In spite of it being below zero while driving to work this morning, I was happy to find our main roads and side-streets, once again drivable. Yesterday’s slippery-slimy slush was not a bit to my liking.
After arriving at office, I proceeded to get some additional documents downloaded, printed out, scanned and re-sent to an attorney’s office on a closing that’ll be taking place tomorrow. This last week of December has definitely been different than most others because of the number of closings scheduled, and of course we lost nearly a full day last week, and likely this week because of New Year’s Eve landing on a Friday.
When I went out at noontime to meet a buyer for a final walk-thru, I found there was some shoveling to get done, so I grabbed the shovel I keep in my car and got it cleared before the buyer arrived. It was a quick walk-thru for him, and the only reason for it, was to make sure the heat was on and the water was running freely. While there, I took my lockbox off the front door and pulled my sold sign. For sure that home is going to be a good long-term investment.
Of course I had to do my check-up on two vacant homes, just to make sure their furnaces were running properly. Most in the general public have no idea how much over-seeing has to be done on vacant homes, and especially when the owners are living far away which is why I work very hard at getting such homes sold before our hard winters arrive.
While I was driving back to office, I received a call from the loan originator who’s representing the buyer of the home sale that’s been a millstone around my neck ever since that crazy appraisal was done by an out-of-town appraiser. Well, unbeknownst to me, there’s another person floating around out there who also has to sign the loan docs, and won’t be available to sign until Monday afternoon. Believe you me, I thought the top of my head was going to blow off. Thank goodness I controlled my anger over not being alerted to it from the time the offer was submitted on that home. Keeping a seller and the seller’s agent in the dark about such things is highly frowned upon by our profession. All I could say was, “It had better close this coming Monday, or there’s going to be some serious fallout from it.” I’m still in shock over not being informed of another player in that transaction.
After I got myself settled back down, I called my seller to let her know why we weren’t closing on her home tomorrow. I could tell she was upset, but like I told her, getting angry at this point in time won’t help to get it closed any sooner. I assured her I would keep her posted with any more news that may be affecting that closing. I know something like this happened a very many years ago, but at least all parties involved were made aware of it from the very beginning. Thank goodness I didn’t post that home as a “pending sale” after it went under contract, and now I know why. I actually got a call on it this morning, so if it does fall thru, you can bet I’ll be making many calls.
My afternoon appointment was with another seller who had to come in and sign closing documents, and after they were all signed, we had a nice chat about life transitioning which I think helped to brighten her spirits. She recently lost someone near and dear, and still trying to come to grips with it all. It may have sounded corny, but the only appropriate words I could share was, “In such times, it’s always best to take one day at a time.” We also had a few good laughs about all this “spitting in the bottle” people are doing, just so they can find out more about their family trees. Kiddingly, I recently said to another, “Don’t be crawling too far up your family tree because you may find someone on one of its branches you’ll be wishing you didn’t.”
What I continue to find interesting when comparing mindsets/characters in immediate families where all of their children came down the same genetic chute, and discovering near-complete opposites. When someone recently asked me why a certain person in a given family was so different, I couldn’t help saying, “I think as a baby she was abducted by aliens and replaced with a reject from their planet.” It certainly makes a person wonder doesn’t it?
The seller of 240 – 7th St. SE here in Mason City called today to tell me all my requested improvements were made, so I grabbed my camera and went out and took new photos of it, and tonight’s photo being its winter shot. When I walked indoors, I was delightfully surprised by how much better it looked, and after replacing them online, I won’t be surprised if that gets sold more sooner than later. With it now being priced at $56,500, there’s no question it’s one heck of a bargain in this market. Please put the word out because there’ll likely not be another with such upside potential.
Tonight’s One-liner is: The work that lasts over time, is the work which still speaks to us when all contemporary interest in that work is extinct.
