It is a rare thing for me to have to reconnect and heat up a winterized home, especially as a listing agent, but I did just that today for a short sale scheduled to close Monday. The interior temperature when we started at around 1pm was 39 degrees, and it was cold and rainy today. Shivering in the basement as I watched my plumber work, I really looked forward to that furnace firing up and getting some warmth.
It was a slow process due to the age of the home and the type of system. De-winterizing a home can only take a half hour in most cases, but today it actually took four. At one point we thought we were complete but hit a snag and I ended up calling the HC/AC firm on the maintenance tag, who came within 15 minutes and had us going.
I tend to get a little funny when I am cold and irritable, and I said to the second contractor "you mean, just standing here and cursing at the boiler won't work?"
Total damage on the day was $475 between the two contractors. I'll never get reimbursed; the short sale bank won't throw in a dime and I have to view it as the cost of doing business.
It felt really nice to return home and sit in front of a roaring foreplace after shivering in that basement for 4 hours. Yesterday I had a great appraisal with a big huggable dog. Today I froze my buns off. No day is the same in this business. But my clients are great people and I am happy to get this done for them. That's what I think about when I feel cold.
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