I’mma be honest.  Getting your house ready to sell is a gigantic load of horseshit.  We’ve already passed our self-imposed deadline by almost 3 months.  I think we HIGHLY underestimated the amount of work involved.

Or perhaps it’s just me?  It’s easy when people tell you, “oh, just throw a coat of paint on the walls and spruce up the front yard and you’ll be good to go.”

Hmph.  My ass.   I guess I can thank curse thank my mother for my Martha Stewart perfectionism.  Because god-for-fucking-bid there be a single droplet of paint on any baseboard, visible or no.

And not only are we selling our house, but we are living in it while it is on the market.  And we have NO plans for any “intermediate” housing between the time it sells and the time we buy our house in Myrtle Beach. We’re doing a full-on door-to-door move.  Both my agents (NC and SC) assure me this is completely possible.

Our credit is stellar.  Our deadlines flexible…. to a point.  The housing market in Myrtle Beach is a buyer’s market.  Yet the housing market in Fayetteville is about as stalled as any military base can be.  There are buyers, there always will be, but how many?  And what can they afford?  And how is their credit?  All pertinent questions when dealing with soldiers and their families.

But the work involved.  Oooooh, the work.  I’ve painted every room in the house.  I am praying a good scrub with one of those magic eraser thingies will take care of the baseboards.  I’ve painted the exterior doors.  Changed the doorknobs to fancy new ones.  Painted the shutters, which required me climbing a 20-foot ladder twice to get the shutters on the second floor.  We’ve installed exterior lighting.  We’re waiting on Lowe’s to call and schedule the install of our storm door.  We have a fancy new mailbox.

The coup de grace is the sump pump.  Google it.  I ain’t got time to ‘splain.  But in short, it’s an enormous job.  In the end, we will have spent as much installing it ourselves as we would have spent hiring someone, but it’s too late to go back now.  We’re *almost* done.