BEACH NOTES ... December 11, 2010 ... Ocean City, New Jersey

Probably the Final Closing of the Year ... from Ocean City, NewJersey

You reach this point every year ... the final closing of the calendar year.  During the past five years, that closing was often in October or November.  But I recall a year, when I had five closings in the month of December.  What that really meant was that I had a busy September, October, and November.  So we close one more sale listing on Monday, the 13th of December.  It's an important one, a 4BR/2.5BA newer condominium, and the Sellers plan to purchase a single family ... they have been looking for about 3-6 months, so the search continues in 2011.

I enjoy December closings:  the festive nature of the calendar time frame, the decorations in the closing office, the plans for some coffee or tea with a special scone or pastry.  This one should be a winner since it is an in-house sale with the other agent being a friend in our office.  That also means that we pick up just a bit more income due to our contract arrangements for in-house sales.  Of course, so does our agency.

I had one additional sale listing set to close on December 30th ... that's about as close as one gets to the end of the year.  But it appears that we have had some "home inspection issues."  The Seller has offered some credit to the Buyer, but we have not reached an agreement on that issue as yet.  We are still hoping to close in 2010 ... but I'm not counting on it.

That provides me with one final comment.  You can never count on the closing until you walk out of the title company with the check in your hand.  Just getting into the title company is often a challenge, but getting out with the check in your hand can often be difficult too.  So it appears that I will have at least one closing in December ... probably my last one for the calendar year ... 2010 ... and a good year it was for me, my best one since 2005 and my best "fall buying period" since 2004.  Let the good times roll again!!!               dap