Closing Day

Today, we should have been closing on the sale of our old house and the purchase of our new one.  I should be off work, all stressed out trying to get everything organized and making sure everything happens in the right order (moving out and in, on the same day, with a closing in the middle, is a logistical nightmare)

 

But, instead I’m sitting in my office writing this.  Stressed out, sure.  But not for nearly the same (good) reasons.

 

Last week, five days before we were set to close, our buyer gave notice that she wanted to back out of her contract with us.  She didn’t want to buy the house.  Long story short, her family lives out east, and she had the opportunity to move out there to be with them.  And, I totally understand that.  Totally.  Hello, we live 20 minutes from my parents and we wanted to move closer, haha.  So, yeah, I totally get it. 

 

But, I mean, really?  Really?! Five days, lady.  FIVE.days. Our house was half packed.  We had all of the utilities, cable, etc. set to transfer.  We had hired movers.  We’d scheduled to take time off work.  My dad was counting down the days until he didn’t have to pick up Cooper in the morning, instead we would be dropping him off J

 

Not to mention the fact that the buyer was under contract to buy our house.  Clearly, a good thing for us.  She couldn’t just say “oh, I changed my mind, sorry!”  We had several options as to how we wanted to proceed.  The most extreme being taking her to court.  Obviously we didn’t want to do that.  In the end, we agreed upon a settlement with her. 

 

The most frustrating part of this is that our house was off the market for six weeks during the time we were under contract.  That is 2 weeks longer than it was on the market before we received her offer.  I am positive we would have gotten at least one offer during that time.  So she cost us a lot in that regard.

 

The good news in all of this is that we are still moving into the new house.  Due to her pending divorce, the contract on both houses set closing on or before June 30, which turned out to be a huge blessing for us.  It gives us some time to get things in order so that we don’t lose the house.

 

Needless to say, the past few days have been a whirlwind.  We found out about this about 10am on Wednesday.  By noon, we had met with our realtor, talked to a lawyer, and had a plan of action.  Our house went back on the market Wednesday night/Thursday morning at midnight.  We had a showing Friday, one Saturday, and an open house on Sunday.  We had to clean our entire house on Thursday night, because it looked like a tornado when through it, with boxes EVERywhere, and Cooper’s birthday party crap ALL over the place. 

 

So, right now, I feel pretty good about everything working out.  No, this situation isn’t ideal, and certainly not what we expected, but what can you do?  I’m a little nervous to take on two mortgages, but that was the main reason for the settlement, so we should be fine for a few months.  Our house sold quickly the first time around, and while I don’t think it will sell in less than 30 days this time, I don’t think it will be more than 3 months.  At least, that’s what I’m hoping for.