Record Rainfall and Historic Flood Levels

School was canceled today due to flooding. It's been raining non-stop since Sunday, and streams and rivers are spilling their banks. It was with great trepidation that I went down to the basement, hoping everything was high and dry. We've never had leakage in the beautifully refinished basement, and it remains that way. Maybe we should raise our asking price.

I had to run a few errands, so I eased my intrepid van down the driveway and into the water zone. What I saw was amazing: a pond just about to overflow and block the road; road closures due to streams sending jets of water across the intersection; neighbors pumping out basements. I was crazy to be out. I navigated my trusty vehicle to the post office and to Dave's to pick up chicken breast. To fortify myself for the drive home, I stopped at Panera's to buy a mocha chino. I took a different route home to check out Moosehorn Road from the other end. There's plenty of flooding, but not as bad as I'd seen in other parts of town.

When I got home, there was a message from Marty on the answering machine. The road to New York was also flooded in parts, and it took him a lot longer than usual to make the drive. New York City generally does not flood, so Marty should have no worries as he makes his way to work and dinner engagements. By the time he comes back to Rhode Island on Friday evening, the floods will have receded. The weekend is supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. The latest weather alert forecasts a total of six to nine inches total rainfall today. The average for March is three inches.

Let's hope the waters recede rapidly and stay out of our basement.

House Video

Rich made a lovely video of my house, inside and out. 355 Moosehorn is a welcoming and easy to maintain house in a very private wooded setting. It's in a safe and friendly neighborhood close to shopping and schools. We've loved living here and will be sad to leave. I will especially miss my serenity garden, a work in progress. Watching snowflakes swirl in the back woods from my perch in front of the fire is another experience I'm sad to leave behind.

If I lived here another eight years I'd re-do the master bath and replace the counters in the kitchen. I would not use the ubiquitous granite you see everywhere because it's become a cliche, and it emits radiation. There are more beautiful and unique natural and synthetic materials available that avoid the the granite/stainless steel combo you see everywhere.

Feel free to ignore my biases and come see the house with an open mind. Here's a short video clip that tells a better story than I do.

355 Moosehorn Virtual Tour from Rich Epstein on Vimeo.

Open House

It was a lovely day for an open house, sunny and warm. The report from Rich was that nine people showed up, four of them serious buyers, the rest curiosity seekers. Two of the serious buyers were third timers. We should start charging them rent.

We bought this house sight unseen over the internet. Maybe that's the best way to buy. The emotion of spending a huge wad of cash on something you take very personally is daunting for some. But it's a great time to buy; it's a great house to buy; we want to get on with our next adventure.

So take a deep breathe, make an offer and we'll make a deal.

Bid Already

Another day, another showing. This one was easy because I had to take Mark to the train station at the same time. After dropping Mark off at the station, Turbo and I took a short walk on a nearby bike path. The weather was lovely, though Turbo didn't feel comfortable for some reason and kept pulling me back to the car. I wonder what he's going to do when he becomes a city dog.

Rich says that the clients like the house a lot (they'd already seen the house on the weekend and they already live in East Greenwich and are upsizing). They asked if there are any bids yet. He suggested to their broker that they make an offer. They want to wait to see what other offers come in before committing because they think that will tell them if the price is fair. Could this be the start of a bidding war? We hope so. That extra cash will go to a new car purchase.

No showings for the rest of the week. Where have I heard that before? We have an open house on Sunday which means we'll have to disappear for a few hours. Guess we'll have to go shopping or on an outing of some sort. Let's hope the weekend brings good weather and multiple bids.

This Is Work

I thought I'd have a few days off from showing the house, but Rich called me yesterday while I was having breakfast at Jiggers with my friend Sue to say that a couple who'd seen the house over the weekend wanted to come back to see it with their kids. Two hours later, Mark, Turbo and I drove off in the windswept rain.

Amazingly, this house has weathered the storminess of the past few days, staying high and dry when we most need it to. It is a sturdily built house, so I expect no less. Still, with rivers overflowing and boats floating in yards, we have nary a leak.

The feedback from Rich was positive. In fact, others who saw the house over the weekend want to come back and see it again. Thankfully my cleaning person is coming today. The white tile floor needs some help. Tentatively the showings are for today at 11:30 am and tomorrow at 5:30 pm but Rich is going to try to do them both tomorrow back-to-back. This would be much more convenient for all but the buyers, but hey, if you want a chance to bid on a beautiful home in a bucolic setting, you have to be flexible.

Feedback

After showing the house six times over the weekend our realtor gave us some feedback. Most clients stayed a while, a good sign. They all seemed to like the house. Interestingly, what they didn't like, never occured to us when we "looked at" the house, because we only saw it from a virtual perspective. Who knew the driveway was 200 feet long and lined with deadly rocks? Or that you could see the neighbor's house? The driveway threw one couple into a fight (seeya) and the relative lack of privacy made the Australian couple give pause. They will look in the next town over where they will get more land but less house.

The realtor, I will give him a name, Rich, found some mold growing in the basement and some black stuff there, too. Marty got right to work and washed it off. Most of it is leakage from the central vac canister. With this much house to clean, who thinks about dusting the unheated utility room? Not me.

We have an open house next weekend--no other showings until then. I can relax and not worry about "staging" and all the dog hair tumbling around the white tile floor that can't stay clean. This blog will stay quiet until then, unless we get an offer.

Selling the House Through Smell

We had to be out of the house today for two showings so we (Marty, Harry, Turbo and I) jumped in the van and started wasting time. First we went out for a pizza, then we did a little shopping (stores were crowded because the weather is terrible), then we dropped Harry at a friend's and then we just drove around waiting until we could pick Harry up again and go home. The second showing must have gone well because the people were still in the driveway when we pulled up. We sat in a neighbor's driveway until we saw them leave. This is tough work.

Tomorrow we have three showings spread throughout the day. It's going to be rainy and windy and we're going to be whirring around East Greenwich trying to pass the time when we have a number of other things we could be doing. Harry's lucky because he's working and won't be home. Mark's coming home tonight so he'll be with us. Poor Turbo will be steaming up the van's windows.

Do you think our realtor will mind putting the ribs in the oven? Marty has to head back to NYC tomorrow evening and doesn't want to leave too late.

Two Showings Today

When my broker called me with the news, I immediately thought of Harry's room. With the two of us working, it only took an hour to put away all the clothes, clean out the closet and take everything off the floor. We did not bother with surfaces because it is a very-much lived in room, a teen cave as you will. I now have 2 huge bags of clothes to donate.

After breakfast--blueberry pancakes to give the house a homey smell--I'll vacuum and straighten the rest of the house. With only two people living here and one dog, it doesn't get too nasty. Turbo does bring in a lot of the backyard, and then there are his tufts of hair everywhere. As long as he doesn't urinate just before a showing, I forgive him the rest.

We're meeting Jamie and Mowgli for a playdate at the park when my house is being shown and hopefully fought over. I hope we beat the rain.

I Have an MLS #

The house is officially for sale. Last night it was assigned an MLS # which will hopefully be retired toute suite. Here's some copy from the listing that my agent wrote:

A long driveway leads one to a country retreat in Western East Greenwich. Nearly 1.5 acres of picturesque serenity envelops this New England Colonial. 3300 total SF, 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths.Open bright floor plan. Air, vac, etc.

Great adjectives, so much better than splendid or quiet. I imagine the sign goes up today and the buyers will start filtering through. I say this isn't going to stress me out, and I doubt it will, but when you display your home for the world to see you reveal private things about yourself and your family. Like what a messy teenager I've raised.

Going for an early morning jog this morning, down that long driveway into the beautiful Moosehorn hills.

House for Sale

I'm reinstating the Word in the Woods to tell the story of how I sold my house. Today my realtor came over to take photos and tomorrow he will plant the sign at the end of my driveway, we'll sign all the paperwork and I will have to be more of a neatnik than ever.

I've been purging and cleaning and decluttering for weeks now. Today I had to Architectural Digest a house that accentuates the personal and quirky, not an everyperson home sweet home. The first thing I did when we moved here was get rid of the beige. On the advice of my realtor I took away common items, such as the bread basket and refrigerator magnets and stuffed them into the oven, closets and places that now elude me. This could be dangerous. I am slowly restoring what I can find, since although these items can make a photo distracting, they make the house look homey to prospective buyers.

March 8th the house goes on the market. There will be an open house in a couple of weeks. Then the curious and the serious will traipse through and hopefully we'll have a sale in no time. I am totally spoiled when it comes to selling homes. The first we sold privately to the first person who came along. The second sale we weren't even in the country for. My tenants showed the house and our friend Scott served as our attorney. The third nearly put me in an insane asylum but that's because the sale was in a foreign country where real estate is a bureaucratic nightmare that tends to keep property in the family forever. Selling house #4 will be an average kind of deal. The market is creeping up; there's not a lot for sale at our price point; we are motivated but not desperate.

Come have a look.