A House On The Market Is Like A Tomato Drying In The Sun

Sun-dried tomatoes are exactly what the name implies—tomatoes that have sat in the sun for ten days and had more than 90% of their moisture sucked out. To me, the longer a tomato sits in the sun the more disgusting it becomes. Like a wrinkled old piece of human flesh. Blech. Amazingly though, tomatoes lose none of their nutritional value when sun-dried. Put a human in the sun for ten days and it will lose ALL of its nutritional value, but tomatoes are... I don't know. Immortal or something. They can sit there for days and days, shrinking, getting all wrinkly, and yet still have all the necessary goodness to amount to something. What's interesting about putting your house on the market is that as soon as the listing hits your house starts drying out, like a tomato in the sun. When the listing first hits the house is a novelty, capturing the curiosity of simple spectators and hooking the interest of serious buyers. The longer it sits there however, soaking up the sun, the less attractive it gets. Our realtor calls this a "stale listing," a home that has been sitting on the market for so long that it has become unattractive to buyers. The home still has all of its nutritional value—you know, all the good stuff inside—but people judge it based on the fact that the prolonged listing makes it look ugly. Like a sun-dried tomato. What constitutes a stale listing seems to depend on the market, but in general it looks like any house that's been listed longer than two months can be considered stale. Our lovely 2,500-square-foot colonial went on the market two weeks ago this Saturday. We've had four showings so far, but that's all. One interested buyer came to look at the house twice, but we haven't heard anything since. It's a bit irritating having to be constantly available for showings, especially when you're still living in your house. You've got to keep it cleaner than usual, keep your junk put away, and your underwear off the floor. And if you have a wife who works nights and sleeps during the day than, yeah... it's especially irritating. Anyway, everyone keeps saying the market is on an upswing and that "this is the time to sell." So here's hoping we can sell our home while it's still juicy, before that sun-dried tomato look starts to take hold. Keep pinchin' :-)