Closing Time

Last Friday everything finally came together and we closed on our new house. Things didn't quite go as smoothly as we'd been hoping, but at the end of the day everything worked out.

The previous owner moved out the Sunday before we closed, so Kevin and our realtor were able to do a walkthrough on Monday to make sure everything was still working. Kevin said the house was a mess, but there was a cleaning service scheduled to come through on Tuesday. Then our realtor did one final walkthrough on Friday, about an hour before we signed all the papers. While the house had been cleaned, the air conditioner had stopped working.

Luckily, we caught the broken A/C before we signed anything. We were able to add a condition to get it fixed: the owner would hold $2000 in escrow to be used against repairs and we would use her warranty before calling in anyone else. Negotiating that stretched our closing out to almost 2 hours. Although we also had a whole lot of paperwork to go through. I must have signed or initialed 200 pieces of paper during the meeting. But by the end we got our keys and we were able to go see the house.

Without air conditioning, we didn't want to hang out too long. But we loaded the car with a few boxes, picked up sandwiches, and went over to the new house. Kevin brought a bottle of champagne, too, and I had a couple of sips to celebrate.

We aren't officially moving in until the 22nd. We hired movers to take all of our furniture, because we're past the point of bribing friends with pizza and beer to help us move. We just have too much stuff now. But we are trying to get a decent amount of moving done ourselves. There are things that are awkward or fragile to pack and easy enough for us to move. I'm actually amazed at how much progress we're making in these little trips. And it helps that we can unpack it all right and put it away immediately. I'm hoping it makes the entire process go smoother and faster.

I'm really excited about our new house. It'll be nice to have more land and privacy than we currently do in the townhome. And the living room won't be doubling as Kevin's office anymore, so we can spread out a bit more. Plus the kitchen is everything I ever wanted in a kitchen. Now we just have to move in and unpack, then we can start focusing on the kid.