SOLD!!

After 3 or 4 months of dealing with a buyer who never fulfilled a promise until the last one, we finally sold our house in Atlanta. After our wasted visit to Atlanta in October to close on the house, when the buyer never showed and apparently had not even applied for a loan or do any of the other things a buyer is supposed to do, and after dealing with an agent who never learned the meaning of the term "time is of the essence", I had given up much hope of actually selling the house to them.

About a month ago, the buyers' father asked to replace his daughter in the contract. We said OK since it was the father with the good credit rating anyway. But two or three other deadlines to close came and went, and we finally put the house back on the market. Most recently, they said they wanted to close last Friday. When Thurs evening came, and we had heard nothing from our agent, I figured we would not close until next year, if ever. Mamita, who had power of attorney, was coming to visit us in Mexico on Sunday and Friday was our last chance to sign anything for this year. But that evening, hours after work hours, she called saying that the closing was on for the next morning.

And it almost did not happen then. One of the buyers still had not sent his power of attorney to sign the papers by the next morning. What with bad weather and Christmas traffic, I was getting ready for another abort, but after 3 and a half hours in the lawyers office, we finally had it sold. Of course, it was so late in the day, that the money could not be transferred to our account. But we have been assured by all involved (I would not believe the buyers or their agent) that it will be transferred after Christmas.

We celebrated by having a little party at Harry's cajun restaurant at Plaza de la Constitucíon. It is still hard to believe. These two sales were the hardest I have ever been through. It is bad when you cannot trust the people you are dealing with, but thanks to our agent and Mamita, we pulled off a great Christmas present.