We had decided to take the house off of the market for 30 days....and as soon as we decided to do that we had another showing on Saturday. I was dumbfounded. All this time has gone by with absolutely no interest in our house....absolutely no interest in ANY houses in the county, to hear the real estate folks tell it....now, all the sudden we have showings two weekends in a row? Must be a side effect of the torn up kitchen! We have a sign up in the kitchen explaining the project, but The Hub is trying to fit as much work as he can in before Christmas.

He had to work at The Depot all day Saturday, so it was up to me to get the place into shape for the showing. I ran around like crazy for about three hours, "de-goobing" walls and washing floors.

The two people we have had come to the house in the last two weeks....

seem much more like a "match" for the house than people who came out to see it initially. These were both single ladies who are looking for a little more room than they currently have because they have dogs. A further coincidence is that they seem to have a very similar personality type. They both seemed like very deliberative people. They looked everything over closely and carefully and asked a lot of questions. They each expressed that they liked the house, and were not freaked out by the oil heat ( thank God!) but in no way did they give anyone the impression that they were ready to make a fast decision. Which is okay.

Except now I don't know what to do vis-a-vis the listing. Our original plan, since the market had come to a dead halt, was to take the house off for 30 days and re-list it, advertising the new paint in the kitchen, the dishwasher that The Hub will install (if he ever gets around to it) and giving it that "brand new on the market lustre" once again. Real estate regulations require it to be off the market for 30 days to re-list it with a new MLS (that's multiple listing system) number.

So I called our realtors to ask what their thoughts on it were. Our realtors are some of the most honest people in the County, "Search me!" Jeff said, "your guess is as good as mine! I can tell you that none of other listings did anything the past two weekends. We've been doing the rounds of Christmas parties - you know, in the industry - and I think there's a mortgage broker who wants to see it, but we can arrange that even if it's off the market."

"Oh, Jeff, come on, doesn't your crystal ball give you any clue?"

"Apparently, it's got a server problem." he said, wryly.

I don't really know how much "new on the market" means to buyers. It wouldn't mean anything to me, but I have a Handy Hub who can radar in on problems like Homer Simpson on a donut. The theory is that, if a house seems to "sit" on the market than people wonder "what's wrong with it?" But any realtors worth their salt will be aware enough to tell pontential buyers "this thing went off the market for 30 days and then came back on." Maybe they don't though. After all, everybody wants to make a sale, and to hear Jeff and Susan tell it, there are a lot of realtors out there who are hungry and getting hungrier. Maybe THAT explains why we're suddenly getting more likely prospects!

Anyway, Jeff and I agreed to think on it a little more and hung up. Maybe I'll magically get some insight into the situation overnight, or there'll be divine intervention.

Or somebody will put in a contract. That would be nice.