Closing out Closing Day

Quick blog tonight - first, I just really want to say "thanks" to everyone for the good vibes, phone calls, texts, etc. It's been a long but satisfying day. And we have a house! And a condo! And four days to move!!

The closing went relatively smoothly today, at least compared to how badly things can go in this market.  There was a delay of almost two hours due to some administrative wrangling that had to happen last-minute; we got to experience first-hand how lenders are now being nit-picky down to the very last penny of the deal. The long wait added to everyone's nerves, and I suspect some keyed-up emotions on the part of the seller, who understandably had some mixed feelings about letting go of her home, which had once belonged to her late mother. It also led to some awkward conversations between the seven of us (two buyers, one seller, seller's significant other, two agents, one lawyer); as we tried to hold our anxieties in check and make conversation to fill the time. 

What an odd relationship at its culmination. Buyers and sellers start out with sort of a coy flirtation when they first make contact -- usually via fax machine with an agent interceding on both ends. Each side wants something the other side is offering, but are trying not to seem too eager. Come to think of it, it's kind of like a first date....

As negotiations build, however, it becomes less a romance and more of an adversarial relationship: each trying to hold on to as much of their money as possible while negotiating the transfer of a home from one to the other. There are formal offers flying back and forth, accompanied by quiet side arguments over the condition of carpets, the value of the HVAC system, etc. Threats to walk away from the deal, both veiled and open, can be used to exert power and keep the other side in line. Decisions at this point seem to be made about 30% with a calculator and 70% with emotions.

Eventually, if the relationship survives all this push and pull, and lots more paperwork, you meet. Often for the first and last time. How strange this interaction is, sitting across from one another, exchanging the ownership of a home -- a place that holds years of memories on one side of the table and hopes for the future on the other. While one side is signing their life away and trying to imagine how they'll arrange the furniture, the other side is experiencing the mixed feelings of relief and sadness, and trying to convey something important about the home or the neighborhood to these complete strangers who are, let's face it, barely listening.

Add in two hours of red tape delay, and it's like sitting in forced conversation with a stranger on an airplane -- only that stranger is pretty sure you robbed her of a few thousand dollars and won't fully appreciate all the work she put into re-tiling her kitchen. Let's just say by the end, we were all worn pretty thin and running out of things to talk about.

But the fascinating process is behind us now, at least this time around, and we have to go about the work of turning our lives completely upside down for the next week or so. Bear with me, friends. I'll try to keep my commitment to myself to blog consistently without having all four of the next entries read "Back hurts, exhausted, going to bed. Talk amongst yourselves." :)