Here's the front as of this afternoon. See why this part is taking so long? The contractor has removed all of the detail from the columns and has sanded it down. Previous owners had built a wall between the columns and put a screen door in, and sunk the wood. Ron pulled it out. One reason CJ is so happy with him is that he tries to save what he can, and we really do want to keep as much as possible. Also, notice, no more storm windows. CJ & our daughter Brandy took those down on the main floor.



Doesn't it look 100 times better with the air conditioner gone? Or are you enjoying the hint of color?



Here's some more color...granted, it's just the primer....yes, we're likely to be one of those houses where people drive by and say "what were they thinking??"



coming up next...will there finally be real color?

There was an article in the May 11, 2008 paper about what you should expect from your Realtor - sadly, it was under the Complaint Desk section. The sellers in this instance didn't feel that their agent had done enough to market the home in the first 30 days. The listing agent's broker doesn't want to let them out of their contract without compensation, which the sellers don't want to provide.

Here are a few things you can expect from me.

• I've been on the seller's side. Once upon a time, long before I got my license, I was stuck in a 90 day contract which I didn't know I could get out of. My agent knew I was unhappy but never offered to let me out. I ended up paying mortgage on two homes while we waited out the contract; the new agent had the house sold within two weeks. And not JUST because I dropped my price. I don't ever want a client who is unhappy with me. If we can't work it out, I'll cut you lose. Promise.
• That said, your home is worth what the market will pay for it, no matter what you think it's worth. It's frustrating, and sometimes it's terrible (if you've not been in it long enough to build good equity, for example). I'll do the very best I can to get you to break even, at least, if that's the case. Of course, in the best case scenario, we'll get you way more!
• I will market your home, and not just using the old-style newspaper/open house route. I'll put it on Craigslist, Willy Week, the Mercury, any place I can find online to put up a flyer. I'll let all 7000 Realtors in Portland know it's available. I'll prospect for matches other agents may have saved. I'll keep the paper flyer-box filled.
• Most importantly, I'll keep in touch with you! By phone, by email, by text - whichever you prefer. When a seller complains that they don't like an agent...it's usually not because of anything the agent did but because of what they didn't do: COMMUNICATE!

When you're ready to work with someone who listens, call me.

It's hard to see the progress here but we can see it! In the front, here, notice the screen door is gone, more wood is showing (scraping and powerwash is done), and the bottom of the pillars are gone. Ron took them away to rebuild them.



More movement is visible in the back, of course; those air conditioners are gone. This is part of why we haven't painted before now - we had to find a contractor who could and would remove them and reside the house! It's amazing how many handymen don't do "second story" work.



Look at the detail here! Once it's painted you shouldn't be able to tell at all. I'm pretty happy with this work. I'm also amazingly happy about the trellis being gone from the back door - I never realized how much of the neighborhood lilacs I can see from there!



Our house is on a classic 50' x 100' corner lot; we face east on the short edge. The back yard is fenced three different ways, and this is the one we dislike most! This is where the feature creep I talked about yesterday comes in...



I took all the slats out of the chainlink, which makes us feel incredibly exposed - but then I planted an orange honeysuckle and a deep purple clematis. The honeysuckle alone grows 20' per year, so I imagine before long we will be neatly screened again. CJ grows sunflowers here each year, also, so they will help as well. The tubs are two of our vegetable gardens - the one on the left will have eggplant, and the one on the right has visible chard and spinach - although because of our weird weather this year, they're very small.

<i>Tomorrow: color!!</i>

Last fall, we bit the bullet and got a new roof. It had to be done, really - that's the kind of deferred maintenance that can just destroy your equity with one little leak. This spring, our focus has been the paint outside. It's been at least 20 years, according to our neighbors, and it looks it. We're down to bare wood in spots where the paint has bubbled and peeled. There's also considerable water/age damage to the base of the "pillars;" our contractor will be rebuilding those.



CJ did a lot of prep work Monday and Tuesday of last week; you can see the shadow-shutters where she took off the old ones. We will likely replace them with rebuilt ones as that seems to be true to the Cape Cod style, but it will be a while.



The contractor we chose, Ron English of Good Earth Construction, has been working since Wednesday. He's taking out the air conditioners you can see here and re-siding those areas, and took out the pipe laying across the lower edge of the house. The trellis by the back door is gone now, too. Hey, look at that new roof!




Next: the air conditioners are gone; we experience feature creep.

I love watching the real estate shows on HGTV and TLC, but every now and then things just jump out at me and I think - man, I need to write about that.

Today, I was watching My First Home, and the buyers said it took WEEKS for them to find a Realtor who would help them, because their price was so low.

Um, excuse me?

I know there are members of my profession who are like that. I could almost thank them, though, because it means more first-time buyers for me!

I LOVE working with first-time homeowners! The process is so exciting - the thrill of the hunt, negotiating to get the best price, everything. Even the downer moments - having to break the news that an offer hasn't been accepted and that someone else's was.

So. Don't ever hesitate to call me because you think your price is too low - just call!

Best,

Deb