Any takers?

Remember the deal I said fell thru? Well, here is one part of the deal...I've got this ENORMOUS Queen Anne Victorian home (built in 1870) for sale, 5 bedrooms, 3 baths, Formal Dining Room fit for royalty, Living Room, Study, Eat-in Kitchen, Mud Room, Laundry Room, over 5,000 square feet for the "Bargain Basement" price of $274,900! I had a contract on it from a couple in another part of the state that currently run a B & B, and they were going to turn this house into a B & B...but they've decided to go in a different direction due to the husband's job. The good part is that I still have a contract on their B & B from a couple I'm working with out in California...just gotta get their home sold first and it seems that will be happening in the not-so-distant future.

So, what is it about this house that it's been on the market over a year and I've had 3 contracts fall thru?! Hmmmm....could it be the color scheme?! Well, not the reason they've fallen thru, or I wouldn't have contracts in the first place. But, yeah, I've had plenty of comments on the paint scheme...when I'm out and about, people in town will see my name tag and say, "hey, you've got the Barbie house listed!" or something equally as clever as, "you've got that Easter egg house for sale!" And I nod with an ever so humble, "yep, that would be me" (knowing what's coming next). And then they proceed to go on a 10-minute rant about what in the world ever made them paint the house that color...yadda, yadda, yadda...of which I feel compelled to explain that it was not MY sellers that painted it that color, etc. before I realize that I don't have to explain or "defend" it for any reason, especially to a complete stranger! I mean, different strokes for different folks, right people? Could you please just hand me my Diet Dr. Pepper and Sour Patch Kids and let me be on my merry way??? Ahhhh, yes, everyone's an expert!

I wonder if I said it was haunted...would that make it sell faster? I mean, I have had some pretty freaky things happen to me there. Maybe you don't believe in that kind of stuff, but humor me for just a moment. I check on the house every other week or so because it's vacant and I don't want to show up one day and find the house flooded from pipes that have burst. Anyway, back to the freaky-ness...one day I went into the study to find a pile of what appeared to be plaster that had been sanded. I ran my hand across the wall above where the pile of "dust" was on the hardwood floor and my hand was white...just as if someone had sanded the wall. And it was alot of "dust" on the floor too and I had not had any workers there. Hmmm... strange.

Okay, so maybe you're not convinced yet. Freaky story number two--I went one afternoon to take some updated photographs of the house and from the moment I walked in the door, my strand of pearls that I was wearing fell off 5 times...yes, you heard right, 5 times! Let me add that I had been wearing this necklace all day with no problems. After the 5th time of putting it back on and it falling off, I said (out loud) "okay, I won't put it back on again!" I finished what I was doing, left and put my necklace back on and it was fine the rest of the day. Co-ink-y-dink? I think not! I still have some Realtor friends in my office that absolutely refuse to go in that house alone and they are surprised that I still do!

Anyway, for your viewing pleasure, check out the house...these pictures were taken in the winter. In the Spring it's an explosion of color with the dogwoods, crepe myrtles, azaleas, etc.

Any takers?