waiting room

I feel like a husband, pacing in the waiting room while the wife is giving birth. ...

[RABBIT TRAIL: If my Mom heard me use that analogy, she'd get all stymied about "You feel like a man? With a wife? Giving birth?" She could never wait to hear the end, she could never sense into an empathy for the commonality of the human experience. It was a very frustrating thing.]

... Pacing, anxious. The results impact me heavily, and yet I have no control, no direct part to play. That's what it feels like.

The situation: This is the final day of escrow for my "troubled property." Odds are very high that the sale will complete this time. The sales price was 15% lower than the already low price I'd been told to value it at, and 49% of what I "paid" for it.

[I put "paid" in quotes because I traded into most of it, and only technically gave cash for just a portion above what I exchanged. Like trading up a car: you give up the old one, then pay a bit extra for a new & better model.]

On the other hand, the tenant has found a new location already (and will probably move in March), and I know commercial vacancies can last for years. This property is unique, the economy is still weak, and it could financially bleed me for a long time until it was occupied again. I haven't had a single lease offer this whole year it's been on the market.

I want to sell. It's not the most hard core financial gain path, but it's the sleep-at-night, pay-off-my-mortgage-and-reduce-my-expenses-by-half (which, in effect, doubles my income), eliminate-worry-about-financially-bleeding-for-several-years option. It brings everything to a peaceful, and yet still cash-in-my-pocket (and, frankly, lots of it) resolution.

I want the sale to go through.

Yet there is nothing for me to do.

It feels like an expectant father, pacing in the waiting room, with no influence over the outcome, and no part to play.

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Late morning update: The potential buyer's bank is having some administrative challenge: deal may not be funded until Mon. IMO, the deal is never "done" until the money is exchanged.

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Early afternoon update: I have officially agreed to extend escrow and continue buyer's discount. Not with cheerfulness, but from practicality. It's not too late for the bank to find some reason to dis-approve the sale, including problems with the development, the architect's plans, the lack of pre-approval for intended medical use, the funny parking agreement, miscellaneous environmental lawsuits against the development, etc.

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Late afternoon update: Buyer's funds are in. That makes it a done deal (barring poor timing of a massive earthquake/ tsunami/ nuclear accident, or whatever): it won't be recorded until Monday, but the buyer's all in. Oh, and after recording is when they wire my cut... which is 40% of what the buyer put in.

After reserving a big chunk for Uncle Sam, the rest is mine. I'll have to ask my CPA if I need to "estimated tax payment" that over this April 2012 (for first quarter), or if I can earn (like half a percent) interest on it in a Money Market until April 2013 because it's a "capital gain."