Brief interlude:  I just want to say that I cannot wait to move into the house.  Writing these posts has actually been a bit of a bummer.  Re-living the insanity.  But I do want it all here as a record of these past few months, so I'll soldier on.  Only three more to go until the house is mine.

This is the part of the story where I brew a bubbling pot of hatred for the seller.  I was leery at the inspection.  I was angry and full of dislike at the closing date business.

The day after the agreement was set, all the earnest money was down and we were just waiting for closing, I contacted my realtor to arrange a time to get some contractors into the house.  There was a lot to be done at the house - pathetic head room on the stairs to the basement, all the worst from the inspection, and I wanted to create a great finished basement.  So my realtor asked me when I wanted to go.  I told him a couple of times.  And this is the response he got from the seller's realtor:

Sorry, but my client does not want to allow any contractors to come through prior to closing. She is in the process of packing and her children are at home during the day. She would prefer that Katie wait until they move out. I'm sorry. I did try.

And now I'm holding a pot of hate stew.  This was a month and a half before closing.  And apparently, something my realtor had never had happen.  NEVER.  HATE.

The next post happens before this next bit, but this bit fits here.  Two weeks later, I got an email from my realtor.  All it said was "The seller reconsidered and is offering these times" with a forwarded message from her realtor complete with two dates to choose from.  I was astonished.  So I chose one of the dates and flat out asked my realtor what happened.  This is his response:

Yeah, I kind of embarrassed [the realtor] into it.  Here is my email I sent yesterday: Would you please ask the seller to reconsider allowing Katie in to meet contractors.  In my 15 years of selling real estate I have never once seen this courtesy denied by a seller.  It will help Katie a great deal if she can line up her workers so she can get work started faster after Closing.  Thank you.

Seriously guys, you should use my realtor.  He is the best.

Since I'm so excited about what is going on in my house right now, here's a before and after with the basement.  There's a slight perspective error here, I'm a bit farther back in the before.  But, go with it.

Edit: the new blogger editor is a POS that creates the ugliest HTML ever. As a developer I OBJECT.