Today is the day we take possession of the dirt. According to the contract.
At 8am this morning, the seller, a realtor and real estate investor, called our lawyer's office and told them he doesn't have a lawyer. He asked them to draw up his side of the paperwork. The assistant called me (Mr Dinks was in meetings all day) and basically asked for permission. We could agree to allow the same firm to represent both of us, and then have to look for a new lawyer if there are any issues. Or, we could say no and we have to wait until next week to close.
Since I'm suspicious of anyone who sells as many properties as this guy has* and doesn't have a lawyer, and we're happy to hold onto our money for an extra month if that's what it takes, I told her to say no. It turns out he DOES have a lawyer, but he didn't think to contact them until our lawyer called him (the day before closing) to ask why his lawyer hadn't contacted them. Apparently he thought his brokerage (the real estate office he works for) was supposed to send the paperwork to his lawyer. By yesterday, when he realized it hadn't been done, his lawyer was busy and didn't have time for the deal.
So we put our money back on the line of credit, and we'll pull it out again when he gets his act together.
*He owned the house that used to be here, tore it down and severed the land, then built the house next door and sold it. Plus, he's a REALTOR!!!!
MrDinks decided last weekend that he would put a camera on the end of a 20' pipe in order to take more pictures of the view from our third floor. He figured this would be cheaper than hiring the bucket truck again. Unfortunately, pipe doesn't go that high without bending. We tried it out in our current front yard before going to the lot. Our neighbours must think we're nuts. He was able to borrow a pole meant for washing high windows from a friend. And then by standing on the back of his truck, he got more pictures from the required height. And we're confirmed that a floor at 20' is sufficient for the view.
We also met with Ryan this week, and came to an agreement on the general form of the house. We'll see him again in a week and a half with more detailed drawings. He mentioned that when we apply for development permits, we need to tell them what colour the house is going to be. I had thought we had more time before we needed to define that. It doesn't have to be exact, we can just say "grey", and choose any shade of grey when we order the siding, or hire the stucco guys. But we can't say "grey" and then paint the house orange. We also need to show what colour each section or piece of trim will be. Yikes. So I've asked Ryan to send me the sketch we came up with so I can play with colours. I'll post it here when I get it.
At 8am this morning, the seller, a realtor and real estate investor, called our lawyer's office and told them he doesn't have a lawyer. He asked them to draw up his side of the paperwork. The assistant called me (Mr Dinks was in meetings all day) and basically asked for permission. We could agree to allow the same firm to represent both of us, and then have to look for a new lawyer if there are any issues. Or, we could say no and we have to wait until next week to close.
Since I'm suspicious of anyone who sells as many properties as this guy has* and doesn't have a lawyer, and we're happy to hold onto our money for an extra month if that's what it takes, I told her to say no. It turns out he DOES have a lawyer, but he didn't think to contact them until our lawyer called him (the day before closing) to ask why his lawyer hadn't contacted them. Apparently he thought his brokerage (the real estate office he works for) was supposed to send the paperwork to his lawyer. By yesterday, when he realized it hadn't been done, his lawyer was busy and didn't have time for the deal.
So we put our money back on the line of credit, and we'll pull it out again when he gets his act together.
*He owned the house that used to be here, tore it down and severed the land, then built the house next door and sold it. Plus, he's a REALTOR!!!!
MrDinks decided last weekend that he would put a camera on the end of a 20' pipe in order to take more pictures of the view from our third floor. He figured this would be cheaper than hiring the bucket truck again. Unfortunately, pipe doesn't go that high without bending. We tried it out in our current front yard before going to the lot. Our neighbours must think we're nuts. He was able to borrow a pole meant for washing high windows from a friend. And then by standing on the back of his truck, he got more pictures from the required height. And we're confirmed that a floor at 20' is sufficient for the view.
We also met with Ryan this week, and came to an agreement on the general form of the house. We'll see him again in a week and a half with more detailed drawings. He mentioned that when we apply for development permits, we need to tell them what colour the house is going to be. I had thought we had more time before we needed to define that. It doesn't have to be exact, we can just say "grey", and choose any shade of grey when we order the siding, or hire the stucco guys. But we can't say "grey" and then paint the house orange. We also need to show what colour each section or piece of trim will be. Yikes. So I've asked Ryan to send me the sketch we came up with so I can play with colours. I'll post it here when I get it.
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