Closing the Sale

The flowerbed Andy and I put together using stone. As small as it is, it was a lot of work.

Andy and I breathed a collective sigh of relief the moment we found out Doug′s (the former owner′s) wife had signed her share of the paperwork.

In spite of the pitfalls, things seemed to be moving along fairly smoothly.

Then just as we packed up the moving van and prepared to spend the night on the cold, empty floor of the master bedroom, we got a call from the Realtor®.  It seems there would be a problem with the closing date.

You see the buyers had insisted on closing the 3rd of May.  We had already signed off on our part the week before, but couldn′t close on our house in Cheyenne until the 19th of May.  It meant three weeks of being homeless.

We rushed to get everything done before heading to Pennsylvania to attend our granddaughter′s first communion.  We planned to spend part of the rest of the time with Andy’s family in CA so we didn′t have to sleep in motels for three weeks.

Our schedule went something like this:

April 25-27:  Pack up the van.

April 28: Drive from Kansas City, MO to Cheyenne, WY in one day.  (Approximately a 10-11 hour drive.)

April 29: Unpack everything into a storage unit.

April 30: Drive to Denver, get on a plane to Pennsylvania.

April 30 – May 6: Enjoy grandchildren.

May 6: Drive back to Cheyenne.

May 7-8: Drive to California with two cats and a dog in a Toyota Echo.

Uncertainty in the Time of Homelessness

At this point we still did not know whether or not the sale would go through.  But we had no place to live – or as my husband likes to quote Richard Gere′s character from An Officer and a Gentleman, “(We′ve) I′ve got nowhere else to go.”  We were stuck (in California, which isn′t a bad place to be stuck).

But I haven′t shared the best part yet.  The buyers, who demanded a May 3rd closing date, couldn′t close on May 3rd.  You see, under tighter restrictions, the underwriters had instituted a rule stating a buyer starting a new job must report to work before closing on a house.  Oops!

The buyer didn′t start until the 19th of May, the day we were supposed to close on our house in Cheyenne.  And coincidentally our anniversary.

They reset their closing date to the 19th and we moved ours to the 21st.   More paperwork to sign.

We maintained contact with the Realtors® and title company during our stay in CA.  It seemed another little problem arose every day.  But everyone remained hopeful.   There was nothing else we could do.

The Hallelujah Moment

We left California May 19th still unsure if the sale would go through, but it′s a 17-hour drive.  If we were going to make it back to Cheyenne in time to close on the house there, we had no choice but to get in the car and go.

We had stopped to get gas and our Starbucks fix.  At approximately 5pm Pacific time, just as we started to exit the toll road headed to I-15, we got the call.  They′d closed the sale.  The house had sold.  We’d received a spectacular anniversary gift.  We could move on with our lives.

Andy and I exhaled all the anxiety we’d felt over the last several weeks and thanked the Lord.  It truly had been “at the last minute.”  But the pain of the previous twenty-three months was over.  We were free of the burden of the Life-sucking Money Pit.

The End of an Era

One note here:  Even though we no longer had to deal with the house, even though this part of the journey had ended, it didn′t mean we wouldn′t suffer residual consequences.  Unfortunately if one makes a blunder of this magnitude, the repercussions can continue.  It was true in our case.

Though the house is gone, our financial health has never fully recovered.  We had one juncture to change our lives in a big way, and we blew it.

My prayer for you is that if you′re ever faced with a similar situation, think it through.  Don′t jump into something just because the opportunity presents itself.  Be wise in any transaction involving property and money.  Do your homework … really do your homework.  And if you are absolutely certain you′re making the best decision for you and your family – then go for it with gusto!

Onto the Next Phase

And so my story comes to an end.   Andy and I hope to flip another property some day.  The right way.  In the meantime, I plan to occasionally write when I come across valuable information on rehabbing.  Also our house in Cheyenne is a bit of a fixer-upper.  We′ve recently encountered several incidents I′d like to share with you over the next several weeks.

In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Until next time.

Happy Transformation,

Shawn