Saturday, February 11, 2006

Long, long ago: the night before closing

Well, I have an alternate phone or internet connection now! But it's quite uncomfortable: the monitor is on one chair, the keyboard on another, and I'm sitting on the couch leaning over the keyboard--in the middle of the livingroom. Hard on the back, I found out last night while trying to catch up a little in reading blogs, but better than nothing.

It's really old news by now, but I'd like to relive the last part of our move, 'way back on Thursday and Friday, February 2 and 3. Hard to believe we've been here a week already. Still lots of stuff to put away. Anyway, after moving from early in the morning until late at night on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we were facing Thursday as the last day to complete the move and clean up. My son was at work, like most of the week, and I still had the storage shed to finish and had to clean the entire house, including shampooing the carpets. I was tired, no exhausted by then and doubtful if I'd ever be able to finish those last two big tasks alone. So I shamelessly begged for help. The Vegetable Man came over to help with the storage shed and Anton (of Amanda and Anton, my married friends) came over to help start the cleaning.

V-Man found lots of stuff he could use for the farm and even took the tires that had been in the shed when I bought the house (there was a lesson for me, here, to be revealed later). Anton vacuumed the house and collected my huge supply of plant pots (outdoors) to give to some non-profit agency. He and Amanda do a lot of volunteering. There was a lot of stuff we just put into garbage bags and hauled to the end of the driveway for pickup on Friday morning. The garbage service had been alerted that this would be a very large pickup.

After several hours of labor, the V-Man although extremely helpful (couldn't have finished without him) became a bit crabby and bossy, telling me not to drag the garbage bags down the driveway. I was so tired and exhausted that I nearly burst into tears at his long-winded railing and lecturing, but decided to go back into the house and clean with Anton instead. Yes I knew I shouldn't drag the bags but I was just too tired to lift them, they were so heavy and we were taking two at a time. (Later, V-Man apologized for that behavior as he realized that if he was tired and crabby after only a couple of hours, how was I feeling after four days of it?!)

Anton soon had to go and pick up Amanda from work, he said they might return later to help. V-Man had to get home before dark and chop wood for his woodstove, so I was alone again and the house still needed a lot of cleaning, top to bottom. I made another run to the apartment with a jeepload of boxes, carried them all up the stairs and drove back to continue cleaning the house. The long road back and forth was so familiar to me by now that I could drive it in my sleep (and just about did, too!) I hurried back to the house in case A & A showed up again to help clean. I was hoping my son would get off of work early at 9:00 or so, but he didn't. Finally, late as I was despairing of getting the place cleaned in time, A & A returned. They had gone out to eat and were fresh and fired up for cleaning. Amanda did the kitchen, I cleaned the bathroom, using bleach to try to take the rust stains (from our well water) out of the shower. It was murder on my hands, they were already sore to the touch and my palms were red like they had been burnt.

My son came shortly after midnight and with the four of us it took another hour to finish up. Then we drove over the bridge again to get some sleep. Remember, that postal exam was early Friday morning, and my son had his heart set on getting a job there. We were tired and sore and apparently quite slow to each shower and dress (I had trouble finding suitable clothing) as we barely made it to the test site on time. The doors were to be closed at 8:30 a.m. and we were the last two people to be let inside. If we hadn't (accidentally) pulled right up to the right spot at the hotel were it was being held, we wouldn't have arrived in time. I had to go to the bathroom and had been hoping for enough time for a quick trip. Also, we were supposed to bring two #2 pencils each, but I could find only two, total. So we each had one pencil, with a less than desirable eraser.

It was a long test, from 8:30 to noon. I had to forget my "needs" and concentrate on the exam. Two of the sections were memory ones, never my strong point, although I think my son did well on them. We survived that, and went home, me to get ready for the house closing and my son to get ready for work.

The closing was stressful, like they often are (I’ve been through many of them, six on my own as a single person) especially to the seller, and this one was no exception. The buyer is a real estate agent and knew all the angles and tricks, he wanted this and that, the two (my agent and he) would confer privately and come back with something else. Then my agent and I would privately discuss, the agent would take it back, and so forth. Some of the concessions I had to make were quite annoying. The buyer insisted that I deduct $400 from the selling price because of a large tire left in the storage shed (I had “inherited” the tire, and V-Man had cleaned out everything else from the shed) after dickering back and forth the deduction was cut to $250. And there were several other concessions and actions I had to make, including paying off the garbage company who had just picked up the load that morning! I had told them and they had my new address, but it didn’t matter to the buyer who, for some reason, was afraid he’d get stuck for the costs.

The surprising and happy thing was while we were (finally!) signing all those papers, the buyer told me that he is NOT tearing the house down! He asked a lot of questions about the neighborhood and the neighbors because he’s going to build on to the house. That made me very happy, as I am fond of my former little house!

My Mother is impatient to move in, so we will have a busy weekend of trying to put our stuff away to make room for her. Have a great weekend!

(added later) The lesson, as mentioned above? Never let the seller leave junk in the basement, storage shed, garage or anywhere else! Make them get rid of it before you will close on the house, or pay you what it will cost you to clean up. I didn't do that--inherited a storage shed of junk that became MY problem when I wanted to sell the place.

13 Comments:

Blogger Anvilcloud said...

I think you will soon nee a long rest. Take care, eh?

10:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sounds very busy. I hope you get a chance for some rest soon

12:36 PM  
Blogger Dale said...

Hi. Welcome back! Bedroom and kitchen first. Ya gotta eat. Ya gotta sleep. Moving is such a horrendous ordeal. Good luck in "America's Dairyland".

1:34 PM  
Blogger Fizzy said...

Yeahhhhhhh you have a connection

You must be absolutely exhasuted now. You have just confirmed to me why I do not want to move house. I hope that you settle down into some sort of normality soon. When do you find the results of your tests?
look after yourself
(the scone recipe is posted for you)

1:52 PM  
Blogger Michelle said...

My god, you need a week off just to relax. I don't know how you did it all in such a short time.I hope you have some vacation time soon :)

2:59 PM  
Blogger gal artist said...

Wow, what a time you have had. Talk about working under pressure. All that quibbling over a tire? Sheesh.

At least it's all over with except moving your mom in. And unpacking. Well, the worst part is over.

It can only get better from here.

3:31 PM  
Blogger Lorna said...

I wish I could just drop over with a welcome basket---tea and ginger cookies and an African Violet.

8:40 PM  
Blogger Mr G said...

well, not the most comfy way to connect, but it sure beats being blogless...
hope the weekend goes smoothly!
:)

11:54 PM  
Blogger Fizzy said...

Happy Sunday.

9:06 AM  
Blogger thtgrl said...

moving is so tough. i think getting settled is harder than packing up!

7:31 PM  
Blogger dan said...

crikey! you have been busy.

good luck with the postal thing for your son and happy settling in

2:16 AM  
Blogger Katya Coldheart said...

wow, we had old tires in the cellar along with an old manky fridge, we don't do that concession thing here, but its a good idea...theres still stuff in our cellar from the previous owners...

:0)

2:41 AM  
Blogger Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

I HATE moving...ABSOLUTELY HATE IT!

Bless your heart!!! You have been SO BUSY lately, you must be exhausted!!!

Just think though, soon it will all be over and you'll be all settled in your new place! :)

7:08 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home