Homeowners!!

It finally happened. We signed. Signed, sealed and almost delivered.

This morning, we actually closed on the house. The air conditioning unit has been fixed, the gas fireplace is fully fixed, inspected and permitted, the house has been painted and Old Friend is almost out. The only two things left are the windows (they have been ordered and paid for but probably won't be installed for another week) and for Old Friend to actually move out.

Because of his rental situation, we closed today, but he has until Sunday, Oct 31 to move out. Happy Halloween to us! He thinks he'll be out by Friday or Saturday morning and will let us know. We did get one set of keys, but not both yet. We also get a nice little 'rent' check in a week or so for the few extra days he's staying. Funny, it's just about enough for new curtains for the bedroom and family room! ;)

There's still a dumpster out in the driveway and that will be there until Monday, Nov 1 since they can't pick it up on the weekend, but that's OK with us!

For once, in this WHOLE process, we actually had a funny thing happen that was in our favor.

We went to the bank this morning to get our cashiers check for the closing cost, and a separate check for Margot the Agent's commission. We decided to pay out the commission separately because it lowered our monthly payments by about $50 and we didn't want to be paying commission for 30 years. So we got two checks.

At the end of the closing we handed Margot her check and the lawyer had a funny look on her face. What's that for? We told her it was her commission...she said, oh no, that's already included in the closing costs.

What?

We were told by the bank that our closing costs were X amount, and that DIDN'T include commission. (this was yesterday)

There was a mixup somehow and this morning, we found out that we didn't need a separate check. AND...this is amazing...the bank over estimated our closing costs and actually owed us money!

When does that ever happen?? Never!

So we walked out of the closing with a new house, and a check that should cover not only the carpets we are having installed next week, but possibly the hard wood throughout the first floor that we orignally were going to install until we had to install the radon unit, fix the toilets and a do a few other little things in the house that Old Friend refused to negotiate on.

Thanks TD Bank! We'll take your bank error in our favor any day!!
This weekend, Lowes and Home Depot become our best friends...Let the upgrading begin!