Thursday, August 20, 2015

Home Ownership Adventures

Words cannot describe what happened today, but I'll try my best.

A lot of you know my home buying process has a been a total mess. I've worked for two months trying to get everything finished to close only to be told twice I didn't have a complete to-do list from the bank (and hence couldn't close). Despite my best efforts (and the best efforts of my agent and those working with me), two closing dates have come and, as of midnight tonight, gone. I felt completely defeated.

Naturally, the seller was upset as well. But there's more to the story.

The seller grew up in this home. It's been in her family since it was built in 1963. It was her mom's home. She's selling it because her mom passed away. She had prayed and prayed for an offer before the one year mark of her mom's passing. I put in an offer the day before. As if that didn't blow you away. There's more.

I totally understood her frustration and the extra emotion behind the sale. I sold my mom's house in May of 2013. It had been in my family since I was two years old. I was fortunate to have a quick and easy closing. There were no complications, only an emotional move and closing date.

That all leads to today.

Normally, I leave work around 3:15. Today, I was there later working out with two friends. This late after school, I didn't expect to be called to the office, but I was.

I thought perhaps it was an angry parent had come to talk to me about the kid I reported as truant earlier in the day.

Nope.

It was the seller. She said she had found out where I worked and wanted to talk to me.

My heart sank. The closing date was supposed to be today. I just knew she was there to tell me why she wanted to back out.

Wrong again.

She told me she was just looking for answers. I explained to her what was going on with the loan process, my frustrations, my tears, and how I truly understood the emotions of selling your late mother's home to someone you don't know.

She teared up as she told me her side of things. How she refused to make me give earnest money because that's "not how Momma would have done business," especially with a young teacher, despite being encouraged to ask for it. She said she was just losing faith in the sale because the bank wouldn't answer her questions.

She told me about growing up in the house. She shared her apprehensions about it being remodeled. She told me about the neighbors. She talked about her siblings who had passed away while they lived there. She described her mom.

We were both in tears by the end of it. We had so much in common. We had both lost the same amount of family members in our old homes. We both knew the pain of selling part of our childhood. Even deeper than that, we both knew the fresh pain of losing our moms.

I invited her to see the renovations when they're complete, and I asked her to introduce me to the neighbors.

By the end of our brief meeting, we were both in tears. She hugged me over and over despite my sweatiness. We exchanged phone numbers and have already talked since. She even offered to let me move in early for next to nothing in "rent" if I needed to do so.

What really made my heart smile was when she told me she'd be my momma if I wanted. That was the sweetest offer a stranger has ever made me.



Sometimes things are meant to be.






I can't wait to call this place home. 



Closing date is still TBD as of 9 PM today


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