REPORTER’S NOTEBOOK -- Paul Clinton

Getting through escrow on a new home couldn’t be as hellish as I had

heard. It would be different for me, wouldn’t it?

Absolutely not.

I should have expected problems with buying a condominium in Long

Beach after a few red flags popped up. My fiancee and I learned we would

be buying it from a guy who had checked himself into a rehab clinic 40

miles away after filing for bankruptcy.

Once we were able to get his signature on a counter offer -- probably

the fourth or fifth -- we rejoiced. It was early October. This was it, I

thought. Just dot a few I’s, cross a T and we’ll be in the home by

Halloween.

Wrong again.

First, there were problems with the inspection. The seller -- I’ll

just call him John -- had defaulted on his bills, so the power company

had pulled the plug.

We had to cajole SoCal Edison to turn on the lights for one day, so we

could see if the appliances worked.

Luckily, the inspection was completed and no major problems were

found. John did, however, abuse a number of the appliances in the house

-- including the nonfunctioning microwave and leaking dishwasher.

Then there’s the “A” word. And I’m not calling John any names. I’m

talking about the appraisal.

It was tardy.

And the appraiser -- supplied by our real estate agent -- had been

placed on a “black list” of the mortgage company that was to fund our

loan. That caused another delay.

With the integrity of the appraisal in question, the deal we struck

with John started to fray.

John panicked -- threatening to pull the plug on the deal and put the

condo back on the market. Meanwhile, our real estate agent and lender

began to point the finger at each other, urging us to hire lawyers when

the deal fell apart.

At that point, our agent even turned up the heat on us to use a

different lender -- one of her choosing, not ours.

Things worked out, of course, but only after the escrow closing date

had come and gone by more than two weeks. When push came to shove, most

of the talk was just hot air. Everybody realized the best thing to do was

to make the deal.

Once the loan was funded and the deal recorded, our real estate agent

brought me the keys last week. This nerve-rattling rite of passage was

finally over, and I felt only one thing. Pure joy.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

paul.clinton@latimes.comf7 .