Parade of Homes judging was last Thursday (April 17^th) and I’m pleased to announce we finished just in time for judging.  And when I say “just in time” I mean we literally had three crews still working on Wednesday with the last one finishing up as the sun was going down.  Whew!

And it wouldn’t have been a Parade Entry without a little drama.  And no doubt we ran into some challenges these final weeks.  I learned a valuable lesson that you never stop learning no matter how many years you have under your belt.  But we worked through the challenges and over the years I’ve learned that sometimes challenges can bring you to solutions that turn out better.  For example, one of my big challenges on Wednesday was the installation of gutters.  For various reasons, gutter installation had gotten delayed several times and we were down to the wire.  I walk up on Wednesday (THE DAY BEFORE JUDGING) and the first thing I see is this ugly gutter staring me in the face.  I was not a happy camper to say the least.  In my opinion, I prefer for gutters to blend away, not be the first thing I notice. Thankfully, the installer was still onsite and he was kind enough to listen to my rantings.  Together, we talked through the options until finally he actually threw out the option of a Rain Chain.  Rain Chain?! What a great idea!  I’ve actually used Rain Chains two other times with the purpose of achieving a more aesthetic option.  Thankfully, the painting crew was still onsite finishing up the exterior so we were able to remove the ugly gutter and patch the holes.  Dilemma diverted!!  Hallelujah!  And I’ve already had two Realtors from our Realtor event yesterday mention how pretty it was.    Now, instead of an ugly gutter, we have a pretty feature. 

I am also extremely thankful for Caleb’s help this year.  This was his first Parade Home experience and he definitely felt the pressure.  But as a mom and a business owner, it’s so cool to see your son/employee take such pride and ownership in his work.  He genuinely seems proud of being a part of something like this.  I couldn’t be more proud of getting us to the finish line on time without a minute to spare and kept a cool head and didn’t let his stress show the way I did a few times the past week.

So now we wait. The Parade Banquet is not until April 29^th, so we won’t find out how we did until then.  I definitely feel we are in a very competitive category with stiff competition so I’m nervous to say the least.  But to finish this home on time when we weren’t even planning to enter this home in the beginning (our first choice sold and closed before judging)  so we knew it would take a miracle to get it finished in time for judging, but we did it.  And that’s an award in itself (however, we really want to win one too, LOL). 

Yesterday, I manned the house all day for Realtor Tour Day.  Over 60 realtors divided up into four routes to collectively visit all the Parade Entries.  It’s always a fun event filled with wows, food, and lots of goodies.  I like being in the home to talk to Realtors and Visitors to get a good sense of what others like.  Usually people are pretty open about what they like and very gracious and then there’s also usually one or two that let you know what they would have done differently (LOL). One way I like to encourage feedback that I started several years ago is setting up a Voting Station where visitors can vote for their favorite feature.  Yesterday, we had 34 votes from Realtor Day.  The good news is several voters seemed to genuinely have a hard time picking just ONE of their favorite features.  So as we head into our first open house weekend I’ve decided to add a second color in order to vote for a second choice. 

So far, here is how the numbers stand:

In addition to my six voting categories, I had several visitors mention the Fireplace as their favorite feature and two said the Front Doors.  It’s funny, how I sort of took those things for granted because it’s pretty standard for us, but that’s why it’s important to be personally available to hear feedback first hand.  Sometimes when it’s what I do and see every day, it’s helpful to take a step back and see it from fresh eyes. 

Samantha and I are now gearing up for the upcoming Open House weekends.  You can grab a Parade Book in any of the home entries or you can go online and map out your route at www.ParadeOfHomesNC.com

Parade of Homes Open Houses

April 26 & 27^th and May 3^rd & 4^th from 12:00-5pm.

I will personally be onsite all day this Saturday (4/26) and the following Sunday (May 4^th) and would love for you to come visit. 

So grab your spouse or a few friends and have fun Parading.