We're a day outside of our contingency period and the seller hasn't been calling me back. This morning I called him at 7:30am and got ahold of him and the first thing he did was ask me "since we're outside the contingency period, that means I can entertain other offers, right?"
Well, I wasn't sure, so I said that I just didn't know, but I believed at the time that the answer was yes. So, of course, I started getting all worried and nervous that someone's going to come buy the place out from under us. Which is, of course, what he wants. He's been playing these kind of games with me from the start--I should know better by now, but I can't help but buy into it.
I emailed my lawyer and asked what we need to do to get this thing closed ASAP. We still have to get a lease in place (shouldn't be hard, we're basically just agreeing to the landlord's terms) and we're waiting for two searches to come back to determine if the seller has any debt we need to concern ourselves with.
I told the lawyer that I'd like to just blow off the searches and get this thing done.
Meanwhile, I had an guy coming at 1pm to inspect the stoves and grill, and the seller informed me that he couldn't have anyone there at that time to let him in, but that I could go pick up the keys at his sister's house and do it myself.
Fine. Except I still don't have a vehicle, since this guy out in Joliet hasn't gotten back to me about this truck that I'm supposed to be renting. More on that later.
Anyway, the seller's sister's house is in Albany Park, and rather than taking the train all the way downtown and then taking the brown line all the way back out there, I decided to get off the train at Jefferson Park and walk from Lawrence and Milwaukee to Foster and Kimball. It looked pretty walkable on the Google map I punched up, but it took me an hour and a half of pretty hard walking. Plus it was HOT out today.
But, things went according to plan for once. I got the keys, walked the three more blocks down to the Kimball stop on the brown line, and then rode the el four stops over to where the restaurant is going to be. I was there in plenty of time for the 1pm inspection, so I grabbed a salad and had lunch.
While I was walking, the truck guy from Joliet called me and told me that there's a problem with the "transfer case"(?). Not sure if I'm remembering that right, but it's something having to do with the four-wheel drive. Anyway, whatever the fuck it is, it means that I won't be able to get the truck until sometime next week. Great. Whatever, keep me posted.
Then, while waiting for the appliance guys to show up, I spoke with my lawyer, who patiently explained to me that "contingency" is one thing and "conditional" is another. The contingency period, which just ended, was the time allotted for me to do inspections and, if I desired, walk away from the deal without penalty.
The conditions of closing, on the other hand, are not, he informed me, constrained to any set amount of time; they're simply things that must get done before we can close the deal. So, what all this means that the seller cannot entertain other offers. He's locked in and, really, has no choice but to wait for us to get the lease and the debt searches done.
Hearing that, plus getting the results of the inspection, cheered me up immensely, and I no longer have this feeling that we need to get this done NOW or we're going to lose the place.
And--bonus!--the char-grill that's in the place is a pricey TEC infrared unit that retails for upwards of $3,000 and only needs a couple hundred worth of repairs. The Vulcan six-burner that's there is pretty much trashed, but I wasn't planning on keeping that anyway. Good deal.
So all my hoofing it around town paid off. I finished up my lunch, made a couple quick calls, locked up, and then rode the el downtown, walked over to the Metra station, and took my train back home. Eight hours of running around, but at least *something* got done, plus I'm in a much better place than I was when I left home.
Although, it's not like the surprises don't keep coming. The furnace and hot water heater were both disconnected from the gas, I noticed. The gas company insists that the room where they're housed is unsafe due to inadequate ventilation, and that they need to be relocated. Plus, I saw a dead roach in the hall near the bathrooms and the appliance guy, after sticking his head up into the ceiling, said he saw rat droppings and that the electrical was "a mess".
But I'll cross those bridges when I come to them. I need to focus on the eight or ten balls I currently have in the air.
So...now we still wait. For the landlord to decide to call me back, for the debt searches to come back, for the insurance people to email me their various bids, and for the Joliet truck guy to get his transfer case or whatever it is ready to go. This coming Monday is Memorial Day, so it's a safe bet that little will get done tomorrow, and it's certain that nothing will get done on Monday.
Hopefully next week, things will start taking shape. The blisters on my feet should be better by then.
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