Nosey neighbor

A handful of homes have recently gone on the market in our neighborhood, and guess what? I'm that person. The nosey neighbor who likes to see how much the house is, what it looks like inside, how the sale will effect our home & how our house stacks up in comparison (not to brag, but 9 times out of 10 our digs are typically better...but then again, maybe everyone thinks that about their own home?). Not to mention what I could do to transform the house into my own likes & needs. Oh, how the imagination flows!

The house across the street from us is for sale (for only 3 days to be exact & you bet I was online doing my research as soon as the realtor stuck that sign in the lawn!)....



(sorry, no can do on the location/address...we don't need no weirdos showing up on our doorstep!)

So yeah, meh. Nothing special...definitely zero curb appeal (and to think we look at this house on a regular basis!). In the 4 years we've lived here, I've never seen a single person walk in or out of this home. The lawn is always mowed & the driveway always plowed (which is odd, considering no one is coming or going), but not one sign of life! Weird. Based on the realtor's photos, the inside isn't much to write home about either. And just this morning I noticed the awful roof. Because, you know, I'm an unofficial roof inspector now that we've had our's replaced (ah, the things you don't know about me!).

All these homes for sale bring me to my next thought...staging is a HUGE thing when selling your home. Folks, it's not rocket science. But, shamefully, I can't begin to tell you how many houses I toured (prior to buying our's) where random laundry was sitting out, beds were unmade & the house was just totally cluttered with....stuff.

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BAD. NO. Clean up the joint, will you (I think there might be a cat in there, but I can't totally tell)? This photo is a good example of how good old fashioned decluttering could go a LONG way in helping to sell your home. (and as a side note, Ugly House Photos is pretty hilarious scary. It's like awkward family photos, only the house version. And it will still make you say, wth?!)

And if you'd like to see some awesome examples of staging, head over to Centsational Girl, where Kate toured some new homes in her California town. And don't blame me if these photos make you feel like you live in a dump. 

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Gorgeous, huh? And yes, these are professionally staged new builds. But we can all dream, right?

Alright, I'm off to (maybe or maybe not) stalk a new sale down the street. Happy weekend-ing!