You would think we'd be excited...

Next Wednesday we should be closing on our new house. Notice how I said "should be".

You may remember all the issue with had with Old Friend refusing to really do much (if anything) on the house by way of repairs that we thought fell under the 'standard home maintenence' category. And, how we finally got him to agree to fix the windows, paint the house, fix the AC, and repermit and fix the gas fireplace.

Guess how many are done-only 4 days from closing?

None.

That's right. Nothing is done.

Last week, Old Friend invited us over to see if there was any old furniture we might want to keep and to give us an update on the repairs. Kind of odd, but this whole thing has been pretty strange so we figured, why not? At least we can see the house again, especially since we've started thinking about colors and carpets and wanted to visualize a bit. Plus, there was a big picture mirror in the basement I spotted during the home inspection that I want!

So we went by (with Margot the Agent's number on speed dial just in case things got weird). Old Friend's son and daughter were there helping clean out, which made it a lot easier. We thought it could get weird if it was only us and him. At least we had someone else to talk to!

He showed us what he thought was wrong with the AC unit and said he would be making a call to get it fixed. We still aren't sure if that was fixed or not yet.

The painters had some and cleaned and powerwashed the house, but hadn't actually painted yet. They were supposed to come by and finish on Monday. As of last night - 4 days later-...-4 SUNNY days later- it was still not done.

We went inside and checked out the gas fireplace that we still think was installed without permits. According to Old Friend, they need to take out the damper and repermit due to 'new regulations' (riiight, sounds to me like you couldn't produce the permit we requested because you didn't have it so you had to get it redone...)
Old Friend told us he would get the damper removed and a new permit OR...we could replace the whole thing for a couple hundred bucks! No way! We couldn't believe he was trying to pass ANOTHER thing off onto us just to save $25.  We both said no thanks, you need to get it done yourself, since you did sign the P&S saying you would...

He was supposed to make a call on that this week, we hope it's been done.

Lastly, the 5 windows we argued about for weeks. According to Old Friend, they have been ordered and pre-paid for, including labor. But...they won't arrive for another week or two, which means it might be after he moves out. Of course, now we're really worried that the costs will be more and we'll get stuck with it. So we have our lawyer drawing up a document that says whatever happens, it's on Old Friend.

Today, we emailed our lawyer and asked 2 questions:
1. Can we have the documentation that the repairs that might happen after the close will be paid for by Old Friend?
2. What if not everything is done yet?

You know what he said?

Sorry guys, but if all repairs aren't completed by the close...there IS no close.

Yup, after all this, we STILL might not get to own this house next week.

Margot the Agent is on her way over right not to ask Old Friend what the heck is going on. Hopefully we'll hear back that the AC and fireplace were done this week, the painters are coming tomorrow and the windows miraculously arrived a week early and will be installed by the close.

I doubt it, our luck has not been at all like that throughout this entire process, but I can still hope.  I didn't even get the mirror! It was gone. :(

We think that at the very least, we can still close if the windows aren't done yet, because they have already been ordered, so the process has started. If we need wording in the closing docs to support that, we're fine with it, as long as we don't have to pay for anything.

Fingers crossed!