I had an excellent idea for today's blog last night right before I went to bed. I was already upstairs and couldn't find any paper to write on and was too lazy to come back downstairs and write it down. The idea had me chuckling. It was pretty funny. I thought you all would get a real kick out of it. In fact it was so funny that I thought there was no way I would be able to forget it, so I just went to bed. If I could remember what it was, you guys would be laughing so hard right now. But I can't. So, instead I will just tell you about the cruel joke that is being played on me by the owner of the squirrel condo.
For those of you who don't know, I will explain. The squirrel condo is the unit directly across from mine. It is a mirror image of my condo. But since I moved in here nearly 9 years ago, it has been vacant except on two occasions when it was rented out to short term tenants. In each of those cases it was only rented for about 3 months. Most recently it was rented to a military family. A year or so ago, the owner staged it and seemed to have gotten serious about finally selling it. They had work done inside. Granite counter tops were put in the kitchen. The carpet was taken out and replaced with wood and it was painted. At that time a lock box that realtors use was put on the door. They brought furniture in and a realtor began showing it regularly.
That went on for about a month and then a family moved in. I didn't see much of them but I was happy to finally have someone there.
The entire time they lived their the lock box remained on the front door. I thought that was strange. Then one day, I noticed a lot of activity over there and they moved out. They were only there for about 3 months. Since then, I have seen people over there cleaning. On one occasion an older woman and two men were there. The men were cleaning the windows and the woman was directing them. Once that was complete they installed new wood or perhaps feaux wood blinds. The woman was bossy, more like a wife than an employer so I thought perhaps she and her husband who was one of the men had bought it and were getting ready to move in. They didn't. A few days later more furniture was brought in and it was staged again. Then there was another round of showings. The most recent round of showings ended a month or two ago.
Last week, painters came in. They spent 3 days painting the entire downstairs (which by the way was empty again). Apparently, the furniture that it was staged with previously was taken away. On the final day the painters were there, I saw a young couple walking through the house with the painters looking at the walls. I thought perhaps they were new owners doing a final walk through. I'm not sure if they also painted upstairs but I know that they did every room downstairs. Now, keep in mind that it was just painted a year or so ago by professional painters and it was already a neutral color. Since then a small family has spent 3 months or less living in it and nothing else has taken place there since. Not even any squirrels have lived in it for the last year. So I thought, maybe the young couple had bought the house and didn't like the paint color and was changing it before they moved in! I was getting excited. The only problem was that the lock box was still on the door. If it had sold and the new owner had taken possession, that lock box surely would have been removed. So, I forgot about it.
Then an hour ago as I was sitting here trying to remember my hysterical topic from last night, a truck pulled up and left the engine running. The engine continued to run for 10 minutes or so. That made me decide to look out and see what was going on. I couldn't see the truck, but I could see the front door open on the squirrel unit and an area rug on the living room floor. I got excited and walked outside. It is a furniture rental delivery truck. I cannot believe they are staging that stupid house again!!!!! When are they going to figure out that it will never sell????? The same young couple who inspected the paint job last week is over there taking delivery of the furniture.
They just took living room and dining room furniture in along with a fake plant. Now the furniture truck has left. You know what? I would rather just have the squirrels move back in. They at least made a commitment to the place. If they could have figured out a way to get in and out without always getting stuck inside the house, they would have been much better neighbors than any humans apparently ever will be. The squirrels used to go in through the chimney. The screen that keeps animals out had been peeled back and I guess that was how they got in. But for some reason once they were in, they never could get back out that way. So, they would appear at all of the windows frantically trying to get out. I would see them in the windows and contact the HOA who would contact the owner. Then they would get the squirrels out. This went on for a few years. Then the owners quit caring and wouldn't even attempt to get the squirrels out anymore. At first you would see a squirrel in the window for a few days desperately trying to get out and then after a week or so you would stop seeing the squirrel in the window and start seeing hundreds of flies in the window instead.
That made me angry. At that point I stopped thinking of them as pathetic people who couldn't sell a house and started thinking of them as heartless squirrel killers. I mean, if they weren't willing to get the squirrels back out of the house once they were inside, then at least get the screen on the chimney fixed so that they can't get in, in the first place. One weekend, I sat on my stairs and watched a pair of squirrels in the window tearing the blinds to pieces as they desperately fought to get out of that place, and I rooted for the squirrels. I sat here and hoped that they were doing so much damage that the house would have to be gutted to ever sell.
So, now it is staged again. I can't wait for a realtor to start bringing clients through again. I would like to get a chair and a glass of wine and just sit out on the sidewalk and watch them go by so I could hear the comments about it. I wish that they would have an open house. I want to see the inside so that I can figure out what is so wrong with it that it has remained empty for virtually the entire time I have lived in mine. I mean, in case I ever decide to sell mine, that would be a nice thing to know, right? I can see the lady walking around inside right now. I need to go do more snooping. Maybe I'll just go change my garden flag. Wish me luck. I'll update you tomorrow.
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