Here's how it went: We arrive a few minutes early before 9am when the closing was supposed to start. It seemed like all would go well - the room looked normal enough. A table, six chairs, a small desk in the corner with....wait....who's this angry woman at the desk? Oh yah, that's our closing agent. Nice. There is a woman shuffling papers moving very quickly around the room, who barked at us, "Do you have a lawyer coming for you?" We replied, "Yes - we think so." She huffed and went back to shuffling papers. I should have known then that she would be the antagonist in our little closing. First - in my haste to get into the closing, I had left the copy of our home owners insurance in the truck - which was about 20 steps outside the closing office. When the closing agent asked for it, I said that I could go get it. She kept saying that she would get our agent to fax her a copy. I said, "but it's just right outside - it would take about 2 minutes and she would have it." And she kept saying that she would have the agent fax a copy over. Arrgggggggggggggg......I went out and got it. Easier and I got to leave the room for a few seconds.
Then the other participants started arriving. Let me introduce you to the other characters in our little story (Note: names have been changed to protect the innocent just in case they like to knit):
- Our Realtor (I later found out that she shows up because she gets paid at these things - it was not for moral support for us!) - who is a very bubbly woman with what we think has a wig...well maybe. She has the kind of hair that is either fake or has been colored so many times that it looks like a wig. In fact, Todd and I keep changing our decision every time we see her. "It's real." "It's got to be wig!" "No, I'm convinced it's just bad hair!" And so goes our discussion. Anyway, Bonnie sat in the corner and just took in the action. You could tell that she had been to way too many of these closings and was treating them as a show: get a good seat and say as little as possible.
- Then there's our lawyer- a very dry older gentleman in a suit and a tie who talks as though he never loses his temper...in a very even toned voice. He seems very well trained at explaining complicated documents in as few words as it would take to get his audience to understand what he was saying. Not someone who would be the life of a party - but really is exactly the kind of person you want looking over your papers in your behalf.
- The seller's Realtor Rina - who came in late and sat and chatted on the other side of the table with sellers laughing and joking as if we were at some kind of a party. Rina was also there for a check (oh that is cheque for my Canadian readers :-) so really it was a party that she gets paid for.
- The seller's lawyer who looked all rumpled and had papers just spilling out all over the place. You could tell that the sellers wanted this sale to go through as cheaply as possible. He almost looked like he could have slept in his car the night before. Our lawyer had to ask him several times for things that he should have had prepared. We were not impressed.
- The Sellers - Bob and "Scary Italian wife" - who sat directly across the table from us with their lawyer. We had met Bob the day before at the house when we were doing our final walk through. Bob had shown up with his kid to finish taking out the rest of his possessions out of the house. He was a contractor and really was the reason why the house is so well built - made with all the top quality materials and with pride that everything was done the right way. Bob is Italian and is kind of a know it all type - but seemed nice enough. I was actually happy that we had met - because it made things less awkward. Then there's the Scary Italian wife - she had overly died hair (I wonder if she went to the same salon as Bonnie?), tight jeans, and a leopard skin jacket - you could tell that she had not lived well - she looked tough as if she had been through a lot and it shown on her face. We later found out from Bonnie that the sellers were getting divorced and that's why they wanted to bail out of the house!! Maybe that's why the Scary Italian Woman was either swearing, crying, or both throughout the whole closing!!
- And last but not least Liza - who was our mortgage broker came and boy are we glad that she did. She is in her early 30's and was casually dressed - but knows her stuff. She used to be a closing agent and knew the process way better than the angry version that we were using.
So all our characters plus ourselves were sitting in this room. We were signing on one side of the table. The Sellers signing on their side. The Scary Italian Woman was crying, swearing, crying, etc. The angry closing agent would come in and take papers and leave - over and over again. The first issue came with the home owners insurance again. We had sent a check (cheque) but it hadn't arrived at the office yet - so they said that we were covered. So we had them put it on the credit card. But then the mortgage numbers weren't correct because whoever had drawn up the papers had put it in with the closing costs. So in essence we had paid 3 times - but no one knew how to handle it - so the check (cheque) would be torn up when it arrives, we were supposed to get a credit on our card - because they had to get the charges reversed (I better check on that), and to save the angry closer from having to use a calculator - we would take the money out of the closing costs. Tragedy averted - or so we thought. Then the real problem came to alight....the angry closer couldn't find the money wire transfer from the mortgage company. This is where we were so glad that Liza was there! The mortgage company contact that we used through Liza - had walked out of her job on Friday. Just walked - left undone what was undone and that was that!! So when Liza called she knew that this person had quit - but no one inside the company knew! Every time she called the company they would transfer her phone to the office of the contact who had quit the company.
So everyone started walking away from the table....all the papers were signed, but because there was no money - they wouldn't hand over any checks (cheques) to the Realtors and the important part - they wouldn't give us our keys!!! Was it our house? Wasn't it our house? Could we get in trouble for breaking into our maybe house? So we were told that Rina had our keys and we could get them as soon as the money was found. We were told - it would be about an hour - go have lunch and they would call us. So we drove back to the apartment - even though we had planned on going straight to the house and steam clean the carpets because we had furniture arriving the next morning at 8am! So we went to a restaurant and ate. Todd ate uncharacteristically very little, while I tried to optimistically told him that after lunch we would get the keys and all would be well. After about an hour - we went back to the apartment because we hadn't heard anything. It was now about 1pm. We watched really bad daytime TV - while we sat in silence waiting......doing nothing productive on the day that we were supposed to be in our house cleaning....waiting.....it was killing us! So I couldn't take it any more and I called Liza. She said that she had gotten the confirmation from the mortgage company that the money was sent on Saturday. Eureeeka! But, wait....the angry closing woman was in another closing now - and she still couldn't find the money - in her own bank account - even though she had the confirmation number. It took another 2 hours for her to find it!!!!!!! It was now 3:30pm and we were told (after several phone calls and lots of storys and plans that never were put into place) that Rina had left her keys at her office and we were going to pick them up. I told Todd that I would wait in the truck and he could go in and do all the yelling that needed to be done to get the keys. It was a relief when he came out a few minutes later - victorious! Keys!!!! We had done it - we were home owners!!!
Now the work could begin. Because we had sat and done nothing...we had to go to Home Depot and buy the cleaning supplies and rent the steam cleaner. Then we were on the wrong side of town and rush hour was beginning. So...it was 6pm before we even started cleaning!!! Todd got all the carpet clean that night while I cleaned out the water softener container (which they had left empty and was moldy and slimy and gross (home ownership is not always glamorous) and cleaned the tile floors on the first floor, and started on the bathrooms. It was about 11pm when we finally fell into bed that night....then we were too tired to sleep. You know when you are tired all the way down to your bones - that your body almost hurts?! We finally slept until the alarm rang at 6am so I could go to work and Todd back to the house to get the furniture (which looks gorgeous by the way), finish cleaning carpets, and install the satellite dish (yes we have tv at the house and we aren't even living there yet).
We still aren't in the house yet - but we have been working every night after work on it. I have most of the apartment packed (George, the freakout is in full swing - is very needy. If you are sitting, there is sure to be a cat in your lap!), the water is back flushed in the house (it came out black and left a ring in everything - so was a big deal to get out of the pipes) and all the bathrooms are cleaned at the new house and new rugs in place. Oh yah, Todd also traveled for work Thursday and just arrived home last night (which I was worried about since we just got 8 inches of snow last night. It's supposed to be spring!!! Mother nature has a sick sense of humor).
Today we are painting the dining room and starting on the blue and red bedroom - first we have to remove the border. Then there's the lime green room with wallpaper to be removed on the bottom half of the wall. Wish us luck because the border and wallpaper has been cemented to the wall and Todd has never painted before and we are both still exhausted. The final move is scheduled for the 28th - I hope we make it because I feel like I need a nap!
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