Back to Plan A

I have made several contacts with local realtors and have not been pleased with their lack of responsiveness. Most of them do not want to talk to me until May. I started thinking about the lady who sold my house back in 1980. She was sharp and very helpful. She is still in Beaumont but has retired. I will call her "N". I am sure it is more than ten years since I last talked to N. I found her listed in the phone book and called. She now lives with her daughter and son-in-law. I told her of my plans and told her I would like to find an N clone. That tickled her. She gave me a name, "D", and within half an hour D called. She is a couple of years younger than I and has been selling real estate in Beaumont for 26 years. She said to give her a call and fill her in after I returned from Frisco.

 

Last Friday I called her. Our conversation got around to Hurricane Rita. I told her I had some damage to the sheet rock that had not been repaired. That alarmed her. She said some sales had been lost because mortgage companies are taking a very tough stance on loans on damaged homes.

She said she had seen cases where very expensive mold remediation and sheet rock replacement and cleaning and replacement of duct work was required. I said in that case I think you better come out on Monday and look at my house before I commit my money to Frisco Lakes.

 

Yesterday morning D called and said her 94 year old aunt had fallen and was on life support, and she would like to delay our meeting until next week. I told her I may be signing the sales contract as soon as Saturday and would really like to have her opinion on the damage. My damage is to the sheet rock around the windows in the front bedrooms on the north side of the house. I have seen no sign of mold. I grew frustrated with my attempts to find somebody that I could trust to do the repairs. The damage is so small that these characters do not want to touch it. When I explained my situation to D, she asked if she could come out in about ten minutes. I said yes, please do. It was a rather dark morning. I ran around and turned on every light in the house so she could see all of my house's warts and blemishes.

 

D arrived, and I gave her the tour. She said she saw nothing that would prevent the sale of the house. She said she would help me fill out the damage disclosure forms. She agreed with my decision to do nothing. My house is eighteen years old. I have taken good care of it; but if I were going to stay here, there are things I would be doing to update and improve it. D agreed that I would not recover the cost of any improvements, and she feels that my home will move quickly. She said there is a shortage of homes in Beaumont now. She said homes are selling on an average of eleven days, and they are getting multiple contracts on a property.

 

I mentioned to D that I had the Texas Windstorm inspection certificates for the roof and siding. She said she would like to see them. I told her they can be accessed on line from the Texas Windstorm website. I emailed her the link. I also told her I had a service contract with a local heating and air conditioning company. I told her they had inspected my system shortly after I returned from the evacuation and had found no damage in the attic to the ducts or heating/cooling units. She asked if I had that in writing. I pulled out the service report from my file cabinet.

 

I like D. I think I have found my N clone. Tomorrow at 11 AM I will be registering for the Frisco Lakes lot lottery. I received an email from the sales rep. at Sun City Texas at Georgetown yesterday. They are opening a new section of of classic homes and will have a lottery for lot selection on Saturday.

 

I had three sleep-interrupted nights after I talked to D on Friday. I was trying to figure out what I would do if I got an ugly surprise on the sale of my home. I truly appreciate D taking the time to come see me when she is dealing with a difficult family situation. I had carefully thought through the pros and cons of not repairing my house, and I am now very happy that D concurs with my reasoning.