Don't Hire a Cleaning Lady to Clean Your House on the Day of Closing

I've been working a very difficult sale that was supposed to close today. Unfortunately, it didn't.

My clients had already removed all their furnishings and were sleeping on inflatable mattresses. When the closing got rescheduled, they also decided to reschedule their housekeeper to do the final cleaning when there were no mattresses to work around.

My clients then remembered they had already scheduled the utility disconnection. I contacted the buyer's agent, who also happens to be the buyer. She told me not to worry. Her utilities were going on today. There would be a seamless transition.

I explained that my seller was leaving town and the cleaning lady would  be coming, so we needed utilities. I was assured there was no problem. You can see where this is going, right?

At 4:20, I get a call from a frantic seller. He had already taken the key from the cleaning lady and had totally forgotten. He wanted to know if I could go over and let her in. Sure, but it will take me 20 minutes to get there.

My husband and I hop in our car and head over. We arrive and the cleaning lady is sitting on a lawn chair under a tree waiting for us. It's 102 degrees here today and she's pregnant. We let her into the house and I ask how long it will be before she's finished. No idea but she'll call me so I can come back to lock up.

We hop back into our car and we're almost home, when I get a call from the cleaning lady. She's panicked. There's no water in the house. This is a 4,000 square foot house that needs to be cleaned for a final walk-thru tomorrow and my client is in a car driving to Maryland. I tell her not to worry, I'll take care of it.

It's now 5:00, I send a text to the agent/buyer and she sends a text that the water doesn't go on until tomorrow. So much for seamless transition.

We turn around. Sure enough no water. What else can we do but knock on neighbor's doors? I walk to the nearest neighbor (did I mention these are one acre lots?), no answer. Then I walk to the next neighbor whose yard is slightly larger than one acre. He's home and yes we can carry buckets of water to my client's house to clean.

Fortunately, the cleaning lady had brought two buckets so we fill those up. My husband carries the buckets across the acre lot to my client's house. Did I mention it's 102 degrees? We decide the best thing to do is just fill the sinks in the house so the cleaning lady doesn't have to carry the buckets of water back and forth. Great idea.

Only one problem, the bathroom sinks aren't holding the water. That means, water will have to be carried back across a one acre lot several times to clean this house. Fortunately, the pregnant cleaning lady has a younger woman helping her who can carry the water back to the house for her.

After carrying several buckets of water for her, my husband and I decide we'll go to dinner and then come back to lock up. Thinking how long could it be?

We get back to the house at 7:45 p.m. After sitting in the car for about 15 minutes, I go in and ask when she'll be done. She thinks soon. We decide to wait.

At 9:15 p.m., five hours after we had originally left our house, she walks out the door.

The moral of the story...don't hire a cleaning lady to clean your house on the day of closing. Arrange it to be cleaned the day before, when you know you still have water and electricity.

P.S. If you're looking for a Franklin TN REALTOR® who happens to know a fabulous cleaning lady, give Tammie White a call at (615) 495-0752.