When selling a house...

1. Dont be lazy with repairs. The last of the two homes we saw this weekend was "fully renovated." We had high hopes with the quality of the home based on that phrase when we decided to look at the home in the first place. The location wasn't great and the house itself was built in 1901 but we figured those things could be overlooked if the layout was ok and it was, in fact, fully renovated. However "fully renovated" must not mean making sure the 2nd floor porch was actually connected to the house, the doors and windows were the right size and opened/closed, or that the ceiling and floors were even. I think all this guy did to "fully renovate" this home was slap a new coat of paint on the walls (that he textured so wouldn't need a primer or 2nd coat) and lay some new carpet down. Waste.of.my.time.

2. Dont keep 10 billion cats in random rooms. The first home we saw we knew the house probably needed a little updating but the location was great. We walked in and hit the wall of smelly cats. It was almost overpowering. It wasnt like the crazy cat lady's ammonia filled home, but just a combination of multiple cats with multiple litter boxes that needed to be cleaned. The husband lasted all of three minutes before his sneezing started. And that was on a daily allergy medication. The smell aside the house didnt wow us enough to over look the little repairs and updating that would have been needed.

Those were the two most promising listings for our area and budget. Time to expand or compromise on our already small "must haves" list. This whole house hunting thing is hard! But fun at the same time.