We're Wearing Down Our Pencils

Frugal home staging can mean hours with your calculator.

When you’re buying or selling a home, you’re talking big numbers. That’s why doing the homework is important. 

Our homework over the weekend was collecting prices, a.k.a. walking the aisles at Lowes with pad and pencil. We’ve tweaked and crunched and reverse engineered all the figures to see if we can make money, and everything points to a yes. 

As excited as I am about the possibility of beginning a new rehab and staging project, I
have to act fairly cool about the possible purchase because I don't want Mr. Lucky to think I'm not being totally realistic, businesslike, calculating, unattached. If he suspects I’m too emotional about the purchase, it'll just make him be more cool headed and reluctant. You know, to balance me.

Do other couples play this game?

I'm really hoping we can put it together because it's totally win/win: getting to do what we enjoy, and make money, too!

Finally, we submitted the offer. We’re waiting.

I’ve collected all our pages of calculations and price projections and put them in a loose-leaf binder in a section marked “Budget and Estimates.” I’ve added sections for “Measurements and Specifications,” and for “Staging.” 

I’m trying hard not to get ahead of myself because we don’t have a deal, but I can’t help envisioning that cute little 1270-square foot condo set right and dressed up for buyers. 

I’ll be disappointed if all parties can’t agree on a price that will work for us.  We took the price Ms. Speedy thought we could get after we described what we wanted to do, then deducted all our projected costs and what we’d like to earn, to arrive at our offering price. Fingers crossed.