Getting the house on the market

We spent a couple of frantic weeks working to get the house ready to sell, and it went on the market on April 13. The MLS tour was the next day. We were hoping our house would catch the eye of a buyer seeking that $6,500 or $8,000 tax incentive. No such luck. It expired on April 30. We had our first showing yesterday morning, so we took our computers and sat at PJs drinking coffee and surfing. As we pulled up to the house, we weren’t sure whether it had been shown or not, but when we entered, we knew it had been; we had turned on almost every light in the house, and the realtor had turned most of them off before departing. Great little device for letting us know someone had actually been here. But no offer. We will participate in Prudential’s super open house on May 16 – maybe that will help a bit.

Overall the house looks good, and in the interior, it is fairly good. Some of the floors need replacing and the kitchen needs updating, but it has a fresh coat of paint in almost every room, and we replaced the sinks and countertops in every bathroom. They look SOOOOOOOO much better!!! There are major flaws outside, however. The siding needs to be replaced, and the roof, which is a 20-year roof, is about 18 years old. When we had the shingles replaced post-Gustav, we were told at that time that the shingles are pretty fragile and that we needed to consider replacing them in the not-too-distant future. Ugh – that’s about $10,000 - $12,000 worth of work needed outside. We are really going to take a hit on the price, even if we get an offer. Ouch once again!!!

We sold my car to Kyle. We drove it to Dallas for Jami’s wedding, then flew home. When we went in to State Farm to cancel the insurance, Kevin informed us that State Farm will not insure an empty house – they will cancel our insurance a couple of months after it is empty. Ouch!!! And if it is not insured, the mortgage company will call in the mortgage. Ouch again!! Actually, it is not the end of the world (or our house) for us, as we can, if we must, pay off the mortgage in full since we owe less than $25,000 on it. But that leaves us owning an uninsured house!!! Ouch yet again!!!! We are looking into vacant house insurance, but I am not sure it is offered here in Louisiana.

We have our French bank account – success again! Or partly. It is not actually funded yet because we have to wire the funds. We were hoping that, since we now have an account with HSBC and that is the bank we will use in France, that we could just transfer the funds via the internet, but Roger was told today that the funds will still have to be wired, and by the time he called about it, those people who could facilitate that transaction were gone for the day. Sigh! That which makes the most sense to us is not always the way things are.

Roger got our tickets a couple of weeks ago. We are flying British Airways. They have been strike-prone, so he bought insurance as well – not our usual mode of operation. However, I think the insurance will cover a cancelled trip due to any volcano activity, which is a real possibility right now, given the Eyjafjallajökull eruption last month.

Roger is officially retired. This was his first full day of retirement. The retirement actually started on Saturday, May 1, but neither that day nor Sunday was a work day, so this is sort of the beginning of his retirement. He spent the day putting a floor below the sink in the bathroom upstairs. Water had eaten through the existing particle board flooring and had left a hole in it, so he set out to replace it. I am sure he would rather have been working than doing that! It is not the kind of task at which he is adept.