Back in action

O.K., I'm back from paradise. It was nice and relaxing. Just what the doctor ordered, so to speak. But, even though I can chill with the best of 'em, I couldn't help being a little anxious in one regard. When I have time to relax, the creative juices start to flow. In this instance I started getting the feeling that I needed to get on board. The feeling that I am missing out on a prime opportunity. Now, when my mind starts cooking up stuff, it is not always real estate related; but this time it was. The real estate in Southwest Florida is going crazy. And over the next ten to fifteen years as the baby boomers start to retire and look for "year-round living" prices are only going to soar higher. I just need to figure out how to get my piece of the pie.

Mmmm, pie...

Anywho, let me share the story of a closing I went to right before I left for vacation. Now as a real estate agent, my role at the actual closing of a house is really minor. Basically I am there for moral support and to pick up my check. It is the culmination of a few month's work and ends with a sense of relief by all. There is nervousness up until the final moments however, as you never know what kind of wrinkle can crop up. Just as with the rest of the process, no matter how hard you try and prepare, all it takes is one little glitch to throw the whole thing out of whack.

Normally my closings average around 45 minutes, but Thursday's was over 2 hours. How could it take more than double the amount of time? Oh, how indeed. After getting stuck in traffic, I arrive a few minutes late. The festivities had already started, as I'd hoped they would have. I am greeted by the other agent who is outside of the closing room. "There is a little bit of an issue, but we're taking care of it," he says.

As I enter the closing room, I see what the problem is: only one of my sellers is there. Now, even though the house is technically in her name, he still needs to sign stuff since they are married. We have gone over this before, and he has been signing everything so far in the process, so I thought this point was clear to them. Apparently not.

"Where's your husband?" I say.

"He didn't think he really needed to be here. He went to the hospital to have some tests done," she responds.

Now I know he has various health concerns, so it is hard to be mad at someone for needing to go to the hospital. That is until the next words came out of her mouth: "He's stayed out of the hospital for four months, then he picks today to go in."

To add to the fun, the buyers are from Vietnam. I knew they were asian, but I didn't really think anything of it. Then I realized that the person sitting next to them was their translator. So everything the closing agent said had to be explained to the translator, then explained to the buyers by the translator. To make matters worse, the husband buyer at one point spoke up to point out that his name was spelled wrong on the documents. His name, which looked more like sound effects, was a series of syllables made up of two and three letters and put together with hyphens. Apparently they had missed one of the syllables.

After what seemed like a lifetime, all issues were resovled and we closed. Vacation came not a moment to soon.