• Real estate is still over the top in Park Slope, I guess, as evidenced by the price tags on any given apartment, including my own former 500 sq. ft. one bedroom which, even at its reduced price when it finally sold, I could not afford to re-purchase after two years of living there.
• If there is any chance that the building next door to your hundred-year-old brownstone will be gut renovated or perhaps have its interior brickwork repointed, do not plan to try to sell your apartment any time soon. Large interior cracks are not very appealing to potential buyers. Neither are the jackhammers.
• Never trust a realtor (not the one that I eventually went with) who comes in and swoons over your tiny apartment and tells you that buyers will not care about large, ominous cracks in your plaster walls.
• Never trust a potential buyer whose lawyer has an answering message that urges you to have a glorious, triumphant and blessed day.
• Always wonder about the potential buyer whose father was willing to pay out an obscene amount of money in cash for a quick sale but balked at the last second because 3rd Street was too far from the subway.
• Really wonder about the bank representative who failed to bring certified checks to the closing.

And finally, giggle with glee that it is all over. No more homeownership for Callalillie and right now that is A-OK.