I’m sending a large, gooey chocolate cake, made with the best chocolate plus pure butter. (((Mansfield)))
Serenity now, Mansfield. This calls for virtual wine and virtual chocolate. Looking on the bright side, your mother will soon be settled with care access available down the road. Maybe a less “cluttered” house will be a selling point? I may be stretching there, but I wish you a smooth transition and a quick sale.
mansfield- I sending the wine. we sold all three of our homes vacant. sometimes it helps to have no clutter and the buyer can paint their own canvas in their mind.
IMO an empty house shows way better than a house cluttered with the furniture and things accumulated over a long life. I think if you remove everything, and maybe paint the walls, the house will look great.
mansfield, so sorry. Don’t you hate it when everything seems to fall into place until, suddenly, it doesn’t? Especially disheartening when it is related to an eldercare issue that seems resolved at last. It’s never easy. Wine and yummy treats to you!
Wow Mansfield, you worked so hard. How is the housing market in your area? Will you try through a realtor this time? Having been through this 1 1/2 years ago, the good news is that you have been through the worst of it by getting stuff out of the place. I often wish we moved my parents and then sold the place.
Oh Mansfield. Hope you had a large, non-refundable deposit from those people.
Thanks for your well wishes and support. I am enjoying all of your virtual treats for breakfast. Nothing like some chocolate serenity. I woke up this morning and said to myself “that didn’t really happen, did it??” Of course, it did and we have to move on. We are interviewing realtors this weekend and will ask them what we can do to make the place more presentable. Mom and Dad have only lived there since 2007, so it wasn’t cluttered. Mom has impeccable decorating sense and the place would have shown beautifully with all the furniture, etc. in place. Most of the rooms were different colors and it looks rather disjointed right now. I’m afraid we’re probably going to have to re-paint the whole place in a neutral color. Somehow this will all work out. I just hope it happens sooner rather than later. I don’t need the stress of figuring out how we’re going to pay for all this in the short term.
This is just another round of elder care whack-a-mole.
Hi Mansfield,
I sold my mother’s home last spring and had alrady moved out much of her furniture to AL. The realtor I chose then hired a stager to stage the house and paid for it herself. The stager had me move out even more furniture and brought in a few of her own pieces. It looked great and I had an offer the first day! I got a second better offer later that week which I accepted. Such a relief!
I sympathize with cleaning out the house; it took me 4 years. I did it mostly alone although I have sibs 
((Mansfield)) It’s all so darn stressful. The good news is that it would be really difficult for your mom to show her place. Imagine her getting calls that she had to get out of the place with very little notice. Have the realtor tell you if it should be painted. It’s a new year, a new strategy - maybe you’ll get more for the place.
At least you got your mom moved - my mom also fretted and freaked over the move, only we don’t have her there yet.
Staging made a huge difference in MIL’s house. Only staged the kitchen, Living Room, Master Bedroom & Master Bathroom. (Kitchen and Bathroom staging was pretty simple.)
Ask the real estate agents what they can suggest to help.
Sending a virtual (and virtuous!) pan of chewy brownies.
I’m enjoying the virtual treats. Thanks. I hadn’t considering the idea of only staging a few rooms. We’re interviewing several realtors this weekend. When word got out that mom was selling her place, a random realtor called her and asked to come over that day with an interested couple. When the realtor showed up, there was no client. They supposedly lost interest in the intervening hour. Yeah, right. I sense this was a phantom client and that she just wanted to literally get her foot in the door. Since then, she’s called mom at least once a week and even brought over some Christmas cookies. Realtor knew we had a buyer, but she just wanted to stay in touch.I don’t think her schmoozing was sincere at all. Mom has asked her to make a presentation. I hope that either the other choices are better or that this woman can really gain my confidence.
I don’t know, Mansfield, seems like she is interested in the house, maybe she would be that tenacious selling it?
I’d say I also would be more interested in a realtor who wants a listing!
I think I mentioned my mom had an assessment at the ccrc and acted like a complete nightmare. The director called and said she’d need 24/7 aides for assessment. My sis and I spoke to him. He also then spoke to the director of admissions who had a much different take on my mom than the nurse. So the compromise is that he and the nurse want to come over to mom’s on Friday and assess her themselves and talk to the aide about the help she needs.
That all sounds fine…if my mom will cooperate. Unfortunately she didn’t take her lasix a few times in the past week and now her congestive heart failure is kicking up and she’s feeling poorly. The dr recommended to up her dosage and have the visiting nurse recheck tomorrow. If it isn’t better they want her to go to the hospital for a chest xray. All the siblings got together and decided to push off Fridays evaluation until next week. History shows us, she’ll either be better, or she’ll be in the hospital.
I’m the designated person to let her know that it’s extremely important she be up, in clothes, and acting like she wants to go there for this assessment. But I’m holding off for now while we wait and see what happens with the chf. ay yi yi
They have her financials and understand if their requirement is 24/7 aides, she can’t afford it.
I would never hire a realtor who had already lied to me. I don’t believe in the story about the couple who wanted to see the house, and moreover, if by some chance the story about the couple was true, an honest realtor would have called your mother beforehand to let her know that the couple wasn’t coming.
@"Cardinal Fang" , that’s the way I feel. While I understand a realtor who is hungry for a listing, I really would like a realtor who is hungry for a listing AND will actively market the place and get it sold for a fair price. Once she gets the listing, she’ll get paid commission anyway, regardless of how hard she works. There’s something about her I don’t like. That’s okay. She thinks she’s just dealing with a little old lady. Wait until she meets the rest of us.
Eyemamom, what’s the deal with your mom not taking her Lasix? Does she need supervision to make sure she complies?
@Mansfield, definitely, your gut instinct trumps other considerations
Oldmom, many seniors don’t take their lasix because they get tired of having to go to the bathroom so often. My late MIL was famous for that. Unfortunately you can only play that game so long