Pulling Down the Past

danger_keep_out.jpgAs I was cycling to work this morning I noticed a row of 4 or 5 houses has been demolished just near the East Perth Train Station. They were quite old and had fallen into disrepair over the past few years. There’s another one along with an old corner shop still marked for demolition.

I imagine they’re going to widen the road and they need the space.

I wonder what stories those piles of bricks could tell. I wonder how many families grew up there and where they are now. Were the rooms in those houses full of laughter? There must have been good and bad times, smiles and tears.

Now there are just memories amongst the piles of bricks and I’m sure that within a few days even the bricks will be gone.

Progress is often necessary but it’s good to reflect on what has been before we move forward towards what is still to come. We also need to remember that we sometimes need to remove the past before we can see the real potential that lies ahead.

What sorts of stories could your home tell? Would they be mostly happy stories? Can you remember the home where you grew up? Does it bring good or bad memories to mind?



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Neat as a pin

What does it really mean? Sure, I get the idea that it means that it’s clean and tidy but how neat is a pin?

As we continue to prepare our home for sale I’m occasionally looking for homes on line. We’re not looking too seriously yet as our main task is getting our home on the market and sold before we commit to a new property. We’re hoping to have a bit of a busy bee this Saturday. We’ll be getting down to business to spread some mulch around and clean up around the house and yard. (You’re more than welcome to join us. 🙂 )

I’m fascinated by the language real estate agents use to sel properties. One of the old favourites is ‘neat as a pin’. Does anyone really know what it means? Why do agents want you to associate the house they want you to buy with a tiny, sharp implement? I’m also wondering why they would want to use overworked cliches of any kind.

What are your favourite property selling phrases?

Another one I’ve seen is ‘priced to sell’. Surely all homes are priced to sell if they’re on the market. Some are priced to sell more quickly than others but they’re all priced to sell.

I saw one recently that proclaimed the house as ‘a home to fit your needs’. How do they know what my needs are?

Have you seen any weird or wonderful phrases designed to sell houses? Do tired old cliches really work to grab your attention?



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Preparing for sale

House_for_Sale_sign.jpgWe all swear it won’t happen next time but it always does.

As I previously mentioned, we’re looking at selling our home and so we’re busy repairing and sorting. I reckon by the time we’ve got our house ready to put on the market it’ll look so good that we won’t want to sell it.

We’ve certainly made a number of improvements over the past 15 years that have been just for us and which have improved the home for our own family but there always seems to be certain things that you always mean to get around to that only happen when you’re getting ready to sell.

We’ve wanted to change our driveway ever since we moved in back in September 1993 and we’ll finally get around doing something with it so that it looks OK for the next owners.

The problem for us has mostly been that I’m the world’s worst handyman. I marvel at those people who can spend a couple of afternoons in the yard and totally revolutionise their homes. I’m certainly not the kind of guy who should be left alone with power tools. I have made some advances and can handle certain small tasks but repaving a driveway …. I really wouldn’t know where to start.

I guess that wherever we end up moving we’ll just try to make the improvements for ourselves and not someone we don’t even know.

Have you ever noticed the same kind of thing? Have you ever surprised yourself with just how good your home is once you’ve prepared it for sale? Have you ever decided to stay because you’ve done such a good job of preparing your home to sell?



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