surviving settlement

Yes, it’s official: I’m the landed gentry. Now all I need are some serfs and liverymen. As do all condo dwellers.

Yesterday morning my iPod started acting wonky (to a degree where I assumed I’d have to send it off for repairs again), and I thought, “Great. This is a sign that today is going to be a disaster.” Thankfully, though, I managed to talk some sense into the iPod.

I worked a half day and headed to Frederick to do my final condo walk-through. Then my realtor Allie and I headed to lunch at an Irish pub in downtown Frederick called, appropriately enough, Jennifer’s.


While there, I learned about a gruesome local domestic murder that made me feel utterly sick.

Around this time we learned that someone somewhere didn’t sign or file some kind of deed, which would of course affect my settlement. Then Allie thankfully got a call that everything was okay—the problem had gotten straightened out.

On the way to settlement we were stuck in gridlock (it wasn’t even 4pm!) and I glanced up at the sky and saw this:


I was like, “Is that a rainbow?? What the hell?” It hadn’t rained in over a week! I guess it was just a weird quirk of light—something atmospheric created a faint, rainbowish impression on the clouds.** It cheered me up, though. Instead of seeing a negative sign (like my wonky iPod), I deluded myself into thinking that maybe the sky was functioning as a positive sign, indicating that everything was going to be okay.

At settlement, after I signed a zillion papers, we learned that the deed issue hadn’t been resolved after all, and it was looking like I’d have to take off another afternoon and return to Frederick to re-sign all the settlement papers. But at the last minute—just before we all split for the evening, dejected—a phone call or fax from someone arrived and the realtor selling the condo announced that we were good to go. It was like a last-minute stay of execution.

So I got the keys and the place is now officially mine.


I’m excited, but the excitement is getting crushed by the sheer density of how much still needs to be done! I imagine that everyone at settlement was wondering what was wrong with me. I could barely crack a smile and I showed no flicker of emotion. I totally looked like I was dead inside. But everything was just so overwhelming! And I have so much left to do!

On the bright side, I didn’t have to pay any closing costs, and I got back $1750 of my $2000 good-faith deposit. Also, Allie gave me a card and $100 in Home Depot giftcards to help pay for paint, which was really nice and very much appreciated. Equally bright news: folded into my closing costs were the first six months of my condo fees, so I won’t have to pay them until next spring. And my first mortgage payment isn’t due until January 1st—one month after I expected it to be due. You can’t beat that!


**Thanks to my dear Debbie for pointing out that the rainbow was actually a sundog!


song heard most recently before posting:
Reunited—Peaches and Herb