Paper and Signs

Anxiety levels slowly rising but somehow things have actually gotten off to a good start. Real estate agent called today to say that we've had three enquiries for the internet ad already and has arranged to get two buyers through tomorrow at 12. Hopefully just a small taste of the interest we'll see at the open house!



Ad spot in the local paper looks snazzy, though I did try to get her to change that darn ampersand... no one listens anymore. Sign has been put up in front of the house too so we'll be paying attention to any slow drive-bys.

Two more sleeps!

For Sale!

And here's the first drip in what will be a torrent of advertising that's been organised for the sale of our adorable abode. The first ad on realestate.com went up this afternoon, after a few minor technical difficulties (details which will be revealed in an upcoming list of the joys of selling property). The photographer has done a pretty nice job of capturing the funkiness of the unit and I'm glad that there are a heap of photos up for potential buyers to see. There's nothing I hate more than a real estate listing with hardly any photos.

Photos have also been added to Picasa for posterity. We feel like we're living in a display home right now.



The two things I'd probably have changed were the wedding photos in the bedroom (I think it makes it hard for someone to imagine living in a room with photos of another happy couple on the wall) and the dodgy pendant light in the kitchen (that doesn't work). Both things that I mentioned but were promptly ignored by the real estate agent... grr...

Three more sleeps till the open house. Yay!

Before shot

Here I thought we were busy when trying to buy a house. Freaking hell, we looked bloody catatonic compared to how flat out we've been over the past few days. De-cluttering and cleaning and polishing and scrubbing and filing and packing and hiding and... gwargh!!!

We took some photos on Friday prior to a weekend covered in elbow grease. It was kind of hard getting nice shots at night and it certainly helps me appreciate how hard it is to take a great photo for real estate.



The photographer came by today to the house to take the real photos. Caught an early preview of the shots and I must say (though I'm probably biased) they really do pop. Certainly made spending all weekend with a duster and sponge in hand worth it. Hopefully the ad will be up on realestate.com towards the end of the week. Sign board, letter drops and news paper bits should be following soon after, capped off by the first open house on Saturday. The weather better be nice and sunny.

As for the other end of this whole move, our offer on the house in Oxley went unconditional last week. Past the point of no return!

Greek Ball and De-cluttering

Got a chance to scrub up on Friday for the Flight Centre ball at the Greek Club. Alison left me going stag this year, which was a shame because against all odds it turned out to be a pretty entertaining night. There were a few uncomfortably corny double entendres bandied about by the MCs, though the audience was more than forgiving when the booze started flowing. The food was passable but made sweeter by the pleasant company. It was a great chance to meet everyone's better halves.



Also got a chance to catch up with Don for the first time in months since he left the other company. Thankfully he turned up to this function sans seashell bikini. Was nice to see how he and Lauren have been doing.

I'd like to think that I held up my own on the bottle count, coming in at five beers and a glass of champers by midnight. Safe to say I was feeling a little seedy the next day driving up to Toowoomba. We've been going non stop all weekend clearing out the unit in preparation for house inspections coming up. We also rearranged some of the furniture in the living room to allow us to have the dinner table extended all the time and provide more space.



It's actually a really nice set up, though now we have a DVD cabinet sitting in the middle of the second bedroom. A job for next weekend when John and Sheena help us move more junk with the big car.

Hell hath frozen over

Goes to show how much I've been neglecting my blog reading lately due to house hunting duties. I even managed to miss this predictable but no less orgasmic announcement. Now I just have to hope that my little MacBook can handle it along with Star Craft 2 and Spore.

Oh, we also heard today that the owners have signed the contract on the house so it's full steam ahead. Building and pest inspections have been booked in for Thursday.

Store experience and new homes

Everyone at Flight Centre, regardless of position or department, is obligated to spend one day out at a retail store to see how the travel consultants do it tough. An exercise appropriately entitled "A Day in the Life of a Consultant", the intention is to acquire a deeper understanding of the trials and tribulations that our front line staff have to face on a daily basis. My turn finally came up on Friday and I got to spend a lovely day in Flight Centre West End over hearing the globe trotting travel plans of overtly wealthy new-age socialites.

Sad to say, I didn't actually get to do any work out at the store so I won't be funding my next overseas trip with hard earned commission. Not that I'd ever want to shift career paths to take up travel consultancy, glamorous as that may initially seem. All the staff were in the shop from 7:30 in the morning and would be plodding on till past 9:00 in the evening, with a measly fifteen minute lunch break in between so the work hours definitely don't appeal.

One surprise on the day was discovering that one of the travel consultants in the store was the same lovely girl that booked mum's train trip around Australia over two years ago. She remembered me when I mentioned how we had to buy her a box of chocolates as a thank you for skipping lunch just to plan mum's itinerary. What a small world.

In other news, I've been too busy lately to really post anything of consequence. Most of our online time as of late has been spent on real estate websites looking for a larger home that will last us further down family planning track. As the more astute amongst you may have gathered, we think we might have found the place. I'm hoping to avoid gun jumping of any sort so I'll announce this with a small dose of reservation, but we've signed a contract on what we hope to be a happy abode for years to come.

The contract hasn't actually been counter signed by the owners but we've received verbal agreement on the conditions so we're fairly confident in moving to the next step. Of course the normal obstacles of building inspections, finance and the rest still remain but in truth it's the new addition to our worries that looms menacingly on the horizon. Of course I'm talking about the sale of our current unit, which will certainly introduce us to a whole new level of stress for us to enjoy. I've always been one for new experiences...

Saying all that, this hasn't stopped us from putting a deposit down for a new bed and planning all the improvements we'd like to do to the place. The house is a little older in build but we think it's certainly cute and in good condition. Over time we hope to build a patio/deck out the back and a couple of little extensions but time will tell. For now we're just excited at the prospect of owning land and have been watching Gardening Australia with new interest.

If all goes well we should be settling on the first week of September, actually October. Now we just need to find someone to buy our unit... any takers?