Wednesday, April 30, 2008

White water rafting the real estate river..

See addendum at blog end for rest of story.

Well, blogger boys and girls, here's today's lesson. In the not so happy world of Real Estate in the 8th year of the century, there's many a slip twixt the offer, the contract and the payoff. Having watched my parents buy three houses and having bought and sold six in my life, I already knew the uncertainty of the business. Like life, nothing is certain until its over. As you know, dear readers, I've been working hard the past six weeks to get Mom's house cleared out and the necessary (minor) repairs done. My body was sore and my fingers torn up, but I did it. I was ready, willing, and able to close the deal today as the contract stated. Experience is a good teacher as the cliche goes.

But, for reasons that must be unknown to me, as of this moment, the buyers do not have their paperwork done, and have as far as I know, no intention (or perhaps no ability) to close this afternoon. After today, the contract no longer exists. Even though they are what HGTV likes to call, 'property virgins', they surely must know that.

They seem like a lovely young couple and seemed enthusiastic about the house before. It is, until May 1 dawns, a great deal for them. From what I can surmise though from the little information I have, they haven't been given much updated or useful advice from their realtor ( grapevine has it family member or friend). As of this morning, the title company didn't have their paperwork. A family member was providing some of the downpayment money. Maybe he changed his mind. Maybe they found another place they like better and don't care about losing the deposit. I don't know. Not my concern. They have an hour to get all done with loan commitment in mano to make the closing happen today. I doubt that will happen.

From my perspective, if they walk, they walk. If my realtor got two offers in the one month the house was on the market, she will get another. Even in these terrible economic times. I'll go over and put some candles and flowers here and there and artwork on the walls. Reinstate the yard man. Put fluffy towels in the bathrooms. Rewax the floors. That's all. We'll sell it unfurnished this time.

Whatever does or does not happen with this sale, I'm still glad I got everything all cleared out. Glad I found all the treasured letters and photos and stuff. It was a job I had to do eventually and better sooner than any later. Course, if this particular deal falls thru, I won't be able to waltz into my bank after closing and pay off the mortgage on my own house with the proceeds of Mom's. I can wait to be mortgage free, fortunately. Thanks to Mom, I am financially sound. Will be nice though, some day in the hopefully near future to be mortgage free forever! 'Specially in these troubling times.

So, dear readers, I'll let you know what happens. As somebody said, I can't remember who, "If something seems too good to be true, it probably is."

So, whatever, I'm going to get back to my book edits, go to the beach, and pick up where I left off last December on my own house updates n stuff. I'm glad I waited to redo the wood floors, since I've decided on tile instead. Chili peed on the dining room rug again yesterday. I can do the math. Chili+ carpet+wood floors=damage. Can't hurt tile.

I'm going to clear out my garage and closets paint the dining room. I'm sick of the salmon color. Get new window treatments for my library/office. New door, shelving, and window in garage. Buy new a/c system and replumb. Retile and resurface pool. I'll even go out and tackle my jungly back yard again. Just call me reno-girl. I can do anything. Except straighten out the confusopoly of Mother's stocks. Oh well...one day...

Live long and prosper.

Well, bloggers, it is six hours later. I am about to go out for a high calorie Mexican dinner and come down off my closing stress afternoon. The closing did happen after all: about 45 minutes after it was supposed to and didn't end until six when I got my check in my hand. Just in time to miss being able to pay off my own mortgage today. Oh, well, there's tomorrow. I didn't know it (the closing) was gonna happen until a whopping five minutes before it did. I still couldn't begin to guess who dropped whatever balls were in the air. Maybe nobody, but it did seem that this one was the most chaotic I've ever experienced. Its a crazy time anyway in the financial world with rules changing so fast and completely. And this closing involved FHA which means government. We all know how well government agencies function these days. Remember Katrina? Don't care though, now that all is done. It was kind of a weird closing compared to the others I've done in the past. But, it is over for better or worse. I hope the young couple will be happy with Mom's house.

Onward to new projects. Some fun: Amy's graduation, activating our Sea World passes, going to the beach. Seeing Baby Alex more often. Making up for lost writing time and getting Between The Lines in print. More home renovations like I said. Practicing dog agility with Ginny. Getting jury duty over with. I start tomorrow, paying off my last mortgage. Great God Almighty, I be free at last.

Live long and prosper.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It seems you planned to be really busy during next weeks :) truly, selling a house is a pretty exhausting act. I am Vancouver condos realtor, that's a bit easier for maintenance, but however, I know how much time my clients usually spend getting the property in shape. But believe me, it's worth, every hour spent can return in thousands of dollars.
P.S. I love sci-fi too - what about P.K.Dick? :)