The History of Honey Hill Farm, Part 3

Steve and Debbie drove to the farm for walkthrough, found the key, let themselves in, and found that while the thermostat was set on 55F, the house was currently 30F! AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH! Pipes! We turned on all the electrical, heat-generating devices in the house--oven, dryer, lights--and started trying to find out WHY there was no heat. In short: the oil tank was effectively dry. We called around, and the earliest anyone could deliver oil was Southern Maryland Oil on Sunday. SMO got the job. But the helpful person on the other end suggested we could substitute 10-20 gallons of kerosene as a stopgap measure. Leaving the dryer running and the water trickling, we left for settlement. We had pushed the house temperature to 47F. On the way to settlement, our realtor finally received the HUD figures and emailed us the amounts for which we needed certified checks: * $14,000 * $5,000 and * $993 ?!?! The day of settlement, and we're being told we need almost another $1,000! We stopped at an inconvenient Wachovia, and got the certified checks. Good thing Steve's job paid us a day early--they are replacing their accounting software, and wanted to close out January. Then we rushed to the settlement office, ONLY 1.5 hours LATE. And $2,000 SHORT. The number was $21,993, not $19,993. The Home Warranty got moved OUT of the contract, and the realtors agreed to drop their commissions to make up the difference. We sign, for hours, only to be told at the last minute that the second lienholder has NOT given written assurance that paying them will stop the foreclosure and release the lien! This has progressed from comedy to incompetence. This should have been set in STONE before settlement! We executed a "Pre-Settlement Occupancy Agreement" with Adam and Susanna, the sellers, to "rent" the property from them if the settlement is not completed by February 1, for $1.00/day. We rushed back to the farm, buying fuel cans and kerosene on the way. We poured it into the oil tank, and the furnace fired up--WHOOOSH! We had heat! We went home to pack. That night, it snowed.