The Condo part II

Once the decision was made to sell, my brother and his wife traveled to Florida. We met with a realtor, did several more days of sweeping it of "stuff", and staged it for show. Within two weeks of listing it, we had an offer on it. We took it. The closing was set for January 5th. Papers were signed. I went up to The Condo.

And panicked. Despite our sweeping, The Condo was chalk full of stuff including all the furniture, the wall hangings, the window treatments, and a full kitchen. How was I going to clear out and clean an entire condo during Christmas and New Year's? Then the inspection came back needing some minor electric work that had to be done by a licensed electrician and not by my electrical engineer husband. My heart palpitations returned. I called the realtor and told her there was NO WAY. Everyone agreed to move it back a week to January 12th.

I started by emptying every closet, piece of furniture, wall space, and cabinet. Madison came with me for that project and we pulled everything out into the living room where we separated it into piles; my house, donation, Rusty's stuff, and unknown. It took us five hours to do that chore. A few days later I went back and began the long process of carrying the stuff down to my car. Because I was sick, it took forever and I finally gave up after a few loads. The next time I went up I brought help. Darcy, Tom, and my friend Jim and his daughter came with me. We boxed up all the kitchen stuff and took apart the furniture that I wanted. We had three cars with us so that we could load them up. Yep, three car loads! After cleaning out this condo six different times!!

And it still didn't get finished! Now I had to deal with the furniture. I called a consignment shop. I sent him pictures, but he only wanted three items and wanted to charge me $50 to collect them. I called several donation sites, but they weren't going to be able to pick up the furniture until after the closing date. By this point, I was really sick and basic functioning was difficult. A friend of mine offered to take all of the furniture and we agreed she would get back to me. I spent the next day in bed sleeping.

The friend came through. She rented a truck, got some worker bees, and together all of them with my husband unloaded the furniture from The Condo and into a truck. All except a piece requested by my realtor and an old television that weighed a thousand pounds, give or take a pound. My husband rolled the television through the condo, down two flights of stairs, and we hefted into my car where I took it to the dump.

Two days before the closing the electrician came and did his part while I finished carrying out the rest of the "stuff". After that, I cleaned the entire place. The realtor came to get the piece, but realized it wouldn't fit in her truck. She told me the buyer had contacted her that morning and wanted it. I threw my hands into the air. Seriously? I said she could have it. I was over it. I said my good-byes to The Condo, prayed that it would bring the buyer as much happiness as it did my mother, and I left.

The next night the realtor called to tell me the buyer needed another week and couldn't close due to some nonsense. I came unhinged for a few hours thinking of all the scurrying around and all of the work my family had done to get to this closing. Later that night, the neighbor called me to tell me there was a noise coming from The Condo. I gave up. I started looking into what it would entail to rent out the place.

My realtor, who is also my friend and neighbor, kept sending me encouraging texts. She was as annoyed as I was, but the buyer's lender dropped the ball on getting information from the association or some such nonsense. This week went by with no news, but I was beyond caring. On Thursday, my realtor called me to sign the papers, laughing as she told me it almost didn't go through because my brother's signed paperwork didn't go out in the mail due to weather! They just kept that little tidbit from me, thank god. But it arrived in Florida Thursday and so I signed my portion. I turned over the keys and any information I deemed important and crossed my fingers that the buyer would do the same the next day.

She did. But then she decided she didn't want the television that she had said she wanted. So, I ended up going back to The Condo where I met the buyer, got the television, wished her well, and then I snapped this picture and sent it to everyone I knew that knew The Condo saga.

THE END