Chapter One: Closing (May 29th)

Closing day went much more smoothly than I had anticipated. For those of you who know me, this is no big surprise: I tend to be the kind of person who makes fleas into elephants, and freaks out over even the smallest of things.

The whole closing ceremony was not scheduled until 1pm, with the walkthrough at high noon. Naturally, I was up at 5am, full of energy and excitement, fear and really needing coffee. I realize that the consumption of coffee in this state is not the smartest thing, but when nature calls...

Before noon, I packed any remaining boxes, took out the trash, cleaned the bathroom, did an hour of aerobics, blogged and watched TV. As the clock clicked closer to eleven, I got calmer and calmer.

I arrived at the Condo a few minutes early. This gave me time to chat with the soon-to-be-former-owner, (STBFO) who was nervously pacing and chain-smoking his way to creating a hole in the pavement. It turns out that the closing on HIS new property was at 9 am the next morning, and he'd spent all morning cleaning up the Condo. He admitted to me that he'd not had a chance to give the place a thorough cleaning, but that he'd gotten his stuff out and had given all surfaces a once-over.

I immediately went over to the fireplace and attempted to get it to work. (If you recall, that was issue #1 on the inspector's list of problems. The thing wouldn't work. The STBFO claimed he could get it to work and that we hadn't followed the instructions. He subsequently got it to work for Dave, the Real Estate Guy, who promised me that I would have a working fireplace when I moved in).

The fireplace stayed stone cold for me, and so the STBFO had a go at it. As much as he tried and tried to get that thing to work, we just could not get the pilot to light. When Dave came in, he tried it as well to no avail. Giving up on the fireplace momentarily, we checked out the few items on the list that had needed repair, and thank goodness, all issues had been addressed. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised with the once-over cleaning he'd given the place. It looked good to me!

The three of us went over to the title company together on the Brown Line. The STBFO and I chatted during the trip, mostly about how much signing my poor hands would have to do in the next several hours, and about the work he had to put into the place he'd be purchasing the next day. Dave made calls on his mobile phone.

The actual closing wasn't bad at all. We all arrived about a . hour late, which seemed to be good for the title company. Before we got to business, I explained the fireplace issue with my lawyer, and she had the buyer agree to pay me a very nice sum to have it fixed. I wish that everyone who closed on a property could have the same lawyer I do. She was amazingly good at making sure I stayed calm. She answered every question I had in 25 succinct words or less, and made sure I understood everything I was signing.

After a solid hour of signing and listening, listening and signing the activity suddenly stopped, and everyone chatted amongst themselves while I stared into space. Ten minutes later, I realized that nobody was giving me anything else to do. I asked the lawyer, "Is this it? Do I own the Condo now?" " Yes", she replied, "we're just waiting for your refund".

And that was truly it! I received three checks: one covering the overage I'd brought with the original check, one for a whopping $8.73, which was a month's interest on my earnest money, and the third check was from the Now Former Owner (NFO) for having the fireplace fixed.

I was completely numb as I got back on the train with Dave. We had some lighthearted chit chat and he got off the train and left me to my work.