We haven’t mentioned much of anything about the home sale project for the last few weeks. It’s been an emotional roller coaster for us, and we’ve gotten pretty guarded about discussing it after experiencing the highs and lows of quickly receiving two great offers, both of which came to naught when the buyers backed out for fear that they were risking a potentially significant window renovation or replacement project.
If you’ve been following along, you might recall that after the second sale failure we had the windows inspected by the manufacturer, and they were given a clean bill of health except for some fairly minor cosmetic work. With that taken care of, the condo went back on the market again; and about ten days ago a third offer came through.
After experiencing two back to back setbacks we’ve been careful about getting our hopes too high this time. There were several reasons to be optimistic though, including the fact that the buyers clearly want the place and they want it fast. They’ve been pushing the pace since the day the offer came in, and have set a quite early closing date of May 5th. I understand that they are downsizing, have just sold their own home, and need to get out soon.
The buyers inspection was Wednesday morning; and when nothing adverse immediately came from that we started relaxing a bit. Then, earlier this afternoon, we heard the news from our agent. It’s a sale!! It’s hard to overstate how great this is for us, and that we have a resolution before leaving the country.
Time to celebrate!
I could say that we’re celebrating by going out to our favorite restaurants and taking in a show, but that would be a bit misleading. We’ve been doing that all along for these last two weeks in the country anyway. Starting with the last few nights though we’ve been relaxing and enjoying ourselves more, without the cloud of anxiety hovering over our heads.
A reflection onto the bamboo-lined patio at Burrasca, where we celebrated last night. We’ll have to come back here in the summer and dine al fresco.
This morning we had a paperwork signing date with the escrow officer. We were signing for two contingencies. If this sale goes through, the closing date is near enough so that we can sign the closing papers now; so we did. There’s one final signature needed at actual closing, but we can do that one electronically from Greece. If the sale were to collapse though and we need to start all over, we arranged for our friend Bruce to be able to sign on our behalf. Happily, it looks now like Bruce is off the hook; but we didn’t know that this morning.
Our plan was to bike separately and meet at the escrow office. Rachael wanted to get a few miles in first, but I chose to head out to Water Steeet Coffee instead. That fine plan fell apart though when Rachael called me to announce that the Straggler had a flat tire. So instead, she loaded her bike into the car and drove to our appointment. Afterwards I fixed her flat and took over the car so that she could bike.
And why aren’t I biking with her? Because I have to go to Keiser to order a new set of glasses. Somehow I lost a pair yesterday biking through Old Town, and now I don’t have a backup any more. Glasses take awhile, so I decided to place an order now and pick them up when we return from Greece. Astonishingly though they’ll be ready before we leave -they placed an expedited order, and my new pair should arrive Tuesday morning. Amazing.
This morning’s commuter rush is interrupted by a passing tug.
Scott AndersonTo Ron SuchanekYup. We tried to get a peek into your window but couldn’t quite figure it out. I should have brought the superzoom. Reply to this comment 5 years ago
Yesterday Rachael and I biked separately again (and yes, I know the chronology of this post is confusing). We split up because of the condo sale, thinking there might be something needed of us as fallout from the inspection that took place the day before. We wanted to make sure someone was in town and within easy reach throughout the day.
Rachael went out for her ride in the morning, after first walking over to Kahveology for breakfast. I stayed around Amy’s for a few hours and then headed downtown to my old neighborhood favorite Caffe Umbria for breakfast and then off to the storage unit.
For a change, Rachael got out earlier than me. Here, she’s just returning from Kahveology as I’m saddling up Rodriguez to head into town.
Over breakfast I did some research to identify a pair of old buildings on First Avenue I’d taken photos of a few days ago (the Mikado and Poppleton buildings, shown in an earlier post). It took awhile to figure them out, but in the course of my research I stumbled across this website: Vintage Portland: a photoblog exploring Portland’s past through historical images. It’s a great resource, and one I’m sure I’ll dip into often. Today it got me interested in Portland’s cast iron commercial architecture: amazingly enough, Portland has the second greatest concentration of these buildings in the country, after NYC. Since I’m stuck staying close to town for awhile anyway, I decided to head down to Old Town to look around with this focus in mind.
Unfortunately, somewhere in my wanderings I lost my glasses - again! Very discouraging. I think I’m going to just have to staple them to my head one of these years.
The cast iron Mikado Building (1880), at 1st and Taylor. Named after the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta, which is odd since the musical didn’t premier until 1885.
The Bishop’s House was the residence of the first archbishop in Portland. Built in 1889, it sat next door to the first cathedral, which was demolished five years later in favor of a larger cathedral in the Northwest District.
