Well, it's now eight weeks later. The house is still for sale with NO offers thus far, even after one price reduction. The house is clean and very nice to live in. The only catch is that I have to constantly clean for you never know when a prospective buyer wants to come by and "kick" the tires.
It's' been an exhausting, mind-numbing experience that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. It seems to go on and on. While I do like the nice clean house, people are just not meant to live this way. I yell at the kids, I can't just up and leave the house to run a few errands because someone might want to come by and see the house.
We've had a few people interested in the house but they either couldn't swing the price or got cold feet. I have found it to be educational about the state of the middle class and what I don't want to hold me back in life. While my Cali house is nice, it doesn't have the Bling. It doesn't have granit countertops in the kitchen, the tile in 2 of the 3 bathrooms is as old as the house. It just doesn't have the WOW factor that people seem to have become accustomed to. When we first purchased the house, we looked past the wall to wall to wall wallpaper from the early eighties. We looked past the mural painted on the wall. We looked past the poor landscaping choices and saw the house for what it was. A useful, functional and liveable space that could be changed as needed that is located in an awesome neighborhood. It's taken 9 years but we are now selling the house we've renovated and decorated only to find that it's not enough...it doesn't have the bling.
No wonder people are so far in debt. They would rather emulate kings rather than live a comfortable life filled with excitement and meaning.