Top 5 Reasons It Sucks To Sell A House

It's so fun to pick out a new home. It's like being a school girl playing with a new dollhouse: “Where am I going to put my furniture? Which room will be mine? What color do I want to paint the walls?” etc.

Selling a house is an entirely different matter. No longer are you fantasizing about your dream home. Instead you are enduring through a slightly nauseating night terror. And so begins my top 5 reasons why it sucks to sell your house.

1.You are losing your baby. This is our first home. The home where my husband and I settled after we married. My children were born while we lived in this house; in fact, one of them was even born in this house! (Home birth. On purpose. Don't worry; nothing gruesome.) We put many hours into selecting paints and making it just so. So, selling and leaving this house is like selling our first born child. (Don't tell my oldest daughter. She might be scarred knowing she wasn't really the first.)

2. You are on display. Well, not really, but your style is. No one would ever tell you that I had immaculate style. Perhaps, not even style. But I chose that shade of Scottish Isle green for the kitchen. And I like the burnt sienna for the entryway. It may seem strange with the slate in the family room, but my curtains bring it all together. And the master bedroom? Well, I never did really pick a style for that. But the point is, it's my house, so who cares? Except… now I'm trying to make it someone else's house, so I do care. Oh, it's so confusing!

3.Your children become your home's public enemy #1. I don't have the rule, “No running in the house” – I gave that battle up years ago. And when the windchill is 6 degrees, I let the kids play ball in the house. But now my children (and probably the neighbors) can hear me shrieking, “Don't scrape your toys on the walls! Stop hanging on the doorknobs – you're going to break it! Please stop flicking the light switch off and on! Don't you know we're trying to sell our house!? Put that ball down! What are you doing!?”

4.The Money Pit. Do you remember that movie, The Money Pit, where as soon as they buy the house, it falls apart? Well, I've got the opposite problem here. It seems like the minute we put our house on the market, it began falling apart. We had a delightful home. Everyone said, “Oh, you'll need to do next to nothing to prepare for a sale. Your house is in great shape.” Well, since then, the stopper has stopped stopping the water from running down the drain in the tub, and cracks have appeared in the ceiling and corners. Maybe these things existed all along, and I am just now aware of them. Maybe it is winter, and the house is settling more than before. But why must it happen now that the house is up for sale?

5.You can never leave your house. At least not for a journey that is more than 15 minutes away. What if the realtor calls and says that they need to show the house in half an hour? By the time I get there, I won't be able to repair the natural disaster of a mess that my home melts into each day. How could I possibly clean this up before the potential buyers come? So, every time we leave the house for more than a short jaunt about town, I must get the house spic ‘n' span… just in case. And just in case you didn't know, I am no Suzy Homemaker, leaving a trail of glitter behind me as I beautify my home with my mere presence. I am more of a dust buster, just barely able to clean up the mess without leaving that dusty residue behind.

So, there you have it. My top 5 reasons that it sucks to sell my house! What's your experience?

Written By: Lisa Liebling