Selling A House Sucks - Part 2

Last night I found out that one of the houses Brendan and I liked went into contract/ contingency phase over the weekend. While I'm happy for the seller, a friend of mine, I'm somewhat bummed for us. It was a great house. Not the perfect house, but a great house nonetheless. The people who came and saw our house for a second showing were supposedly going to get together with their realtor to make an offer to us. No offer yet. And after two weeks with basically no new showings, I became a little complacent about keeping the house in perfect showing condition. My house is clean - I vacuumed the entire upstairs and stairway and cleaned the full bathroom yesterday, and vacuumed the entire downstairs this morning. I put away all the breakfast dishes and cereal boxes and picked up the toys in the basement, made Ian's and Emma's beds, and put away the clothes that were sitting on my dresser. But, to have the house completely spotless before going anywhere adds on 20 - 30 minutes of time. And all I wanted to do this morning was get to Dominick's and get my grocery shopping done. We have only ever had one other showing before noon, and no new ones for so long, I figured what were the odds that someone would come and see the house while I was out, especially because we are supposed to have one hour notice before a showing.

Well, as I pulled up to my house at 11:15, there was a realtor and his clients, getting the key out of the supra box and getting ready to go in the house. I parked in front of my neighbor's driveway, told Emma and Zoe to stay put, and jumped out to talk to the realtor. I apologized that the house was not in the condition I would like it to be, but told them they were welcome to see it. I jumped back in the van, and drove around for ten or fifteen minutes with a vanload full of milk and bratwursts, among other things, that needed to be refrigerated soon. The entire time I racked my brain trying to remember what I left sitting out, and finally deciding not to worry about it anymore because I couldn't do anything about it. I drove home to see the realtor pulling away in his vehicle, and the clients still sitting in their car in front of my house. I pulled into the garage and immediately began unloading groceries as Emma and Zoe climbed around in the van. I was mortified to see the half eaten pop-tart left on the table, the pile of five or six dirty rags on top of the dryer, the clothes drying rack, complete with drying clothes, left up in the living room, and the roll of toilet paper left on the sink of the upstairs bathroom. I usually leave the house looking great, I keep feeling like I missed an opportunity to sell the house. I hope the clients can look past the minor messes and see what a great house it is. I know I'll keep the house neater before I go places, at least for another week or so.