It was the Friday before my Monday closing, and the step rail for the front porch steps was still missing. The clear to occupy letter could not be issued unless installed. I met the agent and builder supervisior at the house for last minute instructions. We had completd the walk through the day before, and almost of the issues found were already remedied. I could tell they really wanted to close on Monday at the scheduled 2pm meeting.
The builder told us-
"the man is coming to install the rail this weekend, it should be ready to go Monday morning, but I dunno if the city will get out here and sign off on it and then get the CO letter to the law office by 2pm, in fact I know that ain't gonna happen."
I said, " Alex, those steps have been in place for a month, and no one noticed the rails were missing? I'da said something but I didn't even know it was suppose to have rails, it's only a few steps"
""you're right, but the supplier hand makes them, they are wrought iron and he's behind"
"so we're gonna hold up a quarter million dollar closing on 200 dollar rails?"
"I hope not but you know the city, they're slow"
"I do. Look here, the codes and standards are civilians that work out of the fire dept, I served with the captain of that office back in the day. Let me call him and see if he can send his guys out here first thing Monday and expedite the paperwork to the law office. Can you make sure your guy gets the rail up by Monday?"
"yes"
I rode back to the office with the agent.
"Can you make this happen?"
"Yeah, and I'll let YOU take the credit for it, if you get nachos at the closing instead of cheap pens"
"LOL, my boss wants this closing to happen monday so he'll do anything"
I called my old friend, "hey tony can you have your guys out at my house first thing Monday, sign off on the CO letter and fax it to this number pronto, so I can close at 2pm?"
"No problem" Proving its not what ya know but who ya know.
The weekend was quiet, and I went about my life. At 9am monday I rode out to the house only to find NO rail was installed over the weekend. "This ain't good" I called the captain and asked if his man had been out there.
"he was there at 8am but no rail, so went to his next site"
"dang, lemme call ya back"
I called my agent who was in another part of the city. ""That rail is NOT installed so closing is a no go today. The codes man was out there as instructed at 8am but no rail. Look, I'm not the one servicing this construction loan everyday, so call me when y'all can close."
" lemme call the builder"
A few minutes later the agent called back.
"the builder says vendor is on the way, and will be there by 12 and take 2 hours to install, the closing has been moved to 4pm. Can you get the codes out there around 2pm?"
"I can try"
I rode back to the house at 12 and sure enough the vendor was working on the install. The super was on the scene.
I called the fire dept. " look here tony, can you send your guy back out here to take care of this?"
"yeah, I'd never make captain without the stuff you taught me, he'll be there in 10 min."
The inspector arrived in 5 minutes later and said, "all I know you must have some pull, I was called OFF the CVS build and told to come back over here"
"LMAO"
Even though he was not suppose to, he signed off on the rail before installation was complete. The builder gave him the email address to send the CO letter. He went back to his car, scanned the document in, and fired it off to the law office. My guess this usually takes a few days, as stuff is worked on in the order it comes in.
My agent called the builder before we left, "law office has the CO letter, clear to close 4 pm"
Two hours later my wife and I arrived at the law office. It was broiling hot outside, but I still dressed up like a man that was closing on a big time deal.
The agent who had become my friend after these many months called me to the side.
"Thanks for making this happen today, everyone involved in your build extends a thank you. They wanted to make sure you knew that"
"no problem,"
I went to the side table and grabbed a cold drink and oatmeal cookie before starting. I didn't get nachos but oatmeal cookies are just as good. Hour later they issued me th keys.
And thats how my closing day went down.
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