Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with closing

To close or not to close credit cards?

Tubman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:42:41 -0800

DH has opened multiple credit cards with me as an authorized user. We just paid them down to a $0 balance and I want to know how many we can close without hurting our credit. My guess is closing the c/c will impact his credit score and not mine.

Art Gallery closes, my "friend" steals from fellow artist

Anonymous — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:16:15 -0800

I am an oil painter. I have a friend who is (was) a gallery owner (G). The gallery owner knew I am in touch with an esteemed oil painter (E) and arranged to have a two man show with E and another local (venerated) painter. Unbeknownst to E the G is/was in serious financial trouble. E had a gallery for a decade and had a decent reputation. Well, E's show went up and 3 paintings were sold. The other artist had 2 paintings sell. I know E trusted G largely because he felt if I was involved G is a good guy. (The "contact" type of arrangement). G's gallery has now closed and I have helped in final details as a volunteer as G has no staff. I consider G a friend..he has helped me as an artist. I consider E an A-list artist and someone to emulate. It has been over 30 days since the end of the show. Day before yesterday E emailed me a rather terse email asking if I had contact info on G. I called G and asked if I could give E the cell number. G said "sure" (but it begs the question...was G going to just disappear without giving contact info?). Yesterday I had lunch with G. He is leaving town never to open another gallery. Suddenly he said: " I don't like E bugging me! It makes me want to not pay him! He is not a nice person!" This took me aback. I said (gingerly).."well E is just like everyone else, suffering through the recession..and he has a little kid" G says "I didn't tell him to have a kid!" hmmm. I knew at that point that appealing to his humanity was going no where and that it was clear G is rationalizing away all reasons to pay E his 50% of proceeds for work that E did (and E footed a large frame bill as well). I do not have G's address although I have a vague description of where he is going (the next state). G is a very emotional person and I know he has been under a great deal of stress. At times I felt like I was one of his last remaining friends. But now this has happened and I am shocked that he would consider ripping off/stiffing E. It is likely that G simply does not have the $ to pay. This is out and out theft and I know how much E needs the $. I am heartbroken that G is not the man I thought he was. By the way, the other man in the 2 man show did get paid...possibly because G views him as a "nice" person (and/or he was still trying to hold it together...it doesn't seem like he is trying to hold it together anymore.).

E has expressed concern to me that G is going to not pay him. I now have information that confirms that. Should I alert E that he is correct about his misgivings? I have information that E doesn't have that could be helpful to him (the vague description of his G's new location).

Negotiating a home purchase

jclovebrew — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:55:33 -0800

When buying a house is it better to have the seller pay the closing costs or to reduce the sale price of the home? I'm buying a house (yay!). The inspection turned up some issues so I've gotten some concessions from the seller. So far we've left it open-ended as to whether they should reduce the price of the house or pay the closing costs. Which one should I push for? There seem to be pros and cons to each. I'm favoring the price to get reduced because it means my monthly payment will be a bit less and I will also be able to cancel the PMI sooner. Is this a case of six of one, half a dozen of the other, or is one scenario clearly better than the other?

What do I need to know about closing on a house?

kate blank — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:27:40 -0800

What do we need to know about closing on a house? We're in Canada. So, we're closing on our first house on August 8 (yes, it's 08/08/08). We've never done this before, so I wonder what we need to know/do. I read this thread about what can go wrong, and it was helpful, but I also wonder what else do I need to do? We have a mortgage, we have a down-payment, we have home insurance, we have money for our closing costs (but how much will they be, exactly? And who tells us that, and when?) and we have a lawyer to do a title search.

What I would really love is a website that says THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO so I can do everything on the list. Google wasn't all that helpful in finding one (particularly for Canada, and I would, of course, like a Canada-specific list as I am sure some thing vary between here and the US and the UK).

Please help me sell my home!

hamster — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:01:23 -0800

My mortgage payments are overdue and I have filed paperwork for a loan modification. I just accepted an offer on the condo, and it is due to close on June 26. What is the best way to get clear with the mortgage company before closing? I am in Minnesota, have owned the property for two years. I have two mortgages on the condo and had trouble paying--so they did a modification, and told me to focus on paying that instead of my much smaller mortgage.

Now that is in trouble, but they are reviewing it. I need everything to be free and clear so it can sell. I currently owe Aurora Loan Services $1,600 and will have that amount by June 26. What should I do?

Will they allow me to pay it all off at once in June? Can I pay half now and half later? I want to know what rules I am up against before I call them to figure this out. Thanks so much for the advice--it will be a relief to get out from under payments on the mortgage.

Speeding Up the Sullivan Co. Real Estate Closing Glacier

LGCNo6 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 19:08:49 -0800

Buying a house in Sullivan County, New York. Need your best recommendations for people to work with (lawyers, title folks, inspectors)... The sellers accepted my offer tonight, so that part is done. I have a good real estate agent who has some (not tons though) of recommendations for people in Sullivan County (and/or the Port Jervis area) that we can work with on moving towards closing. (And yes, I've got a buyer's agreement with the real estate agent, so please don't offer names of real estate agents--it is too late for that.)

However, in this state and county, things often move super slowly because of arcane contract rules, so I want to hear if The Green has any good recs or pointers on the best people in the area to make this all go smoothly and quickly. I'm not a first-time homebuyer, but I have never bought in Sullivan Co. .

I wonder if this is how that Carrie started.

rileyray3000 — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:49:00 -0800

My laptop keeps closing. Not my programs. Not windows. LITERALLY, the screen part of my dell inspiron E1405 keeps coming down. And it always happens when I'm not there. So is this a defect or do I have poltergeists? Okay this has been happening for a few weeks and it's a relatively new laptop. I will go away and, on occasion, the screen will come down until it's 3/4 closed. For a while I thought it was my cubicle mates. But then I came in on a weekend and I was the only one here. And it happened again.

So the computer is an Inspiron E1405. Does anyone know of a track record of this sort of thing happening? Or why?

I hope someone has answers. Otherwise am I simply developing telekinesis and this is the first step in my path to superhero-dom.

My left eye is closing and it looks weird.

eve28 — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 03:45:46 -0800

HELP MY EYE!!!! I hope that got your attention, because I have a long explanation about my LEFT EYE.....It has a serious problem where it is constantly closing and it is basically half the size of my right eye. I have no idea what it is and need any information that there is out there. Sorry it's so long :( My left eye started doing this weird thing last year. It started just closing on its own; it comes and goes and lasts for a short moment to a few minutes at most.

It's almost like it gets sleepy. I have big eyes so when it begins to close it is very noticeable; more than half the size of my eye is lost. On Christmas eve I found an eye doctor who was awesome enough to give me a free eye exam. He said there was no growth on my brain, my eyes are the same size, I have good vision, maybe lite reading glasses, but that was it. He also said that I should try to reduce stress. I did. I moved to a great place, found an awesome job. Now my eye is flipping out again.

I'm really worried because it has become worse, much worse; It is closing more and more and now I have started feeling this strange pressure in my head (earlier today and all I wanted to do was pass out.) I had to force my self from not sleeping. The pressure will sometimes turn into this shooting pain from the right side of my brain, and my left eye closes and the right side of my mouth clenches.

I really have no idea what it may be, but I am curious to know if anyone may have some sort of an idea. I do not have health insurance, so I have to wait until the free clinic can fit me in and than refer me to a specialist. But until than I need to know what it may possibly be, any ideas at all. Has anyone ever had this issue.?

Coffee Is For Closers

gfrobe — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 07:11:58 -0800

I'm currently doing some consulting in the business development area and could use some tips on closing deals. My pitch is good and my potential clients continue to tell me they are interested but I'm struggling to get clients who seem content to sit on the fence forever to actually commit and sign on the dotted line.

I know that closing deals is a skill set and I'd like to learn how to get better at it. I've given deadlines to a few and that has helped move things along but would like to know if any seasoned deal makers out there have some advice on what works and what doesn't. How do you walk that fine line between pressuring (and ultimately turning off) a client and not letting it drag on too long?

Why do stock exchanges still close?

fvw — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:19:29 -0800

Why do stock exchanges still close? It's nice for the traders to get some time off, but in this modern age where you no longer have to stand on the floor shouting at people, is it still necessary? Does it have some economic function?