Condo Dilemma

So, remember the post a few weeks ago, the one titled, “Afraid to "JINX" the deal….”.  Well, after the past three days, I wondered if that had happened.  Over 45 days ago we gave notice to our tenant in the Condo that he had to move out.  About 35 days ago Marcia’s brother Mike and I went to visit the condo, by appointment, and our tenant said that he might get out early. Just over two weeks ago we went to the condo and met with our tenant, and everything was looking good for him to be out by the 30th….he said that we would get the keys back on Tuesday the 30th.  So two days ago (Monday) I called him to see when we should meet to get the keys on Tuesday….and his reply was one which we did not want to hear….

“Oh ya, about that Dave….I was wondering if I might get another 5-10 days because a place was opening up in Palm Harbor that I would like to move into….”  

My inward response, “SKATA!”   But outwardly I explained that we had a cleaning lady coming in on Wednesday, had the moving company moving us in on Thursday, and on Sunday we take off for 18 months.

His response is, “Well, I guess I will have to work something out if I can….”

I am thinking, “If you CAN????”  But I tell him that I am sorry, there is nothing we could do, he just had to leave.  He tells me that he would call me Tuesday night so that we could get the key Tuesday, or Wednesday morning.

Tuesday comes and goes…no phone call.  Wednesday at 8 am I call him, had to leave a message.  Sank back in the chair just long enough to think of a better word within my Greek vocabulary than Skata, and realize that Skata is the only Greek word I know, despite my wife trying to teach me other, better words….better as in words which are appropriate for this situation, but printable for the blog, I was trying to think of something which probably should not be printed in the blog…..and then the phone rings.

“Hey Dave, I am headed over to the Condo right now…just have a few things to load up and I am done….”  I told him I would leave right away and meet him over there.  Now I have another way to spell relief….”He is Going to be OUT of the CONDO!”

So I arrive at the Condo, and see this huge, and I mean HUGE, couch sitting in the living room.  Don’t know if we can get it out between the two of us, and I see no one else there…but that is not his plan….his plan is to LEAVE IT.  Well, there it goes again….another SKATA comes to my mind…..

Oh, but it gets worse…..”What I do need to move is this….”, and he walks into the bedroom.  Sitting there is the largest, plainest cadenza I have ever seen.  Metal bottom, thick wood, taller than both of us.  What’s that you hear?  Yep, you got it….DOUBLE SKATA!!!!

Somehow we manage to get this monster out of the condo, into the u-haul, and he loads up just a few other things and out the door we go.  We go over to Salvation Army, but they cannot get the couch until Friday or Monday….and that won’t do.  I tell them that I will have our mover drop it off tomorrow after he unloads our stuff…there goes another $25 or so….

So I go back home and tell Marcia about this huge problem, which causes a little bit of high blood pressure problems between us.  As we drive back there to meet the cleaning lady Pat, I tell her that it is real messy….it’s like he turned into a PIG over the past few weeks since Mike and I examined the place in late March.

We get over there, driving through increasingly heavy rain, with hang-up clothes laying in the back of the car.  We thought Pat would be there, but she apparently was running late. We go inside, and see just how dirty the place really is.  “Look at this Ska….I mean a mess,” Marcia says.  Worse thing, we left Marcia's cell phone at home, and still no Pat.  We are sitting there with no cleaning supplies, wondering if Pat is lost, wondering if she had called Marcia's phone.  So back home we go, get the phone and supplies, and go back there and to our delight, Pat is there, working away.  Now things seem to be going right….  After we cleaned most of the refrigerator, and Pat got most of the rest of the condo done, Pat kicks us out so that she could finish up.  Yep, the fridge was in that bad of shape. 

Back home we finish up most of the little things we had to still pack up, we rested a bit, and went to church.  Tomorrow we move everything not going into the motor home into the condo.  We already have most of the stuff for the trip in the motor home, and this is our last night at the house, although we plan to use the shower a few times before we leave on Sunday.  As far as we can tell….the financing papers are still being worked on…but chances are we won’t get an answer until next week.  Closing is tentatively set for the 17th, but if they want in earlier, we sure have no problem closing before that....and when that time comes, we will know that this nightmare is over.

Now I just have to face mom and that bar of soap when I get to Sacramento in June…..you know, if we take our time and get there in July, chances are she will forget what she needed to wash my mouth out for anyway….after all, she just had another birthday...now 83 years young.  Love you mom, and yes, I will try to work on learning some new Greek words from my wonderful Greek wife.