June 15, 2006
Closed!
As of this past Wednesday, I am officially the owner of a small 3-bedroom colonial in north Jersey. For someone who has never owned anything worth more than $2,000 in his life, the closing was not nearly as dramatic as I expected — even though I have suddenly become solely responsible for more than $300,000 of mortgage, insurance and tax obligations tied to a property that is currently in pretty sad shape. I think the collective competence of my attorney, mortgage broker and real estate agent gave me great peace of mind at the closing table, so it was well worth the effort (and expense) of assembling a good team for this first venture.
The value of my team became even more apparent to me when the sellers’ attorney entered the room flustered, sweaty, disheveled, out-of-breath and more than half an hour late. His glasses were falling off his face and he was desperately struggling with a loosely organized stack of papers clutched at his chest. The scene very much resembled a bad sitcom and I had to pinch myself a couple time to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. And while he may very well have been an excellent attorney, he was clearly not very organized and did not spend much time reviewing the documents we were signing with his clients. It was painfully obvious that the (elderly, kind and trusting) sellers had absolutely no idea what they were agreeing to other than the bottom line amount of the check they were leaving the office with. This was a pleasant development from my perspective because it made the closing go quickly and without any complications, but it made me wonder how many other people buy and sell their homes with blind faith in their attorneys and brokers. I could muse about this topic at length, but I’m trying to keep these postings a little more focused and avoid digressing too far from the nuts and bolts of my investment activities.
Stay tuned for details on my first crack at the renovations in the weeks to come.
The attorney who handled our closing had just had eye surgery and couldn’t see anything. He wore giant black sunglasses that made him look like a big bug, and we had to drive him to the closing and carry his coat and briefcase around for him. He brought a young attorney from his firm with him to read EVERY single piece of paper out loud before we signed.
And everyone who has been through a closing knows how much there is to sign. Toward the end, the young attorney was out of gas and just summarizing each document. By the very end, he was saying things like, “This one says the bank has all the rights, and you have none … Sign here.”
Wow — I was laughing out loud after reading that closing story. Priceless.