Month: August 2008

Things have been a little bumpy around here lately, which is why I haven’t been able to post much. First let me say – our Realtor has been AMAZING. This has been a difficult deal to say the very least and she has done all of her work, plus that of at least three slacker.

Background: We were supposed to close on both houses on August 20th. (Please glance up now and notice today’s date.) We have not closed yet. Exactly 10 days before our closing date we called our Realtor, Danielle, and told her that the buyer on our current home had not done an appraisal yet. This was worrisome since we were in the week before closing and their loan had obviously not come close to finishing up. And so the days start ticking by. Each day – no appraisal, and each day – Danielle is trying to get answers from the buyer’s Realtor and loan officer. But for some reason they don’t like to respond to either emails or phone calls. So in the blink of an eye, it is the 19th of August, the theoretical day before closing. Still no appraisal. But finally, I get a call at 4pm that day saying that they are coming to do the appraisal at 5pm. Way to wait to the last minutes, guys! Of course within the next couple days we get the request from our buyers (their Realtor, really) to postpone closing until September 5th. There were lots of other details in the regarding how awesome our Realtor is and how sucky theirs is, but that will bring you up to speed on where things stand.

And now, my letter to those who have caused all of my current problems – the buyer’s Realtor and Lender:

Dear Sirs: (And I use that term very, very loosely)

I would like to remind you that it was you and your clients who chose the August 20th closing date for this house. It is also you who is supposed to know the sequence of a real estate deal and follow a professional time line to meet the dates that you chose. If there is a problem with those dates on your end, it is YOUR job to contact our Realtor to advise her of the details and what you are doing to remedy things and keep them on track. It is NOT HER JOB to have to babysit you and call you every day because you won’t return phone calls or emails. Nevertheless, you have dumped your job in her lap and left us all wondering constantly about what will happen with this deal. We are buying a house contingent upon selling this one and you have jeopardized that deal as well.

Because we are trying to be conscientious adults about our end of the deal, knowing that if we did close on time we would have to hand over the keys and be out of the house on that day, we took steps to make sure that we could hand over an empty and clean house on the expected day of close.

So, on the 16th, the Saturday before the expected day of close, we moved 90% of our belongings out of our home and into storage. We left only our mattresses, our dining room table, and the bare minimum of kitchen items to get us by for what should have been less than a week. Then we find out that it will not be one week. It will be nearly THREE weeks.

Now I know how easy it is to put off making a phone call. But the procrastination of these “professionals” has put my family in a very uncomfortable situation for a fairly long period of time and has caused us undue stress.

Allow me to enlighten you on how your unwillingness to do your job has made our day to day life harder.

• I have seven very bored kids hanging around my house, since all of their stuff is packed up. Have you ever tried cooking meals for 9 people with very little kitchen stuff?
• I had all of our utilities scheduled to change over on the day of/day after our closing day. This took me several hours to arrange (see above 7 kids) and then I had to go and undo it all, and will have to do it all again when we are sure what our closing date will be.
• We purchased our storage units for the month of August, confident that we would be able to have them emptied again by Sept 1. We will have to pay another full month.
• One of children switched schools to be near the new house. He started at the new school since there was only one week between our expected closing and start of school (school started first). But right now I have to drive far out of my way to get him to school every morning and afternoon, costing me plenty in both time and gas.
• The stress this has caused us is taking its toll. My hair is falling out and neither my husband or myself are able to sleep as we wait with bated breath for you to do your job.
• And numerous other items that are small in and of themselves but add up to a lot of time and trouble on our part and impact our daily life. I will refrain from listing them here.

In summary, there has been plenty of extra stress, cost, and work caused to my family because of this, which could have been avoided if you had simply followed up on your end of the deal to begin with. I feel bad for our buyers who are stuck with you through this as well. Rest assured that I will be following up after everything is through to make sure that your employers and others know the way you choose to do business. Your disregard for the families whose everyday lives you impact is troubling indeed.

Yours Truly,
Prisoner in Her Own Home