⛴️Up tonight: Cruise fiascos galore

 ⛑️Consumer Rescue presents🛟

Tales from Consumer Advocacy Land

Real stories. Real rescues. Real advice.

Happy Sunday, friends! 🤓

Well, I am in the home stretch (literally) — of selling my house after nearly 27 years.

Tomorrow is the day I sit down in our real estate attorney’s office and sign the paperwork, and on Wednesday, the buyer does his thing. With all the final bits and pieces of this process, I haven't been able to carve out the six uninterrupted hours I need to write a brand-new article for today. (I hope you’ll forgive me!)

I thought I could check in with everyone tonight with a few stories you may have missed, AND a brand-new Life, Lately is at the bottom of the newsletter.

These past three months have been a physical and emotional whirlwind, and I’m really looking forward to settling into our new place. If you’re interested in the most recent edition of my saga, scroll on down to the bottom. If you’re not, that’s ok, too. 😃 We have something for everyone here!

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My cruise fiasco stories have always found a strong audience, so I thought tonight I would share the top four articles of all time (from my column 🤩)

If you’re new here, these articles will be all new to you. If you are with me long term, you might enjoy strolling down memory lane with me.

Enjoy! And don’t forget, Life, Lately is all new tonight.

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The buyer of my house and I have had a very friendly relationship from the beginning. In fact, weirdly, I found him in a Facebook group before I even listed my house. Because of that, the sale of my house has gone a bit off the normal grid, with both sides making concessions that would not be part of a traditional sale.

His house inspection was short and sweet: we didn’t have termites and never have… that was the primary focus.

If you’ve ever delved into house-selling, you know that a house inspection — especially for an older home — can cause weeks of delay in closing. There is often back-and-forth between the attorneys for both sides about what needs to be fixed, concessions, and more.

None of that happened here. That’s because my buyer is a realtor and a builder so he knows how to fix everything or find someone who can.

In New Jersey, if you have a well (which I do), there is a 30-day minimum requirement between closing and the well test. That isn’t negotiable, or we would have closed even more quickly.

Because of that requirement, I granted the buyer pre-closing access to the house. There was no reason not to do that. He wanted to get started on his renovations, and the only thing holding it all up was that regulation.

But there was some confusion or miscommunication about what would be going on. I thought it would be painting and some outside clean-up.

This morning I was sitting in my office writing an article, and my daughter, who was home to collect the last of her things, texted me:

“It’s really sad that they’re tearing down our playground.”

What??

I jumped up from my desk and ran to the dining room window to see a guy bulldozing my children's playground. That’s a place where I planted the trees (which were only 3 feet tall at the time), I decorated the little pink house, and I chose the swing set.

Of course, I know the reality is that it didn’t bulldoze my children’s childhood, but I didn’t want to see that happen.

To my buyer’s credit, he apologized and said he didn’t know they were going to tackle that specific assignment today on a Sunday morning.

So, it has been a tough day for me. I am greatly looking forward to closing this chapter. I’m super grateful for all the years of happiness we’ve had here.

I want to remember the “Fun Backyard” like this — a place where friends and family spent countless hours laughing, relaxing and having peaceful moments.  

I wish the new owners many years of similar experiences.

❤️And that’s Life, Lately.

Until next time 😃

Don't forget! Consumer Rescue is just a click away. One of us is always here to answer your questions. 

Of course, you can always reach me at [email protected]