Good enough for who it is for...

Good enough for who it's for.

I used that phrase almost everyday.

The only problem is...

I wish I actually felt that way sometimes!

We are in the middle of trying to sell our home.  It has been on the market for 24 days.  We have had one open house, 15 private showings, 3 of them being repeat visits and an offer that I will get too angry discussing to even begin.

We have our house listed for a modest $104,900.  Peanuts in East and West Coast markets, decent for the amount of updating I did on this house as well as the market we're in. 

I have spent countless hours on my hands and knees mopping and waxing.  Used many paper towels for washing and rewashing windows.  Gone through so much cleaner, you'd think we were at a hospital.

I wish I could shrug and say, eh - it's good enough, but everytime I turn around I see something else that needs to be touched up, cleaned better, repainted...

...when actually, it really doesn't.

The hubs teases me because I don't really care about a clean house, when in reality, its not that I don't care, its that if I start to clean it, I get OCD with keeping it clean.  It has to be spotless 24/7.  While I'm cooking, I will stop and wipe counters, wash floors, dust, and whatever else I see that needs to be done in the vicinity of the stove.  I AM A FREAK.

So when the realtor's partner pointed out that a ceiling tile in the basement was water stained and I should probably do something about it...I sighed. 

It's not that I didn't want to or hadn't tried.  It's just that I knew me, and I knew...this was going to become an all day project.  What I didn't know was the people before had no problem saying:

GOOD ENOUGH FOR WHO IT IS FOR.

Instead of fixing a leak like they should have, they threw it together, called it good enough, and put a pie pan up there to catch the water drips.  I however didn't know that until the day I wanted to fix the janky water-stained tile, went to take it down and got a face full of 3 year old water and mold.  After what I have been through last week, I'd like to find the people that sold this house to me and clunk their heads together.

Its not bad enough that their parents smoked in this house for 40 years before I bought it.  Somehow they were able to hide the smoke smell for the showings.  I don't know how, but they did.  As soon as I moved in I smelled it.  I didn't know just how bad it was until I took a closer look.  The cabinets were coated in tar, but you couldn't tell because they were honey oak stain.  The vents were filled with brown, caked dust.  So bad, that the people I hired to clean them wouldn't do the sanitation spray because it would only melt into a gooey mess at the bottom of my vents.   So bad that the bathroom ceiling fan I took down to clean was actually chrome instead of the brass I thought it was!

The house still has the smell of smoke every once and a while, and it makes me realize I don't ever want to use that phrase again.  NOTHING is good enough for who it's for.  Everything should be better than the person you are offering it to, because no one should be sold short. 

I don't understand how anyone can feel good about selling a place full of lies.  Of course I wouldn't have bought the house if I known about the smoking.  Why would anyone want to subject their kids to that?  We've sealed every inch of these walls with primer and paint.  We sanded down the cupbards and painted them.  I could not, in good conscience try to sell this house with issues like that.  I couldn't possibly sell the house with leaks or other problems and just 'cross my fingers' hoping the buyers wouldn't find out. 

It's time to say: we can do a little more - or - It's okay if it takes a little longer to get it right.  Because I don't want to be treated as if I don't matter.  Really, no one does.  Whether a person deserves it or not, they are getting my best...from my attention, to my support, as well as this house.  The next people who get this house will sigh in relief because I will not leave anything done halfway.  I want to make sure when I do a job, its done well, done right, and done to my expectations. 

It's time as a society to step it up too.  It's not about us, it's about others.  When we learn to give our best to others, other will give us their best.  And even if we don't, it's always good to remember: