closing

Closing day. Where do I even begin?

I received an email from my realtor late on July 14 (day before "closing") telling me that I could pick up my keys at escrow "anytime" the next day. Yay! I eagerly woke up on July 15, packed my car with a few cleaning items (intent on spending the day scouring my new home), and promptly drove off by 8 AM so I could arrive at escrow by 9 AM. I called escrow on my way down to Tacoma to double-check on things, and they said I could NOT pick up the keys since the sale had not recorded. AND the escrow officer working on my house was out that day. Okay...??? So I called Aunt Janna (aka "AJ") and asked if I could go hang out at her place until the sale recorded.

Needless to say, while we were waiting for the sale to record, we hit up McClendon's to shop, grabbed lunch and bloody mary's at the Tacoma Yacht Club, grabbed champagne and chocolate at Safeway (to celebrate!!), and then went to hang out in the title office. I did not hear from my realtor for three hours ON CLOSING DAY despite my calls, texts, and emails. When I finally did hear from him, he said that I could just go inside before recording, not to tell anyone, and he'd take any heat. Then he called me back 30 minutes later to tell me NOT to go inside before it recorded. I don't think he knows what he is doing...

So I took matters into my own hands and called my lender around 12:30, per AJ's advice. My lender rocks, by the way. Jon said that escrow went into a "black hole" that morning and he had just received the escrow papers 25 minutes ago, but the sale was going to be funded any second and that he would text me when that happens. He then texted. Done. We grabbed the keys and went into the house. That is when shit hit the fan.

The sellers had to meet TWO conditions for the sale: 1) leave all appliances, including W/D, dishwasher, fridge, stove, microwave, etc., and 2) remove ALL personal items, trash, etc. Here is what I found:

All five waste bins were full. The recyclables bin was full of trash (see bottom left). You get fined for that shit!

Paints, cleaning agents, and various household chemicals all over the place...in cabinets, on shelves, under sinks. The paint colors did not match any walls in the house. Many cans were empty or dried out. The catch: The sellers would have had to PAY to remove a lot of this waste, so why not let the buyer deal with it? Grrrr.....

 

Ugliest shelving unit in the history of shelving units. WTF?!

 

Lots of junk. Junk everywhere. My personal nightmare. The sellers broke every feng shui rule in the book. 

And more junk...these pictures don't even do the junk justice. Nasty rugs everywhere. Crap in the rafters, including a ripped American flag? Really? And the safe weighs more than the house. (I have to wonder what is in there...)

Oh! And the sellers took the microwave. Frankly, I am not too torn up about that because people shouldn't be using microwaves anyways since it rearranges the chemical makeup of the food, so basically you create a genetically modified piece of JUNK food when you nuke it. (Ok, off soapbox now.)

Needless to say, AJ and I proceeded to drink the entire bottle of champagne. Quickly. No cleaning today. I only wish I had a photo of us after we polished off that bottle!

And Gemma totally loves her yard. Woot woot!

I am still so exhausted from this past week, I don't have the energy to go into all the gory details, but let's just say long, heated discussions ensued with my realtor and the seller's realtor and their failure to conduct a pre-closing walk-through. The next day, my realtor hired a handyman, Pedro, to come in and clean out the place. I am heading down today to check it out. Cross your fingers.

And then I fly out for Peru...so no more posts until early August. Signing off!

the painful part. or rather the FIRST painful part.

I just withdrew my closing costs. Ouch! The notary is coming over tonight so I can sign papers. We close tomorrow.

...#eek...#yikes...#freakingout...

is it worth it?

The appraisal came back yesterday. No surprise, it appraised. Amazing how houses ALWAYS appraise for the exact sales price!

As we near closing next week, I am becoming more excited. Frankly, I thought I would be a basketcase, especially since I will be supporting two mortgages for at least two months until I can offload my townhome...AND I leave for Peru for 2.5 weeks only four days after closing. Yikes! I am organizing a strategic sales date for my current home so I can avoid a nasty capital gains tax. I will keep my townhome as my primary residence until late October for this reason, in addition to keeping the new home empty while renovations occur. Really, the craftsman is unlivable anyways until things get fixed, cleaned, etc. I can't even work out of the home until it's rewired because nothing is grounded. I'll blow up my work laptop. (Actually, that sounds kinda nice...)

And that is another topic altogether. I may take out my first ever home renovation loan! (I say that like it's exciting and a good thing....more debt!) Fortunately, I can easily pay it back after my townhome sells, so I may decide to go big and pay to have everything done before the end of September. After all, the equity after all is said and done will be well worth it.

Oh! New find! I checked out the Home Depot website. They offer some really cool classes on DIY, like drywall repair, floor tiling, installing a toilet! I have a feeling they will be seeing a lot of me at Home Depot in the near future.

Yes, most girls spend their money on clothes...Gina spends it on drywall mud, paint, and plumbing. And plane tickets. ;)

it's happening

I accepted an electrical bid today. The entire house needs to be rewired by the end of August to maintain insurance, and electricians are already booked through the middle of that month. Amazing. I am totally in the wrong industry.

As a side note, I am going with this particular electrician, even though he was the highest bidder, for a few reasons: 1) he has excellent yelp review; 2) he specializes in North Tacoma homes, knob and tube rewires, etc.; 3) he was the most responsive of the bunch (one of the guys still has not gotten me a quote); and 4) he has good grammar. I cannot say enough about the importance of good customer service and grammar...or maybe I can.

This is happening. Quickly...and yet I still feel really good about it. I am stunned at how everything...EVERYTHING...has just fallen into place. All signs point to me closing on this house and working some magic.

rewire woes

I learned post-inspection that the only "catch" about this house is the electrical. It is 99% knob and tube, which I learned after making a few phone calls (thanks to my aunt for mentioning something off the cuff) that many insurance agencies will not insure K&T, which is a requirement to obtain funding. Some will ensure K&T at exorbitant rates. Swell! One insurance agency to remain unmentioned (FARMERS!) won't even insure a home pre-1930. I finally tracked down a quote from Pemco that is reasonable, but I have to rewire the house within 45 days of closing. My first quote came back that this rewire would cost $11k. Um...ouch? So I am now gathering additional quotes.

Fortunately, the sellers understood the severity of this predicament and that it will be universal with all buyers...it's not a "Gina problem", which is a first. They offered to offset the rewire cost a bit by giving me a credit at closing. I took it and ran.

Frankly, I would have still taken the house without the credit. I really like this house.

One of the repercussions of this extra cost, however, is how I am going to pay for it. I had purchased my BRAND NEW Seattle townhome close to two years ago thinking I'd live there short-term and then turn it into a rental. I have instead decided to sell it and take advantage of this obscene seller's market going on right now so I can grab the cash and throw it into the new place and build equity there. In reality, I am comfortable with this decision. I don't want to be a landlord. I am too much of a control freak and the idea of renters abusing my place in any way scares the living crap out of me. The stress is not worth it. And I want to clear my name of additional loans. That's good feng shui!