House: Closing on November 20

I just realized that I neglected to mention we now have a date set for closing/settlement on the house. It will become officially and legally ours on Friday, November 20. This is good, since it’s (as they promised) before the $8,000 tax credit goes away on December 1. We really want that tax credit.

We’ve been warned that we should begin our wrist exercises now, since settlement apparently requires us to sign more paperwork than all previous life events combined. I found that hard to believe (do you have any idea how much paperwork is involved in buying a car?), but friends and acquaintances who have been through this process confirm it. I think I might just have a signature stamp made ;-).

We’re also embarking on all kinds of other fun (sarcasm). We have to get quotes for the windows treatments, for the security system, for the move itself, arrange for utility hookups, make sure we have Internet access arranged for, put in change of address forms, get a new UPS Store mailbox, and probably a lot more things that I’m forgetting. We’ll also have to change banks (there is no Wachovia in a reasonable distance from where we’re moving…go figure). For the record, I really hate moving. It’ll be worth it though.

Tentatively, we’ll have all the utilities and stuff ready to go before the 20th so they’ll all just click on at the right time on that Friday. The weekend will mostly be getting stuff installed (blinds, security system, etc.) and moving some key items we want to do ourselves (like the cats; they dislike being packed in boxes and moved by movers). Then on Monday and/or Tuesday the real move will happen and that will leave us a few days to get everything buttoned up at the apartment.

Of course, any and all of this can change. It’s exciting, but it’s also very stressful and a lot to plan.