The Saga, Ch 3

With the Appliance Episode behind us, we got to the walk-through on the day of the closing. We were to close at 1 pm so the walk-through was scheduled for 11:30. Our first clue that there was to be trouble was when we came over the ridge from the road to see a U-Haul truck and several other vehicles in front of the house.

It got worse as we began the walk-through. The trash at the back of the proprety (specifically, an old refrigerator and old roofing tiles) had not been removed. The house itself was still a mess with the garage being the epicenter. There was still furniture in the living room.

Our agent contacted the seller’s agent who assured us that it would all be taken care of by the closing. OK. Sure. Not much we could do, so we headed off to the title office.

It went downhill from there. More later.

Our Mighty Hunter

Our dog hasn’t quite made the transition to the new house being “home” yet. He kept running for his seatbelt (yes, he has a seatbelt) whenever we’d move towards the door as if to say “OK, let’s go home now!”

Until yesterday.

Yesterday, he discovered gophers and gopher holes. He is, after all, part Terrier.

The Saga, Ch 2

The Monday before the Thursday that we’re supposed to close, Jeanette is in Chicago supervising the packing of all of Our Stuff in the moving van. I get a call from “Bryan”, our real estate guy. He got a panicked call from the other party’s agent informing him that they (on that side) had all missed the part in the contract that said all appliances would stay. Further, the sellers had sold all the appliances (stove, fridge, washer/dryer, dishwasher, built-in microwave).

Well. OK, glad you didn’t call Jeanette else we’d have heard the sound of her head exploding from 800 miles away.

I said I needed to get some prices and I’d call back. I eventually did tell Jeanette, her head did not explode (in fact, she wasn’t at all surprised) and the two of us looked at a few websites to come up with prices for replacements. In all, $4500 worth of appliances had been removed in violation of the contract we’d all signed. I told our agent that it was real simple: Either they come up with $4500 or there was no deal. That, or return the appliances.

The sellers’ agent was quite apologetic saying that she had missed the clause as well and offered to do what it took to make things right. A few phone calls went back and forth and it soon came out that they had only sold the Whirpool Duet washer/dryer combo and that furthermore, the sellers’ agent offered to replace that with new units. OK! Game on!

The Saga

Where was I?

The inspector came up with a list of about 15 things that needed fixing. We went back and forth on that and they ended up settling on fixing the cracked rafter, sealing some holes around the chimney, fixing a broken piece of wood siding, and showing that there was a GFCI outlet protecting the bathrooms (a code requirement). They also agreed to provide the materials to fix the cracked boots where the plumbing stacks came through the roof and a drain pan for the water heater (another code issue). I’ll edit this post if I remember others.

They didn’t want to do anything about the holes (caused by squirrels?) in the siding, replace the rotting garage doors, fix the broken power attic vent, or repair the defective parts of the whirlpool tub.

Fine, an agreement is an agreement and we wanted the house. The stuff above makes the house sound like a wreck – it isn’t. It needs some work, but then what house doesn’t? (Well, ours before we sold it, but that’s because we fixed it all before we put it up for sale. Duh.)

As I mentioned previously, they had also agreed to remove the statuary and the trash from the property, provide the missing closet doors, and leave the appliances.

So, we had a deal! Hurray!

Evidently, however, the sellers had a different idea of what a contract meant. Our first inkling of this was the Monday before the scheduled Thursday close.