The move that almost wasn't

Hi, I'm Jennifer and I'm keeping the blog warm over here today. Usually,you can find me at Toast on the Ceiling or contributing for BlissfullyDomestic.

When Christine said she needed guest bloggers to help out while she moved, I jumped on it. I'm totally thrilled she picked me. When she said I could write about anything I wanted, I knew I had a story to share (and hope her move does not end this way).

I'm talking about our move to the house we live in now.

Back in May, 2001 it was James and I. No kids, no pets (this was a blessing with everything that happened). We loved the townhouse we lived in, but no one wanted to visit us, it was at least a 30 minute drive. Add to that a condo association that thought they were God and wacky neighbors (one guy washed his car in the garage), we did what everyone else was doing.

We decided to move. Back to my hometown.

After we found the best house (it isn't perfect), we had to list our house. We thought it was a blessing we had "sold" it in a week and we would move in a little over a month.

The first couple weeks after it sold was no problem. We packed, cleaned and got things in order.

The next couple weeks turned into a nightmare. Thankfully, we had a lawyer. The people who were to buy the townhouse had some problems with their credit. The loan looked like it wasn't going to be approved. The closing was on, the closing was off.

Every day brought different news.

Finally we got to the day before the closing and I had left work early to come home and finish packing. There was a call from our lawyer. Basically, it looked like the closing was off, the financing would not go through for the buyers, but come anyway to the closing. So I cancelled the movers and we packed some more, but didn't think this was going to work.

Which meant we would lose the new house and we were staying with the crazy neighbors and the condo board from hell. The day of closing we got up, cleaned and went to the title company. We met our lawyer, signed what we could without the buyers, and sat in a conference room for 45 minutes before the buyers showed up with their lawyer. The loan had been a go at the last minute, with changed terms. Half a page into the loan paperwork, the husband was arguing with the lawyer.

We were shooed out of the conference room to wait in a cubicle while the husband's lawyer argued with the loan company. We had to hunt down movers from the phone book since it looked to be a go. After several phone calls, we found someone who would charge 4x as much as we budgeted, but they could be there. We were supposed to be out of the house already and the buyers were not happy we were still there.

Finally, after half an hour, the husband had releneted and would take the loan. We were called back into the room and they went over the terms with the husband. 11.5% interest, pre-payment penalty, the list went on of restrictions and penalties. I sat at the table thinking any second the deal would be bust. The husband signed paper after paper, not the wife.

Finally, they got to a document the wife had to sign stating she understood the financial implications of not being on the title. She flatly refused. For religious reasons. So, add another 10 minutes while two lawyers tried to convince her to sign the paper. I think she finally did, but it was like pulling teeth.

Then there was the issue we were not out of the house which was totally the buyers fault. We had to give them a $1000 check guaranteeing we would be out by 9pm (which was sent back uncashed a week later). We said no problem, all was done. After almost three hours.

James and I ran out of there to get home. Well, James went home to meet my dad to finish on the packing and I had to go to the insurance company to finish the policy for the new home (which was to closed on the same day, but moved to two days later due to insurance problem with the roof of new house). Got back home to deal with the movers. They sent nine guys to our house tomove. Nine guys who had no clue or common sense. One guy tried to move the gas dryer without disconnecting it. Another dumped James' entire StarWars figure collection out of their pre-packed boxes into a wardrobe box and packed stuff on top of it. And the fun went on.

We shoved anything worth something into three cars and tried to keep the movers from packing essential items. Like my bag of clothes for the next few days. James wasn't so lucky. Before he could stop the movers, all his stuff was on the truck. We were out of the house at 7 pm. Had started at 2:30. Not too bad.

James waited for the new owners to come and get the keys. My dad and I drove back to my parent's house to unload some of the stuff since we would be staying in a hotel for a couple days. Which turned into a week, since the moving company forgot to schedule us to get the items out of storage and moved to the new house. And then stole all of James' tools and a step ladder.

This is why I will never move again.

I hope Christine's is going much better than this.