I’m an NYC associate broker who had one of the looooongest and strangest closings ever, and one I’ll never forget…
The morning of the closing arrived so I met the buyers and the sellers agent at the building for the walk through. Although we knew there had been a tenant in place who was supposed to move out weeks ago, my buyers and I were still apprehensive since we wouldn’t know for sure until we saw it with our own eyes.
What did we find behind the door? A fully inhabited apartment – all 1,700 sq ft of it – with big, heavy furniture. Great! The closing was in an hour and a half, and this guy hadn’t moved a thing. He was there and assured us he’d be out soon. I’m starting to sweat but knew I would do whatever it took to get him out so we could close that day.
The sellers agent didn’t seem to care even though this was his problem too. More about him later.
As an experienced agent, I did everything in my power to keep my buyers calm. As we left the apartment, I called the buyers attorney so he could inform the sellers attorney in advance that we had a problem.
Off to the closing.
It’s now 1pm. The closing begins and it was tense. To make matters worse, the sellers agent decides to check out by putting his feet up on the closing table, crossing his legs, and opens the NY Times full spread. It was hard to believe. My buyers wanted to tear his head off. So did I. We proceeded with the closing knowing that the buyers would need confirmation that the tenant had moved out before signing the very last document. So I called the front desk of the building and asked the doorman if the tenant had moved out. He said no.
It’s now 3:30. A ‘normal’ closing would have finished by now. But not this one.
With my buyers growing more and more concerned, I decided to take matters into my own hands so I left the closing to check on the status.
When I got there the moving truck was outside and three movers were in the apt packing and preparing to move out. With so much to be done, I took my suit jacket off, rolled up my sleeves, and w the tenants permission got to work – packing, boxing, moving, and sweeping. Yes, sweeping.
Two and a half hours later (6:30) we were finished. I called my buyers to give them the good news and they were relieved and happy to finally have the keys. They signed the last document and were now the proud new owners of this beautiful $2.5MM home…no thanks to the sellers agent who read the paper throughout the entire closing. Jackass!
- Jeffrey R. NYC Associate Broker
Agentvoice
August 23, 2013 at 7:35 pm