Closing Day!

It's been a long time coming but the Closing Day finally arrived. And it went off practically without a hitch. Almost. But more on that momentarily.

I had my attorney, Greg, take care of it and gave him Power of Attorney. There was no way I was going back into Germ City just for this.
Yesterday was the walk through with both realtors. Betty, the buyers' realtor was a real stickler. Even though I had my longtime cleaning lady, Rosangela, come the day before for one final cleaning, Betty told my realtor that "she wasn't impressed" with her work. Really? Put a sock in it, Betty. She zeroed in on one problem that I neglected to fix. The dishwasher would tip forward when you pull out the racks. The bolt that holds it to the back wall probably came loose.

It's something the building handyman could have fixed in 10 minutes but it slipped my mind. Well, at the Closing it was brought up again (by Betty). She claimed it could fall out and hurt someone's foot. She had the Super look at it this morning (remember, she lives in the building) and he claimed it would cost $300.00 to put a wood trim around it to hold it in. You gotta be kidding me. But, whatever. So Greg called me during the meeting and suggested we offer to split the cost of the repair. Just to get it over with, I said "Ok, $150.00 but that's IT. No higher!" So that's where it ended up.
Greg called me afterward and told me he had the check and that he'd deposit it in his escrow account. I would get it wired to my account in a week. We're going to "park" it in an account for a bit until we decide how to invest it. Given that the financial markets are cratering with the CoronaVirus pandemic and we're officially in a Bear Market, I think that's the wisest move in the short term. Stepping back, I still cannot believe I sold a $700 thousand dollar STUDIO during a global health crisis. If I put the place on the market today, I don't think there's any way I'd get the same amount. I really believe I dodged a bullet. Whew!

Moving Day: Goodbye NYC!

The buyers of my apartment, the Gillikans, were finally accepted by my building's Board and a closing date was set (March 11th) so I decided it was safe to book a moving company and begin packing. I ordered about 30 boxes of various sizes from my favorite moving company, OZ Moving. I can't recommend them highly enough, they're terrific. It took me about a week to get everything organized and packed. Since the Gillikans were buying my place furnished I thought "Oh, this will be a cinch, there's not that much". Wrong. With all the books, art on the walls, clothes, and various bathroom and kitchen items it was a lot more than I anticipated.

In any event, after I finished I left for about a week. When I came back I drove into the city the night before the move and had dinner with my friend Scott.  The next morning I could meet the moving crew and show them what to take and then drive out to the house and meet them there for the unloading. Everything went like clockwork without a hitch. It was a beautiful sunny day, not too cold. There was only a two man crew, Frank and Ray. They got all the boxes and my Eames chair and ottoman, it took them less than an hour to get it all into the truck. When I got to the house I beat them there by only 20 minutes or so!
Leaving the city for good was not sad or emotional at all. I was very ready to leave. I keep thinking about all the extra money I'll have every month not having to pay the maintenance on the apartment. The other shocking thing is that the world is going through a frightening health emergency, the Corona Virus Pandemic.

It's pretty scary stuff. And all I keep thinking is how happy I'll be not living in the crowded, dirty city riding the subway filled with all those germ carrying people! I'm getting out by the skin of my teeth. Thank God I was able to sell the apartment. Who would want to buy in Germ Central now? I feel VERY lucky...