Last week, I wrote about how I came to be in the process of selling my house in Washington, D.C. from lockdown in Spain, and how the contents of the house were organized, packed, and readied for shipping in a matter of days. 

PHASE 4: PHOTO FINISH

While all of this was happening, there was another set of tasks moving across the board with the realtor. She was making sure that we had a viable solution to close on the house, since the likelihood of me having access to a consulate to obtain a Power of Attorney was decreasing by the minute. She escalated the timeline that I had originally given her, based on my original plan to return to DC. The virus and restrictions were getting ever closer. Was this going to happen? I spent an entire evening redoing my budget, just in case the house sat empty for months.

“What had gone wrong?”

Meanwhile, everyone in DC was pressing forward as best they could. The neighbor went over and checked that everything was ready for sale. There was one snafu - paint touch ups in the master bedroom were done with the primer and not the actual paint color. The photographer was scheduled for 8AM the next morning. What had gone wrong? (Finger snap) The contractor and I didn’t do a Review. 

I was so worried about his health and safety; and his ever growing list of other to-do items; that I’d skipped a critical step in the process. I sent a frantic message to a friend who is brilliant with touching up photos. “Piece of cake”, she said. The photography went ahead as scheduled, the contractor bought new paint and repainted the entire room after the fact. The original photos were retouched to smooth out the paint issue. The house was listed 24 hours after the photos were taken. This was Friday 24 March. Phase 4 was complete. Everything moved to the Done column including the rework that had to be done on the paint task.

PHASE 5: CLOSING THE DEAL

I had no expectation whatsoever that the house was going to sell during these difficult times. However, the next day the neighbor sent me a picture. There was a line down the street of people waiting to get into the house. The realtor insisted on everyone taking as many precautions as they could. Hand sanitizer, one viewing at a time, social distancing while waiting, etc. 

There was a steady stream of traffic all weekend and my neighbor kept me apprised of everything, in case we had to change direction. Thank heavens she was available, because she served as a quality control gate. And boy were there issues! The lockbox was damaged with the key stuck inside, the house door was left unlocked and blew open, the back door was left open, and the dead plants were left along the fence instead of being removed.

On Monday, the realtor let me know that all offers were due by 2PM. We had 5 offers! An unbelievable thing had happened. The house went from fully furnished to under contract in 15 days, and I wasn’t even there. Applying all of the techniques I use with my clients had worked. The outcome was unexpected due to a level of risk that we couldn’t control, but the 2 weeks of lead up to the event went exactly as planned. This was thanks in large part to the team that it takes to manage a life on two continents; and I couldn’t be more grateful for all of those who helped to make this possible.

PHASE 6: GETTING IT SHIPPED

Meanwhile, my cargo was making its way across the Atlantic. Those tasks were still on the board. The shipper and I were in constant communication, confirming expectations and moving tasks to the Done column as they passed our definition of done. The only tiny hiccup was explaining to the arrival team in the Netherlands that our version of Lockdown looked very different from theirs; so I had to check what could and couldn’t happen regarding the delivery. This is no different than cultural or work standard differences between members of a distributed team. We worked it out and quickly made a safe, workable plan.

When the Barcelona team called me to confirm that I was going to be home for the delivery, we had a funny conversation. They realised that they were so used to a script for these moves that they didn’t take current circumstances into account and change the narrative. The local team arrived at exactly 9AM on the delivery day. This was also a bit of a surprise given our cultural differences regarding time, but also a product of the Lockdown - no traffic, no backlog of work, etc. We unpacked the truck quickly and safely. A friend met us at the truck and loaded the storage items directly into his truck, so we didn’t have to have people out more than necessary, and in 2 hours it was all finished.

WHAT NEXT?

I now had a living room full of boxes and artwork and a full work day ahead teaching a masterclass. I set aside my anxiety over boxes and focused on the task at hand. I then closed Agility for All for 2.5 days so that I could focus on unpacking. At the end of it, my office was waiting for me and I felt energized to continue my journey. I now feel that I can well and truly be a part of my life here in Spain, and look forward to growing my business in Europe. There are many new adventures ahead that I am excited to share with all of you.

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