Today is the Day

In a short while, I'll sign the papers selling this house and get the keys to my new one. I have a few projects at the new house to complete before we move in for good, but we will be moving some things in before the "big move".

I must confess, though, that the process to sell my home and buy a new one without the help of a realtor on either side was less than efficient. Had this been my first experience buying, selling, or refinancing, I don't think I would have been so eager. It really has been the most painful real estate transaction I've ever witnessed ... and I used to work at a law firm that did a great deal of real estate business.

To speed up the process, I was pre-approved and so were my daughter and son-in-law, but it didn't speed things up at all. Initially, we were told we'd close in 45 days. Today is day 70. When the bank asked for something, we got it to them immediately. My daughter and I bank at the same bank, and that's the bank we went through for the mortgages. I thought going through our own bank would speed things up. Wrong again. And to add insult to injury, when my bank needed my bank statements, I had to buy them ... at $1 a page ... and send them in!

Over the years, anytime I needed a loan, I could call them up and it would be approved and in my account in a matter of days. Had I known how inefficient their mortgage department was, I would never have chosen them for this transaction.

I stop short of saying this has been traumatic, but it comes close ... close enough that I'm changing banks altogether, and so are all my kids. My best friend works for a bank. She's been trying to get me to switch to hers for years. I won't be switching to her bank, but I will be banking someplace else very soon

It reminds me of class day in high school. The last day seniors are at the school, they sit in their assigned section in the auditorium in caps and gowns. Then there is a "ceremony" where the graduating seniors vacate their seats and the incoming senior class takes their place. My homeroom teacher wouldn't let us girls take our purses with us to the auditorium. She said she'd lock the room and they'd be safe.

Wrong.

Either she didn't lock the door or someone picked the lock, because after the ceremony, we went back to our homeroom to get our things before leaving school for good ... only to find the doors open and all of our purses gone. The thieves didn't just take our wallets out of our purses, they took our purses, too ... which meant they had our car keys. All the girls in my homeroom had to call our parents to get them to bring spare keys so that we could drive home. I walked out of the school, not with a heavy heart, but with a "Hallelujah!"

And that's how I'll feel once I get an account set up at a new bank. After banking there for decades, I'll walk out thinking "Good riddance."

It shouldn't have taken 70 days to complete this loan. We were all pre-approved, have excellent credit, and good jobs and employment histories. The delays were when the bank forgot to ask for something ... over and over and over and over. At least this whole miserable loan process will end well. If I didn't love the house so much, I would have walked away.

But, I didn't ... and soon I will be making memories in a new home, In a few months, my little grandson will be born, and this is the home he'll know as "Grandma's house". This is where he'll eat cookies and chocolate chip pancakes. This is where we'll play games and giggle. This is where I'll rock him and sing to him as an infant, and where he'll remember being read to and tucked into bed when he sleeps over as a child. This is where he'll play basketball in the cul-de-sac and run with his (future) cousins through the woods.

It's not big or fancy, but it's the perfect home for me, and it will feel so good to finally call this place home.