The Closest We've Been to a Closing without it Being Legally Closed

Wednesday morning, we met at The Pony's house, and Hick drove us over to Bill-Paying Town for the closing on Bargain House. Our time was 10:00 a.m. As we had climbed into A-Cad, Hick said,

"The Buyer ain't gonna sign until tomorrow at 2:00. So we won't be getting a check today."

"WHAT? He better show up! I don't want to sign away our house and not get anything!"

"That ain't gonna happen, Val. But it does seem kind of strange that he doesn't close until tomorrow. I asked our Realtor Guy about that, and he said it was not all that unusual."

"You didn't lock the keys in the house yet, like he told you. DID you?"

"Yeah. I already left the keys in there."

"But we can't get in if he doesn't pay!"

"We can get in, Val. My glass guy still has a key to the back door. And the realtors' box is still on the front door for people to show it."

We were early for our appointment. Went in at 9:50, and had to wait on Realtor Guy to get there. The table in our closing room had a bowl of candy, and a little can of ink pens at one end. That's where The Pony chose to sit. Hick was on The Pony's left, I was on the right, across from Hick. 

Hick and The Pony fell upon the candy like locusts! It was good candy, too. Not just the individual wintergreen Lifesavers like the title company we usually do business with. This was KitKats, Baby Ruths, Nestle Crunch, and foil-wrapped Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Hick and The Pony each had a couple, bemoaning how they really shouldn't.

Forget the candy! As a 28-year teaching veteran, I was all about the INK PENS! They're like catnip to a teacher!

"Pony! Give me a yellow one, and a green one. Oh. I might want a pink one. I can use that when we sign. Here! Keep them for me. I didn't bring in my purse."

The Signing Gal had shown us in, and offered us candy and water or soda. Hick wanted water, so she left to get it. When she returned with Hick's mini bottle of water, she reached for the candy and the pens. "Here. I'll just get these out of your way." Heh, heh! They must have a hidden camera, and figured they were losing money on us.

Signing Gal left again to get copies of our picture IDs. Otherwise called Driver's Licenses.

"Wow! She made sure you guys didn't eat all the candy! And stopped me from adding to my pen collection!"

"They don't care how much candy we eat, Val. Or how many pens you take. They write it off as a cost of doing business."

"Whatever. It seemed kind of abrupt!"

Realtor Guy arrived, and Signing Gal outsmarted me once again. She grabbed three pens out of the can and slid them to us to sign with. The Pony and I had the drab country blue pens, and Hick got a yellow. We signed about 20 papers each. Signing Gal said that she couldn't issue our payment until after The Buyer had come in to complete his signings. We could have checks, or wire transfers.

"When could you have the checks ready?"

"Oh, I'd say 3:00."

"So 3:00 tomorrow? I can come by and pick them up."

"No. That's 3:00 today."

"I thought The Buyer wasn't coming until tomorrow."

"No. He'll be here at 2:00 today."

"Well Realtor Guy told me he was coming tomorrow."

"Did I? I didn't mean to do that!" Said Realtor Guy, checking his phone for the text. "No. I told you today."

"But my text says 'tomorrow.'"

"Well, I sent it last night. So TODAY is TOMORROW."

Signing Gal chuckled. "No wonder you were asking me if that's normal. It's fairly normal on the same day, for a buyer to close after the seller. Let that be something else you've learned, Realtor Guy! When you put something in writing like 'tomorrow,' you put the day of the week after it in parentheses. So the person knows for sure."

"Yeah. Well. That's kind of my fault. I READ it this morning, even though it was sent last night."

"We'll have your checks ready after 3:00. Today!"

"I'll come get them tomorrow."

"I could pick them up and bring them to you when I pick up ours, " said Realtor Guy.

"I don't know where I'll be then. My dog has to go to the vet for shots at 3:00, and I've got some mowing to do at home. So I can get them tomorrow, but thanks anyway."

So... we had OUR part of the closing. No checks yet.

But there's MORE! Tomorrow...