I have promised several people a recap of how our home purchasing process went, so here it is. Now please remember that my feelings today are much different than they were the day we closed and the day we made our initial offer. I have written and revised this post as my feelings and emotions changed, because it is better for all involved (mostly the damn banks).
In July of 2012, a house came on the market in our dream neighborhood, it was big and had room to host family dinners, plus a two car garage, and less than an hour from my parents! It was a little out of our price range, but we kept our eye on it for several weeks.
September 2012, our world came crashing down and I was in no place to look at houses, I just wasn't ready to move on. Thankfully my awesome husband understood and we put things on hold.
November 2012 - We decided we were ready, and began the pre-approval process for a mortgage, found a realtor in our area, and started to look. Oh lord, did we look at some winners and some losers. A few met every "cute" requirement but were impractical. One was very safe (read: you looked at the police station from the front door), but had nothing else going for it. No rush though, we had no home to sell and the timeline for leaving the rental was very flexible.
December 1, 2012 - Kevin and I came home early from a weekend trip because the dream house was back on the market, and somehow within our price range. Kevin had seen it pop up online, and while we were out of town my awesome cousin drove up to write down the agent's information so we could send it to our realtor. At the time, we didn't know it was a short sale, just that we were going to tour it on the first day back-on the market (with a new bank). The tour wasn't long, another couple came in just after us, and it was less than 24 hours before Kevin and I had costed out repairs, upgrades, and what we could afford. Oh yes, we wanted this house - and badly.
December 3 - We put in an official offer with what seemed like a billion dollar deposit, every piece of paper I've ever touched, and finalized mortgage approval. And then, we waited. and waited. and waited. It only took 4 days for the owners to accept our offer, and we thought we were done with the hard part. Try again Jess, this was just the beginning.
December 7 - May 1 - Yes, that would be 5 months of waiting, form completing, and wishing I could strangle BofA. I've never had such strong feelings for a bank like I did during this process, but oh good lord. Even after being approved by our bank and our agents bank, BofA had their own approval process that Kevin and I had to meet. After e-signing almost 40 documents, the bank then decided that for 2013, they were no longer accepting e-signs and Kevin and I had 24 hours to physically sign the documents and fed-ex them to California. That might work for normal people, but remember I work days, my husband works nights, and I think our Real Estate Agent was ready to throw us overboard. About once a week (or more), BofA would need us to read and sign something. And then send it back within 24 hours. Some things I understood, others seemed frivolous and confusing. Just sell us the house, we know it's vacant, we know you don't want to own it! Cue, frustration - tears - anger - and disappointment.
May 1 - We finally get a settlement date, all of the paperwork is signed, and Kevin and I are headed to Home Depot. You see, we had only given ourselves about 2 weeks from our May 17 settlement date to our move-in date of 5/25. That meant we needed to order and get the carpet measured right away. Carpet is measured and ordered within 24 hours, and the order is also placed for two new french doors to replace the rotting ones that don't really lock (oh yeah, this house was a real winner).
May 16 - we are supposed to close tomorrow - I am mostly packed at the townhouse, parents and family are ready to help, and my phone rings. The owners and their agent missed a portion of some document that stated they needed to bring $5,000 to closing. They don't have $5,000 - we aren't closing tomorrow and BofA is considering walking away. This means Kevin and I have spent 5 months planning for this house, we are packed and ready to move, we bought carpet and doors, and might lose this house. How is it fair that we might lose the house because the seller's agent didn't read properly?! Our agent attempts to find a middle ground - Can she pitch in the money; Can Kevin and I split the cost with her; something. Did we really want to spend another five thousand dollars, no - but we also weren't sure that five thousand dollars was worth walking away over. Not that there was much time, BofA gave us 24 hours. Commence an exhausting, stressful, and sleepless night.
May 17 - We aren't closing today, but they have moved closing to next Tuesday, the 21st. Well - I don't get my hopes up this time, and we enjoy the weekend with family. Except every time I see something in my parent's house, I think - Oh that would look so cute above the door in the new house, Ugh. Maybe, if we have a new house?
May 21 - The good news is, our phones didn't ring last night and we haven't been cancelled yet. Except our agent is out of town on vacation, so who the hell knows what is going on. But seriously, it happens. We get the keys, sign our lives away, and head for home. Head for home at 2pm, and Kevin has to leave for work at 2:30. Oh yes, let the joys of second shift home ownership begin.
*whew - if you made it all the way to the end, you are a saint. *
Showing posts with label new house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new house. Show all posts
Monday, September 16, 2013
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Homeownership - What We Bought/Got
After 3 1/2 years of marriage and two rentals - we finally bought a house. Except this isn't just any house, it's the FOREVER house. Both my parents and my in-laws still live in the homes we grew up in. Kevin's parents moved into their house when he was two and mine moved into our house three years before I was born. And while I understand that jobs may change, emergencies arise, etc - Kevin and I both LOVED growing up in the same house our entire childhood. And it's nice now too, to go back to the same home that we learned to walk in, tie our shoes, and got ready for every first and last day of school.
We have a long way to go with this crazy house, and a few projects already completed that will grace this blog over the next few weeks. But for the time being, here are the basics!
- Two story home, built in 1988
- Our dream development - the same one my Aunt & Uncle have lived in for 22 years
- Great school district, close to shopping, parents, and work
- Walking distance to a park with tennis courts, basketball courts, a pond, running trail, etc.
- Four bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a living room, sitting room, dining room, and eat-in kitchen
- My husband's dream 2 car garage, and a small shed for outdoor toys
I've got a few photos ready to go, but we'll stick with recapping the downstairs for now. I'll tackle the upstairs in a whole different post so as to not overwhelm you with the mess we purchased.
After looking back at some of these pictures, I'm not feeling so bad about the current state of our house! We've officially lived here for the entire summer (Moved in Memorial Day Weekend), and it feels more like "home" and "ours" with every little project!
Friday, May 17, 2013
In a Friday Funk (House - Part One)
Wouldn't you think I'd have learned my lesson about getting my hopes up at this point? Nope, guilty again of getting my hopes up and heart set on a house, only to have those hopes dashed. Womp, here is Part 1 of our crazy house story, because I am hoping against all hope (yep, here I go again) that there will be a happy Part 2 to share someday soon.
September 2009 - Hubs & I get married, leave our slightly ghetto apartment, and move in with a friend in a great townhouse. Living situation is amazing - Hubs is working & going to school, there is no outside maintenance, and I am in charge of cooking, cleaning, etc while still having another person to split the bills with.
Summer 2011 - We think we are maybe, finally, ready to buy a house. We've got basic areas nailed down, know what area we're focusing on - Downingtown and have saved more money than we thought we would! It fits the bill of having a cute downtown area, is home to Victory Brewing, and less than 45 minutes from both sets of parents, while still being less than 30 mins to work! *timebomb* Mom gets sick, house buying is cancelled - there is no way we can shop for a house, move, heck do anything but focus on my Mom.
November 2012 - Not loving the whole roommate situation so much anymore, really not loving the 70 minute drive to and from my dad's house several days a week. Decide we'll make it through Thanksgiving and then hit house hunting with all we've got.
December 1, 2012 - Come home early from a visit with friends because our dream house, in the dream neighborhood, perfect school district, and 35 mins from Dad is on the market - as a short sale - and even in our price range. Okay, we'll figure out the short sale business, understand the basics about the time frame and the waiting process. Time to prep an offer - even though this dream house has god awful carpet, a blue bathtub, shell shaped sink (say that 3 times fast), and some UGLY light fixtures.
December 5, 2012 - Offer is owner accepted, happy dance! Except this is only the beginning. From 12/5/12 to 4/1/13 (that would be 4 months) we responded to and wrote 219 emails, and bent over backwards to adhere to a 24 hour response time for everything the short sale bank requested.
April 4, 2013 - Holy crap, we've got everything signed. That giant PDF is the acknowledgement to our agreement of sale! Time to schedule (quickly) our inspections and chose a closing date that works for the 8 people that need to be there. Inspections are scheduled within 8 days, we are comfortable with what we find, and are all in. Closing date set for (today) May 17, 2013 - the perfect house will be ours.
May 15, 2013 (7:30pm) - Our realtor calls, closing needs to be delayed because of "issues out of our control". That's my polite way of saying - damn this bank, the sellers agent, and life. And now, we wait. We wait to see if the sellers can hold-up their end of the deal, if the bank really wants to sell this house - or if they're going to sit on it until it falls into foreclosure. And we wait, with our house full of boxes - only 6 work outfits, 1 pair of jeans, 1 pair of pajamas in the mix. Our dishes are packed, there is virtually no food in the house, and bathrooms are cleaner than they've been in months.
I'll leave this the same way I called out to the Facebook world for help. If you're the prayer type, could you please pray that this works out? A house of our own, somewhere to make new (happy) family memories, is what my heart needs right now.
P.S. - if you tell me that my Mom is looking out for me and that everything will work how it is supposed to, I might smack you. Regardless if that is the truth, this Saturday (5/25) is her birthday and I had this crazy plan to plant a tree in her honor at our new house. Cue, tears.
September 2009 - Hubs & I get married, leave our slightly ghetto apartment, and move in with a friend in a great townhouse. Living situation is amazing - Hubs is working & going to school, there is no outside maintenance, and I am in charge of cooking, cleaning, etc while still having another person to split the bills with.
Summer 2011 - We think we are maybe, finally, ready to buy a house. We've got basic areas nailed down, know what area we're focusing on - Downingtown and have saved more money than we thought we would! It fits the bill of having a cute downtown area, is home to Victory Brewing, and less than 45 minutes from both sets of parents, while still being less than 30 mins to work! *timebomb* Mom gets sick, house buying is cancelled - there is no way we can shop for a house, move, heck do anything but focus on my Mom.
November 2012 - Not loving the whole roommate situation so much anymore, really not loving the 70 minute drive to and from my dad's house several days a week. Decide we'll make it through Thanksgiving and then hit house hunting with all we've got.
December 1, 2012 - Come home early from a visit with friends because our dream house, in the dream neighborhood, perfect school district, and 35 mins from Dad is on the market - as a short sale - and even in our price range. Okay, we'll figure out the short sale business, understand the basics about the time frame and the waiting process. Time to prep an offer - even though this dream house has god awful carpet, a blue bathtub, shell shaped sink (say that 3 times fast), and some UGLY light fixtures.
December 5, 2012 - Offer is owner accepted, happy dance! Except this is only the beginning. From 12/5/12 to 4/1/13 (that would be 4 months) we responded to and wrote 219 emails, and bent over backwards to adhere to a 24 hour response time for everything the short sale bank requested.
April 4, 2013 - Holy crap, we've got everything signed. That giant PDF is the acknowledgement to our agreement of sale! Time to schedule (quickly) our inspections and chose a closing date that works for the 8 people that need to be there. Inspections are scheduled within 8 days, we are comfortable with what we find, and are all in. Closing date set for (today) May 17, 2013 - the perfect house will be ours.
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| dream backyard - fenced for the future puppy! |
I'll leave this the same way I called out to the Facebook world for help. If you're the prayer type, could you please pray that this works out? A house of our own, somewhere to make new (happy) family memories, is what my heart needs right now.
P.S. - if you tell me that my Mom is looking out for me and that everything will work how it is supposed to, I might smack you. Regardless if that is the truth, this Saturday (5/25) is her birthday and I had this crazy plan to plant a tree in her honor at our new house. Cue, tears.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
I Fell Off the Bandwagon...
All of my great goals and intentions to stick with the Blog Everyday in May Challenge were derailed by life. I am behind in pretty much every aspect of my life at the moment - would you like to see what aspects those are? No - well tough shit, my blog, my lists.
1. Packing - We close on our new home in 8 days. Approximately 10% of the basement is packed. Booze is not safely ready to travel, Christmas decorations are stored precariously, and I have no idea what may be stored behind a dresser that hasn't moved since we got here. The only clothing I have packed is the t-shirts I'm making into a t-shirt quilt. Oh crap, I need to figure out how to pack craft supplies. And the kitchen - I haven't even begun - as in, I don't even have paper to wrap the breakables in.
2. Dad - I have not actually seen my dad in two weeks. I feel awful, but #1 needs to come first right now, and I know he understands. I just don't have two hours every night to spend on the road driving home. I call almost everyday, and he sounds good. I'm comforting myself that we'll see him Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and are having a sleepover that will likely involve old timey movies.
3. Friends - Yeah... I text them. That's about all I've got. Oh, and I did go see one friend on Tuesday night, but I unceremoniously made her buy Chinese food b/c I had been working on #1 and it was 8pm and I hadn't eaten. Other than that, it's been too long. But #1 and #2 seem to come before friends. This damn house better be worth it.
4. Work - oh for the love, I'm not even going to bore you with this. It's a mess, it is stressful, and I am seriously behind in just about everything on my list. I needed to take Tuesday off for my sanity, but am afraid it will be Friday before I am caught back up.
Anyway - today (the day you're reading this at least) is Thursday. I am going to leave work before 6pm (please interweb people, hold me to this), finish the chair I am recovering, and catch-up on the blog world. Because I obviously need to blog myself (I'm only 4 days behind on the challenge) and my Bloglovin currently has 854 unread posts. Now, because I can't end a post without any entertainment or you people won't come back - check this out:
1. Packing - We close on our new home in 8 days. Approximately 10% of the basement is packed. Booze is not safely ready to travel, Christmas decorations are stored precariously, and I have no idea what may be stored behind a dresser that hasn't moved since we got here. The only clothing I have packed is the t-shirts I'm making into a t-shirt quilt. Oh crap, I need to figure out how to pack craft supplies. And the kitchen - I haven't even begun - as in, I don't even have paper to wrap the breakables in.
2. Dad - I have not actually seen my dad in two weeks. I feel awful, but #1 needs to come first right now, and I know he understands. I just don't have two hours every night to spend on the road driving home. I call almost everyday, and he sounds good. I'm comforting myself that we'll see him Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and are having a sleepover that will likely involve old timey movies.
3. Friends - Yeah... I text them. That's about all I've got. Oh, and I did go see one friend on Tuesday night, but I unceremoniously made her buy Chinese food b/c I had been working on #1 and it was 8pm and I hadn't eaten. Other than that, it's been too long. But #1 and #2 seem to come before friends. This damn house better be worth it.
4. Work - oh for the love, I'm not even going to bore you with this. It's a mess, it is stressful, and I am seriously behind in just about everything on my list. I needed to take Tuesday off for my sanity, but am afraid it will be Friday before I am caught back up.
Anyway - today (the day you're reading this at least) is Thursday. I am going to leave work before 6pm (please interweb people, hold me to this), finish the chair I am recovering, and catch-up on the blog world. Because I obviously need to blog myself (I'm only 4 days behind on the challenge) and my Bloglovin currently has 854 unread posts. Now, because I can't end a post without any entertainment or you people won't come back - check this out:
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