And ... it's done

Shortly after we got our phone call this morning, telling us what we owed, we headed out.

Our first stop was the bank, where we got a Bank Check for the amount we owed. That was as simple as it sounds, so we next headed for Jess's favorite lunch spot, Shiraz in Worcester. We were done there with plenty of time to spare, even after stopping to buy cat food. Nearly twenty minutes early, we arrived at the lawyer's office and waited.

About five minutes before 1, the attorney met up with us and took us into a conference room. There, we went over the terms of the mortgage, the breakdown of the closing costs, and everything else. And we signed.

And signed.

And initialed.

And signed.

And then ... it was done. There were no surprises. No "oh, you forgot this form." No "oh, we never got this from your lender." Nothing. It all went smoothly. You hear so many horror stories, but I guess this is part of what you get by hiring your own real estate attorney. They may have been a pain in the ass to deal with for the past couple months, but when it came down to it, everything was in order.

We were out of there before 2.

It was like a huge weight came off my shoulders. It's odd that taking ON a quarter million dollar debt feels less stressful than worrying about whether it would go through, but that's the truth.

As the afternoon ticked by, we checked the Registry of Deeds online. Sure enough, our deed was recorded before they closed.

In other words ... we're homeowners. It's official. Stay tuned for updates as we move in, get settled, and find out what it's like to live in our own house.