As of the 16th of June the sale of our townhouse was complete.  We have moved!  We are now settling in and working toward making our new house our new home.  It's a beautiful three bedroom single family home in Winter Garden, Florida.


Now that the sale is complete, I have some experiences to share.  First:  I CAN COMPLETELY EMPATHISE WITH SOMEONE WHO IS SELLING THEIR PRIMARY RESIDENCE!  I have bought and sold homes before and I am not new to the process from the seller's perspective, but I feel like my appreciation for what a seller feels throughout the process has been acutely heightened by this experience.

The good:  We received what we believed to be a good offer in terms of price and conditions.  The earnest money deposit was less than what I normally advise clients to accept, but – the market is slow, and I was comfortable with the buyers.  Besides, we didn’t “have” to sell, so if the buyers walked we’d just start over.

The good:  We closed on time!  The agent representing the buyers did a great job in scheduling what needed to be scheduled, and their mortgage broker was on the ball as well.

The good:  Loan Commitment!  The underwriters agreed!  We can schedule a closing day!

The bad:  In the typical fashion for a seller, we wanted to use the proceeds of the sale to move us into our new house.  But, per the contract and the traditional way conducting real estate transactions around here, we wouldn’t get the proceeds of the sale until at or after the closing.  And the closing couldn’t happen until after we moved, so the buyers could do their final walkthrough!  We worked it out, but the scheduling was a challenge.  Note to self:  Don’t forget to discuss this with your seller clients!

The ugly:  The title company.  When discussions concerning the scheduling I just mentioned began, the title company became belligerent, unhelpful, and downright ugly.  Their inability to follow my instructions exacerbated the scheduling dilemma, and caused problems where none had existed.  In addition to the problems they created, trying to rectify them caused them to become beligerant and unprofessional.  It is with personal experience and professional opinion that I request and suggest:

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH (contact me for title co name) IN FT. LAUDERDALE.

The good:  Let’s end on a good note.  We successfully closed on the sale and have moved into a beautiful new home.  And I’m really happy about the people who bought the townhouse.  They seem like a great fit, and hopefully their lives will be as fulfilled as ours was when we lived there. 

I'm about to do it!  I'm about to put myself through the grueling process of selling my house.  I will once again have to personally experience the trials and tribulations, as well as the rewards, that accompany this process.  It's been said that good REALTORS® should sell their own house every couple of years.  It lets them remember and relate better to what the process feels like in addition to being proficient in the technical and logistical aspects as we are. But that's not why I'm doing it!  That is just an additional benefit.

So here we go... we begin the process in the correct order by putting our house up for sale which we'll do within the week.  Once we get to the point of being past the contingency stages of a sales contract we'll start looking for our new home a little further east in Broward County!  I can't say it enough - Thanks mom and dad!

Stay tuned for updates on my progress.  I'll let you know what I learn as I go through this process once again.

Step One - Getting the house ready to go on the market.