It only took about 20 minutes to make it official (at least from my end). On Friday, a FedEx envelope showed up at my house with the closing papers for my house in Seattle. This morning, right on time at 8 a.m. a notary showed up at my apartment. To make my cat-hating visitor more comfortable, I put the cats in kitty jail through no fault of their own (sorry guys), and we got down to business. Sign here, date here, fill in your address here … and 20 minutes later, I’ve signed away my part of the paperwork. On Friday, the new homeowner will do the same and take possession of my home.
It’s bittersweet for me. Sweet, of course, because of the financial burden it takes off of my shoulders. Paying both a mortgage and rent for the past six months hasn’t been the easiest thing, not to mention utilities on both homes. Even though I haven’t lived there for six months, this is my first home and it’s weird to say goodbye. As a first home ownership experience, I honestly can’t imagine how it could have been better. I had truly wonderful neighbors. I had a fantastic location. The house itself, as new construction, was extremely easy to keep up and had very minimal problems and low maintenance needs.
I’ve been the only owner of that home, so it’s hard to think about Unit D and know that it won’t be mine, but it sounds like the new owner has taken her role as community member seriously and met the neighbors and spent a lot of time over there before making her purchase decision. The chemistry in that little 4-home community was a pretty special thing and I hope that this new owner gets as much out of the relationships and contributes as much as I did.
Of course, things *could* still fall apart between now and Friday, but I’m cautiously optimistic that things are going to go well. At this point, I’m having a tough time coming up with what could derail things but hey, you never know. Crossing fingers!