20,20,24 hours to go; I need to be sedated.

This is it: the last day of our contingency period for the Phoenixville sale scheduled for settlement Sept 15. What an emotional time for the buyer and seller! The seller is anxious to see what will be uncovered, feeling surprisingly exposed to the scrutiny of inspectors and contractors, not to mention the buyer and their agent and sometimes the buyer's family. The buyer's similarly wary, but with an element of pitched excitement. Trying not to get ahead of themselves until the keys are in their hand while simultaneously wanting to dance with elation that they've found their home...but what will the inspector find in their home?!

Then there's the agent (me) who is as emotionally vested in the process as both purchaser and seller and has a paycheck riding on the whole affair. What will the inspection uncover, how will further negotiating be received, will the contractor PLEASE hurry up and get us the estimate in writing before I have a coronary?!?!?! Etcetera.

It is a new day in the lending market, so I would be remiss to insinuate all stress is relieved after inspections and home sale contingencies are met. In this environment there is always a chance that loan programs could disappear between signing and closing, for the lender to go belly up, for the home not to appraise. But at the close of business today there will be one less bullet point on the "Things I Have No Control Over But Can't Stop Dwelling On" list.

Now, we just wait for seller's reply. Please put five more days on the clock. Tick. Tock. Tick.......

UPDATE: Proposal accepted!! Next step, appraisal.