The Contract

Once Bettie said she would get into contact with us we knew we needed to act fast!!!! We invited her over to our house the next day to get the process going. She came over and after 1.5 years Tad was able to talk to Bettie face to face (up to that point Tad had never even met Bettie). We all sat down in our living room and got to know each other a little more. It quickly felt as though we were just visiting with a long time friend.

Bettie is such a kind loving person. She told us about her past. She bought the house 30+ years earlier with her husband and their two little children (ages 1 and 2). Shortly after buying the house she and her husband divorced. This left Bettie with two tiny children and a huge house to take care of.  The pain and stress of the divorce had really taken its toll on her.

And then it happened... "I am a Hoarder", she blurted out to us. Tad and I had always suspected that she may be a hoarder but now she was openly admitting it to us.  She explained that throughout her difficult past, with the divorce and all, that  she began feeling the need to hang on to everything that she could. And so she did... EVERYTHING!!!!!!

Not really her house... but what we were imagining

She let us know that it was the hoarding that had prevented her from letting us inside the house.  She was super embarrassed and ashamed of the status of the home.  Little did we know, but her 5 bedroom home with a 3 car garage was packed with so much stuff that it was nearly impossible to walk through.

So here we are in our living room with Bettie trying to figure out a purchase contract with her for a house that we have not yet gone into and to top that off, we confirm that she is a HOARDER and the house is COMPLETELY full of STUFF.

After discussing the hoarding issues with us, it became time to begin the discussion with Bettie about the price and terms of the sell.  So Tad (being the real estate agent) started to discuss recent sales comps in the neighborhood with Bettie.  After reviewing the comps Tad suggested a price we would be willing to pay and Bettie asked that she have 24 hours to think about it.  She would go home, re-review the comps Tad provided, talk to her friend and then come back over the following day with her decision.

The following day... Bettie came over... we agreed on a price that was fair for all of us. Then came the close of escrow date... when would we actually be able to become the new official owner of the property?.

Bettie explained to us that she still needed TIME... (this made me kind of laugh.. considering we had given her 1.5 years already to that point)............ "So what type frame are we talking about?", I asked.  "How about 120 days", said Bettie......... yep folks that is another 4 months. People might think we were crazy, but after waiting this long what was another 4 months. So we agreed. Great price and an extremely long escrow and papers were signed.

"SO... when can we actually go into the house?", I asked.........that was our next question.............