spygeek

1. The day of closing, the sellers had not completely vacated the house by the time of closing. Supposedly they thought they had until 4PM. Making matters worse, their realtor was a complete jackass. He caused a huge scene at the closing, then brought the sellers back to the house at 6:30PM even though they were supposed to be gone. Boy, that put a damper on our first day. Status: will never be fixed to our satisfaction. Our realtor wrote a nasty letter, but that was all that happened. On the other hand, if you live in the Twin Cities, MN and want to know the name of a realtor you should avoid, drop me a line.

2. Over the next two weeks, we scrambled to get everything out of our rental house. Brian complained of back pain especially when he lifted heavy stuff. In the last days, we called on our friend Thom to help and I put in a few late nights getting stuff done. We got out in the nick of time (even got our whole deposit back), but Brian's back pain persisted. Finally, one night he asks me to take him to the ER. The prognosis? He had a blocked artery in his heart and has a stent put in. He spends 3 days in the hospital. Status: sort of fixed (he still has some followup and stuff to do).

3. I received a water bill for June-September, which should have been the seller's responsibility. When I called the city, I found out that it's my responsibility to pay, or else it will turn into a lien against the property. My realtor is looking into it, but in the meantime, I had to pay the bill and hope I get reimbursed someday. Status: not fixed (but at least they aren't going to turn off the water.)

4. I received a late notice from the homeowner's insurance company. They claim that they haven't received the first year's premium payment. I speak with the title company who says that their check was cashed. So now the title company and the insurance company are duking it out and I have to keep my fingers crossed that they don't cancel my coverage. Status: not fixed.

5. I get a notice from the power company that they don't have a billing name or address for the property and they were going to turn the power off if we didn't call. Never mind that I had put in a request to start power at this address. I guess they lost it. Status: fixed.

So, I don't really get why we are having such trouble with utilities and insurance when we've never had any trouble with these things in the past. Plus, what's with Brian trying to kick it? Now, he's mostly recovered, my parents came out to help, and it's starting to feel like our own house. It took awhile, but I'm happy.