Closing!

Here is why you need nerves of steel to do RE investing.
This is a recap of what happened prior to close in the last week:

- Last Friday, notified that the bank need copies of cancelled checks for the previous flip property mortgage. All months. Was told this was the last thing they needed. Did that.

- Monday morning - was told the checks were fine, now the bank wants to verify the utilities are in working order. They were shut off and winterized. Bank says utilities must be turned on, and this was the last thing needed. I called to have the electric and gas turned on for Tuesday. The city refused to turn on the water prior to closing. We could not get around that - had several people call, no dice. So - we asked them for a letter stating why they wouldn't turn on the water to send to the bank.

- Tuesday - was told electric and gas would be on by 6pm. Great! Appraiser scheduled to come back on Wednesday at 9am to verify utilities are on. John and I go after 6 pm to light the furnace and turn on the main breaker. No power or gas. I call National Grid - was told the power was shut off at the street (which I told them yesterday) so it had to be turned on manually. They tell me someone will come out at some point during the night to do this.

- Yesterday - still no power and gas at the house as of 8am. Called and was told there was a mistake, the person who came out thought they had to verify the power was *off*, so did nothing. Idiots. Frantic to get everything on, since the appraiser was due out in an hour. Realize that this is unlikely - so call the appraiser and ask him to come a little later, but needed to have him there by noon so we could close the next day.
National grid comes out - power on, but furnace won't stay lit. (Don't care about that, just a service call there). However - appraiser doesn't know what to make of this. He took pictures of the gas stove lit to show that the gas was on.
All submitted to bank, we look good to go. Closing scheduled for 4pm the next day.

- Late yesterday afternoon, call from mortgage broker. Bank won't accept that the water is off, and wants the system pressure tested by a plumber. Told this is the last thing holding up the deal. Well - *we* know the system will fail the test, since we know there are broken pipes upstairs, the bank does not know this. I am now curled up in a fetal position on the floor.

- About 8pm last night, told we might be able to sign a waiver that we don't hold the bank responsible for any problems with the plumbing.

- This morning - said addendum is faxed and we got all needed documents and went to the closing table at 4:30pm. Since funds won't be available tonight due to the late closing time, all funds are going to be wired in the morning. All docs are signed and I will get the keys tomorrow.

What a nightmare!