Selling houses and moving a life.

We have not sold a house for 36 years.  We have sold only 3 homes in a lifetime.  I do so hope that this time is the last time.

When  did it become a game?  When did selling a home become such a complex and convoluted process?  Why don’t we show our home to those interested with a price that is what we expect.  When did it become necessary to offer a listing price and “stage” our home, that in no way reflects how we lived in it?  Take away the family photos, remove political nuances and any suggestions of hobbies or interests.  When did it become important to not offend anyone in our own home?  We are instructed to make the spaces look uncluttered and open and airy, giving an appearance of “space”.  We are encouraged to “orchestrate” making our home a house for sale, not a place of life and living.   There are specialists who make homes into houses for sale and earn a living at it.  Oh, I get the whole process, but why?

Why is everything so politically correct?   Why does everything have to appear so perfect?  When did it become impossible for mature people to look at a home and appreciate how someone lived in it and at the same time be able to picture how they themselves might live there?

And when did it become normal to expect to negotiate on the price of a home?  Bantering back and forth until a suitable compromise is met and formally accepted, only to be renegotiated by attorneys before closing.

When did it become customary for a person to come into a home 50 years old and critique it like it should be new…slight dings in the roof, concrete cracks, spindles on the railing not as closely spaced as currently deemed “safe”, curtains believed to be a fire hazard because they appear to be to close to the  fireplace….really?   A multi page “inspection” is then presented, which on paper makes a property look like it is in complete disrepair.

When did it then become a clever way of getting further reductions on the agreed upon price of the home by asking that the roof be fixed, a tree be uprooted and the furnace in the garage to be removed (which should be considered a bonus in a Chicago winter) or pay the buyer an uncanny amount of money?

Don’t even get me started about the attorneys and their advice (or lack thereof)  and fees.  Necessary?  You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. They ask you the questions, you supply the answers and they prepare page after page of legalize that needs to be waded through and signed yesterday.  Ultimately they collect their fee whether they helped in the process or not.

The phone calls and the emails…countless.  The waiting and wondering.   The closing date approaching…all the while being fully aware that the deal isn’t done until every little detail is signed, sealed and delivered…until the fat lady sings.

When did it become such a byzantine proceeding?

Enough already.  I give up.  Someone just book the fat lady to start singing on June 23rd!