By Leisa Boley Hellwarth, a dairy farmer and attorney near Celina
The very first real estate closing I attended for a client was over 25 years ago. I was fresh out of law school, and a friend of mine, who was a cosmetics sales associate at Marshall Field’s, was purchasing her first house. It was what lawyers refer to as a “roundtable closing” which meant that the buyer, the seller, their realtors and their lawyers all met around a conference table and signed documents and transferred payment. This event is forever embedded in my memory because, as a new lawyer, I proudly showed up in a nice dark suit. And literally every other person, which was notable because it was all female, was wearing a floral dress and lots of fragrance. Just thinking about it makes my sinuses hurt.
The closing went off without a hitch. But less than 24 hours later, my client was mad, really mad.