Closing time!

I was treated to a nice co-working space at a recent Oak Park real estate closing.

The small joys of going to real estate closings... coffee and granola bars!

Sometimes home sellers leave the best things behind

A couple gems left in a house by sellers from a closing today.  Although most deals require all personal property to be removed prior to closing there are often happy exceptions.

These buyer clients told me a photo of the Pope left in the last home they bought in the same neighborhood about 7 years ago... and they kept it.  I have many picture frames, tools, a vase and an awesome lamp I use in my office from the house we bought.  The seller had been in the home for over 70 years!

Indignity at a title company closing

 Bob attended a closing on behalf of our clients yesterday at a downtown title company where he suffered the bathroom key spatula.  Oh, the shame.

Home closing stories: Where's the cat?

From time to time we encounter strange situations at the closing table.  

Just this week my clients walked into their closing and were greeted by the sellers.  The buyers had allowed the sellers to move out during the closing and vacate the house later that day (typically the seller is completely out of the home by closing time). 

My clients were a little curious why the sellers elected to attend the closing rather than attend to their move-out. Typically the seller's pre-sign documents and the attorney handles the closing.

Our buyers and the home sellers had gotten to know each other a bit.  When exchanging hellos we found out their relatives were back with the movers getting things out.  This fact was later followed by a dozen phone calls from said relatives asking for instructions...which was comical itself.  Then, the seller's agent had to run over to the house and move the sellers car (it was blocking the moving truck).

After the pleasantries the sellers quickly stated "We have a problem. We can't find one of our four cats in the house".  Apparently the cat earned the name Heidi because "she likes to hide".  Luckily our buyers are "cat people" and took it in stride.  We'll help find the cat if she's still missing.

The missing cat loomed over the next hour...until the 13th phone call came in.  They found the cat.  Later at lunch, I find out our buyer client had a dream (a premonition if you will) that one of the cats would be left in the house.