A little backstory:

When Does Sold mean SOLD?

I used to think it was the signing of the sales contract that concluded business and turned "For Sale" into "Sold."

I was wrong.

We celebrated selling our home on the 25th of February when we all signed the Contract.

That signing event only opened the door for a rollercoaster ride we were unprepared for!

Of course, we knew there would be a Home Inspection. That appointment was made and dutifully placed on our calendar for 2:30 on March First.

What we weren't prepared for was the Buyer showing up! Our realtors didn't feel they needed to be here, so we were on our own. And I always run ahead of myself when I get excited.

So while Mike walked around with the Inspector, I got to know our buyer, Jon. I can't adequately describe the elation I felt as I realized this guy really REALLY wants this house. I felt the weight literally roll off my shoulders.

Why? To protect us from potential disappointment, our realtors painted a picture that included all the things that could go wrong. One of them was buyer's remorse, and that the early days brought lots of opportunities for the buyer to back out if he got too nervous about his purchase. The Inspection could easily provide such an opportunity. Realizing that Jon had no intention of changing his mind brought us some Big Relief.

Then the Termite Inspector showed up with no appointment, as did the Surveyor.

Finally, on Thursday, March 4, the Appraiser did his thing. Turns out he did a poor job. A very poor job.

Now, all along, our realtors told us, "don't do anything life-changing until the closing. That means, don't sign a lease, don't book air travel, sit back and wait."

All we heard was "blah blah blah blah."

We had to charter the flight to get out of here before the mandated April 15th. So we had to have a place to live once we get there. Purchasing a vehicle had to happen. I mean, we are talking about some Big Dollars being spent here, well over six weeks before closing.

Just imagine the way we walked around on our fallen hearts two weeks ago when we learned the Appraiser had produced a "bad appraisal" (whatever that means, we still don't know).

An Aside: Our solar-powered home is unique in its location, being on navigatable water with complete privacy, sporting a 15,000-gallon heated saltwater custom-designed inground pool, and a brand new Timber-Tech Azek composite deck and dock. There is not another comparable home from Boca Raton to West Palm Beach.

CHECK IT OUT

We did our accounting and produced the magic figure needed to pay off all our debt, move, fly the pets down, buy a boat, a truck, and a home. That became our sales price here. While an honest price for this home and property, it was a ridiculously high price for our neighborhood and would require a cash buyer. We weren't worried. We said we'd let it sit on the market until the "right buyer" came along!

He did! On the first day. He was the second showing. Signing that sales contract put Mike in motion to retire from PBSO and switched our gears into High Move Mode!

Hurry up and slow down as the appraiser corrected his mistakes. And then cue a loan underwriting issue that prompted our half-cash + half-loan buyer to call Mike on the phone just over a week ago, pleading, "come on, help me out here."

Kind of funny (now) the audacity he had to expect us to lower the purchase price because he breached the contract by attempting to borrow more than half from the bank.

We held firm, and the realtors worked up a creative deal that posed no risk to us and still netted us full price. That addendum was signed on March 19.

When this happened,

we blew out a huge sigh of relief: