Closing Time
Warning - long post, skip if you like...
I closed on the sale of my condo this past Friday. I lived there for just over 7 years. From March 02 through June 09. (technically I moved out in Feb, but sold in June) It was an interesting day as most are these days when I am encountering all kinds of new things I have not had contact with before.
First off I had forgotten that Steve's place is next to the tornado siren until it went off as I was trying to gather everything and leave. I didn't know whether to grab the cats and go hide in the downstairs bathroom or to leave because the sky really didn't look like a tornado was possible. Later I found out it was in the next county.
Then I had to go to Oak Park to get a transfer sale tax stamp in order to allow the process to complete. What it seems is that Oak Park wants its sales tax up front for the deal, charged to my credit card. $8 per 1K in sale price. Yea, that adds up fast.
That process didn't take as long as I had anticipated so I decided to go see the condo one last time and get any last mail that was in the mailbox. I got there and found most of my mail had been forwarded properly and the new buyers were doing their walk through of the place. A married couple was buying it and I couldn't see how they were going to stay in that small space while married, but they wanted a 1 br, so I was happy to sell it to them. I didn't want to crash the walk through or anything but I did want to see my place one last time. They were in the kitchen chatting when I walked in, the place I used to like to hang out the most too. I remarked about how large the space felt without all the furniture in it, and they remarked at how small it felt to them. I mentioned that I couldn't change the space even if I wanted to. I showed them a few last things and then got out of their way. It was the last time I will ever be there and yet I was ok with it. I have been ready to move on for a while.
I then headed over to the closing title company a bit early which was a good thing since it was pouring rain and I had no change for the parking meters. I went to get a bottle of water from starbucks and pay the meter and the sky in the north was just black/purple. If there was going to be a tornado it was going to be here.
In the elevator going up to the title company I met my lawyer by chance, one of Steve's scout friend's dad. We were greeted by another forner resident of my building who happened to work there. (surprise) Then when they buyers arived with their lawyer we all got seated in an office/conference room with the buyers and their lawyer and realtor on one side of the table and me and my lawyer on the other. I thought it was a bit silly from a strategic perspective but I can see that you do have to pass a lot of paperwork down the line.
My realtor was running late because she had to go pick up the lock box at the condo. When she arrived at least we had 3 people on my side of the table. I did not have very much paperwork to do compared to the buyers. They had about double. I had to sign a bunch of papers confirming that I had not sold it to anyone else and that nothing had happened to the property since the offer was made. We also had to go through all the line items of fees. It ended up costing 11K in fees to sell. That was 8.5% of the selling price. Ouch. When you calculate how much you will make selling your place, remember the 8.5% in costs, even with our realtors doing the minimum commissions thing, not 5%.
Then we realized that there was something missing. My property management company had not written the first right of refusal approval in the letter they sent over. So we had to call them and have them fax it over again, and then things were pretty complete. It took a while to get through everything, we arrived at 11 am and I left at about 2:30 pm. Luckilly they had cookies there. We tried to keep it light in conversation between forms and share good restaurants and places to go in Oak Park. The lawyer and realtor both lived there too.
Then very quickly it was over. Everyone was eager to get out of there and move on so we went. I got my check and so did the lawyers and realtors. We didn't even have a chance to shake hands or anything. I was ok with it though. I had some cash back, more than I had originally put down as a deposit (because I overpaid regularly).
Then I ran over to the florist in Forest Park, Tulipia and finailized a few things and then ran home. Steve and I had to get our marriage licence in DuPage that day too. I can't get a day off work very often with this crazy workload so we combined a bunch of things into one day. We found the licence process to be very quick and only $30 dollars. A lot less expensive than selling a house. We also got father's day gifts taken care of that afternoon and a trip to the bank for that condo money. We even snuck in a trip to target to finally get a full length mirror, I have needed one for 7 years and not had any space for it.
So it is finally over, the whole condo phase. I look back and think that the buying-moving in process seems like faded sketchy memories now, so I wanted to write it down. I do remember how excited I was at the time and how much I really liked the design of the condo. I also remember many of the rude awakenings as I discovered things like the window air conditioners, traffic, radiators and sirens are pretty loud at times as well as the neighbors in the beginning. I also found out how hard it was to carry groceries up 3 flights of stairs and find a place to park without getting a ticket. I solved most of those issues or adjusted over the years and even managed to make it a comfy place to live.
Looking back these are the few things I would have done differently:
1. Have people over more often - or stayed home and enjoyed my space
2. Pay more off on the principle monthly instead of buying clothing/decorating stuff that didn't last
3. I should have gotten a place with parking from the get-go, but it worked out in the end when I did get one.
4. I should have cleaned more often, since my allergies got a lot worse living there.
Otherwise I am pretty happy with my time there. I got engaged there. I had a lot of work experience while living there. I learned a lot about public transportation and walked more than I had ever before that point. I indulged in the things that a single girl can do and a married one might not. I indulged in vintage stuff collecting, in blogging, improv classes, flickr and internet fun. I also indulged in my own personal space and style, which will always be a combination now with Steve's. I got a cat and I slept in late and went to bed whenever I wanted. I read a ton of books and occasionally tried to cook. I was free of a lot of responsibility yet it seemed like a ton at some points. Mostly because of work. It was where I decided I wanted to be a marketer and really dug into my craft. It also really set in that I was flying without a net and my parents were not going to be there to "save" me if I screwed up. And this was the beginning of the rest of my life where I kind of had to start taking care of my parents and seeing how long I would still have them around.
All these things have changed now. The single city girl phase is over and it's time to learn to be "wifey". (joking) It is about trying to meld together living styles and families and goals. Yes, it is about giving up some of what I want, but I get so much happiness in return in general just being where I am that some of those nit picky things seem silly. Life is also a lot about trying to stay ahead of the curve with work even though doing new things gets harder and harder with the larger workload I keep getting. Sometimes with all the wedding planning and insane workload, I think being human instead of a robot is really holding me back. I should really be a robot for the job I have. It would work so much better. I will have to look into that. After the wedding in 3 weeks.
I closed on the sale of my condo this past Friday. I lived there for just over 7 years. From March 02 through June 09. (technically I moved out in Feb, but sold in June) It was an interesting day as most are these days when I am encountering all kinds of new things I have not had contact with before.
First off I had forgotten that Steve's place is next to the tornado siren until it went off as I was trying to gather everything and leave. I didn't know whether to grab the cats and go hide in the downstairs bathroom or to leave because the sky really didn't look like a tornado was possible. Later I found out it was in the next county.
Then I had to go to Oak Park to get a transfer sale tax stamp in order to allow the process to complete. What it seems is that Oak Park wants its sales tax up front for the deal, charged to my credit card. $8 per 1K in sale price. Yea, that adds up fast.
That process didn't take as long as I had anticipated so I decided to go see the condo one last time and get any last mail that was in the mailbox. I got there and found most of my mail had been forwarded properly and the new buyers were doing their walk through of the place. A married couple was buying it and I couldn't see how they were going to stay in that small space while married, but they wanted a 1 br, so I was happy to sell it to them. I didn't want to crash the walk through or anything but I did want to see my place one last time. They were in the kitchen chatting when I walked in, the place I used to like to hang out the most too. I remarked about how large the space felt without all the furniture in it, and they remarked at how small it felt to them. I mentioned that I couldn't change the space even if I wanted to. I showed them a few last things and then got out of their way. It was the last time I will ever be there and yet I was ok with it. I have been ready to move on for a while.
I then headed over to the closing title company a bit early which was a good thing since it was pouring rain and I had no change for the parking meters. I went to get a bottle of water from starbucks and pay the meter and the sky in the north was just black/purple. If there was going to be a tornado it was going to be here.
In the elevator going up to the title company I met my lawyer by chance, one of Steve's scout friend's dad. We were greeted by another forner resident of my building who happened to work there. (surprise) Then when they buyers arived with their lawyer we all got seated in an office/conference room with the buyers and their lawyer and realtor on one side of the table and me and my lawyer on the other. I thought it was a bit silly from a strategic perspective but I can see that you do have to pass a lot of paperwork down the line.
My realtor was running late because she had to go pick up the lock box at the condo. When she arrived at least we had 3 people on my side of the table. I did not have very much paperwork to do compared to the buyers. They had about double. I had to sign a bunch of papers confirming that I had not sold it to anyone else and that nothing had happened to the property since the offer was made. We also had to go through all the line items of fees. It ended up costing 11K in fees to sell. That was 8.5% of the selling price. Ouch. When you calculate how much you will make selling your place, remember the 8.5% in costs, even with our realtors doing the minimum commissions thing, not 5%.
Then we realized that there was something missing. My property management company had not written the first right of refusal approval in the letter they sent over. So we had to call them and have them fax it over again, and then things were pretty complete. It took a while to get through everything, we arrived at 11 am and I left at about 2:30 pm. Luckilly they had cookies there. We tried to keep it light in conversation between forms and share good restaurants and places to go in Oak Park. The lawyer and realtor both lived there too.
Then very quickly it was over. Everyone was eager to get out of there and move on so we went. I got my check and so did the lawyers and realtors. We didn't even have a chance to shake hands or anything. I was ok with it though. I had some cash back, more than I had originally put down as a deposit (because I overpaid regularly).
Then I ran over to the florist in Forest Park, Tulipia and finailized a few things and then ran home. Steve and I had to get our marriage licence in DuPage that day too. I can't get a day off work very often with this crazy workload so we combined a bunch of things into one day. We found the licence process to be very quick and only $30 dollars. A lot less expensive than selling a house. We also got father's day gifts taken care of that afternoon and a trip to the bank for that condo money. We even snuck in a trip to target to finally get a full length mirror, I have needed one for 7 years and not had any space for it.
So it is finally over, the whole condo phase. I look back and think that the buying-moving in process seems like faded sketchy memories now, so I wanted to write it down. I do remember how excited I was at the time and how much I really liked the design of the condo. I also remember many of the rude awakenings as I discovered things like the window air conditioners, traffic, radiators and sirens are pretty loud at times as well as the neighbors in the beginning. I also found out how hard it was to carry groceries up 3 flights of stairs and find a place to park without getting a ticket. I solved most of those issues or adjusted over the years and even managed to make it a comfy place to live.
Looking back these are the few things I would have done differently:
1. Have people over more often - or stayed home and enjoyed my space
2. Pay more off on the principle monthly instead of buying clothing/decorating stuff that didn't last
3. I should have gotten a place with parking from the get-go, but it worked out in the end when I did get one.
4. I should have cleaned more often, since my allergies got a lot worse living there.
Otherwise I am pretty happy with my time there. I got engaged there. I had a lot of work experience while living there. I learned a lot about public transportation and walked more than I had ever before that point. I indulged in the things that a single girl can do and a married one might not. I indulged in vintage stuff collecting, in blogging, improv classes, flickr and internet fun. I also indulged in my own personal space and style, which will always be a combination now with Steve's. I got a cat and I slept in late and went to bed whenever I wanted. I read a ton of books and occasionally tried to cook. I was free of a lot of responsibility yet it seemed like a ton at some points. Mostly because of work. It was where I decided I wanted to be a marketer and really dug into my craft. It also really set in that I was flying without a net and my parents were not going to be there to "save" me if I screwed up. And this was the beginning of the rest of my life where I kind of had to start taking care of my parents and seeing how long I would still have them around.
All these things have changed now. The single city girl phase is over and it's time to learn to be "wifey". (joking) It is about trying to meld together living styles and families and goals. Yes, it is about giving up some of what I want, but I get so much happiness in return in general just being where I am that some of those nit picky things seem silly. Life is also a lot about trying to stay ahead of the curve with work even though doing new things gets harder and harder with the larger workload I keep getting. Sometimes with all the wedding planning and insane workload, I think being human instead of a robot is really holding me back. I should really be a robot for the job I have. It would work so much better. I will have to look into that. After the wedding in 3 weeks.